Romney Aces Convention Test  —  A few hours before Mitt Romney spoke to the Republican convention last night, his campaign did something clever.  It's normal procedure before a major speech is to release excerpts so the evening TV news shows can preview the address.

Clint Eastwood Delivers Bizarre, Rambling Speech To Empty Chair  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Clint Eastwood opened up the primetime portion of the Republican convention with a rambling, mumbling and often incoherent address next to an empty chair that was meant to represent President Obama.

‘Honey Boo Boo’ Ratings Top the Republican National Convention  —  The TLC series hits another high in its fourth episode, nearing 3 million viewers and topping cable news and broadcast network coverage of the RNC among adults 18-49.  —  Perhaps we spoke too soon.

Michael Moore: Mitt Romney Will Win In November (VIDEO) … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Mitt Romney, Michael Moore, Video, HuffPost Live, Josh Zepps, Shadow Conventions 2012, Money In Politics, Shadow Conventions 2012, Politics News  —  Filmmaker Michael Moore joined HuffPost Live Thursday …

Exclusive: Inside Karl Rove's Billionaire Fundraiser  —  On the final morning of the Republican National Convention, Karl Rove took the stage at the Tampa Club to provide an exclusive breakfast briefing to about 70 of the Republican party's highest-earning and most powerful donors.

What War?  —  The United States has some 68,000 troops fighting in Afghanistan.  Over two thousand Americans have died in the more than ten years of that war, a war Mitt Romney has supported.  Yet in his speech accepting his party's nomination to be commander in chief, Mitt Romney said not a word about the war in Afghanistan.

David Koch breaks from GOP on gay marriage, taxes, defense cuts  —  TAMPA, Fla. - Billionaire industrialist David Koch, who is helping steer millions of dollars to elect Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans, on Thursday told POLITICO he disagrees with the GOP's stance on gay marriage …

Very Quick Take  —  As we watch the Romneys and Ryans in the traditional balloon drop, a few really quick takes.  —  On balance, I thought the first half to 2/3 of the speech were really weak, disjointed, kind of rambling.  (The protest disruptions probably added to that impression.)

Harvard Investigates “Unprecedented” Academic Dishonesty Case  —  Nearly half of more than 250 students in “Introduction to Congress” are under investigation  —  Harvard College's disciplinary board is investigating nearly half of the 279 students who enrolled in Government 1310 …

The One Line To Rule Them All  —  I generally agree with Scott that Romney's speech could have been a lot stronger, and still had the same personal structure and done what he wanted to do with it.  Who are his chief speechwriters I wonder?  Is it the same crew (McConnell and Scully) that did Paul Ryan's speech?

Reagan hologram is real, was planned for RNC debut  —  Despite some conflicting reports, Yahoo News has learned that a holographic projection of former President Ronald Reagan is in the works and was originally intended to debut outside the halls of the Republican National Convention this week.

World's richest woman says poor should have less fun, work harder  —  Gina Rinehart, the world's richest woman, says people who are jealous of the wealthy should work harder.  —  Just in case you were beginning to think rich people were deeply misunderstood and that they feel the pain …

Justice Department ends criminal probe of detainee deaths  —  The Justice Department will not file criminal charges against CIA officials after an investigation into the deaths of two detainees, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.  —  Justice is closing its investigation …