Seldom has so much been written by so many about so little. Mitt Romney’s possible choices for vice president have been dangled in front of the electorate for so long that it might create the illusion that it actually matters whether Ohio Senator Rob Portman, or Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, or Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan is on the other side of the ticket. If nothing else, the speculation about names and timing helps to distract from the distasteful schoolyard brawl that surrounds Romney’s tax returns. When have we ever had high party officials call the Senate majority leader “a dirty liar” on national television?

Today Barack Obama turns 51, amid one of the ugliest election campaigns in recent memory. He is fighting for his political life, locked in a dead heat with his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

On what aides had labeled a “listen and learn” foreign tour, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been doing an awful lot of talking. Not only did he inflame Palestinian sentiment by suggesting that their culture was responsible for their economic distress, he gave tacit encouragement for an Israeli strike on Iran and recognized Jerusalem as the country’s capital, despite a careful US policy of maintaining its major presence in Tel Aviv. Not bad for two days.

SEATTLE — Space needles and coffee, salty mist off the Puget Sound, great wealth in a laid-back setting: Seattle is unlike almost anyplace else. This is reflected in the attitude of the hip young professionals who flock to Seattle to staff companies like Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon that have made the city into a bubble of prosperity in the midst of the economic downturn. Most of Seattle’s voters will likely do their best to give President Barack Obama another term in office, although, judging from their discussions, their hearts are not exactly in it.