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NOTE FROM TRUSTEE BRAD MALT — This morning, Gov. and Mrs. Romney filed their 2011 tax return with the IRS. At 3:00pm today, the Romney for President campaign will be posting the 2011 return online. — The complete 2011 tax return, with full schedules, statements, and attachments …
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Romney to release 20-year tax rate ‘summary,’ 2011 taxes today — In a Friday afternoon news dump, Mitt Romney's campaign is preparing to release his 2011 tax return, along with a 20-year summary of his tax rates from 1990 through 2009, his team just said. — The 20-year piece is a new plan …
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Reuters, ABCNEWS, CNN, Business Insider and New York Magazine


By Romney's Own Standard, His Tax Returns Would Disqualify Him From The Presidency — Mitt Romney will disclose his 2011 tax on Friday, along with a summary going back 20 years. The campaign has published the following summary: … Romney has previously defended his low tax rate …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Weekly Standard and Wake up America


Romney Campaign Says He Paid More Taxes Than He Had To
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The Daily Beast and Shakesville

Romney Releases 2011 Tax Returns
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Prairie Weather and Joe. My. God.

Chris Wallace doubts Noonan's conservatism — In an interview with POLITICO today, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace questioned Peggy Noonan's “conservative bona fides,” following her recent editorials criticizing of Mitt Romney's campaign. — “Peggy Noonan has bashed George W. Bush, based Mitt Romney, wasn't crazy about McCain.
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Mediaite, American Power, Outside the Beltway, Brad DeLong, Wonkette and Taylor Marsh
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Noonan: Romney Needs a New CEO — How to save a listing campaign, the Baker Way. — “Nothing is written.” That was T.E. Lawrence to the Arab tribesmen in Robert Bolt's screenplay, a masterpiece, of “Lawrence of Arabia.” You write no one off. Nothing is inevitable. Life is news—"What happened today?"
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Election 2012, The Atlantic Online, Connecting.the.Dots and PoliPundit.com

Sununu: 'I wouldn't hire Peggy Noonan to run a campaign'
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Mediaite

U.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High — Fewer Americans closely following political news now than in previous election years — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' distrust in the media hit a new high this year, with 60% saying they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.
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The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, TVNewser, Washington Examiner, Wake up America, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Poynter, The Lonely Conservative, Outside the Beltway, AEIdeas, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The PJ Tatler, Questions and Observations, Weasel Zippers, GayPatriot, Reuters, Business Insider, National Review, Election 2012, Instapundit and CBS DC, more at Mediagazer »


Ryan Gets Booed At The AARP — On Friday afternoon, Paul Ryan addressed the AARP's National Annual Conference in New Orleans. The GOP vice presidential candidate attacked Obamacare for taking $716 billion out of Medicare — the very same cuts he included in his budget …
Discussion:
Politico, Firedoglake, The New Civil Rights Movement and Towleroad News #gay
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Paul Ryan Booed Throughout AARP Speech (VIDEO)
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Hit & Run

Obama Leads Romney 52-45 In New Reason-Rupe Poll; In Three-Way Race Obama Leads Romney 49-42, Johnson Gets 6 Percent — A new national Reason-Rupe poll of likely voters finds President Barack Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney 48 percent to 43 percent in the presidential race.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, National Review and American Power
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Heartland Monitor Poll: Obama Leads 50 Percent to 43 Percent
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The Daily Beast, The Fix, The Daily Dish and Connecting.the.Dots

Sept. 20: Obama's Convention Bounce May Not Be Receding
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The Week, The Monkey Cage, The Reaction, Booman Tribune, The Daily Dish and GayPatriot


Joe Biden - not Mitt Romney, President Obama, Bill Clinton or Clint Eastwood - most watched convention speaker in landslide! — Vice president's speech watched by 14.7% of the 289.7 million people who live in U.S. television homes: Nielsen — Vice President Joe Biden makes his point during …
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The Moderate Voice, Ricochet Conversations Feed, New York Magazine and Gawker
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Ann Romney, to critics in GOP: “You want to try it? Get in the ring.” (AUDIO)
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New York Times, The Raw Story, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air, Slate, Outside the Beltway, Democracy in America, ABCNEWS, First Read, Wonkette, Daily Kos, National Review, GOP 12, American Thinker, The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh, The Rightnewz, Business Insider, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Shakesville, Middle Earth Journal and Gawker

Ann Romney To Mitt Critics: ‘Stop It’
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The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, GOP 12 and Hot Air

Cash Low, Romney Striving to Find New Large Donors — Mitt Romney entered the final months of the presidential campaign with a cash balance of just $35 million, racing to find new large donors and rally low-dollar contributors in August even while he raised tens of millions of dollars for the Republican Party.
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RNC has big cash advantage over DNC
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Washington Free Beacon, nation.foxnews.com, Jammie Wearing Fools and National Review


President Obama Falsely Claims Fast and Furious Program “Begun Under the Previous Administration” — Asked about the Fast and Furious program at the Univision forum on Thursday, President Obama falsely claimed that the program began under President George W. Bush.
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Power Line, “The Lid”, Wake up America, Riehl World News, National Review, The Daily Caller and Washington Examiner

Obama's embassy cover story dissolves — It is a measure of how skewed the reporting is and how intellectually inconsistent is most of the “analysis” from the mainstream media that while Mitt Romney's comment on the embassy attacks held the attention of the press for days …
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Wall Street Journal, Weasel Zippers and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
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Obama's Shaky Libya Narrative
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Wake up America, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Post

Clinton fails to convince Republicans on administration's account of Libya attack
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Swampland, The PJ Tatler and Politico


Until Republicans Fix This Problem, They Can't Fix Any Problems — The inability to judge arguments on their merits and separate fact from fantasy is what ails the conservative movement. — Reuters — After years spent reporting on the Bush Administration, Ron Suskind began to understand …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Booman Tribune


Romney: What About Your Gaffes? — Mitt Romney's campaign has been notable for its reliance on President Obama's gaffes. It built its entire convention theme around Obama's slightly disjointed disquisition about infrastructure ("You didn't build that") and has, at other points …
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A plain blog about politics and Washington Post
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Toward an Iron Law of Gaffes
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Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh and Mediaite

Disdain for Workers — By now everyone knows how Mitt Romney, speaking to donors in Boca Raton, washed his hands of almost half the country — the 47 percent who don't pay income taxes — declaring, “My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take …
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emptywheel, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather and Economist's View

What John McLaughlin Sees in the Polls Right Now — I reached out to Republican pollster John McLaughlin for yesterday's piece on how undecided voters are likely to break, and he made some separate comments about polls, their impact on motivation for each side, and how the campaigns …
Discussion:
JOSHUAPUNDIT, Vodkapundit and The Lonely Conservative


Herman Cain: I'd be beating President Obama — Herman Cain says that if he were the Republican nominee, he would have a “substantial lead” over President Barack Obama right now. — “The reason is quite simple,” Cain told reporters on Thursday, according to the Gainesville Sun.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, CNN, The Rightnewz, Mediaite and Daily Kos

The poll result that explains the election — Washington has been a bit perplexed by President Obama's small but persistent lead in the polls. His administration would seem to fail the “Are you better off than you were four years ago” text. And presidents who fail that test lose, right?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway

In crucial first debate, Scott Brown challenges Warren's Native American heritage claim — Republican US Senator Scott Brown questioned Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren's claim of Native American heritage in the opening moments of a lively high-stakes television debate tonight.
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WBUR, New York Times, The Mahablog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Michelle Malkin, DealBook, CANNONFIRE, Washington Examiner and Hot Air

DeMint might throw Akin a lifeline — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says he will consider throwing his weighty financial support behind Rep. Todd Akin (R), the Missouri Senate candidate who has been shunned by party leaders in Washington. — DeMint said the National Republican Senatorial Committee …
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CNN, Associated Press, Politico, Show Me Progress and The Right Scoop