National

If you've paid any attention to the last day of the Republican National Convention, you've no doubt heard about Clint Eastwood's strange performance in which he laid into President Obama, whom he pretended was sitting in an empty chair.

It's probably no exaggeration to say that Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for the senate race in Missouri who caused an uproar with his comments about abortion, became one of the least popular figures within the GOP.

How unpopular? Just look at the joke Republican master strategist Karl Rove made during a fundraiser:

As the AP reads it, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stopped just short of "committing the Fed to any specific move, such as another round of bond purchases to lower long-term interest rates."

Bernanke gave a speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wy. today. As with all his speeches, it was being closely watched for signs on what the Federal Reserve would do next.

Just hours after accepting the presidential nomination of the Republican party, Mitt Romney is headed to Louisiana for a more sober occasion: He will tour the damage left by Hurricane Isaac.

Update at 11:42 a.m. ET. President Obama also announced that he would visit the affected areas on Monday.

NPR's Ari Shapiro reports Romney hopes to console the victims of the floods. Ari filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"This New Orleans trip was a last-minute addition to the schedule.