"When President Obama sat down to record his latest campaign ads, he didn’t have far to go. Two ads released in the last two days were filmed just a few feet from the Oval Office in the West Wing workplace of his chief of staff, an unusual — but not unprecedented — use of the official space of the White House for campaign purposes," The New York Times reports.

"From both the campaign trail and the White House, the Obama administration deployed a strategy to push the president’s middle class tax cut plan while accusing Republicans of holding it “hostage” to cuts for the nation’s highest earners. Speaking at a campaign event in Oregon, Obama previewed a Senate vote Wednesday on whether to move forward his plan to expire the Bush-era tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 a year. “Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote on a bill that says if you earn less than $250,000 a year, your taxes will not go up next year by a single dime. Now, members of both parties say that they agree this should happen,” Obama said. “But of course we are dealing in Washington – the only place we agree on something but still can’t get it done,” he continued," NBC's Ali Weinberg writes.

The Chicago Tribune: "Priorities USA Action, the pro-Obama "super PAC," is bringing its anti-Romney message to the Olympics broadcast, the group announced Wednesday. The latest salvo from the liberal group, run by former Obama White House aides, capitalizes on the global nature of the competition to ding Republican Mitt Romney for some of his more politically perilous international business ties. The spot depicts a faux Olympics opening ceremony, with Romney (in video from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, which Romney ran) seemingly waving at a number of athlete delegations from countries to which Romney has had ties." Watch the ad here.