Romney's Personal Image Remains Negative  —  Obama Leads Nationwide, But Closer Race in Swing States  —  OVERVIEW  —  By a 52% to 37% margin, more voters say they have an unfavorable than favorable view of Mitt Romney.  The poll, conducted prior to Romney's recent overseas trip …

Reid doubles down on Romney tax charge … WASHINGTON - Sen. Harry Reid caused a stir this week when he told an interviewer that Mitt Romney hasn't released more of his tax returns because “he didn't pay taxes for 10 years.”  On Wednesday, Reid doubled down on the charge.

Reporter pulls rant about Chick-fil-A customers  —  Fort Myers News-Press reporter Mark Krzos' Facebook post about Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day customers had nearly 100 shares before it was pulled earlier today.  ("The level of hatred, unfounded fear and misinformed people was astoundingly sad," he wrote.

Ann Romney's horse fails to win dressage but avoids offending British  —  Rafalca, owned by Mrs Mitt Romney, was impeccably behaved and well received by Olympic equestrians in Greenwich  —  Short of mocking Shetland ponies over their lack of stature or laying into zebras for their failure …

Nine takeaways on Romney's tax plan  —  1) The Tax Policy Center bent over backwards to make Romney's promises add up.  They assumed a Romney administration wouldn't cut a dollar of tax preferences for anyone making less than $200,000 until they had cut every dollar of tax preferences for everyone making over $200,000.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN SUES TO RESTRICT MILITARY VOTING  —  Obama, like many Democrats, like to say that, while they may disagree with the GOP on many issues related to national security, they absolutely share their admiration and dedication to members of our armed forces.

Mitt Romney's Comeback Plan  —  After the deluge.  “This campaign is not like a baseball game,” says Fehrnstrom.  —  Image by Carsten Koall / Getty Images  —  Mitt Romney has lost each of the last 40 days, each day in its own way.  Now his campaign, finally reckoning with a summer …

Vante of Tucson, AZ Regrets Actions of Former CFO  —  Employee Has Left the Company  —  TUCSON, AZ—(Marketwire - Aug 2, 2012) - The following is a statement from Vante:  —  Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith …

CU Psychiatrist Called Threat-Team Members About Holmes  —  Sources Tell CALL7 Investigators Dr. Lynne Fenton Had Concerns About Holmes' Behavior Six Weeks Before Shootings  —  Arthur Kane and John Ferrugia , CALL7 Investigators  —  DENVER — The psychiatrist treating accused Aurora theater …

TPMMuckraker  —  Conyers Speaks Spanish At ‘English-Only’ Hearing (VIDEO)  —  Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) delivered his opening statement in Spanish at a hearing on Thursday about an English-only bill proposed by House Republicans.  —  Republicans at the panel said Conyers' speech actually supported their point.

New York Yankees Facebook Page Announces Derek Jeter To Miss Rest Of Season Due To Sex Change [UPDATE: A Bunch Of Other Teams Hacked Too]  —  It's gone now, but it seems the Yankees' Facebook was hacked just now as it posted this breaking news about Derek Jeter's upcoming sexual reassignment surgery.

Aug. 1: Obama Extends Electoral College Advantage  —  Barack Obama's standing in the FiveThirtyEight forecast reached its strongest position to date on Tuesday as a result of favorable polls in a set of swing states.  The forecast model now gives Mr. Obama a 70.8 percent chance of winning …

White House On Solyndra Failure: “Ugh”  —  Emails between White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer and then-Deputy Senior Advisor Stephanie Cutter reveal concern, frustration as former poster-child for clean energy investment failed.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee peels back the curtain on Solyndra in a new report.

My departing advice on how to save Syria  —  Aleppo is under siege and the prospect of the loss of thousands more civilian lives in Syria is very high.  The UN has condemned the further descent to civil war but the fighting goes on with no sign of relief for Syrians.  Jihadist elements have been drawn into the conflict.

First on CNN: Massive $77 million ad time buy for Obama  —  Washington (CNN) - The Obama campaign has taken the extraordinary step of booking $77 million in additional ad time starting Friday and running through Election Day, a Republican ad buying source told CNN.

Goldman to Invest in City Jail Program, Profiting if Recidivism Falls Sharply  —  New York City, embracing an experimental mechanism for financing social services that has excited and worried government reformers around the world, will allow Goldman Sachs to invest nearly $10 million in a jail program …

Economic forecasting model predicts Obama will lose in near-landslide  —  Political scientist Douglas Hibbs looks at two factors when forecasting presidential elections: a) per capita real disposable personal income over the incumbent president's term, and b) cumulative U.S. military fatalities in overseas conflicts.

Two planes taking off from National put on collision course with plane trying to land  —  Three commuter jets came within seconds of a midair collision at Reagan National Airport on Tuesday after confused air traffic controllers launched two outbound flights directly at another plane coming in to land …

Ahmadinejad: World forces must strive to annihilate Israel  —  In Ramadan speech to ambassadors from Islamic countries, Iranian president says “horrible Zionist current” has been managing world affairs for 400 years, adds that liberating Palestine would solve all world problems.