Open Thread

"This was news-cycle campaigning by the Romney campaign gone awry. Why didn't the Romney campaign wait until it had all the facts? On his overseas trip in the summer, Romney was so careful not to criticize Obama while on foreign soil. But how much time do you give an administration to work through a diplomatic and international crisis before trying to score immediate political points? You'd expect the Sarah Palins of the world to quickly pounce on something like this, and she predictably did. But a presidential nominee running for the highest office in the land?" "After the facts have come out, last night's Romney statement only feeds the narrative that his campaign is desperate. And given that the Romney camp has already moved on to other subjects this morning -- issuing a press release on debt and not the embassy attacks -- it appears the campaign realizes it, too. Right before our publication time, the Romney camp responds to us that it stands by its statement from last night."

It is called Schadenfreude, and I enjoy it immensely. Chuck Todd:

"In boxing, you know one fighter is trailing in points when, in the final rounds, he throws everything he can to land a knockout blow against his opponent. The same is largely true in presidential politics. And so yesterday while campaigning in Ohio, we saw Mitt Romney and his team try to throw the kitchen sink at President Obama."

To get the absolute latest on today's primary election, visit these hashtags on Twitter: #netde and #votede

President Obama's re-election campaign and supporting committees brought in more than $114 million last month - the first time the incumbent has outraised Mitt Romney since April. Mittens raised $111 million. Josh Marshall has a simple axiom:

[T]he more Romney goes hard Culture War, the more his campaign chiefs are getting freaked by the polls.

I didn't watch the whole interview, but I caught O'Donnell on Bill Maher responding to the question, "Are you going to run for office again?" with...

Friday! It was the longest short week in memory. But it is the first day of the last weekend before the Primary, so your mailboxes will be overflowing, your message machines will max out from the robocalls and I hope that many of you are working with your favorite candidates for the final work of GOTV.

Tonight is the Big Dog's night. But there are other speakers, and as we saw last night, they rock too.

Damn. That summer went by fast. I guess time flies when you are defining Mitt Romney. Below is the Democratic Convention Speaker Schedule tonight....

Happy Labor Day, everyone! The annual Labor Day parade and picnic is definitely on in Wilmington and everybody who wants to be elected to something is there. The downpour isn't stopping this event!

Officially September and the air already seems that much more political. Sorry for the lateness of this thread -- apparently we are all busy today.

It is amazing to me that it is the end of August. The good news is that Fall should be here any time now. What are your plans for Labor Day weekend? Me, I'm working on the last lit drop of the season and possibly helping on a canvass.

The Obama Team is producing some of the best messaging I've seen from Democrats in a while -- and they seem to be having fun at it. This video they posted prior to Ryan's speech last night:

"A well-placed Republican source tells Townhall that Oscar-winning director and actor Clint Eastwood will travel to Tampa, Florida to attend Mitt Romney's nominating convention this week... Our source -- who spoke on the condition of anonymity -- could not confirm if Eastwood is, in fact, the intriguing 'to-be-announced' speaker, but stated unequivocally that the Dirty Harry star will arrive in Florida late on Wednesday or early on Thursday, and will return to southern California on Friday."

With Isaac headed toward New Orleans, Republican National Convention officials are considering a number of worst-case scenarios including a quick roll call and a truncated speech by Mitt Romney, National Journal reports.

"Officials conceded on the record for the first time Monday that plans for an already shortened three-day convention were in doubt... A senior GOP official said no decision had been made and none was likely Monday, but said the convention conceivably could be as short as a single day."

Other reports suggested the convention could be cancelled entirely. I'd imagine the Democratic convention, also already shortened to three days due to the Labor Day Weekend, may also take a hit if the damage from the storm is bad. And if that occurs, I wonder if we have already seen the last political convention ever...