In his USA Today op-ed, Mitt Romney yesterday listed at least five items that would cost the government money:

1. "Give states the responsibility, flexibility and resources to care for citizens who are poor... block-granting funds for Medicaid and the uninsured."
2. "...offer the states resources to help the chronically ill..."
3. "...a tax deduction to buy insurance on their own."
4. "...provide innovation grants to states for reforms..."
5. "...strengthening health savings accounts..." and "eliminate the minimum deductible requirement for HSAs."

But he also vowed to implement this health-care plan with “no new taxes,” begging the question, how’s he going to pay for it?

An e-mail and phone call placed to the Romney campaign were not immediately returned.

In his health-care speech, will Romney side-step the challenge in front of him: reconciling the similarities between his health-care law and President Obama’s?... Flashback to 2007: Romney largely side-stepped the issue about his Mormon faith… Romney’s five objectives for health reform… The health-care questions Romney will eventually have to answer… What the individual mandate actually says about today’s GOP… Oh, Cheri: Indiana first lady steps into the spotlight tonight… Gingrich on “winning the future”… Obama’s Cairo speech, part 2?... And MTP’s “Press Pass” features pollsters Peter Hart and Bill McInturff.

*** A big 24 hours: The 2012 race now feels fully engaged, with Gingrich’s announcement yesterday, Romney’s health-care speech today, and Cheri Daniels debut tonight before Indiana Republicans. As significant as Gingrich and Daniels may be, the most important event is the speech being delivered by Romney this afternoon, and it's where we begin.

*** Side-stepping the issue? With his poll numbers declining before the '08 Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney delivered his own Jeremiah Wright speech in Dec. 2007 -- about his religious faith. It partially echoed JFK's famous speech about his Catholicism ("A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith," Romney said), and it drew praise from plenty of corners. But it wasn’t exactly a brave speech: The majority of it was about the freedom of religion, America's religious roots, and the need for religion in public life. Moreover, Romney didn't really directly confront some evangelicals' chief concerns about Mormonism; in fact, the speech mentioned the word “Mormon” just once (compared with the 20 times Kennedy said “Catholic” in 1960). A month later, Romney would go on to lose Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and, eventually, the GOP nomination.

*** Romney’s faith speech vs. his health-care speech: Like that religion speech in 2007, the health-care address that Romney will deliver at 2:00 pm ET today in Ann Arbor, MI isn’t expected to directly confront the political challenge in front of him: reconciling the similarities between his Massachusetts health-care law and President Obama’s and reassuring small government conservatives that he isn't for government at ANY level telling them what to do. Rather, he’s trying to put the whole issue in the rear-view mirror. Per an aide, the thrust of the speech will be about the future -- repealing and replacing Obama’s health law. And in a USA Today op-ed, Romney outlined five objectives he wants to accomplish: 1) restore to the states the responsibility and resources to care for the poor, uninsured, and chronically ill; 2) give a tax deduction to those who buy their own health care; 3) streamline health care’s federal regulations; 4) make health care more like a consumer market; and 5) enacting medical malpractice reform. While Romney’s camp says he’ll mention his Massachusetts health-care law -- and won’t apologize for it -- it won’t be the focus of the speech.

*** The questions Romney will eventually have to answer: While Romney’s religion speech mentioned “Mormon” just once, his op-ed doesn’t mention “mandate” at all. And so far, his selective media strategy (writing op-eds, giving unfiltered speeches, granting friendly interviews) has allowed him to avoid the tough questions on health care. Such as: If health reform -- with an individual mandate -- was good for Massachusetts, then why isn’t it good for other states? Can you really drive down health-care costs if one state (say MA) insures everyone, while another state (say NH) doesn’t and sees its uninsured getting care in emergency rooms? Is health care a national problem or a state-based problem? And if it’s a national one, then shouldn’t that require a national solution? Finally, there’s this: If Romney now opposes a federal individual mandate, why did he did tell the New Republic’s John Judis in 1994 that he would have supported the late Sen. John Chaffee’s (R) health-care proposal which, it turns out, included a federal mandate? Or why he said on “Meet the Press” in 2007 that he hopes other states take “a mandate approach.” The problem fundamental for Romney: Tea Party conservatives don’t want their governments (federal, state, or local) telling them what to do.

*** What the individual mandate says about the GOP: Yet Romney’s political gymnastics on health care -- or even Tim Pawlenty’s apology for once supporting cap-and-trade -- says more about the current Republican Party than it does anything else. After all, both the individual mandate and cap-and-trade were once conservative responses to liberal ideas. (Example: The individual mandate was a market-based way to get to universal coverage, versus the single-payer way.) As MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, who advised BOTH Romney and Obama on health care, told First Read, the individual mandate “is a conservative brainchild.” But after Obama adopted these approaches, the GOP considered them anathema. So it comes as no surprise that the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page today takes Romney to the woodshed for supporting an individual mandate. “[T]he debate over ObamaCare and the larger entitlement state may be the central question of the 2012 election. On that question, Mr. Romney is compromised and not credible. If he does not change his message, he might as well try to knock off Joe Biden and get on the Obama ticket.” 

*** Today’s soundtrack: Oh, Cheri: The other big 2012 story today is Mitch Daniels -- and his wife, Cheri -- speaking tonight at the Indiana GOP spring dinner. While there has been much speculation about what the speech (particularly Cheri’s) might mean for Daniels’s ultimate 2012 decision, a spokesman for the Indiana Republican Party tells us that we shouldn’t expect an announcement from either the governor of his wife. “Her remarks will focus on what it’s like to be Indiana’s first lady and include stories and observations from her six years of traveling around the Hoosier State. She won’t be discussing politics or policy,” the spokesman says. Yet Cheri Daniels makes the front page of today’s New York Times: “While much is known about Mr. Daniels in Republican circles … there is one period of his life that has remained almost entirely private — until now. He has been married twice — to the same wife. Should he run, that chapter in his life would no doubt be picked over in public and become a part of the personal narrative that springs up around any serious candidate.” And the Washington Post has this: “In exchange for anonymity, an official for another GOP prospect provided contact information for the ex-wife of the man Cheri Daniels married, in the years between her divorce and remarriage to Daniels.” Gov. Daniels, welcome to the big leagues.

*** The battle over “winning the future”: Sticking with the 2012 field, Newt Gingrich -- after officially announcing his presidential bid yesterday -- appeared on FOX last night. Some highlights, per NBC’s Lauren Selsky: "The reason that I came here tonight to announce that I am candidate for president of the United States is because I think if you apply the right principles to achieve the right results that we can win the future together and I don't think that having a president that applies the wrong principles and gets the wrong results is going to lead to winning the future.” More: “I think this country has an enormous country to breakout and to once again be at 4% unemployment, to have a surplus of American energy, to be the leading industrial power in the world, to balance the budget as we did for four years when I was speaker, to reform entitlements as we did with welfare when I was speaker.”

*** Cairo speech, part 2? The New York Times says that President Obama “plans to give a speech on the Middle East in which he will seek to put Bin Laden’s death in the context of the region’s broader political transformation. The message, said one of his deputy national security advisers, Benjamin J. Rhodes, will be that ‘Bin Laden is the past; what’s happening in the region is the future.’” The speech does carry some risks for Obama, however, as the war in Libya remains a stalemate (although the rebels seem to have the momentum) as Syria continues its crackdown (as much of the West remains silent). Today’s sked: At 11:00 am ET, Obama and Vice President Biden meet with the Senate GOP Caucus to discuss deficit reduction, while he meets with the Congressional Black Caucus at 2:30 pm.

*** MTP’s “Press Pass”: On Meet the Press’ weekly “Press Pass,” NBC’s David Gregory interviews NBC co-pollsters Peter Hart (D) and Bill McInturff (R) about our latest poll. Said McInturff: “The stunner here in this survey is we have two decades, two generations of data that say the average president gets a double digit bounce after this kind of event. This president received almost no bounce -- three to six points. That’s very minimal. And it tells you again how pervasive economic concerns are and what an anchor they are to his election chances unless the economy improves.”

Countdown to NY-26 special election: 12 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 92 day
Countdown to NV-2 special election: 124 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 180 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 270 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter.

The Hill: “Republicans have done a ‘lousy job’ of promoting their outreach efforts to Hispanic voters, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday. The GOP plans to aggressively woo the powerful voting bloc in the lead-up to the 2012 election, just as President Obama has upped his courtship efforts in recent days… ‘We have had great success in this party with Hispanic candidates and Hispanic voters. We just do a lousy job of talking about it, and I hope to start,’ Priebus said. ‘Over the next couple of years, I want to start a conversation with voters around this country to show that Republicans are the proper home for Hispanic voters.’”

The Atlantic’s Joshua Green, writing in the Boston Globe writes, “For all the attention and the soaring testimonies to the movement’s [the Tea Party] power, sending its representatives to Washington was only the first step. The true measure of its success was always going to be what effect these newcomers had on Republican leaders and the government they sought to change. Now, an answer is coming into focus. The Tea Party may continue to alter races across the country, and could also shape the Republican presidential field. But it appears to have reached the limit of its influence in Washington. Here, where it counts most, the Tea Party is looking like a spent force

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows President Obama holding double-digit leads over Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, Politico notes. Obama gets 51% to Romney’s 39%, and the same amount to Huckabee’s 38%.

BACHMANN: “A report that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann might make a formal announcement that she's running for president at a May 26 rally in Iowa was pooh-poohed today by her office,” MinnPost reports.

CAIN: National Review Online publishes a detailed profile on pizza chain magnate Herman Cain, writing of his experience in politics which was sparked by a town hall encounter with then-President Bill Clinton. “For all of his southern-fried lyricism, and the pizza jokes made at his expense, Cain’s story is much richer than he usually lets on. When the Klieg lights are shut off, he is a meticulous man in both his bookkeeping and his demeanor. Discipline and dogged ambition drive him.”

DANIELS: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ wife Cheri’s speech tonight at the spring dinner of the Indiana Republican party is raising speculation not only on whether she’s sanctioned a presidential run by her husband, but also their personal narrative, which includes a three-year gap in their marriage when she filed for divorce and moved to California with a new husband, before moving back and remarrying him, the New York Times writes.

GINGRICH: The University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics blog says this is the first presidential run by a House speaker since 1940.

Newt Gingrich released his YouTube video via Twitter and Facebook announcing his run for president. In it, he says, “there are some people who don’t mind if America becomes a wreck as long as they dominate the wreckage. But you and I know better.”

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Galloway notes a paragraph from the Washington Times that says Gingrich’s campaign will rely on leadership and direction from people who live in each state he campaigns in, instead of the model of regional political directors. In Georgia, Galloway writes, that presumably means Gov. Nathan Deal, who endorsed a challenger to the incumbent state GOP chairman in this weekend’s vote for the position.

HUCKABEE: Mike Huckabee has founded an education company called “Learn Our History,” which the Washington Post Cillizza’s asks is a possible “sign that the former Arkansas governor isn’t running for president?”

HUNTSMAN: Jon Hunstman will make his first return trip to Utah on May 28, when he visits the Utah state Capitol for a ceremony to hang his portrait in the Hall of Governors, the St. Louis Tribune reports. 

Huntsman gives his first interview since returning from China to Time magazine. “Because in several sittings and a couple of hours together over a week's time, I don't even come close to getting him to spill such puny secrets as whether he thinks we should be in Afghanistan or Libya (‘There will be more to say about that’), in what ways he disagrees with Obama (‘I don't want to get into specifics’) or, for that matter, where he parts company with his fellow Republicans, including his distant cousin, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (‘It wouldn't be fair to offer an opinion without doing due diligence’). And as for whether or not Huntsman still belongs to the Church of Latter-day Saints, I know less than I did before I asked him. (‘I'm a very spiritual person,’ as opposed to a religious one, he says, ‘and proud of my Mormon roots.’ Roots? That makes it sound as if you're not a member anymore. Are you? ‘That's tough to define,’ he says.” "There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides.")

ROMNEY: “As Mitt Romney prepares for a major address on health care here this afternoon, the likely presidential contender is still expected to continue defending what has become a third rail in Republican politics: a requirement from government that people purchase health insurance,” the Boston Globe reports

More: “Whether Romney is able to effectively draw the distinction between his support for a state-imposed individual mandate — and his opposition to a federally-imposed one — may be crucial to his ability to explain a health care position that has caused some Republicans to doubt his presidential chances.”

How will he present it: “His five-point proposal — to be outlined today in a PowerPoint presentation — has an over-arching goal of giving states more power in the health coverage arena. … A Romney adviser said the plan would not add to the deficit or raise taxes, but Romney has not yet detailed how much the tax deduction would cost and how that would be offset.”

“Aides and advisers say Mr. Romney will outline a five-point plan with the following components,” the Wall Street Journal adds. “He would offer state governments block grants for the federal share of Medicaid and children's' health programs, allowing states to tailor their own programs. He would offer individuals a choice between the current tax credits that help pay for employer-provided health insurance or a new tax credit to help purchase their own plan.”

(A Romney spokeswoman tells First Read, “We are not creating a new tax credit, but a tax deduction. And we are block granting Medicaid, but have not made a decision regarding children's health programs yet.”)

“Thursday's speech — in both the timing and the content — is an indication of just how much Romney's second bid is informed by his missteps four years ago,” the AP writes. “He spent months dogged by questions about his Mormon faith. Aides now acknowledge he never fully answered voter concerns in the yearlong run-up to the Iowa caucuses. Just weeks before them, he delivered what aides now call ‘The Mormon Speech.’ But after much buildup, the speech failed to undo months of a whisper campaign that suggested Mormons are not Christian.”

TRUMP: Before he made a speech in Nashua, NH, where he sent mixed messages about his presidential ambitions, Donald Trump sat down with about three dozen New Hampshire business people, the New Hampshire Union-Leader’s DiStaso writes. 

The New York Times writes, “Administration officials said the president was eager to use Bin Laden’s death as a way to articulate a unified theory about the popular uprisings from Tunisia to Bahrain — movements that have common threads but also disparate features, and have often drawn sharply different responses from the United States. The first sign of this ‘reset’ could come as early as next week, when Mr. Obama plans to give a speech on the Middle East in which he will seek to put Bin Laden’s death in the context of the region’s broader political transformation. The message, said one of his deputy national security advisers, Benjamin J. Rhodes, will be that ‘Bin Laden is the past; what’s happening in the region is the future.’”

“President Obama’s main idea for getting quality health care at less cost was in jeopardy after key medical providers yesterday called his administration’s initial blueprint so complex it is unworkable,” AP writes. “Just over a month ago, top officials released long-awaited draft regulations for “accountable care organizations,’’ networks of doctors and hospitals that would collaborate to keep Medicare patients healthier and share in the savings with taxpayers. Obama’s health care overhaul law envisioned quickly setting up hundreds of such networks around the county to lead a bottom-up reform of America’s bloated health care system. But in an unusual rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier organizations such as the Mayo Clinic wrote the administration, saying that more than 90 percent of its members would not participate, because the rules as written are so onerous it would be nearly impossible for them to succeed.”

“Americans are growing more optimistic about the U.S. economy, a sentiment that is benefiting President Barack Obama despite public disenchantment with his handling of rising gasoline prices and swollen government budget deficits,” AP reports. “An Associated Press-GfK poll shows that more than 2 out of 5 people believe the U.S. economy will get better, while a third think it will stay the same and nearly a fourth think it will get worse, a rebound from last month's more pessimistic attitude. And, for the first time since the 100-day mark of his presidency, slightly more than half approve of Obama's stewardship of the economy.”

“House Republicans are working to prevent Medicare reform from becoming the politically defining issue of their party for the 2012 election season,” Roll Call reports. “But as Members return home for a weeklong Congressional recess Friday, it remains an open question whether media attention and a strong constituent response will turn the issue of entitlements into the GOP's version of cap-and-trade, a Democratic proposal from 2009 that was met with strong opposition and damaged scores of incumbents in swing districts.”

“Three days before House Speaker John A. Boehner is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Catholic University, dozens of faculty at Catholic colleges — including many from the university — have written to the Catholic speaker, criticizing him for having a record ‘among the worst in Congress’ on protecting the poor,” The Washington Post reports.

“Among the 13 Senators sworn in last January, Sen. Marco Rubio is the only one who has yet to speak on the floor,” Roll Call writes.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune is not sure he’ll endorse a candidate in the Republican presidential primary, the Argus Leader writes.

NEW YORK: “The Erie County GOP released a video Wednesday night of House candidate Jack Davis appearing to strike a GOP volunteer,” The Hill reports. “The 15-second video shows Davis, the independent candidate in the state's 26th Congressional District special election, being asked about why he withdrew from the debates with the major party candidates, Democrat Kathy Hochul and Republican Jane Corwin.” 

SOUTH CAROLINA: President Obama’s re-election campaign hired Lee Goodall, who worked for the Obama campaign in 2008 and now serves as the Georgia director of Organizing for America, to run its South Carolina operation, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal writes. 

From NBC’s Libby Leist and Carrie Dann
The White House decided last week not to release photos of Osama bin Laden’s corpse, but a small group of U.S. lawmakers have the option to view the images at CIA headquarters.

The CIA has invited members of the House and Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees to come to its headquarters in Langley, Va., to view photos taken after the al Qaeda leader was shot in the head and in the chest by U.S. forces in Abbottabad.

So who is going to take them up on the offer?

“I've seen enough dead people in my life,” said Armed Services Committee ranking member and Vietnam POW Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., agreed. "I spent a lot of time as a prosecutor and I've seen all the pictures of dead bodies that anybody should ever have to look at in their lifetime,” she said.

“The only reason the picture was taken was to confirm that it was he that was killed,” the Missouri Democrat added. “I think that's obvious right now. And I have absolutely no morbid curiosity about it.”  

Intelligence Committee member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Armed Services member Susan Collins, R-Maine, also said they won’t view the images.

But other lawmakers with access to the photos are arranging to lay eyes on the conclusive visual evidence of bin Laden’s demise.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she plans to view the photos, although she has not yet finalized what day she plans to make the trip to Langley.

Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. – both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- also said they plan to view the pictures.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, who has previously criticized the administration’s decision not to release the photos, said he is undecided but reiterated his belief Wednesday that the White House should have made them public to give “closure” to the American people. 

Appearing before a stark black background, illuminated by a white light outline, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich officially announced his bid for the Republican nomination for president.

"I believe we can return America to hope and opportunity, to full employment, to real security, to an American energy program, to a balanced budget," Gingrich said, ticking off -- in an online video posted this afternoon -- just a few of the reasons why he says he's running for president.

In addition to what's listed above, Gingrich goes through a laundry list of promises.

He takes credit for, while working with Ronald Reagan, getting "jobs created again, Americans proud of America, and the Soviet Union disappeared."

"As Speaker of the House," Gingrich says, "I worked to reform welfare, to balance the budget, to control spending, to cut taxes to create economic growth, unemployment came down from 5.6% to under 4. For four years, we balanced the budget, and paid off $405 billion in debt. We've done it before, we can do it again."

Gingrich, who cited Reagan, did not note that Democrat Bill Clinton was president while he was speaker in the 1990s.

Gingrich also promises to "tell the truth" and "make the tough choices."

"There's a much better American future ahead," he says, "with more jobs, more prosperity, a better health system, longer lives, greater independent living, in a country that is decentralized under the 10th Amendment, with power once again back with the American people and away from Washington bureaucracy."

He adds, "There are some people who don't mind if America becomes a wreck as long as they dominate the wreckage. But you and I know better."

Also, on Gingrich's Web site, he takes a veiled dig at President Obama with this headline: "Together we win the future." (Obama's State of the Union slogan was "winning the future," which was also a title of one of Gingrich's books.")

Back in the spotlight today, potential presidential candidate Donald Trump said “we had a great victory last week with the killing of bin Laden.”  A result Trump says couldn’t have been achieved without enhanced interrogation techniques.

“In terms of torture, in terms of enhanced interrogation, we wouldn’t have caught bin Laden without it. That’s what got us to him,” Trump told the audience at Expo Nashua in New Hampshire.

Trump insisted that Pakistan had to be aware al Qaeda’s leader was in their country. “If anybody thinks that Pakistan, the government, didn’t know that he was there, they’re foolish, okay, they’re very foolish," Trump said. "So, they’re not really our friend and they’re not really our enemy."

The Donald also proposed withholding aid to Pakistan until “they get rid of their nuclear weapons.”

On domestic policies, Trump warned another term for President Obama would mean higher taxes.

“If President Obama gets reelected, I think your taxes are going to go through the roof,” Trump said, “I do believe that he’s holding them down now as long as he can, because he wants to get through this election.”

Trump, who previously raised unfounded questions about President Obama’s birth certificate, said, as he has before, he is proud the president released the long-form version of the document. This was once a major talking point for Trump, but today in his second trip to New Hampshire he only mentioned it briefly -- twice.

From NBC's Libby Leist 

Pressure is building on Capitol Hill for President Barack Obama to speak out directly against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a violent crackdown on demonstrators in Syria.

  Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Ben Cardin, D-Md., and John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced a bipartisan resolution on Wednesday condemning Assad, calling for sanctions against him and asking Obama to be more vocal about the Syria crisis.

"The United States can't stand aside while Assad slaughters his own people," Lieberman said.

The resolution is sponsored by 16 senators – six Democrats, nine Republicans, and one independent who caucuses with Democrats.

Lieberman warned of a sharp increase in violence in Syria this week, with Assad’s forces reportedly using tanks and snipers against civilians.

Lieberman said that Assad has "laid siege to Syrian cities" and cut off critical humanitarian supplies, adding that as many as ten thousand people have been arrested or disappeared.

The Connecticut lawmaker mocked those who believe Assad will reform. "Simply put: it now requires a willing suspension of disbelief to think that Bashar al-Assad will ever be a reformer. He is not a reformer, in my opinion, Assad is a thug and a murderer a totalitarian leader who is pursuing the Khaddafy model and hopes to get away with it," he said.

"The violence has turned so indiscriminate in Syria lately that its beginning to look like what motivated us to move into Libya,” he added.

Top Armed Services Committee Republican Sen. John McCain, also a cosponsor of the resolution, called for Obama to speak out personally and directly to the Syrian people.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a freshman Republican from Florida who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed his hope that Syrian Armed forces would remove Assad if he did not step down soon.

"Bashar al-Assad should no longer be treated as the legitimate ruler of Syria, like his father before him, he is a criminal. He should step down immediately," he said. 

From NBC's Shawna Thomas
On the day that he's expected to announce his run for the presidency, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spent the morning on Capitol Hill speaking at a breakfast hosted by Esperanza USA, which describes itself as “a network of Hispanic Christians, churches, and ministries.”

As Gingrich walked up the stairs of the Russell Senate Office Building, he offered reporters only one word answers on his upcoming candidacy and why he was appearing at this event.

He did say the official tweet announcing his candidacy would be at "nine,” which would be immediately before he is scheduled to appear on Fox News tonight.

Gingrich's address to the Hispanic organization comes the day after President Barack Obama touted the need for immigration reform at an event on the U.S.-Mexico border. According to census data, the Hispanic population has grown by 43 percent over the last ten years -- a huge surge in an electoral population that will be targeted by both Republicans and Democrats in advance of the 2012 election.

While his speech on Capitol Hill was closed to the press, the Hispanic group's leader said that Gingrich used the speech to present his ideas for immigration reform.

"His strategy was more 'let’s break the immigration issue down into simple coherent pieces of legislation that everyone can agree on and get those things taken care of first. And then we can move on to the more controversial pieces,'" Esperanza president Rev. Luis Cortés, Jr. told NBC News.

Border security, the newly reintroduced Dream Act and a temporary worker program were also discussed, according to Cortes.  

“He talked about the temporary worker program, which he feels is an important way to have people who are already here and who are working and not have to deport them and get them right with the law,” he said.

Margarita Arroyo of the Urban Youth Alliance, who also attended the speech, was more blunt about the contents of Gingrich’s speech.  His message, she said, was this: “Comprehensive bill is not going to be passed…he wants to break it down piece by piece."

Arroyo was wary that Gingrich's proposals may mean little in practice. “He’s going to talk about something that we’re interested in, obviously," she said. "Whether that’s going to really come out…who knows?  You know, a politician is a politician.  They know what to say.” 

From NBC's Libby Leist
One day after President Barack Obama stood at the U.S.-Mexico border to call for immigration reform, Senate Democrats re-introduced legislation that would offer citizenship to many illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children.

The DREAM Act, which would create a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who have completed two years of college or military service and who came to the United States before the age of 15, failed by a close vote in the Senate during the lame duck session of Congress last December.

But Democratic leaders are trying again, saying that passage of the bill is “a matter of justice” that would bolster the U.S. economy, help educate more young Americans, and swell the ranks of the armed forces.

"Instead of kicking out of our country people who are educated, want to become educated, be productive members of our society, we should let them work," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said at a press conference to tout the proposed bill.

Democratic lawmakers highlighted provisions in the legislation that would prevent ineligible candidates from committing fraud and would disqualify individuals who have committed a criminal felony or more than two misdemeanors. The bill also requires applicants to prove that they have "good moral character" as determined by immigration agents.

The proposal's backers also argue that the DREAM Act participants who would be added to the American workforce could contribute trillions of dollars to the nation’s economy in their lifetimes.

Opponents of the DREAM Act have argued that the standards to weed out participants with criminal records are too lenient and that the bill would encourage non-citizens to bring their children into the country illegally.

The legislation, which bypassed a filibuster threat last year but fell short of final passage by five votes, faces a tough path this year in the Senate and almost certain opposition in the GOP-led House.

But Reid said Wednesday that he can win the support of some of his Republican colleagues during this session of Congress.

"I believe there are people of good will on the Republican side of the aisle ... who will join with us,” he said.

msnbc.com's Carrie Dann contributed

Some Republicans may be looking for someone to swoop in to energize the 2012 presidential field, but Chris Christie said again this morning it's not going to be him.

NBC's Lauren Selsky reports that when asked at an education forum in Washington if he will run, the Republican New Jersey governor rolled his eyes and said, emphatically, "No, I'm NOT running for president."

In November 2010, Christie even invoked suicide to stress he's not running. "Short of suicide," Christie said, "I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running."

A reality about the 2012 field: Everyone is flawed… But here’s a reminder: Flawed candidates -- Bill Clinton, Barack Obama -- have gone on to win the White House… What matters is how the candidates respond to their flaws… Gingrich makes his ’12 candidacy official, and he confronts four challenges: 1) his personal baggage, 2) his lack of discipline, 3) being tied to Washington, and 4) his potential fundraising… Is Newt Charles de Gaulle?... Obama calls out Republicans for moving the goal posts on immigration reform… He participates in an economic town hall at 2:00 pm ET and then meets with the Senate Democratic caucus at 4:20 pm… And American Crossroads is on the air in NY-26.

*** A flawed field: Whether it’s Gingrich making his presidential bid official today (after a rough start two months ago), or Romney delivering a speech tomorrow on his Achilles heel (health care), or the latest NBC poll (showing President Obama’s economic approval at 37%), every 2012 candidate has this in common: They’re all flawed. In the GOP field, you have a failed former presidential candidate whose own health-care law is similar to President Obama's. You have a thrice-married former House speaker who left that office in an ethical cloud. You have a former Minnesota governor most Americans have never heard of (and when they have, he gets overshadowed by others). You have a former Pennsylvania senator who lost re-election in 2006 by 18 percentage points. And it’s likely you’ll soon have someone who faithfully (and uncritically) served in the Obama administration. On the Democratic side, meanwhile, you have an incumbent president overseeing an economy where the current unemployment rate is 9.0%.

*** But no one is ever perfect: Of course, flawed candidates always have gone on to win the White House. The winner in 1992 (Bill Clinton) was the governor of a small state who had a, well, colorful past. The winner in 2000 (George W. Bush) overcame doubts about his knowledge of world affairs, as well as booming economy under a Democratic administration. And the winner in 2008 (Barack Obama) triumphed despite questions about his experience and his worldview. What matters in presidential campaigns -- and we’ll witness this over the next year and a half -- is how the candidates conquer, exploit, or side-step their flaws. Nobody is perfect, especially in politics. But what counts is how they take a punch and respond. In many ways, a presidential primary campaign is a test to see who can BEST overcome obstacles.

*** Newt’s four challenges: And on that note, Newt Gingrich -- who makes his presidential campaign official today on Twitter, Facebook, and then an appearance with FOX’s Hannity -- perhaps has more to overcome than some of his GOP rivals. Our April NBC/WSJ poll tested 13 different candidate attributes. The worst attributes among Republicans (in order): being a former lobbyist (Barbour is now not running), having multiple marriages (which applies to Gingrich), being a FOX commentator (which Newt used to be), being a Mormon, and being a former House speaker (which applies to Gingrich, too). In our eyes, Gingrich has four challenges: 1) his personal baggage, and he’s trying to overcome it by making his wife, Callista, a big part of his campaign; 2) his lack of discipline, because saying things like Sonia Sotomayor is a racist or that Obama is best understood by his “Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior" won't simply become controversies confined to the blogosphere under the presidential spotlight; 3) the fact his ONLY experience is in Washington, making him the most "Washington" candidate in a year where being ANTI-Washington is going to be a plus; and 4) his fundraising -- where is his second $5 million going to come from?

*** Newt’s do-over: Gingrich’s announcement today comes more than two months after his “testing the waters” announcement landed with a thud. Back then, a key Gingrich adviser told at least one news organization that the former speaker was forming an exploratory committee when he wasn’t, and Newt’s testing-the-waters website used a stock photo that had once been featured on a Ted Kennedy site. A few weeks later, Gingrich drew ridicule when he flipped-flopped on whether the United States should have intervened in Libya. It wasn’t a smooth beginning for Newt. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, while Gingrich enjoys high name recognition (only 7% hadn’t heard of him), he was the choice of just 5% of Republicans and GOP-leaning participants, MSNBC.com’s Carrie Dann notes. Gallup also found Gingrich with high name ID but low support.

*** Departure and return? But this also doesn’t mean that Gingrich should be ignored. In the New Republic, Walter Shapiro writes that Newt could be a force in the GOP primary field. “Gingrich … does not have to prove his right-from-the-start bona fides at every moment in the campaign. Back in the days when Mitt Romney was running against Teddy Kennedy as a Massachusetts moderate Republican, Gingrich not only personified conservatism but was the field marshal responsible for its greatest congressional victory.” And in the New York Times, Matt Bai says that Gingrich fashions himself as a Charles de Gaulle or Ronald Reagan. “In particular, Mr. Gingrich is a devotee of the historian Arnold J. Toynbee, who meditated on the concept of ‘departure and return’ — the idea that great leaders have to leave (or be banished from) their kingdoms before they can better themselves and return as conquering heroes.” By the way, Gingrich faces his first news interview on “Meet the Press” this Sunday.

*** A Moat to Nowhere: The most striking (and newest) part of Obama’s immigration speech yesterday was how he called out Senate Republicans who had once supported comprehensive immigration reform (like John McCain and Lindsey Graham). “We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement… They said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they’re going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they’ll want a higher fence. Maybe they’ll need a moat.  Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics.” Of course, so was the president’s speech yesterday -- given the unlikelihood that Congress could pass immigration reform and given the importance of the Latino vote in 2012.  

*** Obama’s day: At 2:00 pm ET, President Obama participates in a CBS town hall on the economy. (As National Journal writes, the White House is probably hoping it goes better than the CNBC town hall he attended last year, when one of the questioners -- a supporter -- told the president that she was “exhausted of defending you.”) Then, at 4:20 pm, Obama meets with the Senate Democratic caucus to discuss “the nation’s long-term deficit challenges,” as the White House puts it.

*** American Crossroads on the air in NY-26: How nervous are Republicans about the possibility they could lose the special congressional election later this month to fill the seat vacated by ex-GOP Rep. Chris Lee (he of the topless photo)? Well, American Crossroads is up with a TV ad hitting the third-party candidate in the race, Jack Davis, who appears to be drawing support from the Republican candidate.  Democrats are still hesitant about getting involved. Why? New York is losing two congressional seats in redistricting, so this seat is likely to be eliminated.

Countdown to NY-26 special election: 13 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 93 days
Countdown to NV-2 special election: 125 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 181 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 271 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter.

The New York Times: “President Obama came to this border city on Tuesday to argue that he is doing his part to crack down on illegal immigration, and that Republicans must now join him in overhauling the nation’s immigration laws for the millions of workers already here illegally.”

In reaction to Obama's immigration speech in El Paso, Texas, "Republicans immediately shot back, criticizing the president’s speech and saying that Obama was 'in full campaign mode,'" The Hill writes. "Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that the U.S.-Mexico border was not secure and the Obama administration is to blame."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) thanked President Bush for the more secure border: "We are better than we were, I will grant the president that," Cornyn told Fox News on Tuesday, per The Hill. "But a lot of that's … because of what the Bush administration and Congress did during the preceding eight years, not what President Obama and his administration [have] done."

The New York Daily News' Juan Gonzalez: "President Obama said all the right things in El Paso on Tuesday about the need to fix the country's immigration system, while lauding the progress he'd made in controlling the border. But when the soaring rhetoric was done, Obama closed with a weak punt of immigration reform back to Congress. Yes We Can turned into No I Can't."

"A federal appeals panel dominated by appointees of President Obama heard arguments yesterday in two Virginia lawsuits challenging his health care overhaul," AP reports, adding, "The 14-member court uses a computer program to randomly select its panels, and Obama could hardly have wished for a better outcome."

"Anyone looking to Congress for help in lowering gas prices may have to wait awhile," Roll Call reports. "With prices at the pump surging over $4 a gallon, the House and Senate could hardly be further apart on what to do, even though both are spending this week on energy bills ostensibly designed to address the issue. Instead, House Republicans and Senate Democrats are pushing political messaging bills that aren’t likely to go anywhere in the other chamber anytime soon."

"A deep rift is opening wider and wider in the Republican Party over controversial proposals to cut Medicare," The Hill reports. "Senate Republicans have decided to avoid jeopardizing their chances of capturing the upper chamber in next year’s elections and will not echo the House GOP’s call for a major overhaul of the popular health entitlement for seniors."

Speaking of Medicare, liberal MoveOn has sent an email to its members telling them to demand that Obama and Democrats don’t touch the government program. “President Obama is meeting with Senate Democrats today to plan their strategy, and they have to know we'll have their backs if they stand up to this Republican hostage-taking. Can you call the White House right now, and ask President Obama to make clear to Republicans, and the country, that he's not cutting Medicare and he won't negotiate with hostage takers?”

BACHMANN: After a March head fake brought on by Bachmann adviser Ed Brookover, some Iowa Republicans say they expect Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann to announce her campaign for the White House at a May 26 Polk County GOP fundraiser in Des Moines. The Tea Party favorite is headlining the fundraiser and co-chair of the Polk County GOP in Iowa, Dave Funk, told the Daily Caller his "sense is she's going to run." Funk said the Minnesota congresswoman will go on a five day tour of the Hawkeye state after the May 26 fundraiser. 

DANIELS: After House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Tuesday on the "Today" show he would like to see Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels bring the same reforms he made in Indiana to Washington, D.C., the Republican said his "chances would actually be quite good" if he were pitted against President Obama in the 2012 presidential election, Reuters reports.

GINGRICH: Newt Gingrich, whose personal wealth may not match some of his other likely opponents, plans to play in every single primary state, Politico writes. “Gingrich isn’t pinning his hopes on any single state, believing instead that, for those who can’t fund their own campaigns, the drawn-out contest will require a prudent use of resources spread across the board.”

Newt Gingrich’s past experience – and problems – may both help and hurt his campaign, the AP writes. “Viewed by many as a masterful grass-roots strategist and message manipulator, he led Republicans to control of the House for the first time in four decades. Still, he's remembered as much for his stormy fall — he faced ethics complaints and later resigned — as for his triumphant rise. And questions about his temperament still surface.”

HUNTSMAN: Politico reports former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is adding on to his previously scheduled trip to New Hampshire to give a speech at the University of Southern New Hampshire on May 21. His now five-day Granite State trip will now begin on May 19^th with a stop in Lebanon near the Vermont border, and continues with a meeting with the state GOP chairman, Jack Kimball, in Concord the next day.

The Washington Post’s Cilizza reports that Huntsman’s political action committee has hired two more communications operatives: James Richardson, who first signed on with Haley Barbour and will oversee online communications, and Matt Connelly, who has worked on California gubernatorial campaigns and will be in charge of rapid response.

PAUL: Ron Paul is planning a rally in Exeter, NH on Friday, during a two-day swing through the state, WMUR reports.

ROMNEY: "Mitt Romney, whose emerging candidacy for president has been clouded by GOP doubts over his health care plan in Massachusetts, is planning a bit of political jujitsu tomorrow: taking the biggest perceived negative of his campaign and attempting to turn it into a positive," the Boston Globe writes. The former Massachusetts governor will seek to redefine his candidacy by delivering a major speech outlining his vision for dismantling President Obama’s overhaul and creating a new national model. Romney is expected to propose tax breaks for consumers buying coverage on the open market; a requirement that insurers cover patients with preexisting conditions; and provisions giving states more power in the health coverage arena."

By the way, Romney will deliver his speech in Michigan, and MSNBC.com’s Carrie Dann notes that a new poll from Lansing-based EPIC-MRA shows Obama’s job approval underwater in the state, with 61% giving the president a negative rating. But it’s worth noting that the poll was in the field before Osama bin Laden’s death, which -- per NBC’s latest survey -- is worth at least a modest bump for the commander-in-chief.

According to IowaPolitcs.com, Mitt Romney will make his first appearance in Iowa when he gives a speech and participates in a question and answer session in Des Moines on May 27 as part of a series of presidential lectures held in partnership with the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

TRUMP: An indication Trump might not actually run? He said on FOX, per GOP 12: "I have heard over a lifetime that if you have really accomplished a lot and done a lot, you cannot run for high political office. And I can see why. I can see now why Ross Perot dropped out… I heard from people that were involved that he was just getting hammered because he did a lot. He did a lot of deals, a lot of everything."

Trump spoke at length about his hair in a Rolling Stone interview, per the New York Daily News: "Okay, what I do is wash it with Head and Shoulders," Trump said. "I don't dry it, though. I let it dry by itself. It takes about an hour… I mean, I get a lot of credit for comb-overs. But it's not really a comb-over… Yes, I do use a comb. Do I comb it forward? No, I don't comb it forward. It's sort of a little bit forward and back. I've combed it the same way for years. Same thing, every time… I actually don't have a bad hairline. When you think about it, it's not bad."

NEBRASKA: "The Tea Party Express announced Wednesday morning that they are backing Attorney General Jon Bruning in the GOP primary for the candidates aiming to unseat Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), marking the group’s first endorsement of the 2012 cycle," per Roll Call.

NEW YORK: "It is a special election that was never supposed to be this close. But outside groups have begun pouring money into New York’s 26th district, a conservative region near the Empire State’s western border that has become an unlikely battlefield in a new age of political influence," Roll Call reports. The election takes place May 24.

TEXAS: "Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (D) will announce Wednesday morning that he is filing to run for the open Senate seat in Texas, according to a Democratic source close to the campaign," Roll Call writes.

From msnbc.com's Tom Curry:
In one way President Barack Obama’s trip to Texas Tuesday is about immigration policy; in another way it relates to the most purely political process of all: the drawing of new district lines after the 2010 Census.

James Henson, the director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said Obama can send a morale-building message to Texas Democrats Tuesday: that he’s going to help defend them against any Republican redistricting plan that would jeopardize Democratic House members.  Republicans entirely control the redistricting process in Texas.

Due to its rapid population growth, the state is gaining four seats in the House of Representatives.

Henson said Texas Democrats “want the Justice Department to be paying close attention to the maps” as Gov. Rick Perry and the GOP-controlled legislature mull over where the new districts should be created and how the lines could be drawn to hobble Democrats’ chances in 2012 House races.

Right now – before it gets its four new seats -- the Texas delegation has 23 Republicans and 9 Democrats. Four of those Democrats are Latinos and three are African-American. One of the Republicans is a Latino.

Under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Texas is one of nine states that must get Justice Department approval for its new districts.

The law puts the burden of proof on the state to show the Justice Department or a panel of federal judges that its new redistricting plan will not lead to “retrogression” or a diminishing of the power of black and Latino voters.

Michael Pitts, a voting rights expert who teaches at Indiana University School of Law and who served as an attorney in the Voting Section of the Department of Justice, said the Voting Rights Act “protects the ability of minority voters to elect their candidates of choice. And with voting demographics being what they are, the choice of minority voters, African America and Latinos in Texas, is typically Democratic candidates.”

Since the Voting Rights Act became law, every decennial redistricting has occurred under the eye of a Justice Department in a Republican administration. This year, for the first time, a Democratic administration will oversee redistricting under the Voting Rights Act.

“Ever since Barack Obama was elected, it has been an article of faith here that the Justice Department is going to be the backstop for Texas Democrats -- the backstop that they didn’t have in the last redistricting cycle -- to minimize the advantage that Republicans could get out of redistricting,” Henson said.

A Democratic administration could make a difference, said Pitts, “almost in a counterintuitive way.” The conventional thinking is that white Democratic incumbents are the biggest losers under Section 5 and its application to most Southern and Southwestern states. “They’re the ones who are relatively unprotected,” Pitts said.

Black or Latino Democratic incumbents who represent districts with a predominantly black or Latino will likely have their seats preserved. If redistricting eliminated or weakened their districts, the state would get hit with a retrogression claim under Section 5.

But, said Pitts, “what you could see out of the DOJ in a Democratic administration – if it were thinking in terms of what might be best in creating a Democratic majority in Congress – would be a loosening of the requirement that minority voters be allowed to elect their candidates of choice” and instead of concentrating minority voters into relatively few districts, “the spreading out of those minority voters to more districts” to help Democratic candidates in swing districts.

EL PASO, Texas -- Expect to hear a lot more about immigration in the next two years, but not because anything is likely to get done on Capitol Hill.

In a speech that had all the hallmarks of a campaign -- the hand shaking, the outdoor event, chants of “Yes, we can” -- President Obama sought to build a “movement” around comprehensive immigration reform.

“We need Washington to know that there is a movement for reform gathering strength from coast to coast,” Obama said here steps from the U.S.-Mexico border. “That’s how we’ll get this done.”

And there were plenty of political shots to go around, especially for Republicans.

"We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement," Obama said. "But even though we've answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They'll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They'll say we need a higher fence to support reform. Maybe they'll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat.

"They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics."

The president, however -- in his first trip here to the border since taking office -- did not offer any new details on what he would like to see in an immigration-reform bill, nor did he press a timeline. (The specifics he offered today were similar to what was offered in his July 2010 speech.) Aboard Air Force One earlier today, NBC’s Athena Jones reports that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he would not preview their legislative strategy.

One thing is clear, pressing this issue publicly is important to Obama’s reelection chances. Hispanics are the largest-growing group in the country, according to 2010 Census data. They now comprise 16% of the U.S. population, yet they comprised just 9% of the 2008 electorate. And they broke overwhelmingly for Obama, 67%-31%.

President Obama also talked about how immigrants have made great contributions to the country – in creating businesses like Intel and Google, that they, for the most part, come to America looking for work and to help their families. But he tried to strike a moderate tone, again saying immigrants who came here illegally and broke the rules need to pay a fine, learn English and go to the back of the line.

“Everyone recognizes the system is broken,” Obama said. “The question is, will we summon the political will to do something about it?”

He blamed “politics,” “rhetoric,” and “Washington games” on why comprehensive immigration reform hasn’t passed in Congress.

“The question is whether those in Congress who previously walked away in the name of enforcement are now ready to come back to the table and finish the work we’ve started,” the president said. “We have to put the politics aside. And if we do, I’m confident we can find common ground. Washington is behind the country on this.”

He continued, “[T]there is a consensus around fixing what’s broken. Now we need Congress to catch up to a train that’s leaving the station.”

The president now heads to Austin, Texas, for two fundraisers for his reelection.

Aides to New York Democratic Congressmen Anthony Weiner and Jerry Nadler told NBC News that Weiner intends to introduce legislation later this week that would reallocate the bounty for Osama bin Laden to help 9/11 first responders and their families.
 
The yet untitled piece of legislation will redirect the $25 million reward for bin Laden’s capture to New York-based charitable organizations dedicated to helping 9/11 first responders and families. Weiner's press secretary, Dave Arnold, said the Queens congressman will take the lead on drafting the language of the bill, and will introduce it after Nadler's office reviews the text. Both New York lawmakers initially announced the legislation at a Sunday press conference at the World Trade Center site. 
 
The Obama administration ended speculation over the bounty money Monday, saying the $25 million approved by the State Department in 2001 (Congress voted to increase the amount to $50 million but State never officially supported the increase) will not be handed out.
 
"As far as I am aware, no one knowledgeable said, 'Oh, Osama bin Laden is over here in Abbottabad at 57th Street..." White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said during Monday's press briefing. "So, my sense is that the requirement for any kind of award is to say that -- not to accidentally, through intelligence gathering, provide information that leads to his whereabouts."
 
Carney's statements not only shut the door on the bounty discussion, but confirm what most reports said last week: The intelligence for the American military operation that ended in bin Laden's death appears to have been pieced together by America's intelligence apparatus -- not tipsters. And after President Obama told “60 Minutes” the members of the Navy SEALs team that ultimately shot bin Laden will "pretty much get whatever they want," the bounty money will most likely stay in government coffers.
 
But Weiner's office insisted that re-routing the bounty money to first responders and victims of 9/11 will stay true to the bounty's original intent -- to honor those whose "lives have been forever affected by bin Laden's actions."
 
"Now that the White House has made it clear the bounty on the head of Osama bin Laden will likely never be paid out, there's no reason to keep that [reward] sitting unused in a bank account," Weiner said in a statement.

EL PASO, Texas – President Obama today will try to “create a sense of urgency” here around the issue of immigration and once again call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, senior White House aides said.

But there will be few specifics in the president’s speech beyond a basic outline he laid out nearly a year ago in a July 2010 speech on the subject, and the president will not issue a deadline or a timeline, those advisers said in a conference call with reporters yesterday.

Early materials provided by the White House yesterday, previewing the president’s speech, noted he will “work to build bipartisan consensus in Congress.” That means it’s unlikely something passes or even get voted on before the 2012 election – though Democrats suggested yesterday it is possible there could be some kind of vote that would once again put Republicans on record.

A vote like that would be largely political, considering Democrats do not likely have the 60 votes necessary to advance a bill in the Senate. And it would face an even steeper hill in the House, which is controlled by Republicans. (The president is a supporter of the DREAM Act, which would give students brought to the United States illegally a path to citizenship. But it failed 55-41 in the Senate in December 2010 before Republicans’ congressional gains as a result of the 2010 midterm elections.)

It’s hard not to see politics in the president’s trip as well. In addition to the obvious importance of the demographic the president is speaking to – Hispanics are the largest-growing group (and voting bloc) in the country – Obama will also attend two fundraisers for his reelection campaign in Austin, Texas.

Raising the issue, Democrats hope, will get Republicans talking about immigration. It’s difficult for Republicans running for president to stake out a moderate position on the issue, because of the early primaries that attract hard-line conservative activists, staunchly opposed to anything that would give those in the country illegally a pathway to citizenship.

It practically derailed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential bid in 2008. McCain -- who was an advocate of the last attempt at comprehensive immigration reform in 2006, pushed by the Bush White House -- spent much of the 2008 cycle apologizing for his previous position on the issue.

While here, Obama will also tour a cargo facility at the Bridge of Americas Port of Entry, which the White House says is the “largest of four crossings that comprise the El Paso Port of Entry,” where about 10 percent of the nation’s border inspections take place.

In his July 2010 remarks at American University in Washington, 80 percent of which tried to build a moral argument for reform, the president laid out the following specifics:

-          The U.S. can’t grant blanket amnesty. But it also can’t just round up 11 million people and deport them.

-          He stressed there needed to be more accountability from government, businesses, and individuals.

-          Border security needed to be improved – although he touted then and will today that it is the most secure border there has ever been. But that the border is too vast to solve the problem simply with fences and border patrols alone.

-          He said there needed to be better employee-verification systems.

-          Individuals must admit they broke the law, register and pay taxes, pay a fine, learn English and get in line. At the same time, the government needed to streamline the immigration process, which has seen a tremendous backlog.

-          He said farms needed a legal way to hire workers and create a pathway for those workers to become legal.

-          And any immigration reform needed to include the DREAM Act.

The president has held at least three events in the past two months with a specific focus on immigration, including a May 3^rd meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on “Fixing the Broken Immigration System,” an April 19^th meeting with “Stakeholders” on the same topic, and a March 28^th Hispanic education town hall, at which he pushed the DREAM Act. Immigration was also a focus on his commencement speech at Miami Dade College April 29. Miami Dade is a 90 percent minority school with a sizable Latino population.

In the next few weeks, the senior White House advisers said there will be a “campaign of sorts” to move “elevate the conversation” outside the Beltway with influential Latinos, business leaders, and law enforcement.

Later this week, the president will attend the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast; Tomorrow, there will be a conference call recapping the speech; Thursday is a roundtable in Omaha, NE, with the president’s chief technology officer and a “community conversation” in Silicon Valley, CA, hosted by Steve Case, AOL’s former CEO; May 19, there’s another conference call – this one with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis with Asian American and Pacific Island leaders; May 31, Solis hosts a roundtable in Albuquerque, NM.

Most importantly really are the demographics and what they potentially mean to the president’s reelection bid. Hispanics now make up 16% of the U.S. population, according to the latest U.S. Census data released this year. But they made up just 9% of the voting population in the 2008 presidential election. Obama won two-thirds (67%) of the Hispanics that voted, but that discrepancy, that undervote, is one Obama’s campaign hopes to exploit.

It was able to successfully register young voters and African Americans, helping candidate Obama to a resounding victory. There is room to do the same with Latinos.

So far, according to the latest NBC News poll, Hispanics overwhelmingly approve of the job the president is doing – 61% approved, 29% said they disapproved. In a hypothetical matchup with a generic Republican, Hispanics said they would probably vote for Obama by a 50%-28% margin.

The president’s appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has helped to engender the president to the group. But the community has also showed some frustration with the lack of progress on comprehensive immigration reform, and the increased number of deportations under this administration.

Last night on "NBC Nightly News," I incorrectly stated that, if elected, Newt Gingrich would be the first former speaker of the House to win the presidency. That, of course, is NOT true.

James Polk was House speaker for four years in the 1830s, then he became governor of Tennessee, and then was elected president in 1844. What got lost in my own head-to-mouth translation of what I was REALLY trying to convey: how hard it is for anyone to be elected president when their only PREVIOUS elected experience was in the House. A little history:
 
-- Nobody has won the presidency in over 125 years with the lone elected office experience being no higher than the U.S. House of Representatives. The last was James Garfield in 1880 and before that, Abraham Lincoln. In fact, Garfield and Lincoln are the ONLY two presidents who went from holding no office higher than the U.S. House to the highest office in the land.
 
-- Gingrich will be the first current or former speaker to seek the presidency since 1884, when James Blaine ran unsuccessfully.

-- Gingrich will be the FIFTH former Speaker to seek the presidency in the nation's history: Henry Clay ran three times unsuccessfully (1824, 1832 and 1844); John Bell ran once (1860); Blaine ran once (1884); and of course, Polk, who ran and won in 1844. 

Mitt Romney's exploratory committee today announced that the former Massachusetts governor will deliver a speech on Thursday in Michigan that will address what many consider his Achilles heel heading into 2012: health care.

Per a press release, Romney "will present his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that lower costs and empower states to craft their own health care solutions."

Health care has become a thorny issue for Romney because the health reform he signed into law in Massachusetts -- which included an individual mandate -- is very similar to the federal health reform President Obama signed into law last year.

The latest NBC poll is both fortifying and frightening for Obama… What has changed for Obama since bin Laden’s death and what hasn’t… Obama addresses immigration reform in El Paso at 3:30 pm ET… And it’s as much about politics as it is policy… Will we see another Meg Whitman Effect in 2012?... After his event in El Paso, the president heads to Austin for two fundraisers… Boehner lays down his marker in the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling… He also mentions a couple 2012 names (and doesn’t mention a couple of others)… 4th Circuit hears oral arguments on health-care law… And what happened to Sarah Palin?

*** Fortifying and frightening: NBC co-pollster Peter Hart (D) perhaps best sums up our latest NBC survey after bin Laden’s death: It should “both fortify the president and frighten [him]” as we head into 2012. What’s fortifying: The president’s foreign-policy and Afghanistan handlings have hit all-time highs, while his leadership, decision-making, and commander-in-chief ratings have all increased. What’s frightening: His economic handling -- attributed largely to the high gas prices -- has reached an all-time low. Overall, Obama’s job approval stands at 52% (a three-point increase from April) and his generic re-elect stands at 45% (up two points from last month; more interestingly, though, the "definite" vote for the Republican went DOWN eight points). As co-pollster Bill McInturff adds, these numbers underscore the “tremendous anchor the economy is to the president’s job standing.” Bottom line: The president acquired SOME political capital, but not as much as history suggests -- which is a reminder of just how potent the issue of gas prices are right now.

*** Suburban women vs. independents: Speaking of fortifying and frightening, here’s a demographic that should make Team Obama feel good: Among suburban women -- always a key demographic group -- 55% now approve of the president’s job, and 50% say they will probably vote for him in 2012. But here’s a group that should make them feel a bit worried: Among political independents, 43% of them approve of Obama’s job, and just 29% of them say they will probably vote for him in 2012 (compared with 21% who say they will vote for the eventual GOP nominee, and another 26% who say it depends on whom the GOP nominee is).

*** What has changed for Obama and what hasn’t: The NBC poll’s table of presidential attributes gives us a good idea on what has changed for Obama since bin Laden’s death and what hasn’t. The biggest increases: being firm and decisive (an 11-point jump from last December), having the ability to handle a crisis (11 points), being a good commander-in-chief (10 points), and uniting the country (10 points). The smallest increases: sharing your positions on the issues (three points), being honest and straightforward (three points), and having strong leadership qualities (five points). The big movements here, for the most part, are on qualities respondents saw through the prism of national security or foreign affairs; the smaller ones are on domestic matters.

*** What has changed for Obama and what hasn’t -- among independents: And that’s also true when you look only at independents on these attributes. The biggest jump among indies: strong leader (14-point increase), strong commander-in-chief (eight points), and being firm and decisive (eight points). The smallest jumps: sharing your positions on the issues (three points), achieving his goals (no change), and uniting the country (a four-point DROP). There's no greater challenge the president has right now than closing this gap with independents on a number of fronts. The gaps are, using Hart's word, "frighteningly" large.

*** Immigration politics: Obama today heads to El Paso, TX, where he will deliver a big speech on immigration reform at 3:30 pm ET. As it turns out, the White House has held some immigration-related event every week or two over the past several weeks (on March 28, he held a Hispanic education town hall; on April 19, he met with immigration-reform stakeholders, including Hollywood types like Eva Longoria; and on May 3, it was with the Hispanic congressional caucus). Of course, this is as much about politics as it is policy -- Latinos voted for Obama in 2008 by a 67%-31% margin, and they make up an important bloc of voters in the battleground states of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida, and even a place like North Carolina. What’s more, immigration reform has become a one-sided conversation. While George W. Bush also proposed similar immigration reform, and 12 GOP senators voted for it in 2007 (including five who currently serve in the Senate), most Republicans now oppose it. 

*** The Meg Whitman Effect: Let’s realize what’s coming on immigration: It’s very possible that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (who benefited from the Latino vote in his re-election battle last year) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) will likely introduce some sort of immigration reform (and probably the DREAM Act, too) in the fall, just as the GOP presidential race begins to heat up. And it will force the GOP candidates to come out against immigration reform, since their base is opposed to it. This is precisely what happened to Meg Whitman (R) in her bid for California governor last year: Her GOP primary took her to the right on immigration, and she was unable to return to the center on the issue in the general election. All it took was one outsized incident to see her numbers imply collapse with Latinos.

*** An aspirational speech: In a conference call yesterday previewing Obama’s immigration speech, senior administration officials said the president will “make the case that legislation is the root to reform here,” and he will underscore his “commitment” to a legislative solution. However, he is “not going to lay out any particular deadline,” and he won’t get into specifics. (We’ve seen this movie before, of course…) Instead, it will be an aspirational speech in which Obama wants to create “a sense of urgency around the country” on the issue. It will be “a call to action in order to get this over the top,” a senior administration official said. More evidence that this is a speech designed to resonate in the 2012 campaign, NOT in the 2011 legislative agenda.

*** Boehner starts off negotiations on the side of the Tea Party: In New York last night, House Speaker John Boehner laid down his marker in the upcoming battle over raising the debt ceiling: that spending cuts should be greater than the increase in the debt ceiling. “We should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions,” he said. Boehner followed up his remarks with an interview on TODAY this morning. “This is a window of opportunity to address the big issues that face our country,” he told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “This is the moment -- now -- to address those problems as adults… I think we need to work together.” But he also said that any tax hike is a non-starter. “It is off the table. Everything else is on the table.” Rhetorically, Boehner is trying to start off the negotiations on the side of the Tea Party. Yesterday, folks like Michelle Bachmann set the stage for this when she sent out a release indicating the GOP "squandered" the negotiations over the 2011 budget (which caused a near shutdown) because it did not lead to significant cuts or changes in the budget process.

*** Boehner names some names (and doesn’t name others): Also in the TODAY interview, Matt Lauer asked Boehner about the potential GOP presidential field and about Donald Trump and Chris Christie. On his own, however, Boehner also mentioned Newt Gingrich and Mitch Daniels. Two names he DIDN’T mention: Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty. #justnoticing

*** Oral arguments at the 4^th Circuit: The other big news today: “A three-judge appellate court panel will hear oral arguments Tuesday morning over the constitutionality of the nation’s health-care overhaul as lawsuits challenging the federal law proceed up the legal ladder before most likely landing at the U.S. Supreme Court,” the Washington Post reports. “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit will hear debate at a Richmond courthouse in two cases.”

*** What happened to Sarah Palin? In the upcoming issue of the Atlantic Monthly, Josh Green looks at the “Tragedy of Sarah Palin” – that before she became a national political lightning rod, she had a compelling record as Alaska’s governor. “She set aside private concerns for the greater good, forgoing a focus on social issues to confront the great problem plaguing Alaska, its corrupt oil-and-gas politics. She did this in a way that seems wildly out of character today—by cooperating with Democrats and moderate Republicans to raise taxes on Big Business. And she succeeded to a remarkable extent in settling, at least for a time, what had seemed insoluble problems, in the process putting Alaska on a trajectory to financial well-being." The rest of Green’s piece examines what happened to Palin: "Anyone looking back at her record can't help but wonder: How did a popular, reformist governor beloved by Democrats come to embody right-wing resentment?"

Countdown to NY-26 special election: 14 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 94 days
Countdown to NV-2 special election: 126 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 182 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 272 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter.