ALASKA: The Anchorage Daily News: “U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is battling for her political life this morning against Republican primary challenger Joe Miller, the Tea Party-backed candidate who had a slim lead as ballots continued to be counted overnight.”

The AP: With 98 percent of precincts counted, Murkowski trailed political newcomer Joe Miller by 1,960 votes out of more than 91,000 counted. As many as 16,000 absentee votes, as well as an undetermined number of provisional or questioned ballots, remain to be counted.”

More from the Anchorage paper: “Miller credited the support of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his lead. ‘I'm absolutely certain that was pivotal,’ he said.” Highlighting that family feud, Murkowski said of Palin as she waited at her campaign headquarters for results to come in: "I think she's out for her own self-interest. I don't think she's out for Alaska's interest.”

So what’s left to count? “Most of the precincts that hadn't reported were in rural areas, particularly Western Alaska including the regions around Bethel, Nome and Kotzebue, where paper ballots are counted by hand. Counting was to continue through the night, according to the Division of Elections. There were also some precincts yet to report in the Dillingham-Aleutians region and the university area of Fairbanks. But all those of tend to be Democratic-leaning areas where many independent voters might choose the Democratic primary ballot.”

When will we know? “The final results of the race won't be known for over a week. The Alaska Division of Elections said over 16,000 absentee ballots were requested and as of Monday night 7,600 had been returned. The first count of absentees will be next Tuesday and there will be two subsequent counts as the absentee votes trickle in on Sept. 3 and on Sept. 8.”

The AP: “Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski trailed her lesser-known conservative opponent Tuesday in a surprisingly tight race that was seen as a test of the political power of Sarah Palin and the tea party movement… Miller is a decorated Gulf War veteran backed by Palin and the Tea Party Express who sought to cast Murkowski as being too liberal and part of the problem in an out-of-control Washington. It is a campaign strategy that has helped oust other incumbents this year.”

Roll Call’s lead: “Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is in danger of becoming the seventh Member of Congress to lose a primary this year, as she trailed Republican challenger Joe Miller in Tuesday’s contest.”

ARIZONA: “Despite a spirited bid by Hayworth, who cultivated support from -- and staffed his campaign with -- Tea Party activists, McCain's $21 million blitzkrieg ultimately rendered him an unacceptable alternative, despite widespread antipathy toward McCain among many grassroots conservatives,” Politico writes.

The New York Daily News: “Mac is back.”

But: “U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe attacked fellow Republican John McCain of Arizona on Tuesday as a closet liberal who "gets elected because of one thing -- earmarks," the Tulsa World reports.

“Ben Quayle, the son of the former vice president, overcame a pair of scandals to clinch the GOP nomination for Rep. John Shadegg's (R-Ariz.) seat,” The Hill writes.

The AP: “The son of former Vice President Dan Quayle won the Republican primary for an Arizona congressional seat after a provocative campaign that had no shortage of drama. Ben Quayle emerged from a crowded field Tuesday in the fight for an open seat in a Republican-leaning district in the Phoenix area. He drew on his family connections to raise more than $1.3 million -- and made plenty of headlines along the way.”

Democrats were excited that the Republican establishment’s pick to face off in AZ-8 with Gabrielle Giffords, state Sen. Jonathan Paton, lost. Instead Tea Party favorite Jesse Kelly, who Democrats called an "extremist" instead pulled out the victory. The Giffords campaign quickly turned out a TV ad hitting Kelly on what the Giffords camp says is him “describing his desire to eliminate, privatize or phase out Social Security in his own words.” They said the ad begins airing in the Tucson market today.

FLORIDA: “Political novice Rick Scott pushed past veteran Bill McCollum to win Florida's Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday,” the AP reports. “In the extraordinarily bitter GOP race for Florida governor, Scott's financial might and criticism of his opponent as a typical tax-raising politician proved too much for McCollum, the state's attorney general and a former congressman with the support of national party leaders in Washington.”

“Millionaire businessman Rick Scott’s surprise win in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday left both parties scrambling over how to cope with a candidate who possesses both glaring flaws and considerable assets,” Politico writes. “The $1.7 billion that Columbia/HCA hospital chain paid in fines over Medicare and Medicaid fraud under Scott’s tenure as CEO offers Democrats significant fodder for the fall and is partly why the Republican Governors Association issued a tepid statement Tuesday night observing only that the party ‘now looks forward.’”

They said it was because of logistical issues, but the level of negativity in the Republican gubernatorial primary last night may have had something to do with the state Republican Party’s abandoning its plans “for a unity event they were attempting to hold [today] in Tampa,” the Palm Beach Post writes.

“Mr. Meek’s victory in the Democratic Senate primary sets the stage for what will be one of the most closely-watched races this fall. He will face Marco Rubio, the Republican, and Gov. Charlie Crist. Mr. Crist abandoned the Republican Party in April when he looked likely to lose to Mr. Rubio, who won the Republican primary essentially unopposed,” the New York Times writes.

“Meek has little time to savor defeating a brash billionaire who vowed to spend ‘whatever it takes,’” the Miami Herald says. “He wakes up Wednesday somewhat bruised, very broke, and polling in last place behind a national Republican superstar, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, and the sitting governor, Charlie Crist.”

OKLAHOMA: “Former youth camp director James Lankford will be the Republican nominee to replace Rep. Mary Fallin -- and an overwhelming favorite to join Congress in January,” CQ writes.

VERMONT: “As counting in the Vermont Democratic primary for governor continued early Wednesday morning, Peter Shumlin was clinging to a razor-thin margin over Doug Racine by only 121 votes in the close five-way race,” Politico writes, adding that the race “appears headed for a likely recount.”

The Boston Globe: “President Obama will deliver a major speech August 31 to mark the reduction of US troops in Iraq to below 50,000, and the shifting mission of US forces from combat to support of Iraqi forces, White House staff said this morning.”

“Promising medical research is in disarray as scientists await an appeal by the Obama administration of a judge's ruling that undercuts taxpayer-funded research using human embryonic stem cells,” the AP reports. “The Justice Department said Tuesday it will appeal later this week a federal judge's order temporarily halting such research money, a block that scientists and patient advocates said could irreparably set back the hunt for needed new treatments.”

“Larger percentages of homestate contributions are going to Republican campaigns than to the Democrats running for those same House seats,” a CQ study finds.

FLORIDA: “Florida Democrat Freddy Balsera, who led President Obama's outreach to Hispanic voters during the 2008 campaign, is aiding Gov. Charlie Crist's independent Senate bid,” The Hill reports. “Balsera hosted a fundraiser for Crist on Monday at a steakhouse in Coral Gables, Fla. His name appeared atop an invitation sent out by the Crist campaign. According to the invite, the minimum to attend was $500 per person.”

NEW MEXICO: “Susana Martinez is challenging Gov. Bill Richardson to a duel,” the Albequerque Journal writes. “The Republican candidate for governor wants to debate Richardson, who cannot run for re-election this year due to a two-term limit, on television sometime before the November election.”

SOUTH CAROLINA: “South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene was ejected from a South Carolina restaurant by police on Tuesday after his companion got into a fight with other patrons, The Associated Press reports.”

From msnbc.com's Vaughn Ververs:
Incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski was thought to be a big favorite coming into Tuesday's primary against Sarah Palin-backed challenger Joe Miller. But with over half the vote in, Miller holds a slight lead over the incumbent, 52%-48% with a little over 2,000 votes separating the two. The race is seen as partly a test of Tea Party strength and partly a continuation of the grudge match between former governor Palin and the Murkowski family.

Palin defeated Gov. Frank Murkowski in the GOP primary just four years ago by campaigning on a platform of anti-corruption. Part of her argument was based on the fact that Murkowski, a sitting U.S. Senator when he won the governorship, appointed his daughter Lisa to replace him in Washington. The family feud has not abated since, with Palin taking an active role in supporting Miller's campaign -- endorsing early, encouraging Tea Party activism and recording robo-calls in the final days of the campaign.

Alaska is traditionally a state that values congressional representation, and especially, seniority. It was the latter argument that Murkowski made in the final days of this primary campaign.

Still a ways to go but one to watch through the wee hours.

*** UPDATE *** With all but nine precincts reporting early Wednesday, Miller's lead stands at just under 2000 votes.

When will we know the winner? The Anchorage Daily News reports this morning:

The final results of the race won't be known for over a week. The Alaska Division of Elections said over 16,000 absentee ballots were requested and as of Monday night 7,600 had been returned. The first count of absentees will be next Tuesday and there will be two subsequent counts as the absentee votes trickle in on Sept. 3 and on Sept. 8.

*** UPDATED 3:23 AM ET *** With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, has won the GOP nomination in Arizona's 3rd CD, beating nine other candidates in the bid to replace Rep. John Shadegg. Pamela "Get Your Gun" Gorman finished in single digits. Here are the results, per the Arizona Republic:

As expected, Sen. John McCain won the Republican nomination in Arizona over former congressman J.D. Hayworth. With 28% in, McCain was up 58%-30%.

McCain saw the threat from the right coming early. He started campaigning for re-election almost immediately after his loss to Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign and dropped $20 million on this race. McCain painted Hayworth as unsuitable for office, criticizing him in a television ad for having once appeared in a get-free-government-money infomercial.

The McCain campaign blunted much of the Tea Party opposition early on with an endorsement from vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin, and McCain tacked to the right on immigration in particular, going up with a hard-line ad calling for the federal government to "complete the danged fence." He has also drawn the ire of the conservative base for his position on campaign finance. He delivered a tepid statement critical of the Citizens United ruling.

As we wrote in First Read this morning, we'll see which McCain returns to Washington.

Brewer wins GOP nod
Also in Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, who was assumed office after Democrat Janet Napolitano left to become Secretary of Homeland Security, won her GOP primary. She was facing token opposition. The Arizona governor's race was expected to be a close race six months ago. But after Brewer signed into law the controversial immigration bill, her numbers improved markedly.

The Republican Governors Association stepped into the Florida GOP primary just last week to urge Rick Scott to stop airing what it called "misleading" ads against state Attorney General Bill McCollum.

Tonight, the RGA is out with a very lukewarm statement endorsing Scott. It's more about how bad Alex Sink is than how good Scott is:

Voters have selected Republican Rick Scott to face Democrat Alex Sink and independent Bud Chiles in the November election for governor of Florida. Republican Governors Association spokesman Tim Murtaugh today issued the following statement:

“Intraparty struggles are often difficult to watch, and the contest in Florida has been a good example of that. That said, the primary is over, Rick Scott is the nominee, the general election has begun, and our party now looks forward. Alex Sink has had months to run in a clear field and has not gained any traction, showing that her message has failed to connect with voters. She represents the policies of Washington, D.C. Democrats: higher taxes, runaway spending and greater intrusion into the everyday lives of Floridians. Couple her flagging campaign with the legitimate candidacy of Bud Chiles, and there is a real battle being waged for Democratic votes in Florida.”

*** UPDATE *** RGA Executive Director Nick Ayers tried to clear up any ambiguity with this Tweet:

nick_ayers I am confident @scottforflorida will be the next gov of the Sunshine State. Sink has no Mo and Chiles is legit. We can/will win in #FLgov

Democratic incumbent Alan Boyd (FL-2) barely hung on to win the primary, 51%-49% over Al Lawson, a former state senator.

Boyd is ranked No. 43 on First Read's Field of 64 most vulnerable House seats. A primary victory this close for an incumbent does not bode well for his fall re-election chances.

Grayson gets opponent

Hotline's Tim Sahd wraps the Florida House results and writes:

"Ex-state Sen. Dan Webster (R) rode his name ID and a high-profile endorsement from ex-Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to a big win tonight, as he defeated '08 candidate Todd Long (R) and state Rep. Kurt Kelly (R) 40-23-14%. Businessman Bruce O'Donoghue (R), who entered the race with much fanfare and with hopes of spending lots of his own cash, never caught fire and took just 7%. Webster wins the opportunity to face Rep. Alan Grayson (D) and his $1.4M warchest, but will need to immediately raise the cash to compete, as he is virtually broke from the primary."

When Rep. Mary Fallin decided to run for governor in Oklahoma, it opened up a contentious fight for her job in OK-5. Two candidates -- James Lankford, a former youth camp director, and former state Rep. Kevin Calvey -- qualified for today's runoff in this conservative district that John McCain won with 59%. Lankford appears to have won handily. With 40 percent of the vote in Lankford led 62%-39%. The win, CQ Politics writes, "is a loss for the Club for Growth, the Oklahoma Rifle Association and the American Conservative Union, which all endorsed Calvey."

Lankford faces Democrat Billy Coyle.

*** UPDATED 12:37 AM ET *** With 87 percent of the vote in, three Democrats running for governor of Vermont were separated by just one percentage point, with just 75 votes separating the top-two vote-getters, Peter Shumlin and Doug Racine. Despite the liberal leanings of this state, this race is likely a toss up this fall. The state's current governor is the popular Jim Douglas. His lieutenant governor, the aptly named Brian Dubie, is the GOP nominee.

Here's the vote so far:

227 of 260 precincts - 87 percent

Peter Shumlin 16,273 - 25 percent
Doug Racine 16,198 - 25 percent
Deb Markowitz 15,505 - 24 percent
Matt Dunne 13,403 - 21 percent
Susan Bartlett 3,418 - 5 percent

Veterinarian Charles Thompson won a GOP runoff in Oklahoma's second congressional district -- in the Eastern part of the state -- setting up a match up with incumbent Democrat Dan Boren.

AP:

A veterinarian from Hulbert has defeated a 26-year-old rancher and doctoral candidate to win the Republican nomination for a congressional seat in eastern Oklahoma. Dr. Charles Thompson defeated Daniel Edmonds of Morris in Tuesday's primary runoff. Thompson had also led in balloting July 27, but did not have enough votes to avoid a runoff in the six-way primary. Thompson stressed his 25 years in the military and the experience he earned starting his veterinary business from scratch, saying those accomplishments made him the more-seasoned candidate. Thompson will face current Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Boren in the Nov. 2 general election. Boren is seeking a fourth term in the 2nd District, which stretches from far northeast Oklahoma to the Red River border with Texas.

John McCain won this district in 2008 with 66% of the vote, but Boren, a conservative Democrat won it with 70%.

*** UPDATED 11:29 PM ET *** It's the upset of the night: Rick Scott has defied the latest polls and defeated state Attorney General Bill McCollum, AP has declared.

One wealthy candidate went down earlier, but Scott, who poured in more than $50 million of his own money in the primary, has upended the establishment. With 92% of the vote in, Scott led McCollum 47%-43%.

McCollum and groups aligned with him have spent in the neighborhood of $20 million to $25 million. Polls two weeks ago showed Scott leading, but McCollum appeared to make a resurgence with polls showing him up in the week before final voting. A Scott win could mean good news for Democrat Alex Sink, who has taken the lead in general-election polls as the Scott-McCollum fight has gotten nastier. Sink won the Democratic nod tonight with token opposition.

Sink, 61, is the state's chief financial officer and wife of Bill McBride, who was the Democratic nominee that lost in the gubernatorial race against Jeb Bush in 2002. Sink is also a former Bank of America president for Florida operations.

NBC's Chuck Todd notes this context on Twitter: "If Scott is GOP nominee in #flgov, which Dem GOV candidate will suffer because Sink will need the financial air support from DGA?" and "Getting lots of excited emails from Dems re: #flgov. But don't forget big picture. Scott will spend another $50M; Will cost Dems big money."

No surprise, but for a little late-night entertainment, we'll use this as an excuse to revive the "I'm on a cow" video: Sen. Patrick Leahy easily defeated physician Daniel Freilich in Vermont's Senate primary.

Freilich made what was perhaps the most brazen attempt to go viral this cycle with this Web video, spoofing an Old Spice video:

Though Freilich lost in the Dem primary, he hasn't ruled out a bid this fall, AP reports: "Leahy faces Republican Len Britton and five independent or minor-party candidates in the Nov. 2 general election. He also may face Freilich again. The defeated Democrat has said he'll run as an independent in the general election."

Despite being outspent 5-to-1, Kendrick Meek won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, beating billionaire political novice Jeff Greene.

Greene had been leading in the polls until the last week of the election. The news is seen as good news for Republican Marco Rubio, who defeated token opposition tonight to take the GOP nomination.

In general-election polls, Meek has been consistently in third place, behind Gov. Charlie Crist and Rubio. Crist, who has led in many general-election polls, is running in an independent bid. He switched parties after he appeared to have little chance of upending Rubio in a Republican primary.

Crist could have benefited from Democratic voters who may have decided Greene's baggage was too much. Now, it may be difficult for establishment Democrats to back a Crist bid -- even if Meek appears to have little chance of winning.

Greene was criticized for making millions by shorting subprime mortgages. His quirky off-field company was also an issue. Mike Tyson was the best man at his wedding, and he was tied to former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss and actress Lindsey Lohan.

*** UPDATE *** With 57 percent of precincts reporting, Meek is leading Greene, 55%-32%.

Rick Scott has spent more than $50 million ($50.2 million) on his primary campaign for governor, according to campaign finance data on record with the Florida Division of Elections.

The former hospital executive, whose company paid the largest set of Medicare fines and penalties in history -- $1.7 billion -- also declared his net worth to be $219 million ($218,589,004 to be exact), according to his financial disclosure form.

Scott loaned his campaign $38.9 million. (The campaign has spent $37.7 million through Aug. 19th.)

But in Florida, there is also something called Electioneering and Communications Organizations (ECOs) akin nationally to Political Action Committees (PACs on a national level). Scott has publicly acknowledged an affiliation with the ECO Let's Get to Work. Scott has given $11.3 million to Let's Get to Work through F. Annette Scott Revocable Trust. F. Annette Scott is his wife.

That means Scott has spent almost a quarter of what he claims to be his total net worth on this primary.

From NBC's Mark Murray
As Ben Smith writes, this tweet last week by RNC New Media Director Todd Herman suggests that national Republicans don't see any harm by furthering the false Obama-is-a-Muslim story.

Watch - Is @BarackObama amongst the 20% who think he's a Muslim? http://gop.am5/TXi #tcot

The video that was linked shows an 18-second clip of a 2008 ABC interview with Obama, in which he accidentally referred to being a Muslim before correcting himself.

However, the tweet has since been deleted from Herman's Twitter account. First Read has reached out to the RNC for comment, but has yet to hear back.

*** UPDATE *** RNC spokesman Doug Heye responds, "An errant, or sarcastically-intended tweet aside, the RNC has never spoken about the President’s Christianity because it is both crystal clear and a non-issue. What is an issue, and remains foremost in the minds of voters is the failed efforts of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to grow jobs. Today, it was announced that existing home sales plunged by 27%; discussing this issue will serve the voters far better than any nonsense that won’t employ a single American."

House Minority Leader John Boehner's economic speech this morning, in which he expressed support for extending the Bush tax cuts and firing members of President Obama's economic team, sparked conversation about Boehner's policy recommendations and political posturing on both sides of the blogosphere.

Liberal Washington Monthly blogger Steve Bennen called Boehner's predictions that past and present liberal economic policies would fail and that George W. Bush's would succeed "reminiscent of the 'Seinfeld' episode in which George Costanza realizes that all of his instincts and decisions are entirely backwards, and begins doing the opposite of what he's inclined to do."

More from Benen:

"Boehner's vision is absurd; his credibility is non-existent; and his policy prescription is a joke. I realize that he's trying to position himself as a future Speaker of the House -- today represents an audition of sorts -- and even had the audacity to include this in his speech: 'It's time to put grown-ups in charge. It's time for people willing to accept responsibility.

... This 'fresh start' is literally just the Bush/Cheney agenda -- Bush's tax rates, Bush's regulatory structure, Bush's domestic policies -- coupled with a vague promise to cut spending somewhere, at some time, affecting someone."

Daily Kos' Jed Lewison also ridiculed Boehner's policy recommendations and used it to warn readers of the policies a Republican majority woudl want to enstate.

"The thing about that list is that there isn't a single thing about what Republicans would actually do. It's just a list of demands on President Obama and except for the first one -- in which Boehner demands Obama extend Bush tax cuts for the wealthy -- they are purely rhetorical in nature."

He also says that one policy specific -- on $1.3 trillion in spending cuts, proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan -- is so severe it would actually exacerbate the country's economic problems.

"Despite positioning itself as a plan for fiscal austerity, the Ryan roadmap wouldn't actually solve our long-term budget problems. Why? Because he simply doesn't count the cost of his tax cuts when calculating his proposals final price tag.

... And it's now the centerpiece of John Boehner's economic platform as he campaigns for Speaker, which brings us back to the central question voters will face this November: do they want to allow Democrats to continue trying to revive the economy, or do they want to give up on the Dems and go back to the Bush economic policies of the Republican Party?"

AMERICAblog's John Aravosis slammed Boehner's stimulus criticism, though he did note that its effects fell short of what was desired.

"The White House should blow him out of the water. The data is irrefutable. The stimulus created millions of jobs. Not enough, to be sure. (And I do blame the White House for the fact that the stimulus wasn't enough - they were told it wasn't enough, but refused to even try for more.) But to say that the stimulus didn't work at all, is an outright lie. It shows the minority leader to be a liar, or a moron."

Writing at conservative blog The Campaign Spot, NRO's Jim Geraghty simply posted the headline from a White House blog entry by Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer: "“Their economic policies haven’t changed, so they won’t bring the change we need.”

Wrote Geraghty:

I think if the opposition can use the precise same slogan you are, and it still works, you probably ought to go back to the drawing board.

Elsewhere on NRO, Robert Costa praised Boehner's condemnation of a lame-duck Congressional session in which he said Democrats would "[force] these job-killing bills through."

Firing the opening salvo, Boehner calls on Obama to veto any lame-duck shenanigans. 'I pledge that Republicans will work with him to sustain those vetoes,' he says.

With the White House and embattled Democrats already preparing to pass major legislation after the November elections, it’s good to see Boehner digging in for the fight.

HotAir's Ed Morrissey suggested there's no better time than the present for an economic regime change.

"Boehner may have given Obama the best political advice he could get. Firing the team that failed to deliver the growth Obama promised would at least show that Obama understands that his policies aren’t working. If he waits until the day after the midterms, it’s not going to do him or his party much good."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Congressional Republicans haven't had an easy time reconciling their pursuit to extend the Bush tax cuts -- even for families earning more than $250,000 per year -- with their stated desire to also reduce the size of the deficit.

After all, the Treasury Department estimates that extending all the Bush tax cuts would carry a price tag of nearly $3.7 trillion over 10 years. Extending the tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 would cost $3 trillion over 10 years.

Here was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on "Meet the Press" on Sunday:

MR. GREGORY: But my question is how do you pay for an extension of tax cuts? Because if you're concerned, as Republicans say they are, about cutting spending and the deficit, you have to acknowledge that tax cuts are not paid for.

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, what, what, what, what are you talking about paid for? This is existing tax policy. It's been in place for 10 years. What they're talking about is raising taxes, impacting 50 percent of small business income in the middle of what most Americans think is a recession. That is not a responsible thing to do in my judgment.

And here was House Minority Leader John Boehner today in his economic speech:

Listen, we need to have an honest conversation with the American people about the scope of our fiscal challenges -- that means everything from short-term commitments to long-term commitments.

It is an act of bad faith -- and bad judgment -- to start this conversation by imposing job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses.

Failing to rein in these debts is our own fault -- both Democrats and Republicans. We should not punished unemployed workers and small business owners for our inability to make the tough choices we were elected to make.

We need to start looking at every government program and ask ourselves: Is it right to force our grandkids to pay for this? As Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, recently said: "You'd really be amazed at how much government you'd never miss."

The possible equivalent of what Boehner was saying: I know I need to lose a significant amount of weight, but let me hit the all-you-can-eat buffet at Shoney's before I start that diet.

At an event promoting the economic stimulus this morning, Vice President Biden fired back at House Minority Leader John Boehner's speech today.

Mr. Boehner, after months of promising a look at his party's agenda for his plans for America -- their economic agenda -- he made what was billed this morning as a major economic address. And his chief proposal, when you look at it, was apparently that the president should fire his economic team. Very constructive advice, and we thank the leader for that. (Laughter.)

But let's take a look at the rest of his advice... Let's review a little bit of history here. For eight years before we arrived in the West Wing, Mr. Boehner and his party ran the economy, and the middle class literally into the ground. They took a $237 billion operating surplus, inherited from the Clinton administration, and left us with a $1.3 trillion deficit -- and in the process quadrupled the national debt, all before we literally turned on the lights in the West Wing, before we did one single solitary thing. They gave free rein to the special interests to write their own rules at the expense of everybody else, not just the middle class. And the sum total was the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression -- a crisis that wreaked havoc upon American families and businesses all across this country, a crisis from which we are still digging out.

From NBC's Mark Murray
In an economic speech that was more political than policy, that offered more generalities than specifics, House Minority Leader John Boehner today called on President Obama to fire his economic team and briefly sketched out what Republicans would plan to do if they regain control of Congress.

"President Obama should ask for -- and accept -- the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team, starting with Secretary Geithner and Larry Summers, the head of the National Economic Council," Boehner said in his speech to the City Club of Cleveland, per an advanced copy of his remarks.

Boehner called on Obama to extend the Bush tax cuts, even for families making more than $250,000 per year, and he assailed the administration's economic policies. "We've tried 19 months of government-as-community-organizer. It hasn't worked. Our fresh start needs to begin now."

He then mapped out -- with few specifics -- how Republicans would govern if they controlled Congress. "I've said that if I were fortunate enough to be speaker of the House, I would run the House differently," Boehner said. "That means challenging the old ways in Washington, getting to the bottom of what drives people crazy, and then fixing it once and for all."

Boehner listed a few ideas to cut federal spending, including canceling unspent stimulus and TARP funds, erecting budget caps on future spending, and requiring congressional approval of any executive-branch rule costing more than $100 million on the economy.

But the GOP House leader didn't address the largest parts of the federal-spending pie: entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
Former President Jimmy Carter is heading to North Korea in an attempt to rescue Aijalon Mahli Gomes -- a 30-year-old Boston man sentenced to eight years in prison in North Korea for crossing the border from China. The White House and State Department are not commenting on the trip to avoid jeopardizing getting Gomes home.

On background, a senior administration official says anyone going would be doing so as a private humanitarian effort. Clearly, though, the administration is aware of the trip.

In June 1994, Carter went to North Korea to begin talks with former leader Kim Il Sung without fully coordinating with then-President Bill Clinton or his national-security team.

Officials say Carter's mission is modeled on Clinton's successful trip last year to win the release of Al Gore's Current TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Carter will most likely spend one night in North Korea, and they hope return with Gomes.