Mitt's flat bounce.

This is only slightly premature -- I'd want to wait for data to pour in through Monday, Labor Day, before necessarily commenting -- but it's worth noting that, per Politico, the Gallup Poll is showing:

• 38% -- people who found Mitt's speech to be "excellent" or "good"
• 2% -- percentage point post-convention bounce, smallest since...well Gallup's tracking only goes back to 1984 and it has never been this small
• 24% -- the number of people who did not watch any part of the GOP convention, largest since...well again, Gallop's tracking for this question only goes back to 1996, and it matches the largest number of people who tuned out.

For some reference, I give you the NYT's pre-post-convention analysis.  I quote:

"The national polls have been exceptionally stable, dating back to late 2011. Except for a period in February and March when Mr. Romney was struggling in the Republican primaries, they've pretty much always showed something on the order of a two-point lead for Mr. Obama. 

In fact, as measured by the standard deviation of national polls since November, this has been the least volatile polling year ever. The standard deviation in the national polls has been 3.7 percentage points, as compared with a historical average of 6.7 points.

If Mr. Romney only pulls into a tie with Mr. Obama, or still trails him in polls conducted this weekend, that would be a troubling sign for his campaign. The track record of challengers who failed to lead after their conventions is not good."

The Mitt Bounce that never occurred.

So it's worth highlighting the fact that the NYT's expected Mitt bounce didn't happen.

Mitt didn't pull ahead (well except for the conservative Rasmussen).  Like I said though, I want to wait until Tuesday when additional data comes through, but Mitt's just not enjoying any bounce.

I have said this many times before: people who insist that this is a competitive race, are lying either out of ignorance or out of self-serving deception.  This is a race that has been exceptionally stable, which points -- to me at least -- that the race is far more than about the current state of the economy; it is about the people who have pushed back against an improving economy, for the sake of gaining power and out of self interest.

Republicans have been trying to push back the last two days, asking, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"  The message Democrats need to be pushing back, is this one noted by Jon Stewart (skip to 2:42):

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Three senators and three representatives were the only Republicans to vote for the stimulus bill. That's it. Of those six, Arlen Specter lost to an ultra-conservative in his bid to keep his senate seat, Senator Olympia Snowe and Representative Timothy Johnson have both announced that they will not be running for reelection in 2012.

Ultimately, this lack of a bounce points to one distinct problem: most of the people who will vote for Mitt, will do so reluctantly, holding their nose, closing their eyes, crossing their fingers, and looking towards 2016.