Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) tells David Brody why Mitt Romney won’t detail the tax loopholes he says they will eliminate if elected.

Said Ryan: “We have to be able to work with Congress on those details, on how to fill it in and more to the point we don’t want to cut some backroom deal that they did with Obamacare where we hatched some plan behind the scenes and they spring it on the country. We want to do this in front, in the public, through congressional hearings with Congress so that we can get to the best conclusion with a public participation. That’s the process that works the best to ultimate success gets this done. That’s why we’re doing it this way.”

“Because he is being graded on a curve with a bunch of guys who jump into the Sea of Galilee because they want to be closer to God.”

— Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), quoted by The New Republic, on why Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has developed a “big thinker reputation.”

Mitt Romney’s campaign “has concluded that the 2012 election will not be decided by elusive, much-targeted undecided voters — but by the motivated partisans of the Republican base,” BuzzFeed reports.

“This shifting campaign calculus has produced a split in Romney’s message. His talk show interviews and big ad buys continue to offer a straightforward economic focus aimed at traditional undecided voters. But out stumping day to day is a candidate who wants to talk about patriotism and God, and who is increasingly looking to connect with the right’s intense, personal dislike for President Barack Obama.”

Meanwhile, Politico reports Romney is rolling out a new and broader strategy to make the election a referendum on “status quo versus change.”

“The shift, which is to include much more emphasis on Romney’s policy prescriptions, means he is scrapping the most basic precept of his campaign. From the time he began contemplating running again after his loss in the 2008 primaries, Romney’s theory of the case has been a relentless and nearly exclusive focus on the listless economy.”

Mitt Romney unveiled a strong new ad that features him talking directly to the camera about what he would do as president.

Jon Karl reports the ad is part of “a new advertising offensive that will focus more on the GOP candidate’s plans to turn the country around.  Sources say several new ads have been cut that feature Romney speaking directly to camera. Romney’s aides are describing the retooling as ‘More Mitt.’ It’s an acknowledgement that attacking President Obama is not enough — Romney still has to make the case that he is a credible alternative.”

[Read more…]

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Massachusetts finds Elizabeth Warren (D) surging in her challenge to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in the U.S. Senate race.

Warren now holds a two point lead, 48% to 46%, after trailing by five points in the firm’s poll last month.

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein said that he had personally heard British Prime Minister David Cameron make disparaging remarks about Mitt Romney, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Said Weinstein: “I witnessed Prime Minister saying to a group of people, myself included, that Mitt Romney had that unique distinction of uniting all of England against him with his various remarks. On behalf of my love of England, I have to support the President who is anything but making faux-pas.”

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by five points, 51% to 46%.

When third party candidates are included, Obama leads Romney 49% to 45% with Gary Johnson at 2% and Virgil Goode and Jill Stein both at just 1%.

Key findings: “Virginia continues to look like it may be something of a firewall state for Obama. PPP has now polled it 9 times this cycle, and President Obama has led by at least 4 points on all 9 of the polls. He’s been ahead by 5 points, 5 points, 8 points, and 8 points over the course of the four surveys we’ve conducted in 2012.”

The Week notes Mitt Romney and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu are old friends while Netanyahu and President Obama are frenemies, at best.

TPM: “Netanyahu vigorously disputed such charges Sunday. He said he believes Obama and Romney are both committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and that support for Israel in the U.S. is bipartisan.”

Politico: “Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s top strategist, knew his candidate’s convention speech needed a memorable mix of loft and grace if he was going to bound out of Tampa with an authentic chance to win the presidency. So Stevens, bypassing the speechwriting staff at the campaign’s Boston headquarters, assigned the sensitive task of drafting it to Peter Wehner, a veteran of the last three Republican White Houses and one of the party’s smarter wordsmiths.”

“Not a word Wehner wrote was ever spoken.”

“Stevens junked the entire thing, setting off a chaotic, eight-day scramble that would produce an hour of prime-time problems for Romney, including Clint Eastwood’s meandering monologue to an empty chair… The hasty process resulted in a colossal oversight: Romney did not include a salute to troops serving in war zones, and did not mention Al Qaeda or Afghanistan, putting him on the defensive on national security just as the Middle East was about to erupt.”

“No one in Boston thinks this can only be about the economy anymore.”

— A Romney campaign adviser, quoted by BuzzFeed.

Failed U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R) told the Wilmington News-Journal that she’s considering another bid in 2014.

Said O’Donnell: “I think I owe that to my supporters, to at least consider a run. People sacrificed. Not only came out of their comfort zone — sacrificed to work hard in order to win the primary. And I think that I owe it to them to give it every consideration.”

The Week looks at the Federal Reserve chairman’s new effort to bolster the economic recovery as Republicans argue that he’s in the tank for President Obama.

Mitt Romney’s campaign speeches “now center on his five-point economic plan that, he says, will create 12 million jobs over the next four years,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

The current plan boils down Romney’s 59-point primary season proposal on jobs and the economy.

“It’s surprisingly difficult to find substantive, independent analysis of the plan… The bottom line seems to be that few people are certain that the plan would work because aspects of it remain vague. Still, it includes some of the most specific policies that Romney has described for how he proposes to jump-start the economy. And its importance has only been underscored in recent days by polls showing that President Obama has drawn even with Romney on the question of who is better equipped to manage the economy.”

A new Western New England Polling Institute poll in Massachusetts finds Elizabeth Warren (D) pulling away from Sen. Scott Brown (R) in the U.S. Senate race and now leads 50% to 44%, among likely voters.

Said pollster Tim Vercellotti: “This may be not just due to her speech, but the overall enthusiasm Democrats have had coming out of their convention. The data shows that Democrats are more fired up right now than independents or Republicans.”

A new Public Policy Polling survey is coming later tonight and a Suffolk University poll is due out on Monday.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told CNN that Mitt Romney’s pick of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate will give Democrats a better shot at retaking control of the House of Representatives.

Said Pelosi: “On August 11, when Gov. Romney chose Ryan, that was the pivotal day. That is the day things really changed. We were on a path. I would have said to you then we were dead even. Well, the momentum is very much with us, the Medicare issue in this campaign.”

Republican lawmakers “are grumbling about the direction of Mitt Romney’s campaign and say he needs to change course,” The Hill reports.

The GOP members say Romney must do a better job of communicating to voters what to expect of him, either by making a bold pledge or fleshing policy proposals with more details.

Said one Republican senator: “Papa Bush was down after the Democratic convention in 1988, people worried he couldn’t come back and then he made his ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ pledge.”

Said another: “My advice is don’t try to turn him into something he’s not. You’re never going to turn him into a teddy bear.”