The awful, awful August jobs report  —  This was not the employment report either American workers or the Obama campaign were hoping for.  A huge miss. It shows the U.S. labor market remains in a deep depression, generating few jobs and little if no income growth.  As IHS Global Insight puts it:

Eastwood says his convention appearance was ‘mission accomplished’  —  AFTER A week as topic No. 1 in American politics, former Carmel Mayor Clint Eastwood said the outpouring of criticism from left-wing reporters and liberal politicians after his appearance at the Republican National Convention …

Romney On Omitting U.S. Troops From RNC Speech: ‘You Talk About Things You Think Are Important’  —  Romney giving his speech to the Republican National Convention  —  In an interview with Fox News this afternoon, Mitt Romney shot back at critics who complained that he didn't mention Afghanistan …

Obama's Message Breaks Through In Swing State Newspapers  —  An emphasis on the path forward.  Lukewarm reception to his speech from pundits doesn't make the headlines.  —  Andrew Kaczynski  —  an hour ago  —  22 responses

The Romney swing-state blitz, revealed  —  We reported Thursday that Mitt Romney was about to embark on a major general-election TV offensive, marking his first major use of the post-convention dollars his campaign has been dying to spend.  Now, Team Romney is putting out word …

Transcript: President Obama's Convention Speech … PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you.  (Sustained cheers, applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  —  AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you.  —  AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Four more years!

The Democrats' Soft Extremism  —  Obama is out of ideas, and Clinton's speech was unworthy of him.  —  Barack Obama is deeply overexposed and often boring.  He never seems to be saying what he's thinking.  His speech Thursday was weirdly anticlimactic.  There's too much buildup, the crowd was tired, it all felt flat.

Secret Service Arrests Charlotte Man For Twitter Death Threats Against Barack Obama  —  Buster  —  A North Carolina man was arrested yesterday for threatening to kill President Barack Obama in a series of Twitter messages, one of which warned that, “Ima hit president Obama with that Lee Harvey Oswald swag …

CHART: The Racial Makeup Of Obama, Romney Presidential Coalitions  —  When it comes to building a winning coalition, President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney have very distinct paths to victory.  Romney is betting on winning big with white voters.

White House circulating draft of executive order on cybersecurity  —  The White House is circulating a draft of an executive order aimed at protecting the country from cyberattacks, The Hill has learned.  —  The draft proposal, which has been sent to relevant federal agencies for feedback …

Did Obama Phone It In?  —  Barack Obama's speech tonight was....OK.  But that was about all.  It meandered, it skittered, and most of the time it seemed oddly themeless.  It had some good lines, but too often they were left hanging.  Take this jab at Republicans, for example: … That's a good riff.

Ask the DNC: Is Romney Ready for the Kill List?  —  As you may have heard last night, Osama bin Laden is dead, has perished from the earth, is at the bottom of the sea, and is not better off than he was four years ago.  The Democrats are trying to pull a Bush on national security …

Cardinal Timothy Dolan's Benedictions At RNC And DNC (FULL TEXT) … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Elections 2012, Democratic Convention, Democratic Convention, Elections 2012, Religion and Politics, Video, 2012 Democratic Convention, 2012 Democratic National Convention, Cardinal Timothy Dolan …

Akin TV Ad Buy Canceled — For Failure To Pay The Station  —  Rep. Todd Akin's effort to continue his bid for the Missouri Senate seat is now faced with a new challenge: Paying the campaign's bills for TV ads on time.  —  The Akin campaign's TV ad buy with the NBC affiliate in Columbia …

Ann Romney KWQC Interview Transcript  —  KWQC TV6: “What is your message to voters?”  —  Ann Romney: “My message, really was, ‘women, I hear your voices,’ and the interesting thing about this economy, this tough economy that we're going through, is that women have been hit the hardest.

Apple Seeks to Create Pandora Rival  —  Apple Inc. is in talks to license music for a custom-radio service similar to the popular one operated by Pandora Media Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be a bid by the hardware maker to expand its dominance in online music.