memeorandum: Obama Team Readjusts On ‘Are You Better Off?’ (Jake Tapper/ABCNEWS)

2:50 PM ET, September 3, 2012

Top Items:

Frank Newport / Gallup:

GOP Convention, Romney Speech Evoke Lukewarm Reactions — Speech gets lowest ratings of any Gallup has measured since 1996 — PRINCETON, NJ — Last week's Republican National Convention had a minimal impact on Americans' self-reported voting intentions, with just about as many saying …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog, The Political Carnival, Washington Examiner, The PJ Tatler, The Moderate Voice, Election 2012, Mediaite, Connecting.the.Dots, Conservatives4Palin, CNN, Ballot Box, Daily Kos, First Read and Business Insider

Frank Newport / Gallup.Com:

No Signs of GOP Convention Bounce Yet — The two-week convention phase of this election is now at its midpoint. We won't know what the impact of the two conventions is until roughly Sept. 7-13, the full week after the Democratic convention closes in Charlotte.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, americanthinker.com, USA Today, Zandar Versus The Stupid and The Reaction

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

No bounce for Romney in Florida — PPP's newest Florida poll, conducted completely after the Republican convention, finds no change in the Presidential race there. Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney 48-47, exactly as he did on our last poll of the state five weeks ago.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Naked Politics and Politico

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 2: Split Verdict in Polls on Romney Convention Bounce — My view is that the consensus of evidence so far points toward Mitt Romney having received a small bounce in the polls of perhaps two or three percentage points from the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla.

Discussion: The Agonist, Capital Tonight and neo-neocon

Tim Mak / Politico:

Poll:Mitt Romney speech has low impact — Americans scored Mitt Romney's GOP convention speech the lowest since Bob Dole's acceptance speech in 1996, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. — Following the Republican National Convention in Tampa, 40 percent of voters …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

LET'S BE FRIENDS … - SPORTS - PHOTO BOOTH - DAILY SHOUTS - PAGE-TURNER - DAILY COMMENT - AMY DAVIDSON - JOHN CASSIDY - ANDY BOROWITZ - RICHARD BRODY

Discussion: Althouse, CANNONFIRE, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, The New Republic and The PJ Tatler

BuzzFeed:

Democrats Wait, Nervously, On Clinton Speech — All other major addresses have been vetted. — Obama speaks as Clinton looks on during a campign event in New York on June 4, 2012. — Image by JEWEL SAMAD / Getty Images — CHARLOTTE, NC — Former President Bill Clinton is slated …

Byron Tau / Politico:
L.A. mayor: 44 continues 42's policies

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Roger L. Simon

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Bill Clinton on Obama: ‘A Few Years Ago, This Guy Would Have Been Carrying Our Bags’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, NewsBusters.org blogs and The Gateway Pundit

Russell Berman / Ballot Box:
Obama turns to Bill Clinton, the old pro, to help win reelection

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, Politico and Outside the Beltway

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

National Empty Chair Day (photos from around country) — UPDATE - No new submissions being accepted for now, the response was so overwhelming that there's already a huge backlog. — Today is the impromptu National Empty Chair Day, which I covered on Saturday night when a reader alerted me to the idea.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Chicago Boyz, The Raw Story, American Power and Nice Deb

Michelle Malkin:

Monday is National Empty Chair Day; Updated with photos — What better way to commemorate the Labor Day holiday than to send a message to the AWOL campaign-in-chief — and support Clint Eastwood, to boot! — Twitchy has the story of the latest Eastwood-inspired social media phenomenon.

Discussion: Power Line, protein wisdom, No More Mister Nice Blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Nice Deb, The Gateway Pundit and The Right Scoop

Michael Patrick Leahy / BREITBART.COM:
‘EASTWOODING’ INSPIRES NATIONAL EMPTY CHAIR DAY ON MONDAY

Discussion: Washington Wire, Hot Air, Atlas Shrugs, Babalú Blog, UrbanGrounds, iOwnTheWorld.com and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:

Labor tries to soften image with ‘hug a union thug’ booth in Charlotte — This Labor Day, unions are trying a mix of celebrity, social media and humor to polish up the labor movement's image in the eyes of everyday people. — In Charlotte, people will be asked to “hug a union thug” …

Discussion: CNN, Politico and The Gateway Pundit

Jim Morrill / The Charlotte Observer:

New N.C. poll gives Romney small lead in presidential race — It puts GOP candidate 4 percentage points ahead of Obama — CHARLOTTE, N.C. Republican Mitt Romney appears to have gotten his bounce from his party's national convention - at least in the state hosting the Democratic convention, according to a poll released Sunday.

Discussion: NBC Politics, Scared Monkeys, Outside the Beltway, First Read and The Gateway Pundit

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
NC enters convention tied up

Discussion: Politico, The Fix, The Rightnewz and National Review

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Obama Team Readjusts On ‘Are You Better Off?’ — After either saying “no” or refusing to give a straight yes or no answer to Sunday show anchors when asked if Americans are better off today than they were four years ago, officials from Team Obama this morning changed their answers and enthusiastically offered a capital-Y “Yes.”

Discussion: The Reaction, Washington Wire, Althouse, The Raw Story, Election 2012, The Hill and The Fix

Jonathan Miller / NationalJournal.com:
O'Malley Does an About-Face: Yes, We are Better Off

Discussion: Hot Air, The Maddow Blog, americanthinker.com, The Rightnewz and Capital Tonight

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
RNC to counter Dem convention with focus on Obama economy

Discussion: CNN

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Rosie Ruiz Republicans — Remember Rosie Ruiz? In 1980 she was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon — except it turned out that she hadn't actually run most of the race, that she sneaked onto the course around a mile from the end.

Discussion: Truthdig, The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Maddow Blog, Balloon Juice, TBogg and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Joe Garofoli / blog.sfgate.com:

CA Dem chair John Burton compares GOP to Goebbels for “telling the big lie” (VIDEO) — Charlotte - Greetings from the California delegation breakfast at the DNC where before he had a cup of coffee Democratic Party Chair John Burton - much like his ol' palGuv Jerry Brown once did …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Mediaite, The Fix, Nice Deb, The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and Washington Free Beacon

Paul Krugman:

Britain's Paul Ryan — In a lot of ways George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) is Britain's answer to Paul Ryan. True, he's a toned-down version — no Ayn Rand, please, we're British — but other aspects of package are there in full force: he's articulate …

Discussion: Associated Press and Outside the Beltway

John Cusack / truth-out.org:

John Cusack Interviews Law Professor Jonathan Turley About Obama Administration's War On the Constitution — I wrote this a while back after Romney got the nom. In light of the blizzard of bulls**t coming at us in the next few months I thought I would put it out now.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs

Hedrick Smith / New York Times:

When Capitalists Cared — IN the rancorous debate over how to get the sluggish economy moving, we have forgotten the wisdom of Henry Ford. In 1914, not long after the Ford Motor Company came out with the Model T, Ford made the startling announcement that he would pay his workers the unheard-of wage of $5 a day.

Discussion: Seeing the Forest and Daily Kos

John Heilemann / New York Magazine:

Joe Biden Isn't Finished — The Paul Ryan selection shone a spotlight on the vice-president. He's ready for it—no matter what just came out of his mouth. — Jesus Christ! " Joe Biden barks, pitching forward in the captain's chair in his cabin aboard Air Force Two.

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:

Credulous fact-checkers fall for 20% scam … “To anyone who spends any amount of time dog-paddling through the scum-slicked waters of our political culture, I'd suggest that if you don't become a committed cynic, then you're just not paying close enough attention.” Updated: Aug. 21, 2012 more