Are we now reaching the saturation point in TV ads? It’s possible that $45-50 million could be spent on the presidential race this week alone -- in August (!!!)… Romney campaign looking to turn page on a rough last seven weeks… Here’s one way it’s trying to achieve that: by announcing that Team Romney (campaign, RNC, victory fund) raised more than $100 million in July… Yesterday’s tragic shooting in Wisconsin… The Paul Ryan VP boomlet… GOP convention unveils a partial list of its speakers… Washington Post lands a punch on Plouffe… And the New Republic scrutinizes Stu Stevens.

*** Reaching the saturation point: Last week, the campaigns, political parties, and outside interest groups spent almost $40 million in TV ads in the presidential contest, according to ad-spending data from SMG Delta. And this week, with the Americans for Prosperity $25 million buy for the next month (which breaks out to some $5 million per week), that number could very well jump up to $45 million or $50 million -- in August. And in just 8-12 battleground states. We often struggle to find the words to describe UNBELIEVABLE amounts of money being spent on this presidential race. But close to $50 million in a week is absolutely stunning. It’s also unchartered territory. Are there diminishing returns on this advertising? Do ads become less effective? How do you break through the clutter? We just don’t know. But here’s one thing we do know: At some point, no matter how much more water you put on a towel, it becomes harder to make it wetter. That’s why they call it saturation.

Christopher Devargas / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney points to someone in the audience as he is greeted with cheers and applause at a campaign event held at Sierra Truck Body & Equipment, in North Las Vegas, Nevada, August 3, 2012.

*** Trying to turn the page: Make no mistake: For much of the past seven weeks, Mitt Romney and his campaign have found themselves on the defensive -- on the Obama administration’s immigration announcement, the outsourcing charges, Bain Capital, the tax returns, and the overseas trip. Even on Friday, Team Romney was unable to completely change the subject with the better-than-expected jobs report (163,000 jobs created in July, though the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3%). But as we’ve pointed out before, the Romney campaign has two key moments this month that will allow it to turn the page: the VP pick and the GOP convention. Dan Balz put it well in yesterday’s Washington Post: “The best that can be said about how Mitt Romney fared in July is that he survived. That has only raised the stakes for what the presumptive Republican presidential nominee needs to do in August… Over the next four weeks, he will need to do what the campaign long has said he would do, which is to introduce himself to the voters in a much more positive and appealing way. He’s known now more for his wealth than anything else, and not in a way that’s helpful.”

*** Team Romney rakes in another $100 million in July: Here’s another way the Romney campaign is trying to turn the page: by releasing its fundraising numbers. Early this morning, it announced that Team Romney (so the campaign, the RNC, the victory fund) raised $101.3 million in July. It’s the second-straight month it has pulled in more than $100 million, though this is down slightly from the $106.1 million in June. By comparison, Team Obama raked in $70 million in June. But our normal caveat here: Do note that this $101.3 million isn't the amount raised by the Romney CAMPAIGN -- it's the total raised by all three entities (campaign, RNC, victory fund). Ditto the cash on hand. And as we continually find out when we see the actual numbers filed with the FEC, the Obama campaign outraises the Romney campaign in the apples-to-apples comparison.

*** Yesterday’s tragic shooting in Wisconsin: It’s hard to ignore the second mass shooting in just over two weeks. Yesterday in Wisconsin a gunman opened fire at a Sikh temple, killing six and wounding others. Both Obama and Romney issued statements. “At this difficult time, the people of Oak Creek [WI] must know that the American people have them in our thoughts and prayers, and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who were killed and wounded,” Obama said. “This was a senseless act of violence and a tragedy that should never befall any house of worship. Our hearts are with the victims, their families, and the entire Oak Creek Sikh community,” Romney added.

*** The Paul Ryan boomlet: All of a sudden, there has been VP buzz surrounding House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). Much of this is coming from conservatives who are still trying to get excited about Romney’s candidacy. (See the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes and Bill Kristol.) And these are the same folks who have been pushing Marco Rubio, but who probably see the handwriting on the wall here.

*** GOP convention unveils a list of its speakers: Last night, the Tampa Bay Times reported that seven Republicans -- Rick Scott, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice, Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich and Susana Martinez -- will speak at the GOP convention. However, it’s very possible that none of these speakers will address in the primetime part of the convention, and the Tampa Bay Times notes that the RNC has yet released the day or time for these speeches. But here’s what we do know: If you were thinking there was an outside chance that Romney could pick Condi Rice or Susana Martinez as his VP running mate, this news pretty much eliminates that possibility.

*** Landing a punch on Plouffe: Remember when we wrote late last week that Republicans were targeting high-profile members of the Obama campaign? Well, this news isn’t going to stop that. The Washington Post: “David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser who was President Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, accepted a $100,000 speaking fee in 2010 from an affiliate of a company doing business with Iran’s government. A subsidiary of MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company, paid Plouffe for two speeches he made in Nigeria in December 2010, about a month before he joined the White House staff.” But allies of Plouffe push back on this article, noting that folks like Colin Powell gave speeches to firms cited for financing ties to Iran before joining the Bush administration. What’s more, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of quid pro quo. Nevertheless, the article lands a punch on Plouffe.

*** And profiling Stu Stevens: But Plouffe isn’t the only high-ranking adviser getting scrutiny. The New Republic profiles top Romney strategist Stuart Stevens. Among the revelations, Stevens told friends in 2008 -- including his book editor -- that he planned to vote for Obama in 2008. (Stevens says he didn’t vote for Obama.) It also notes that Stevens has written the screenplay for an HBO movie about how the New York Times uncovered Bush’s domestic-spying initiatives. And the New Republic reports that Stevens -- when working for McCain in ’07 -- urged the Arizona senator to hit Romney hard during that cycle’s GOP presidential primary. The McCain campaign didn’t think that strategy was good advice.

*** On the trail: Obama raises money in Connecticut, while Romney is down… For the rest of the week, Obama stumps in Colorado on Wednesday and Thursday… And Romney hits Illinois and Iowa on Tuesday.

Countdown to GOP convention: 21 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 28 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 58 days
Countdown to VP debate: 66 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 71 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 77 days
Countdown to Election Day: 92 days

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"They never got close, and Mitt Romney may not have even seen them, but protesters — some from Occupy Wall Street — took political theater to a new level Sunday outside the beachfront estate of billionaire David H. Koch, where the Republican candidate was raising money," The Los Angeles Times reports. "Some of the 200 protesters marched down mile-long Coopers Beach toward the home in a cloud of sand, bearing banners and signs: "Your $50,000 ticket equals my child's education," "end corporate personhood" and "don't forget to tip the help.""

"After raising just over $106 million last month, Mitt Romney‘s campaign and its Republican allies still maintain they’re the underdog, according to memos to be released Monday,” The Wall Street Journal writes. “The Romney Victory effort — Mr. Romney’s campaign along with the Republican National Committee and select state committees — raised $106.1 million in June, the GOP allies’ biggest fundraising month so far. Along with the RNC, the Romney campaign had $160 million in cash on hand, according to the campaign."

The Washington Post: "With the prospective vice presidential candidates fanning out as campaign-trail surrogates, Romney and his closest counselors have entered the final stages of selecting the ultimate surrogate — a running mate. There are seven weeks remaining until the Republican National Convention in Tampa, and Romney has a few important strategic decisions to make before then: not only who to name as a vice presidential nominee, but also when and how to do so."

“The top ‘super PACs’ supporting Republicans in the fall elections have raised more than three times as much money as super PACs aligned with Democrats, $158 million to $47 million, a [Boston] Globe analysis shows. Here’s a graphic showing the biggest donors.

A Civitas poll has Romney up 50-45% in North Carolina.

“Most Americans now say they would like to see the critics of the health care law stop trying to block its implementation and move onto other national problems, a poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation on Monday found following last week’s Supreme Court decision upholding the overhaul,” the Boston Globe writes.

Political Wire: “Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) vetoed Republican bills that would have ‘required a photo ID for absentee voting, restricted voter registration drives and mandated a ballot box affirmation of citizenship,’ the Detroit News reports.”

Crossing the line? AP: “Justice Antonin Scalia ended his 26th year on the Supreme Court with a string of losses in the term's biggest cases and criticism that he crossed a line from judging to politics. Scalia's willingness to do battle with those on the other side of an issue long has made him a magnet for critics. But some of his recent remarks stood out in the eyes of court observers.” More: “Ten lawyers who appear regularly before the Supreme Court, including two former Scalia law clerks, were interviewed for this story and said they too had taken note of Scalia's recent comments. But mindful that they might appear before the high court or be in a position to submit legal briefs, they all declined to be identified by name.”

And: “Summarizing his views in court, Scalia commented on President Barack Obama's recent announcement changing the deportation rules for some children of illegal immigrants. And in his written opinion, he referenced anti-free black laws of slave states as a precedent for state action on immigration. Both drew critical notice.”

Take a look at the health-care oral arguments from Day 2, which we wrote about, and you can see some tense exchanges between Scalia and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, including Scalia sarcastically calling Verrilli’s argument for the taxing authority of Congress “extraordinary” and dismissing his argument as “blah, blah, blah.” That’s in addition to his “broccoli” and health club comments.

In addition to its ruling on Arizona's immigration law, the U.S. Supreme Court today declined to revisit its controversial 2010 Citizens United decision, which permits corporations and labor unions to freely make independent expenditures in political campaigns.

What's more, in a 5-4 vote, "the majority summarily reversed a decision of the Montana Supreme Court that had refused to follow the Citizens United decision," the New York Times says.

The case involved Montana's Corrupt Practices Act. It requires corporations in the state to form what are essentially political action committees (PACs) and to spend only money that was given voluntarily by employees and shareholders. When the law was challenged as contrary to the Citizens United decision, the Montana Supreme Court upheld it as justified by the state's long history of political corruption. Besides, the state court said, the law doesn't run counter to Citizens United because corporations in Montana can still express their political views through the voluntary PAC-type funds. State regulations, the court said, are far simpler than federal campaign funding rules, imposing no real burden on corporate expression.

Arizona Sen. John McCain predicted a renewed effort of reform the nation's campaign finance laws as an outgrowth of the unrestrained influx of donations in this year's presidential campaign. 

The Supreme Court's 2010 decision in the Citizens United case, which struck down many of the restrictions on political spending and spurred the advent of so-called "super PACs," was one of the worst in modern history, McCain said. 

"I think there will be scandals as associated with the worst decision of the Supreme Court in the 21st Century — uninformed, arrogant, naive," McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"The fact is that the system is broken," he later added. "I predict to you that there will be scandals, and I predict to you that there will be reform again."

McCain has long been an advocate of campaign finance reform; a landmark 2002 campaign finance law bearing his name was the subject of the legal challenge that led to the Citizens United ruling. 

That decision did away with many of the limits on the magnitude of political contributions, fueling an inflation in the cost of campaigns, particularly on the federal level. Super PACs like American Crossroads, Restore our Future and Priorities USA Action have been able to spend tens of millions of dollars already on the campaign. They're able to cull their support from a handful of wealthy donors, the size of whose report is sometimes clouded by twin nonprofit groups associated with super PACs, which don't have to disclose their donors. 

One of the largest such donors has been Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who gave over $10 million to a super PAC in the primary that supported Newt Gingrich for president. Adelson's since pledged at least $10 million to the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future. 

McCain fretted earlier this week that Adelson's contributions would be tantamount to "foreign money" entering the campaign, since Adelson's fortune is built in part by revenues from overseas casinos. 

McCain said on Sunday that he's worried about Adelson's influence, but no more so than the influence of organized labor spending or other donors' impact on the campaign.

"Not any more than other people who will give lots of money; not any more than the trade unions, the labor unions have. The whole system's broken, and there's a wash. I don't pick out Mr. Adelson any more than I pick out Mr. Trumka," he said, referring to the AFL-CIO's president.