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 …

No sign of convention bounce for Obama: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  (Reuters) - So far, U.S. President Barack Obama has not received much of a bounce yet in popular support from the Democratic National Convention, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Thursday.  —  The latest daily tracking poll found …

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.

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 …

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 …

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!

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.

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.

The Employment Situation in August  —  While there is more work that remains to be done, today's employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.  It is critical that we continue the policies …

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 …

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.

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 …

Paul Ryan Acknowledges Requesting Federal Money From Program Funded By Obamacare  —  Earlier this week, the Nation uncovered the fact that Paul Ryan — who has voted with his party to repeal President Obama's health care law over 30 times — requested Obamacare funds for his Wisconsin district in 2010.