memeorandum: President Barack Obama was a pioneering contributor to the … (Neil Munro/The Daily Caller)

5:10 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 …

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: Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Naked Politics and Politico

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: American Power, USA Today, americanthinker.com, The Moderate Voice, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Balloon Juice and The Reaction

Jim Morrill / Raleigh News & Observer:

Poll gives Romney small lead in NC in presidential race — Damian McGovern from Vancouver, B.C., sets up a camera on Illinois state delegate sign on the floor at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012. — Romney | President Obama | DNC | 2012 election

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Charlotte Observer, NBC Politics, Scared Monkeys and First Read

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

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:
Labor tries to soften image with ‘hug a union thug’ booth in Charlotte

Discussion: CNN, Politico and The Gateway Pundit

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sept. 2: Split Verdict in Polls on Romney Convention Bounce

Discussion: Capital Tonight, The Agonist and neo-neocon

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

Discussion: Politico, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, The Rightnewz and National Review

Politico:

Right rallies for ‘Empty Chair Day’ — The right rallied on Labor Day to celebrate “National Empty Chair Day,” a show of solidarity with Clint Eastwood after his rambling address to an invisible President Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention last week.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Althouse

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: Washington Monthly, Riehl World News, The Other McCain, Chicago Boyz, The Jawa Report, The Raw Story and American Power

Peter Slutsky / Change.org:

Democrats: Ask Betty White to Introduce President Obama at the DNC — Clint Eastwood, the Republican's “mystery guest” at the RNC, gave a bad name to older Americans everywhere with his absurd and awkward-to-watch introduction of Governor Romney. — You know what?

Discussion: USA Today and Truthdig

Michelle Malkin:
Monday is National Empty Chair Day; Updated with photos

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

Caitlin McDevitt / Associated Press:
A push for Betty White to address the DNC

Discussion: New York Magazine

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

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Hot Air, Washington Wire, Babalú Blog, UrbanGrounds and iOwnTheWorld.com

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: Wizbang, CANNONFIRE, Althouse, Talking Points Memo, 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 …

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Mediaite

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

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Roger L. Simon

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

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway

Joe Garofoli / blog.sfgate.com:

CA Dem chair John Burton apologizes for comments invoking Goebbels about GOP “telling the big lie” (VIDEO) (AUDIO) — UPDATE: In response to the uproar over his (below) comments Monday, California Democratic Party Chair John Burton issued this statement: — “To correct press reports …

Discussion: Washington Wire, BuzzFeed, Guardian, The Mental Recession, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Capitol Alert, The Fix, Right Wing News, Nice Deb, The PJ Tatler, The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon and Riehl World News

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, americanthinker.com, The Maddow Blog, The Rightnewz and Capital Tonight

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

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, Balloon Juice, The Maddow Blog, TBogg and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Jodi Kantor / New York Times:

Obama Plays to Win, in Politics and Everything Else — As Election Day approaches, President Obama is sharing a few important things about himself. He has mentioned more than once in recent weeks that he cooks “a really mean chili.” He has impressive musical pitch, he told an Iowa audience.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, USA Today, Washington Post, Gawker and Bookworm Room, more at Mediagazer »

Neil Munro / The Daily Caller:

President Barack Obama was a pioneering contributor to the national subprime real estate bubble, and roughly half of the 186 African-American clients in his landmark 1995 mortgage discrimination lawsuit against Citibank have since gone bankrupt or received foreclosure notices.

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, Hot Air and The Heritage Foundation

WDIV-TV:

Secret Service U-Haul stolen from Detroit Hotel — U-Haul carrying equipment for Vice President Joe Biden's visit Monday … DETROIT - — A U-Haul being used by the secret service for Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the Labor Day Rally in Detroit on Monday was stolen out of a hotel parking lot Sunday morning.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit