Flashback: Aug. 8, 2000 - On this day, Al Gore picked Joe Lieberman to be his running mate. It was six days before the 2000 Democratic convention.

Quick Aside - Other fun flashbacks for Aug. 8: '06 - Lieberman loses his Democratic senate primary in Connecticut - http://abcn.ws/PFQdGw '74 Nixon announces resignation from oval office - Archive VIDEO - http://abcn.ws/PFPODU

Back to 2012 - Days 'til this year's GOP Convention - 19

John Edwards was an anomaly when he was picked on July 6, 20 days before the 2004 Democratic convention.

But our Gregory Simmons went back to Lloyd Bentsen and Edwards was the only one picked more than a week before the party convention.

So there's that. http://abcn.ws/OMAMO3

Pawlenty Says 'We'll Know Soon Enough' - After a brief speech at the opening of a campaign office here, Tim Pawlenty was asked if he would return to Michigan "when you're vice president." http://abcn.ws/Ndsz82 (Shushannah Walshe)

Reverse Wedding Crashers - Jewish wedding participants follow Romney to New Jersey fundraiser - http://abcn.ws/Rr7nfq

Matthew Dowd - A Tale of Two Unelectable Candidates - Two unelectable candidates running overwhelming negative campaigns against each other will result in one's winning and one's losing in November, but with the winner unlike to have a mandate for governing or a vision that the public was behind. And with the results in congressional races likely to produce a Congress even more split, it certainly doesn't bode well for functional governing next year…. whoever wins the election as president might be akin to the No. 2 finisher at the Tour de France who won because the winner was disqualified. http://abcn.ws/NjHuM2 (Matthew Dowd)

Obama Campaign Won't Disavow Misleading Ad - ProObama group suggests Romney had a hand in woman's death from cancer - It'd be a good story if it were true. From Devin Dwyer: Various fact-checkers has since pointed out that Soptic's wife did not die until 2006, five years after GST Steel closed, and that she had health insurance coverage through her own employer for part of that time. It's also unclear whether having insurance coverage through GST Steel would have meant better prevention or detection of the cancer that ultimately killed her.

In separate appearances on morning talk shows, senior Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs and deputy Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter were pressed on whether the insinuation that Romney contributed to Soptic's death crossed a line. Both distanced themselves from the super PAC, asserting independence from the group, and claimed to know nothing about Soptic's case. "This is an ad by an entity that's not controlled by the campaign," Gibbs said on MSNBC. "I certainly don't know the specifics of this man's case."

Cutter on CNN echoed that line: "I don't know the facts about when Mr. Soptic's wife got sick, or the facts about his health insurance, but here's what I do know: That Mitt Romney personally handled the deal to take over GST Steel and he personally handled some of the decisions made to load that company up with debt so much that it went underwater. It went bankrupt."

… years before Soptic's wife died.

Romney Aide Says Romneycare Could Have Covered Woman - The ad is wrong. But It was a strange moment when the spokesman for the man who has pledged to repeal Obamacare suggested the state-based individual mandate program - Romneycare - he enacted as governor could have saved the woman from the misleading ad - http://abcn.ws/S3ij0i

Obama Stokes 'War on Women'- President Joins Sandra Fluke in aggressive play for Colorado Women - President Obama kicks off a two-day campaign swing through Colorado today by stoking debate over an alleged Republican war on women. http://abcn.ws/Rr27st (Devin Dwyer)

Portman Brackets - http://abcn.ws/NogxVR (Gregory Simmons)

Gingrich and Clinton See '90s Flashback as Welfare Enters the Ring-Who would have thought the 2012 presidential campaign would take Americans back to the early '90s when welfare reform was the hot topic. It's back to the delicate dance of Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton, the two people responsible for passing the landmark welfare reform in 1996, now with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama vying for the presidency, right in the middle. http://abcn.ws/OOIcTJ (Elicia Dover)

Go Tommy! - 70-Year Old Senate Candidate Does 50 Push-Ups- Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign might consider a new spokesman: Tommy Thompson, a 70-year-old Senate candidate who was the 42nd governor of Wisconsin, did 50 push-ups in a Web video posted by Journal Sentinel Online. http://abcn.ws/NozbNy (Jilian Fama)

Minn. Gov. Denies Pill Popping Accusation-Controversy has flared up in Minnesota after a congressional candidate accused Dayton of taking "15 to 16 pills" at a breakfast meeting - a charge that Dayton, who says he takes only prescribed medications and antacids, has denied. http://abcn.ws/QFTcmY (Meghan Kiesel)

Veep Beat: Paul Ryan's Rising Momentum-RYAN RISING: There has been a surge in mentions about Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's potential running mate in recent days, and, as National Review Online's Robert Costa writes, the chatter about a Romney-Ryan ticket could just be true. http://abcn.ws/PF2LxS (Arlette Saenz)

Missouri Passes Right-to-Pray Amendment, Re-stating Freedoms - Missouri voters passed a constitutional amendment asserting the right to pray. http://abcn.ws/MxfuZ5 (Chris Good)

In Redistricting-Fueled Battle for St. Louis, Lacy Clay Ousts Russ Carnahan - Rep. Lacy Clay, Jr. won the primary fight over St. Louis on Tuesday, emerging without much of a scare from the political Thunderdome of his newly merged district. http://abcn.ws/O4tvdA (Chris Good)

Missouri Primary Upset: Todd Akin Defeats Self-Funder, Palin-Backed Rival in GOP Contest - Sarah Palin's chosen candidate has lost Missouri's GOP Senate primary. So has the race's self-funding front-runner. http://abcn.ws/TeLMXz (Chris Good)

Mitt Romney's Popularity Stays Low, Obama's Is Better, But with Challenges - Mitt Romney is laboring under the lowest personal popularity ratings for a presumptive presidential nominee in midsummer election-year polls back to 1984. But Barack Obama has his own challenges in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, notably among registered voters, and with much weaker numbers among men than women. http://abcn.ws/OL7X4x (Gary Langer)