How The Romney Campaign Decided To Take The Gloves Off  —  Surrogates will bring up cocaine, Fast and Furious, and ties to Blagojevich, one aide says.  What Romneyland is thinking.  —  Image by Win McNamee / Getty Images  —  IRWIN, Penn.  — Standing before hundreds of roaring partisans …

Anthony Weiner Shares a Family Photo  —  What's next for former New York congressman Anthony Weiner?  Baby's first birthday, of course.  —  “I'm very happy in my present life,” Weiner, 47, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.  “The only next dramatic steps I'm planning on are Jordan's first …

New poll: After SB1070 decision Obama widens lead over Romney among Latinos  —  Latino Decisions released new national poll of Latino registered voters showing Barack Obama winning 70% of the Latino vote compared to 22% for Mitt Romney.  The poll, commissioned by the Center …

7 reported killed in terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria  —  Haaretz brings you minute-by-minute updates on the deadly attack; Israeli rescue services en route to country; Terror attack occurs on 18th anniversary of attack on Jewish community in Buenos Aires.

CNN's GUT CHECK for July 18, 2012  — n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle  —  JUST IN ... TIM PAWLENTY MAKES HIS CASE, SAYS FLASHINESS DOESN'T GAS UP YOUR CAR:  —  Neil Cavuto: How would you defend yourself from that criticism that maybe Mitt Romney needs a flashy running mate?

Blast Kills Core Syrian Security Officials  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — An explosion that Syria state television called a suicide bomb attack killed at least three top aides to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Wednesday including the defense minister and Mr. Assad's powerful brother-in-law.

Amonix closes North Las Vegas solar plant after 14 months, heavy federal subsidies  —  The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, heavily financed under an Obama administration energy initiative, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility 14 months after it opened.

Hacker evades British cops in ‘climate-gate’ probe  —  British police say their investigation of the 2009 theft of climate scientists' emails from a prominent U.K. research institute will end without catching the hacker.  —  The hacking from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) …

Rush Limbaugh: Bane's Creator Weighs In  —  Not long after Rush Limbaugh was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter this afternoon as asserting that the use of longtime DC Comics villain Bane in the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight Rises was in fact a subtle jab at Bain Capital co-founder Mitt Romney …

Nancy Pelosi: Democrats should skip the convention  —  House minority leader Nancy Pelosi says that Democratic members should stay home and campaign in their districts rather than go to the party's national convention in North Carolina.  —  “I'm not encouraging anyone to go to the convention …

The chart that shows just how much reelection trouble Obama is in  —  A daisy chain of political disaster seems to be forming for President Obama, says political analyst Dan Clifton at Strategas Research.  Clifton suggests that “there seems to be a relationship between consumer confidence and whether a president gets reelected.

The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification  —  PUBLICATIONS  —  Ten states now have unprecedented restrictive voter ID laws.  Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin all require citizens to produce specific types …

Former Navy SEAL Launches PAC To Fight Obama  —  Ryan Zinke in his Navy days.  (Photo: IraqVetsForCongress.com)  —  Today, Ryan Zinke, an ex-Navy SEAL and Montana State Senator, announced the launch of Special Operations for America, a political action committee dedicated to “the election of Mitt Romney and like-minded candidates.”

Face blurring: when footage requires anonymity  —  As citizens continue to play a critical role in supplying news and human rights footage from around the world, YouTube is committed to creating even better tools to help them.  According to the international human rights organization WITNESS …