Our Clinton Nightmare  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton's stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker's nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about.  —  Republicans will find plenty of Clinton's scorching opinions objectionable.

Verdict is in: Obama levels more personal attacks  —  A crabby, negative campaign that has been more about misleading and marginal controversies than the major challenges facing the country?  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can both claim parenthood of this ugly child.

Disillusioned Obama Supporter In Romney Ad Is Actually GOP Staffer  —  Republicans debuted a new ad Thursday in which a frustrated former Obama supporter expresses her disappointment with the president.  The only problem: The woman in the video is actually an RNC staffer.

Romney, GOP Groups Pull Ads From Michigan and Pennsylvania  —  Republicans signaled this week that they might have given up hope in two important swing states.  —  TPM Slideshow: Romney Takes The Stage At The RNC  —  The Romney campaign and conservative groups like Crossroads GPS …

Bartlett suggests federal student loans are unconstitutional, invokes Holocaust  —  Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) suggested Wednesday federally-issued student loans were unconstitutional.  He also said disregarding the Constitution could lead down a “slippery slope” and cited the Holocaust …

Entitlement Trouble  —  Digby noticed it.  I noticed.  Maybe you noticed it, too: the one time Bill Clinton didn't get rousing applause from the Democratic Convention audience last night was when he made a favorable reference to the Simpson-Bowles Commission.

Russia's Putin defiant on Syria, says Romney “mistaken”  —  * Says Obama is honest, Romney could widen missile rift  —  President Vladimir Putin signalled in an interview aired on Thursday that Russia was not ready to shift its stance on Syria, and suggested Western nations were relying …

Dems trotting out H'wood beauties to introduce Obama  —  CHARLOTTE, NC — Call them Barack's Angels.  —  Democrats have secretly scheduled an appearance by Hollywood beauties Scarlett Johansson and Kerry Washington tonight at their national convention, in a bid to counter Clint Eastwood's surprise speech …

Unemployment benefits claims fall 12,000  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 last week, a hopeful signal that the job market may be improving.  —  Sponsored Links  —  The Labor Department says applications declined to a seasonally adjusted 365,000.

A Classified CIA Mea Culpa on Iraq  —  In this exclusive from the National Security Archive, a secret agency report on its WMD failures is published for the first time.  —  This remarkable CIA mea culpa, just declassified this summer and published here for the first time …

Steelworker Featured at DNC Didn't Work for Bain  —  The Democratic National Convention on Wednesday featured three speakers billed as “former employees of companies controlled by Bain Capital.”  —  They each told compelling stories about jobs lost, allegedly because of the actions of Bain under Romney's leadership.

DEATH THREAT FROM DNC DELEGATE: ‘MITT ROMNEY... I WOULD LIKE TO KILL HIM!’  —  During the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, TheBlaze took to Time Warner Cable Arena to speak with delegates about the most pressing issues of our time.

Tom Brokaw Rushed to Charlotte Hospital  —  NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw was taken by ambulance to a Charlotte hospital this morning after an appearance on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”  —  Brokaw, 72, who stepped down as anchor of “Nightly News” after the 2004 election …

Sununu Thinks Obama Camp Lying About Cost Of Michelle Obama's Dress  —  Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu questioned reports that the Tracey Reese dress Michelle Obama wore for her convention address Tuesday night cost $350 on a conference call with reporters Wednesday.