The 2012 Republican Party platform was formalized today at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL. In it, the GOP takes a firm stance against instituting a national popular vote scheme.

Hurricane Isaac threat to New Orleans has failed to spark a national debate on global warming but it will test the city's new levee system.

Today's daily number at Pew Research Center's The Databank is 42 - representing the percent of independents who regard Mitt Romney's choice for VP, Paul Ryan, as an "only fair" or "poor" choice. Compared to Biden, however, this number fairs well, with the majority of independents agreeing that Biden has only done a "fair" or "poor" job as Vice President.

Pew Reports:

In an interview Monday, Brian Dougherty, a Republican National Convention delegate from the Pennsylvania delegation told IVN that if the controversial RNC rule change advanced by the Romney camp at this week's convention were in place in 1976, Ronald Reagan would have never risen to prominence in the GOP at the 1976 Republican convention, which set the stage for his successful presidential bid in 1980.

Dougherty said:

Chris Matthews created a stir yesterday after an exchange with Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Watch below for Chris Matthews vs Reince Priebus and let us know what you think. Was Matthews out of line? Did he have a point?

I had IVN's Republican National Convention Correspondent Tom Brown on the phone just now, and he reports from Tampa that the Pennsylvania delegation took a vote this morning to support the new RNC rules drafted by the RNC rules committee, which contain controversial measures to give the national party and winning presidential campaigns like Gov. Mitt Romney's power over which delegates each state party sends to the national convention every four years and how they can vote.

In a status update posted yesterday, Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan uses Facebook to thank his supporters for helping him grow his Facebook Page, which almost has 2 million followers. Using the application Tout, Ryan recored a short video that not only thanked his supporters, but updated them on the campaign and Convention.

Some might say a Vermont credit union is just another kind of bank. However, the State of Vermont says it is not and that credit unions calling themselves banks could be subject to civil penalties.