“As a Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders vociferously argued for political transparency, especially when money was concerned,” NBC News reports.

“But when federal law required Sanders to reveal, by May 15, current details of his personal finances, his campaign lawyer asked the Federal Election Commission for a 45-day extension. On June 30, Sanders’ campaign requested a second 45-day extension.”

“Now that Sanders’ second extension has expired, spokesman Michael Briggs confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity that the senator won’t file a presidential campaign personal financial disclosure after all.”

FiveThirtyEight: “Since the conventions, however, Trump’s polling has worsened — overall and in states with key Senate races. In the eight states with competitive Senate races and both pre- and post-conventions polling, Trump had previously been down an average of about 6 percentage points; he’s now down an average of 9 points. And while Republican Senate candidates had been up by an average of a little more than 1 percentage point before the conventions in these eight states, they are now down by a little more than 1 point. That is, Republican Senate candidates in key states are still running ahead of Trump, but that cushion may no longer be enough to win now that Trump’s fortunes have worsened.”

Washington Post: “At the lowest point of Donald Trump’s quest for the presidency, the Republican nominee might have brought in a political handyman to sand his edges. Instead, he put his campaign in the hands of a true believer who promises to amplify the GOP nominee’s nationalist message and reinforce his populist impulses.”

Politico: “The campaign is ‘feeling comfortable’ with the state of the race, Manafort told a TV interviewer… But in private, the top brass of the Trump campaign was growing increasingly alarmed at the dire numbers they were seeing — and aides knew they had to confront their boss with the truth. On Aug. 9, Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s chief pollster and a longtime party strategist, sat down with the nominee. The previous week had been a disaster, punctuated by Trump’s damaging confrontation with a Gold Star family. Fabrizio, who was joined by Manafort deputy Rick Gates, had just completed a fresh batch of polling and had an urgent message for the candidate: If you have another week like the last one, you won’t win.”

“According to interviews with over a dozen aides involved at various levels of the campaign, Trump’s team had already come to recognize the peril they faced.”

E. J. Dionne: “If you thought the old Donald Trump campaign was wild and crazy, just wait for the new Trump campaign now that Breitbart’s Steve Bannon has taken over as chief executive.”

“The new leadership — with Bannon and pollster Kellyanne Conway displacing Paul Manafort of the Ukrainian Connection at the top of the heap — is likely to steer Trump even more in the direction of the European far right. It also tells you something that Bannon sees Sarah Palin, about whom he made a laudatory documentary, as a model for anti-establishment politics.”

Dan Balz: “The latest shake-up in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is rightly described as a move to ‘let Trump be Trump.’ In reality, the sudden changes highlight the fact that a politician whose instincts appeared so sure during the Republican primaries has lost his way as a general-election candidate. It remains questionable whether he can find the equilibrium and the discipline needed to turn his flailing campaign around.”

“That probably is what is behind the shifts… Coming 82 days before the general election, the staff changes had the distinct bouquet of desperation rather than the kind of routine and orderly “expansion” that the candidate and his senior advisers were saying.”

“Donald Trump, following weeks of agitation over his advisers’ attempts to temper his style, moved Wednesday to overhaul his struggling campaign by rebuffing those efforts and personally elevating two longtime associates who have encouraged his combative populism,” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump’s decision sent a powerful signal to Republicans and Democrats alike that the real estate magnate intends to finish the presidential race on his own terms and that his closing argument to voters will defy the usual partisan template of general-election campaigns.”

“In its place will be a political pitch with ire directed at both parties and a fierce anti-establishment ethos, coupled with harsh critiques of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.”

Here are the latest state polls in the presidential race:

Michigan: Clinton 44%, Trump 33% (Mitchell)

Mississippi: Trump 52%, Clinton 39% (Magellan)

Colorado: Clinton 41%, Trump 33% (Quinnipiac)

Iowa: Clinton 41%, Trump 39% (Quinnipiac)

Virginia: Clinton 45%, Trump 34% (Quinnipiac)

Indiana: Trump 47%, Clinton 36% (Monmouth)

Missouri: Trump 45%, Clinton 42% (PPP)

“A lot of people think he has no organization. Good. I like them to think that.”

— Rudy Giuliani, quoted by Politico, on the Trump campaign.

Washington Post: “Trump plans to re-double his focus on holding big rallies and doing lots of TV hits. He’ll also more aggressively attack Hillary Clinton, to the extent that’s possible, and he’ll re-embrace his role as an outsider, making less of an effort to be nice to GOP greybeards.”

A Bloomberg Politics/Morning Consult poll found registered voters with money in the market narrowly pick Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, 42% to 40%, as the candidate who would be better for their holdings.

That’s down from a Trump advantage of 50% to 33% when a similar survey was taken in June.

Donald Trump “has shaken up his presidential campaign for the second time in two months, hiring a top executive from the conservative website Breitbart News and promoting a senior adviser in an effort to right his faltering campaign,” the New York Times reports.

“Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, will become the Republican campaign’s chief executive, and Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster for Mr. Trump and his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, will become the campaign manager.”

“Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, will retain his title. But the staffing change, hammered out on Sunday and set to be formally announced Wednesday morning, was seen by some as a demotion for Mr. Manafort.”