Today's Times
- Aides and friends to President Obama say he is a voraciously competitive perfectionist, and his will to win - and fear of losing - is in overdrive this campaign season, Jodi Kantor writes.
- Mr. Obama compared the Republican National Convention to a rerun on “Nick at Night,†saying the speakers were backward-looking and unwilling to provide new ideas, Jackie Calmes reports.
- Speaker John A. Boehner raised $84 million in just under two years, believed to be the biggest amount brought in by a House speaker in a single election cycle, Jennifer Steinhauer reports. The dizzying amount underscores how fund-raising has become both a top responsibility of the modern speaker and a means to holding on to that power at the top.
- Protesters filled the streets of Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday for the Democratic National Convention, pushing a long agenda of grievances, Viv Bernstein writes. Though two were arrested, it was a peaceful march on a day that focused on issues like the crackdown on illegal immigrants, foreclosures across the country, gay rights and jobs.
- Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio will give the Democratic convention's keynote address, making him the first Latino to step into the role that put Barack Obama in the national spotlight eight years ago, Manny Fernandez writes.
Around the Web
- Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu wrote an op-ed for The Observer newspaper saying that former President George W. Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain should be tried for war crimes.
- After the Republican National Convention proved that unscripted mishaps can throw off even the best political choreography, Politico listed five potential land mines that Democrats may want to watch out for in Charlotte.
