The New York Times reports that just after Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race in early 2008, finance titan Julian Robertson “flew to Utah to deliver an eye-popping offer. He asked Mr. Romney to become chief executive of his hedge fund, Tiger Management, for an annual salary of about $30 million, plus investment profits.”

“But Mr. Romney was uninterested. His mind — and his heart — were elsewhere, still trained in the raw days after his political defeat not on Wall Street but on the White House and an urgent quest: to be understood by an electorate that had eluded him.”

Paul Ryan’s “forceful but prosaic acceptance speech on Wednesday
continued one of the campaign’s most surprising strategic twists: the
Republican effort to take the offensive on Medicare,” Ron Brownstein reports.

“Although polls show that Ryan’s proposal to transform Medicare into a
premium-support, or voucher, system still faces enormous public
skepticism, he aggressively insisted that President Obama’s health care
plan represents the real threat to the giant program for the elderly.”

“Ryan’s speech lacked the electricity of Sarah Palin’s show-stopping
acceptance four years ago; in his initial hesitation, he seemed a bit
like a car engine struggling to turn over on a winter Wisconsin morning.
And the fact that Ryan did not attempt, even in passing, to explain his
own Medicare proposal may signal continued uncertainty in his campaign
about its political viability. Instead, by targeting the impact of
Obama’s health care plan on Medicare, he signaled again the campaign’s
belief that the best defense on the issue may be a good offense.”

A Secret Service agent was pulled off Mitt Romney’s campaign plane after accidentally leaving her loaded handgun in the bathroom, the New York Times reports.

“By all accounts, the gun appeared to have been left inadvertently, and Mr. Romney was never considered in any danger. The agent involved stayed behind in Indianapolis to address the matter with her supervisors when Mr. Romney returned to Tampa for the remainder of the Republican National Convention. Romney campaign aides were told about the episode but referred questions to the Secret Service.”

Paul Ryan “gave what was, by almost all accounts, the best speech of the convention so far tonight, running longer than 30 minutes – and past the alloted window from the networks – as he talked about himself, his life, his budgetary approach, his mom, and Mitt Romney,” Maggie Haberman reports.

“It was the most attentive the convention hall at this abbreviated convention, and it was a speech that Republicans – and some Democrats, grudgingly – praised as he was delivering it. He came off young, which he is, but generally not so youthful as to seem off; he was emotional but not soft; he was tough on President Obama but not caustic.”

The Daily Beast has clips from the six best moments.

John Hinderaker: “Ryan laid out the differences between conservatism — the American tradition — on the one hand, and liberalism on the other, as well as anyone ever has.”

Dave Weigel: “Most of the millions of people who watched the speech on television tonight do not read fact-checks or obsessively consume news 15 hours a day, and will never know how much Ryan’s case against Obama relied on lies and deception. Ryan’s pants are on fire, but all America saw was a barn-burner.”

Andrew Sullivan: “If you ignore the details, and wipe your memory like an Etch-A-Sketch, it can sound like a wonderful return to fiscal responsibility. But slashing more taxes for the very wealthy, boosting defense spending, keeping Medicare intact for the current elderly, and gutting Obamacare’s savings is a return to supply side fantasy, not a serious alternative to getting us back to fiscal sanity.”

At the Republican convention last night, “there was indeed a lofty, high-minded speech, one that managed to forcefully articulate a conservative world view without cheap partisan attacks or facts stretched to the breaking point. But it wasn’t Ryan’s — it was delivered by Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state,” Molly Ball reports.

“Rice’s address had a sophistication, ease, and grace almost never found in modern political speeches. It was a speechwriter’s speech, the kind you could imagine reading in a history book. She spoke with a diplomat’s formality and the teleprompter turned off, glancing only occasionally at her notes on the podium. “

E. J. Dionne: “Maybe it’s unfair to say so because former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice didn’t have to carry any water as a member of the Republican ticket. But her speech to the Republican National Convention was more serious and, yes, more presidential than any other speech on Wednesday night. She outshined Paul Ryan.”

“Sometimes they just make things up.”

— President Obama, quoted by the New York Times, commenting on the strategy of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

McKay Coppins: “The effort will include a dramatic increase in Spanish-language ad spending, an aggressive bilingual mail program geared toward early voter turnout, and an ambitious ground game led by 13 full-time field staffers dedicated solely to courting Hispanics — more, the aide claimed, than ‘any other Republican presidential campaign in history.’ The stakes are high: Swings of a few percentage points among Hispanic voters in Florida, as in other crucial states, could easily swing the election.”

A new Gallup poll finds Americans have mixed views of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who will be confirmed as the GOP’s vice presidential nominee tonight, with 38% saying their opinion is favorable, and 36% saying it is unfavorable.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll tracking poll finds Mitt Romney getting a boost from his party’s nominating convention in Tampa this week.

Romney and President Obama are deadlocked among likely voters at 43% each. That was an improvement for Romney from Obama’s two-point lead on Tuesday and four-point lead on Monday.

Said pollster Julia Clark: “There is movement toward Romney, which is traditional for a convention. It’s small and the change is incremental, but it’s been moving the last couple of days.”

Mitt Romney’s eldest sister, who has backed prominent Democrats for office, had some reassuring words for women concerned about the Republican Party’s hard line on abortion, National Journal reports.

Said Jane Romney: “He’s not going to be touching any of that. It’s not his focus.”

Wonk Wire: How presidents shape abortion rights.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told NBC News he “absolutely” would consider another presidential run.

Said Perry: “Oh absolutely. There’s a long time until 2016 and a lot of good things can happen.”

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Nevada finds President Obama with a small lead over Mitt Romney, 50% to 47%.

In late March Obama led by 8 points, in early June it was down to 6 points, and now it’s just 3 points.

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign toasted its top donors today aboard a 150-foot yacht flying the flag of the Cayman Islands, ABC News reports.

“The exclusive event, hosted by a Florida developer on his yacht ‘Cracker Bay,’ was one of a dozen exclusive events meant to nurture those who have raised more than $1 million for Romney’s bid.”

Stephen Colbert teaches Republicans about the female body.

[Read more…]

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said that he believes Rep. Todd Akin (R) will ultimately decide to withdraw his U.S. Senate bid in Missouri, The Hill reports.

Said Blunt: “I didn’t say I was confident … I’m hopeful he will and I believe he will. He’s an engineer, he’s a quantitative guy. I think at some point you have to add up the columns here, and my belief is that by anyway you add them up, they don’t add up.”

Meanwhile, John Fund reports “behind-the-scenes efforts to figure out a way to have Akin exit from the Senate race before the final deadline of September 25 continue unabated.”

“By the time I get to town, the delegates may have decided to nominate
Ann instead. And wouldn’t that be interesting? And do you think if Ann
were the nominee, the press would write stories about how my job is to
humanize Ann? I don’t think so.”

— Mitt Romney, introducing his wife via video to a crowd at the GOP convention in Tampa.