The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Carrie Halperin, Jayce Henderson, and Amanda VanAllen

PRESIDENT OBAMA

Boston Globe's Callum Borchers: " Obama rises in polls after convention" President Obama got a modest bounce from last week's Democratic National Convention, pulling ahead of Republican challenger Mitt Romney, according to polls released Monday by CNN and Gallup. Obama leads Romney, 52 percent to 46 percent, among likely voters in a CNN survey taken between Friday and Sunday, the three days after the convention. A poll taken in the four days between the parties' conventions showed the two candidates tied at 48 percent. LINK

MITT ROMNEY

The Hill's Jonathan Easley " Team Romney: President Obama is on post-convention 'sugar high'" he Romney campaign released a memo Monday warning supporters against reading too deeply into the latest polling numbers, which show President Obama pulling ahead of the GOP nominee. "Don't get too worked up about the latest polling," Romney pollster Neil Newhouse wrote in the memo. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Mitchell Landsberg and Robin Abcarian: " Mitt Romney calls Russia 'geopolitical adversary'" Mitt Romney took up the cudgels again against Russia on Monday, telling a radio interviewer that "almost everything we try to do globally, they try and oppose." He accused President Obama, once again, of going soft on his Russian counterparts. LINK

The Washington Times' Seth McLaughlin: " Romney warns of looming defense cuts" Seeking to regain the offense in the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney on Monday said President Obama is to blame for the automatic defense-spending cuts looming at the beginning of next year and that those reductions will devastate communities in Ohio and other key political states. LINK

OBAMA & ROMNEY

The Washington Post's Dan Balz and Jon Cohen: " Among likely voters, Obama-Romney close" Last week's Democratic National Convention helped President Obama improve his standing against Republican Mitt Romney, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but did little to reduce voter concern about his handling of the economy. The survey shows that the race remains close among likely voters, with Obama at 49 percent and Romney at 48 percent, virtually unchanged from a poll taken just before the conventions. LINK

The New York Times' Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny: " Romney Camp Seeks to Head Off Post-Convention Anxieties" President Obama raised more money in August than Mitt Romney did, outpacing him for the first time since the spring and adding to a sense in both parties that Mr. Obama is entering the post-convention sprint to Election Day in a slightly stronger position, leaving Mr. Romney with less than two months to change that dynamic. With some nervousness apparent among Republicans, Mr. Romney's campaign rushed out a memo on Monday stating that any post-convention polling lift for Mr. Obama was "a sugar high" that would not last the next few weeks, let alone to Election Day. LINK

PAUL RYAN

Politico's Alex Isenstadt: " Republicans turn to Mom" House Republicans say they'd never push grandma over the proverbial Medicare cliff. If you don't believe it, just ask their parents, who are starring in a string of early ads by vulnerable lawmakers. Taking a cue from Paul Ryan - the author of the Medicare makeover plan Democrats are trying to bury them with - vulnerable GOP lawmakers are invoking mom and dad as character witnesses in a string of early campaign ads. LINK

USA Today's David Jackson: " Ryan defends sequester budget vote" Paul Ryan is defending a past vote on something both he and Mitt Romney oppose, the potential for a sequester of defense funds. Romney said this weekend it was a "mistake" for congressional Republicans to agree to the possibility of a series of budget cuts - including defense cuts - that kick in early next year if Congress is unable to agree on a debt reduction deal. LINK

OHIO

The Wall Street Journal's Colleen McCain Nelson and Janet Hook: " Parties Dig in Fertile Ground" Mitt Romney's hopes of carrying Ohio rest on areas like Hamilton County here in the state's southwest corner, a former GOP stronghold, and on voters like Susan Houghton, a lapsed Republican voter. Ms. Houghton broke from her long allegiance to the GOP and backed President Barack Obama in 2008. But now, after losing her sales job, she is worried about the economy and is volunteering for Mr. Romney's campaign. "Obama had a nice message, but he over-promised and under-delivered," she said. LINK

BOB WOODWARD

ABC News' Rick Klein: " Woodward: 'Gaps' in Obama's Leadership Contributed to Debt Deal Collapse" "Gaps" in President Obama's leadership contributed to the collapse of a "grand bargain" on spending and debt last year, with the president failing to cultivate congressional relationships that may have helped him break through Republican opposition, author Bob Woodward told ABC News' Diane Sawyer. Woodward's reporting in his new book, "The Price of Politics," reveals a president whom he said lacked the "stamina" in turning personal relationships with congressional leaders into action the way some of his predecessors have done. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO

" Obama Pulls Ahead of Romney in New Poll" LINK

BOOKMARKS

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