memeorandum: Mitt's Speech Gamble (Wall Street Journal)

10:50 AM ET, September 2, 2012

Top Items:

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:

Iowans' Message to Obama: ‘We Did Build This’ — SIOUX CITY, Iowa — President Obama received a less than warm welcome and a warning upon arrival at the airport here on the second stop of his Iowa visit, which was aimed at recapturing some of the magic the state gave his run to the White House in 2008.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Rightnewz and Nice Deb

Cincinnati.com:

Romney courts local Republicans at Union Terminal … Mitt Romney, Republican Presidential Nominee: Victory Rally at Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio — Purchase Image — Republican candidate Mitt Romney addressed the crowd at Union Terminai. / The Enquirer/Jeff Swinger

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:
For Mitt Romney, Ohio Remains a Vital Hurdle

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Olivier Knox / Yahoo! News:
Obama: GOP ideas better ‘for the last century’

Discussion: americanthinker.com and PoliPundit.com

Amie Parnes / Ballot Box:
Obama campaign says it will fill stadium for convention's finale

Discussion: Pat Dollard, The Lonely Conservative and Weasel Zippers

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Team Obama downplays expectations, predicts ‘close’ race after Charlotte

Discussion: Politico, Red Alert Politics, Weasel Zippers and CNN

Associated Press:
Obama Embarks on March to Party Convention

Discussion: Politico

Mike Allen / Politico:

HOW BARACK MOBILIZED BILL — HuffPost: Obama now a ‘creature of Washington’ — Romney down for debate prep during Dem. convention — Tom Manatos, James Rosen, Don Gonyea b'days — FIRST LOOK - RYAN LIZZA in The New Yorker, “The Political Scene: LET'S BE FRIENDS - Two Presidents find a mutual advantage” …

New York Post:

Look who parks their cash at Bain — Democrats convened in Charlotte, NC, will double down on their claim that Bain Capital is really the Bain crime family. They will accuse Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Bain's other “greedy” co-founders of stealing their winnings …

New York Times:
Inquiry on Tax Strategy Adds to Scrutiny of Finance Firms

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Hinterland Gazette

Alina Selyukh / Reuters:

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.

Discussion: Ballot Box, Outside the Beltway, FiveThirtyEight, The Moderate Voice, The Political Carnival, The Hinterland Gazette and Reuters

Wall Street Journal:

Mitt's Speech Gamble — By not explaining his agenda, he left an opening for Democrats. — The immediate media consensus, especially on the political right, seems to be that Mitt Romney “did what he had to do” in his GOP convention speech Thursday. He repaired an image battered by Obama attack ads …

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed and Conservatives4Palin

Elise Foley / The Huffington Post:
Harry Reid: Mitt Romney Trip To Louisiana ‘Height Of Hypocrisy’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Dave Levinthal / Politico:

Axelrod: America in a ‘better position’ today than four years ago — Are Americans better off today than they were four years ago? — That's the question Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace immediately posed to President Barack Obama's Senior Adviser David Axelrod, who didn't quite answer directly.

Discussion: americanthinker.com

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

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.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Riehl World News, Examiner, Scared Monkeys, The Jawa Report, The Impolitic, Pat Dollard, Israel Matzav, Doug Ross and Sister Toldjah

Nickarama / Citizen Journalist:
Obama- sand sculpture Mount Rushmore imitation

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Doug Ross, The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:

Barack Obama Promised A New Kind Of Politics, But Played The Same Old Game … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Barack Obama , GOP, Barack Obama 2012 , Barack Obama 2012 , Republican Party, Video, Obama Politics, Obama Boehner, Obama Congress, Obama John Boehner, Politics News

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs

Alex Alvarez / Mediaite:

Harris-Perry Loses Cool Over Guest's Comment, Yells ‘I Am Sick Of The Idea That Being Wealthy Is Risky’ — On her show Saturday morning, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry grew visibly frustrated over a guest's assertion that the “big thing” missing in the President's “you didn't build that speech” …

Discussion: The Greenroom and Zandar Versus The Stupid

AlexBZ / The Democratic Daily:

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.

Discussion: The Other McCain and The Moderate Voice

Rasmussen Reports:

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.