Rains wash away Mount Obama in Charlotte, N.C.  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A torrential downpour that struck Charlotte Saturday afternoon damaged the Mount Rushmore-style sand sculpture bust of President Obama — an ominous beginning to what many fear is a plagued convention.

Romney's bounce from convention looks short-lived: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  (Reuters) - A modest bump in popularity for U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney from this week's Republican Party convention looks to be short-lived, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Mitt Romney To Flood Victim: ‘Go Home And Call 211’ … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Video, 2012 Election Mitt Romney 2012, 211, Hurricane Isaac, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt-Romney-211, Romney 211, Politics News  —  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney launched …

Ale to the Chief: White House Beer Recipe  —  Ed. Note: There's been a lot of buzz online recently about the recipe for the White House Honey Ale and White House Honey Porter, including a popular petition on We the People, the White House's online petition platform.

Number of Republicans in America Reaches Record High  —  After falling for two straight months, the number of Americans who consider themselves Republicans jumped nearly three points in August.  —  During August, 37.6% of Americans considered themselves Republicans.  That's up from 34.9% in July and 35.4% in June.

Teen killed after sticking head through party bus roof near George Washington Bridge  —  Sixteen-year-old Daniel Fernandez died when his head smashed into an overpass.  —  Twitter photo showing Daniel Fernandez of Sayreville, N.J. who was killed when he apparently stuck his head through …

Orangeball with Ryan  —  My colleague MJ Lee:

Why Campaign Reporters Are Behind the Curve  —  It becomes popular around this time of year to lament the fact that media coverage treats the presidential campaign as little more than a “horse race.”  Journalists, this line of argument goes, choose to fixate on which candidate is a superior campaigner …

Former congressional aide accused of drugging and sexually assaulting women  —  A former senior congressional aide was indicted this week in D.C. Superior Court on charges that he sexually assaulted two women after drugging them with a sedative that he allegedly put in their drinks.

Inquiry on Tax Strategy Adds to Scrutiny of Finance Firms  —  The New York attorney general is investigating whether some of the nation's biggest private equity firms have abused a tax strategy in order to slice hundreds of millions of dollars from their tax bills, according to executives with direct knowledge of the inquiry.

The Real Mystery of Paul Ryan's Marathon Time  —  Executive summary: the mystery in this case is why someone just stepping into the spotlight of national attention would risk telling an (a) entirely unnecessary and (b) very easily disprovable lie.  It doesn't make “normal” political sense …

Bill Maher Takes On Dinesh D'Souza Over Anti-Obama Documentary 2016  —  On his show tonight, Bill Maher squared off with Dinesh D'Souza, the face of a new anti-Obama documentary.  Maher challenged D'Souza's claims that Obama holds anti-colonial, anti-capitalist views that he inherited from his father …

Romney Staffer Committing Charitable Fraud  —  Bill Murphy, Mitt Romney's Social Media Director, and his colleague Ali Akbar have ripped off a lot of people.  They ripped off the Tea Party with the American Liberty Alliance.  They ripped off movement Conservatives with the National Bloggers Club.

DOJ won't file criminal charges against Arpaio  —  The Justice Department (DOJ) closed their investigation into Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's alleged abuses of power on Friday, announcing they are not filing charges against the man known as “America's Toughest Sheriff.”