By Kristen Welker
     NBC News

It was far from a victory lap.  Speaking from the Rose Garden Tuesday, President Obama called the plan to raise the debt ceiling, “an important first step to ensuring that as a nation we live within our means.”  Mr. Obama then proceeded to lash out at Congress saying, “it shouldn’t take the risk of default – the risk of economic catastrophe –  to get folks in this town to work together and do their jobs.” 

The duality of the President’s remarks capped off a long process that has been rife with heated debate and partisan wrangling. After the speech, Mr. Obama signed the compromise plan with just hours to spare before the nation would have defaulted on its loans.

The President also seemed to want to turn the page on the debt limit debate by focusing on the future.  He reiterated his call for Congress to take some immediate steps which he says would create jobs including: extending tax cuts for middle-class families, passing patent reform, and passing a set of trade deals.  The familiar remarks were an indication that the President is trying to steer the conversation back to jobs and the economy and away from the ugly debate that has dominated the nation’s Capital for the past several months. 

But, it’s not clear if the nation is ready to move on.  According to a recent Washington Post, Pew Research Center poll, almost three quarters of Americans had a negative word to describe how they viewed the budget negotiations.  The top words included, “ridiculous, disgusting and stupid.”

Acknowledging that public frustration, the President reiterated another familiar sentiment: “Voters may have chosen divided government, but they sure didn’t vote for dysfunctional government.” When White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, was asked if the President felt that he bore some of the responsibility for the “dysfunction,” Carney would only say, ”I think that this President from very early on in this process made abundantly clear his willingness to compromise, his willingness to accept the fact that he would not in this environment, in this divided government, get everything that he wanted.” 

The compromise plan will increase the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit through 2012 and will be matched with about $1 trillion dollars in deficit reductions.  Under the second phase of the plan, a bipartisan, bicameral “Super-Committee” will be charged with identifying about $1.5 trillion dollars more in deficit reductions (through entitlement and tax reform).  If the committee does not act by Thanksgiving, mandatory across the board cuts go into effect to defense and discretionary spending.  Many Democrats are upset because they say the plan will unfairly target the poor and the middle class, and some Republicans argue the cuts don’t go deep enough. 

In essence, few were celebrating the passage of the bill, but everyone was breathing a sigh of relief having averted what many economists warned would be a global financial crisis if the debt ceiling were not raised.  “We’ve got to do everything in our power to grow this economy and put American back to work” Mr. Obama warned.  He and everyone else in D.C. hopes the nation can now, finally, move forward.  

NBC campaign embed Anthony Terrell sat down with presidential candidate Ron Paul today in Iowa. (Video to come.)

Paul said that he expects to finish "in the top three" at the Ames Straw poll, after telling the Des Moines Register he'd be "saddened" by less.

And he said he doubted on the Aug. 2nd deadline set by the Treasury, saying the Federal Reserve had printed money to bail out other countries - "Don’t you think they could have found a little credit here and there to tide the Treasury over?"

TERRELL: You said you’d be rather saddened if you didn’t finish in the top three at Ames. What do you expect, what’s a good finish for you this time?

PAUL: Well, in the top three. That’s what I would hope to do and I expect to do it, but, we don’t know exactly. Nobody knows. Things are going well, so I expect us to do well.

TERRELL: You have said that young people know they will inherit the debt, how do you plan on getting them to turn out for you in the Iowa caucuses this year?

PAUL: Well, it’s a little difficult when they’re not in college, because when I come here and they're in college, we get good crowds out. But you know still, in a crowd like we had today, there are a lot of young people there, and they’re energized more so, and a lot on our mailing list, so we do it through emails and direct phone calling.

TERRELL: You are considered the Godfather of the Tea Party movement; you had this huge movement in 2007-2008; many people missed it, in the mainstream media as well. This primary, there are other candidates who are claiming they have Tea Party support as well; how will you convince those voters, who the other candidates claim are Tea Party types, to come back and vote for you in Ames and then follow through and vote for you as well in Iowa?

PAUL: I don’t look at that as a project; I just have to keep doing what I’m doing. History, you know, will bear me out, that when it all started. But, I don’t like to be claiming too much, and I don’t think others should as well. I think the people can sort that out.

TERRELL: So, how will you convince them, say, this candidate or that candidate doesn’t share the same values as I do and you should vote for me instead?

PAUL: The only way I can do is counteract it with my beliefs, and today in that talk I gave today I explicitly explained my position on foreign policy, monetary policy, the Patriot Act, personal liberties, and it’s different than the other candidates. I think most people will come to realize they’re closer to the establishment; they’re closer to the status quo and neo-conservatism.

TERRELL: Final question for you – you said the August 2^nd date was an "artificial" date, that these guys just wanted to get on their "junkets." Was that a date created by the Treasury officials, or by the Obama administration; what made you think that date (August 2) was an arbitrary date?

PAUL: Well, it was created by the Treasury. I think it was created because that was nearing the date nearing when we were going to adjourn for the summer. But there’s nothing magic about tomorrow or the next day, where they couldn’t have written some checks. They bent the rules already; they’re about $75 billion over the actual debt limit, so they say move this money around here. Just think what the fed has done. They’ve spent these trillions of dollars bailing out other countries; don’t you think they could have found a little credit here and there to tide the Treasury over? So, it’s really just a distraction more than anything else.

For those looking for what is in the bill that passed Congress today and the president signed, ending a months-long stalemate between the two parties, here's a breakdown below. (Click here for the full legislation.)

The Budget Control Act of 2011
1.      Ten-year discretionary caps with sequester
a.       Enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021

2.      Vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment
a.       Requires that the House of Representatives and the Senate vote on a joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
b.      Reinstates and modifies certain budget process rules.
c.       Allows for certain amounts of additional spending for “program integrity” initiatives aimed at reducing the amount of improper benefit payments.

3.      Debt Ceiling disapproval process
a.       Debt ceiling disapproved and budget goal enforced
b.      If the committee cannot come up with a solution to the deficit by the end of 2011, $1.2 trillion dollars will be cut – half from defense spending and half from non-defense spending, such as possibly from Medicare

4.      Joint Select Committee on deficit reduction
a.       Establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit by $400 billion initially and procedures that would allow the limit to be raised further in two additional steps, for a cumulative increase of between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion
b.      Creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction, with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years
c.       Establishes automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings.

5.      Pell Grant and student loan program changes
a.       Makes changes to the Pell Grant and student loan programs.
b.      Terminates authority to make interest subsidized loans to graduate and professional students.
c.       Terminates direct loan repayment incentives.

Hours after Politico wrote about the "Mittness Protection Program" -- Mitt Romney's relative silence and disappearance from the trail -- the campaign has announced it's picking up the pace.

The Washington Post:

In August, Romney plans to hold seven town hall events in New Hampshire, where he owns a vacation home and which he views as a must-win primary. He is scheduled to spend two days campaigning in Iowa, home to the nation’s first caucuses, and will hold fundraisers and possibly public events elsewhere across the country, including California, New York, Utah and Texas.

Romney’s campaign will intensify further in September, when he has committed to take the stage at three debates and plans to begin rolling out a detailed policy agenda with a series of major speeches.

The campaign stresses to NBC News that the "Mittness Protection Program" critique didn't spur this busier schedule. Indeed, the Washington Post has this quote from Romney chief strategist Stuart Stevens:

“There’s a reason the success of Christmas sales in July is not tremendous,” said Stuart Stevens... “There’s a rhythm to these things, and you want to talk about stuff when people are paying attention. I just think a whole level of people are going to begin to start to focus more in the fall.”

The president has signed the debt-ceiling bill, and it's now law, according to the White House.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 has passed the Senate, 74-26. It now heads to the White House to be signed by the president.

*** UPDATE *** Here's the vote breakdown from NBC's Libby Leist:

Members voting NO:

Democrats voting against the bill:
Gillibrand
Harkin
Lautenberg
Menendez
Nelson (NE)
Sanders
Webb
*** CORRECTION *** Webb voted yes

Republicans voting against the bill:
Ayotte
Chambliss
Coats
Coburn
DeMint
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Inhofe
Johnson (WI)
Lee
Moran
Paul
Rubio
Sessions
Shelby
Toomey
Vitter

Before last night’s House vote on the debt agreement President Obama reached with congressional leaders, a plurality of those responding to a question on Facebook favored a yes vote by their own member of Congress vote. 

In all, 1,415 Facebook users responded to that question in an unscientific survey conducted by the social-networking site for NBC News.

The results: 46% said they wanted their member of Congress to vote for the deal, while 28% wanted their member to vote no.

In a second question, answered by 1,506 respondents, 51% said they relied most on television coverage for learning about the debt crisis.  Nine percent said they relied mostly on newspapers while 8% said talk radio and 6% said they relied on their friends to keep them informed.  Twenty six percent said they relied on other sources.

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- Jon Huntsman went for a ride on local GOP city council candidate Brian Albertelli's ’09 Street Glide Harley Davidson.

"Thanks man, you just made my week," the moderate former Utah governor told the man upon return (after telling him how nice the brakes were).

But Albertelli said he isn’t ready to let it ride with Huntsman in the GOP presidential primary just yet.

He said he has seen Rep. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, former Sen. Rick Santorum, and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in person also and is still undecided.

Just because Huntsman rides motorcycles, Albertelli said, it doesn't mean he has his vote. Chief among Albertelli’s concerns -- that Huntsman worked for Obama as his ambassador to China.

Video shot by Jo Ling Kent; edited by Domenico Montanaro

Goodbye Washington, hello campaign trail… That transition couldn’t have come at a better time for Obama, while the increased campaign-trail scrutiny brings both promise and peril for the GOP contenders… Senate vote on debt deal occurs at noon ET… Breaking down yesterday’s House vote… Giffords’ feel-good moment… The “Mittness Protection Program”… And Primary Day in Mississippi.

*** Goodbye Washington, hello campaign trail: When the Senate today, as expected, passes the debt deal and sends it to President Obama’s desk, it effectively moves the political world’s focus from Washington to the 2012 campaign trail. Yes, there are plenty of unresolved issues on Capitol Hill over the next year and a half -- that super committee, the partial FAA shutdown, trade agreements, and renewing the federal gas tax -- but the scrutiny now turns to the early nominating states (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina) and then the presidential battlegrounds. That transition couldn’t have come at a better time for President Obama, whose poll numbers have declined during the contentious debt debate. In fact, a brand-new Quinnipiac poll shows his approval rating at just 43% in Pennsylvania, and it has Romney leading him by two points in the state. (Obama won Pennsylvania by 10 percentage points in ’08). These numbers are another reminder why the president HAD to get this debate behind him. It’s been another rough summer for Obama, and when you mess with Congress, you get brought down to its level.

*** Promise and peril for the GOP contenders: That transition from Washington to the campaign trail also brings both promise and peril to the Republicans vying to challenge Obama in Nov. 2012. There’s promise because none of the GOP candidates has really taken off, grabbed the public’s attention, and rallied Republican voters. But there’s peril, too, because increased scrutiny often means increased problems. So over the next few months, stories that have been on the public’s backburner -- the “Mittness Protection Program,” Pawlenty’s high stakes in the Ames Straw Poll, Bachmann-Turner Overdrive, and Rick Perry’s likely entry into the field -- will begin to become national stories. Can they withstand the scrutiny? Or will they wilt under its pressure? For better or for worse, that’s what this country’s presidential elections test. By the way, August is the last month to take candidates jumping in late-"speculation" seriously. Why? There are a series of tough filing deadlines coming up in October and November, and if you aren't in by Labor Day, you are likely going to fail to get on state primary ballots.

*** Today’s Senate vote: Back on Capitol Hill, the Senate votes on the debt deal at noon ET, according to NBC’s Libby Leist. And the measure is expected to easily pass. Yesterday’s bipartisan 269-161 House vote contained some interesting “yes” and “no” votes for 2012 Senate candidates. Nevada’s Shelley Berkley (D) voted yes, but it’s unclear how Sen, Dean Heller (R) will vote. New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich (D) also voted yes, as did North Dakota’s Rick Berg (R). Meanwhile, Montana’s Denny Rehberg voted no, but incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D) released a statement last night saying that a vote against the bipartisan budget bill “is a vote against Montana.” Tester's statement went on to say, “This isn’t the bill I would have written. But a vote against this bipartisan bill is a vote against Montana’s veterans, active-duty troops, seniors and small businesses, and Montanans deserve better.” As far as the GOP primary races to watch, Orrin Hatch (R) is a no (just like his likely foe Jason Chaffetz). But what about Dick Lugar? He's reportedly a yes, and Mike Pence (who also voted yes) may have given him some cover. Among the GOP presidentials, both Bachmann and Paul voted no yesterday.

*** A feel-good moment: Talk about a feel-good moment when Washington badly needed one. Overshadowing yesterday's bipartisan vote in support of the debt deal, Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D) returned to the House -- to cheers and standing ovations -- to cast her vote in favor of the legislation. Now twice in the past year, Giffords has (however briefly) lifted the partisan clouds in the nation's capital. The first time was back in January, after she and others were shot in Tucson. The second came after the most contentious legislative debate since Republicans took control of the House. By the way, Giffords’ office has knocked down the news that she’s seeking re-election to her House seat. "The congresswoman is working on her recovery, and NO decision has been made to seek re-election at this time," her communications director said. Per NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz stated on “Morning Joe” that they are getting Giffords ready so that she would be prepared to run if she makes that decision. Wasserman Schultz and other Dems hosted a fundraiser for Giffords' campaign a few months ago.

*** Can I get a Mittness? Yesterday, Mitt Romney broke his relative silence on the debt debate, releasing a statement opposing the deal. Why did he oppose it? The likely calculation he and his team made was that his health-care law already tests the patience of many conservatives, and so he can't give them a "list" of reasons to be against him. Why add one more thing to that list? Bottom line: He has no margin for error for some conservatives. But the way he spoke out on it (or didn't) risks undercutting the basic premise of his campaign -- that he's willing to lead because the president's not. It's THAT aspect his opponents have picked up on. In New Hampshire yesterday, Jon Huntsman delivered this shot at Romney, per NBC’s Jo Ling Kent: “It’s easy to take a political position later on. It’s tough to take a position early on, which is the real world.” And today, Politico coins this phrase: the “Mittness Protection Program.”

*** On the 2012 trail: Paul and Santorum campaign in Iowa… Huntsman stumps in New Hampshire (as does Pawlenty’s wife, Mary)… And Cain and Pawlenty are in Florida.

*** Primary Day in Mississippi: Today is also primary day in Mississippi, where voters head to the polls to choose Dem and GOP nominees for this November’s race to replace term-limited Gov. Haley Barbour (R). Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (R) is the favorite on the Republican side, while Bill Luckett, Johnny DuPree, and others battle for the Dem nomination. The Republican will be the overwhelming favorite in the general election. Polls close today at 8:00 pm ET.

*** Tuesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mark Warner (D-VA) on today’s Senate vote on the debt deal… Assessing the economic impact with National Journal’s Jim Tankersley and the Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein… And rounding up 2012 reactions with the New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny, the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus and Ron Klain, former chief of staff for Vice President Biden.

*** Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: Mitchell today interviews Reps. Steve Israel, Chaka Fattah, and Elijah Cummings.

Countdown to Wisconsin recall general for GOP senators: 7 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 11 days
Countdown to Wisconsin recall general for Dem senators: 24 days
Countdown to NV-2 and NY-9 special elections: 42 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 98 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 188 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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The Boston Globe’s editorial page on the debt deal: “Like all compromises, the debt-ceiling deal negotiated by President Obama and congressional leaders is not a win for either side. Rather, it’s a necessary piece of business that Democrats and Republicans alike should support, even if they wish the negotiations had gone in another direction.”

“There are no real winners in the debt-crisis debacle, and in such moments the leader of the country absorbs a larger hit than most,” the New York Daily News’ DeFrank writes. The tawdry spectacle of governmental paralysis, engineered by take-no-prisoner Tea Party newbies and abetted by Republicans fearful of crossing them, is more reminiscent of a banana republic.”

Obama came away with “less than half a loaf,” DeFrank writes. But he got some positives out of the deal, like not having to go through this again until after the 2012 election. But his leadership is being questioned by Capitol Hill Democrats. "He's just too much the academician and not enough of the politician," a top Democratic strategist said. "The magic of 2008 has escaped him." DeFrank: “That seems overly harsh. By positioning himself between angry Republicans and angry Democratic liberals, Obama may ultimately be in a better strategic place, with 15 months to go until the election.”

President Obama’s approval rating is upside down in Pennsylvania at 43%-52%, according to a Quinnipiac poll out today. He loses in a head-to-head with Mitt Romney 44%-42%; Obama beats Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, by just 3 points – 45%-42%; Obama bests Bachmann 47%-39%, and Rick Perry 45%-39%.

The Washington Post looks ahead to 2012. Whoever the Republican presidential nominee turns out to be, it now looks likely that President Obama’s battle for reelection will be fought around big issues. Chief among them: the size and role of government, and the values that will set priorities for a diminished pool of resources in austere times.

“The debt deal negotiated by the White House and congressional leaders is unlikely to drag down the economy but might not prevent a downgrading of the U.S.’s triple-A credit rating, a range of economists and financial analysts said Monday,” The Hill says.

The debt deal passed the House 269-161 last night.

“But much of the partisan rancor seemed to evaporate when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was shot in the head earlier this year at a town hall meeting, made a surprise appearance in the House chamber with about three minutes left to vote on the debt deal. Large applause broke out and members crowded around her,” the Boston Globe notes.

The Globe also notes, “Massachusetts would lose an estimated $400 million in federal dollars next year and $800 million the following year in the federal budget deal moving through Congress, cutbacks that could slow the state’s tenuous economic recovery, regional economists said.”

“In the end, it seems the only people in Washington being forced to eat their debt limit peas will be Democrats, who found themselves swallowing a bitter political deal forced on them by the White House and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio),” Roll Call writes.

The Hill looks at the importance of Mitch McConnell.

Welcome to Congress… Roll Call: “Freshmen Gripe Over Process but Don’t Block Debt Deal.”

“Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) issued an apology to President Obama Monday night for a remark on a radio show last week when he said that associating with Obama was ‘like touching a tar baby,’” The Hill reports.

“Vice President Biden found himself under fire Tuesday from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who condemned alleged comments the vice president made attacking the Tea Party,” The Hill writes of Biden having said (per Politico) that Tea Party Republicans had “acted like terrorists.” Bachmann, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, and Rick Santorum asked Biden to apologize. Palin on FOX called it “vile” to be called a terrorist for “taking a stand.” Santorum wants Biden to “apologize and mean it.”

BACHMANN: During a ten-minute phone call to an audience gathered in the parking lot of a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Newton, IA, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann vowed to vote against the debt deal, NBC’s Jamie Novogrod says.  A crowd of about 25 people stood under a tent in noon heat. Bachmann apologized for not being there in person. She urged her audience to drink water, and explained she had returned to Washington for the vote. 

"Let me ask you this question. Raise your hand. Do you want me to vote 'no' on raising the debt ceiling?" she said.  After a pause, several people raised their hands.  "I can't see the results," Bachmann said, "but if the show of hands is anything like the rest of the country," Bachmann said, "it is a very strong 'no.' "

The Washington Post notes Rep. Gabby Gifford’s return to Capitol Hill that included teary reunion shared by Giffords, Bachmann, and Vice President Biden. 

HUNTSMAN: He tells New York Magazine of Bachmann, via GOP12: “She makes for good copy—and good photography.”

In the beautiful rolling hills of Rochester NH, Huntsman yesterday spoke to 40 or so people at a GOP picnic for local candidates running for city council, per NBC’s Jo Ling Kent.

PAWLENTY: His campaign will announce today 29 Iowa county chairmen.

PERRY: The Texas Tribune: "Two new political outfits, based in Austin and started by a former legislator who served with and worked for Gov. Rick Perry, will try to rally veterans to the governor's presidential race in Iowa and South Carolina. The Tribune also takes a deep look at Perry's time at A&M.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner emailed yesterday in response to a question about whether the governor believed the debt ceiling deal should be passed: "The Governor supports the cut, cap and balance approach."

ROMNEY: The Austin American Statesman reports on the possibility of two "frenemies" facing off for the GOP nomination: Govs. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. The paper recounts the two's sometimes fraught relationship going back to the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, and it speculates that while their relationship appears to have warmed in the last year or so, it will likely get frosty again quickly should Perry jump into the race.

Several outlets, including the LA Times, note Romney's stance against a debt deal after being largely absent from the debate that created it, but Politico goes one step further. They've coined a new phrase, the "Mittness Protection Program" to describe the campaign's strategy of non-engagement in daily political stories, and Romney's decision not to retail campaign aggressively thus far this cycle.

“Romney’s comments put him at odds with his party’s congressional leadership and some of its establishment groups, such as the US Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, which urged members yesterday to vote for the plan,” the Boston Globe notes of Romney’s last-minute opposition to the bill. “But Romney also put himself in line with the no-compromise, Tea Party elements of the party that have flexed their political muscle during the debate, and aligned him with Representative Michele Bachmann, a GOP presidential hopeful and favorite of the Tea Party movement.”

SANTORUM: Santorum made four campaign stops across Iowa yesterday and will make six more today, NBC’s Alex Moe and Anthony Terrell report. While speaking with voters at Elly's Tea & Coffee House in Muscatine, IA, Santorum spoke about the debt agreement. "I am not going to condemn the agreement, because it did accomplish two big things for the country, and we do at some point need to raise the debt ceiling," he said, adding, "Anyone who votes for me, I will be the most consistent pitcher and proponent for balancing the budget; it will be a No. 1 priority because it guarantees freedom."

And at the last stop at the Clinton Public Library -- after the House vote -- Santorum said Republicans "blinked” and that he would have preferred a grand bargain. "This is kicking the can down the road, that’s what this does, kicks the can down the road to the next president,” Santorum said. “So, my feeling is, from the very beginning I said what we need to accomplish is to pass the balanced-budget act, that we have to stop kicking the can down the road, little mini deals that just keep the situation perpetuating.

NBC’s Carrie Dann, Garrett Haake, Jo Ling Kent, Alex Moe, Jamie Novogrod, and Anthony Terrell contributed.

Stu Rothenberg says, yes, there’s anger now at Washington, but it’s not necessarily true that that anger will translate in 15 months to an ousting of incumbents.

“A quartet of House Republicans eyeing Senate runs were amongst the 66 Republicans who voted against the bipartisan compromise to increase the debt limit. GOP Reps. Todd Akin (Mo.), Jason Chaffetz (Utah), Denny Rehberg (Mont.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) all broke with their party's leadership and opposed the agreement,” The Hill notes.

INDIANA: Sen. Richard Lugar’s campaign released an internal poll showing him with a 45%-31% lead after a poll last week from the Club for Growth showing him trailing a GOP primary opponent.

NEVADA: “To the very conservative, it’s a bad deal because it doesn’t force the government to adopt a balanced budget mandate via constitutional amendment. That latter category may, or may not, include Nevada’s Senator Dean Heller,” the Las Vegas Sun reports. “For a while, he appeared to be making room for himself to vote against any sort of debt ceiling increase, but his vote to endorse House Speaker John Boehner’s plan over the weekend makes his ultimate move as of yet, uncertain -- and Heller and his spokespeople haven’t been answering entreaties to clarify.” Heller had signaled last month that he wanted a balanced-budget amendment. A week ago, he said, “I do believe it’s a critical date,” he said of today. “But that’s not to say that I’ll vote for any of these plans if they’re not good enough.”

In a bipartisan 269-161 vote, the House of Representatives passed the debt-ceiling deal that President Obama and congressional leaders struck last night. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where it's expected to pass easily.

Perhaps overshadowing the House vote was the return for Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D), who voted for the debt deal.

MANCHESTER, NH -- Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman took a jab at GOP front-runner Mitt Romney's relative silence in the debt debate.

Over the past week, Romney had declined to take a position on the dueling debt plans originating from Capitol Hill. Then this morning, more than 12 hours after President Obama and congressional leaders struck a deal, Romney issued a statement opposing the agreement.

When asked about Romney's silence -- and then his opposition -- Huntsman said at a media avail here, “It’s easy to take a political position later on. It’s tough to take a position early on, which is the real world.”

“These are real world issues, and leaders step up and they take on these real world issues and make decisions,” he added.

Huntsman was referring to his much earlier endorsement of House Speaker John Boehner's debt plan, and then his backing of the compromise deal.

It wasn’t simply Romney’s GOP rivals who scolded the former Massachusetts governor.

Bill Burton, the former Obama White House deputy press secretary who's now leading an outside group supporting the president's re-election, charged that Romney's opposition to the deal amounted to siding with default.

"At a moment that calls for courage and leadership, Romney has buckled to the furthest right wing of the Republican Party, undermined John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and given aid and comfort to those who prefer default over compromise," Burton wrote in a memo.

The Justice Department today brought a legal challenge to Alabama's tough new immigration law, opening up a new front in the battle between states and the Obama administration over immigration enforcement.

The Alabama law goes even further than the Arizona law that sparked an earlier lawsuit from the government now working its way through the courts.

"Alabama's law is designed to affect virtually every aspect of an unauthorized immigrant's daily life, from employment to housing to transportation to entering into and enforcing contracts to going to school," the Justice Department said in filing today's lawsuit.

The law makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally. And it goes much further than Arizona's law does in expanding opportunities for police to put immigrants in jail.

Just today, state officials said the new law will not prevent any child -- including illegal immigrants -- from enrolling in Alabama's public schools. Even so, all schools are required to keep records on the number of children of undocumented workers in school, and civil rights groups have said these requirements are so intimidating that many parents may simply decline to enroll their children.

The state law makes it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to try to find work or attempt to interact with state or local government. It also forbids landlords to rent to anyone here illegally, and it bans state courts from honoring contracts to which illegal immigrants are a party.

The Justice Department is also considering whether to sue Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Utah over their tough new immigration laws. "To the extent that we find these laws interfere with the federal government's enforcement of immigration law, we will take the appropriate legal action," said Tony West, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the department's civil division.

Enforcement of the laws in Georgia, Indiana, and Utah have been blocked by preliminary court decisions. South Carolina's law doesn't go into effect until next year.

The U.S.-Pakistan relationship suffered another blow last week, when the State Department said its diplomats in Pakistan were unable to travel freely. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday that U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter was briefly detained at an airport.

Munter's detention is not an isolated incident. In the past month, sources say a very senior U.S. intelligence officer has also been stopped at an airport in Pakistan.

State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said today that U.S. personnel in Pakistan have to carry a certificate in order to travel. 

Ambassador Munter was asked for his certificate at Islamabad's airport while catching a plane to Karachi, according to Toner. Munter did not have the certificate with him, Toner said, but was allowed to board the plane. Toner also noted that his return trip to Islamabad was "without incident."

"The issue is the right for our diplomats -- according to the Vienna Conventions -- to travel freely within the country where they work," Toner told the press. "We have expressed our concerns with the Pakistanis... And we're working to resolve it."

Asked if the U.S. is considering reciprocal action against Pakistani diplomats in the United States, Toner would only say the State Department is working to resolve the issue. Speaking hypothetically, however, Toner said "reciprocity is always a consideration," but "in this case, we are working with the government of Pakistan."

These brush ups come after the May 2 U.S. mission that killed Osama Bin Laden. Pakistan was not notified of the operation beforehand. Relations between the two countries have soured since.

By msnbc.com's Tom Curry:  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office gave its assessment Monday of the Budget Control Act agreed to Sunday by President Obama and congressional leaders. The CBO estimates that if the deal is enacted, it would reduce cumulative deficits by at least $2.1 trillion over the period from 2012 to 2021.

The CBO also said the agreement would allow Obama to increase the limit on government borrowing, in stages, by between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion.

So according to the CBO analysis, the deal does not quite meet House Speaker Boehner’s test of having deficit reductions that are greater than the debt limit increase. But in talking points distributed Sunday night Boehner emphasized that in short term the agreement “would cut & cap discretionary spending immediately, saving $917B (billion) over 10 years (certified by CBO) & raise the debt ceiling by less – $900B – to approximately February.”

And matching ten-year deficit reductions with this particular debt limit increase doesn’t address an important unknown: It’s not possible to predict exactly when Obama or his successor, if he’s not re-elected, would need to ask Congress to once again increase the debt limit.

Between 2007 and 2010, the debt limit was increased six times, from $8.9 trillion to $14.3 trillion.

Even before the full impact of the recession hit the federal budget, the debt limit had to be increased in September of 2007 and again in July of 2008.

Future debt limit increases will depend on several factors, including interest rates (which determine how much it will cost the government to service its debt), the cost of overseas military operations, and whether the economy grows faster than the anemic 0.4 percent rate at which it grew in the first quarter of the year.

MANCHESTER, NH -- With 21 fresh staffers on the ground and a newly minted campaign chief securely in place, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman this week launches an aggressive campaign blitz across New Hampshire, hoping to gain ground on GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney.

The former ambassador to China, whose national poll numbers have been stuck in the single digits since he threw his hat in the ring, kicks off a packed schedule today, with a visit to FIRST, a non-profit science education program for kids. Huntsman will then criss-cross the Granite State with family in tow to meet voters, tour factories, and talk with business leaders almost twice daily for the rest of the week.

"Gov. Huntsman is happy to be back in the Granite State this week to present real solutions to getting American back to work," Michael Levoff, the campaign's New Hampshire spokesman, told NBC News.

Huntsman wraps up the weekend in South Carolina on Sunday, when he'll participate in a town hall hosted by GOP Rep. Tim Scott.

The weeklong caravan through New Hampshire is expected to be a departure from what Huntsman knows best: good old diplomacy. As ambassador and now-candidate, Huntsman until recently has been reluctant to wade into the usual political in-fighting. His campaign now seems to be more focused on pointed campaigning -- with Huntsman criticizing the GOP field and chiding President Obama.

But even his digs at the competition remain diplomatic at their core. "My fellow candidates, and I love them all, aren't offering any realistic solutions or are ducking the debate entirely," Huntsman told a few hundred College Republicans at their national conference on Friday.

His reaction to the debt ceiling agreement? Ever the peace-maker, Huntsman said it was not his "preferred outcome," but a "positive step."

Though struggling with relatively low name recognition in New Hampshire, some are confident that Huntsman could be ready to take off.

Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, observed Huntsman as ambassador to China and himself served in both the Obama and Bush administrations.

"Other candidates come out of the gate throw everything at you all at once. Voters may start to realize certain candidates look good, but overtime they lose their shine," Haenle told NBC News. "I think Huntsman is the opposite. He might not attract attention all at once, but over time he'll build up momentum."

More than 12 hours after President Obama and congressional leaders reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said he opposes the deal.

“As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table," he said in a statement. "President Obama’s leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama’s lack of leadership has placed Republican members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal.”

(Umm, Republicans tied raising the debt ceiling -- a routine move by past presidential administrations -- to spending cuts, not Obama.)

Romney joins Michele Bachmann in opposing the deal, while Jon Huntsman supports it.

***UPDATE*** New Gingrich has also weighed in on the plan, saying, "This agreement only sets the stage for an enormous amount of work going forward - well beyond the next two years ..."

*** UPDATE 2 *** And Rick Santorum weighed in with this tepid approval/disapproval, per NBC's Alex Moe: "I know some candidates are against this, say its terrible, it's a sellout. Let's be reasonable here: This is not the worst thing in the world that could happen," he said. "Having said that, what I have said from the beginning... What we should be focused on is balancing the budget and a Balanced Budget Amendment."

*** UPDATE 3 *** Here's a statement from Tim Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant: "This deal is nothing to celebrate. Only in Washington would the political class think it's a victory when the government narrowly avoids default, agrees to go further into debt, and does little to reform a spending system that cannot be sustained by our children and grandchildren. While no further evidence was needed, this entire debt ceiling fiasco demonstrates that President Obama must be replaced."

Our verdict after last night’s debt-deal announcement: Nobody really won, but some lost more than others… What we learned about Obama: He still hasn't mastered dealing with Congress, but he had to put compromise and averting economic calamity (and its real and political impact) above everything else… What we learned about Boehner: He presides over an ideologically similar coalition that acts as if they aren't. And his toughest challenge will come in the next 24 hours… What we learned about the Tea Party and the GOP: They don’t know when to declare victory… A final Senate vote on the deal could come later this afternoon… If you missed Brian Williams’ “Taking the Hill” special last night, you can watch it online… Some 2012 candidates react to the deal (Bachmann and Huntsman) and some don’t (Romney)… Romney’s Super PAC raises more than the Super PAC backing Obama… And a pro-Perry Super PAC is airing a TV ad in Iowa.

*** Nobody’s really a winner: Just like last year’s BP spill, this entire debt debate took a months-long psychological toll on the nation. But unlike the BP spill, it was a crisis created entirely by Washington’s political leaders. And now that it appears this crisis has been plugged -- though the House and Senate still must vote on the agreement reached last night -- it’s clear there were no winners, as NBC’s Tom Brokaw observed on “Meet the Press” yesterday. While Republicans got the cuts they were demanding (and at least got to delay any revenue/tax increases), the past few weeks have throw into question their ability to govern. And while President Obama gets his debt-ceiling increase and gets to avert economic disaster, Democrats are demoralized and commentators argue that the president has been diminished.

*** What we learned about Obama in this debate: He put compromise and averting economic calamity above everything else. His critics say he should have staked out a tougher negotiating stance -- like brandishing the 14^th Amendment or producing a liberal-leaning negotiating start point -- but he never did so, which allowed the hard-charging Republicans to win more concessions. As we pointed out last week, Democrats were forced to retreat time and time again: They retreated on their push for a clean debt-ceiling raise; they retreated on the size of the spending cuts; and they backed away from insisting that tax revenues be included (although that still might happen with the upcoming congressional committee and/or the expiration of the Bush tax cuts). But through it all, Obama came across as the reasonable person in the room. Will independents and swing voters reward him for that next year? He can say to Mitt Romney or whoever his GOP opponent is next year: “Can you land the plane like I was able to?” It was ugly and messy, but got done. And there’s this: There’s no longer talk of Obama being a big-government socialist… But he didn't get the big deal, and we saw again that his inability to forge personal relationships on Capitol Hill cost him.

*** What we learned about John Boehner: In the end, he got his deal with Obama, but it wasn’t easy. Balancing doing the responsible thing -- raising the debt ceiling -- but getting his rank-and-file to go along proved to be challenging for the speaker. But his biggest challenge will come in the next 24 hours or so, to convince his rank-and-file to accept the deal. And chew on this: It’s quite possible that more Senate Democrats will vote for the compromise than Senate Republicans, while more House Republicans will vote for it than House Democrats. In the same way some on the left are questioning the president's ability to lead, Boehner's being questioned, too -- him herding cats has not been pretty to watch.

*** What we learned about the GOP and the Tea Party: Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that they don’t know how to declare victory. As bruising as this entire debate was for President Obama, last Thursday’s failure by Boehner to round up the GOP votes for his House bill -- before it had to be amended -- was a body blow for the House GOP. While Democrats lost in the particulars on the deal, Republicans lost in looking like a responsible governing party that deserves control of both the legislative and executive branches. But they still got what they wanted: a sizable bite out of government. But strikingly, just like how the left didn’t celebrate Obama’s landmark health-care achievement (even though it was the biggest expansion of the social safety net since the 1960s), the right isn’t really cheering this deal (even though it represents a historic cut in government spending).

*** Senate vote timing: NBC’s Libby Leist reports that both Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans meet with their respective caucuses at 11:00 am ET. If Senate goes first in voting for this deal, debate would start around noon ET, with a final vote late afternoon at the earliest.

*** Inside Congress: By the way, if you didn’t see last night’s special look at Congress -- “Taking the Hill” -- by NBC’s Brian Williams and his team, click here for the video.

*** Some 2012 candidates react (Bachmann and Huntsman) -- and some don’t (Romney): So how did the 2012 candidates react to the deal? Not surprisingly, Michele Bachmann said she would vote against it. “The president continues to press for a ‘balanced approach,’ which everyone knows is code for increased spending and taxes,” she said in a statement, per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod. “Someone has to say no,” she says. “I will.” By comparison, Jon Huntsman recommended its passage. "While this framework is not my preferred outcome, it is a positive step toward cutting our nation's crippling debt,” he said. And Mitt Romney? His campaign didn’t comment one way or the other, maintaining its relative silence on this story.

*** Super PAC-men: On Sunday, “Restore Our Future” -- the Super PAC supporting Romney -- reported it has raised $12.2 million dollars in the first six months of this year, NBC’s Garrett Haake reports. The Super PAC, which can accept unlimited donations, was funded exclusively by just 86 donors. There were four $1 million dollar donations, and no single donation was less than $2,500. Among the bold-faced names who wrote checks to the committee: members of the Marriott family (on whose board Romney sat until earlier this year), beer magnate August Busch III, and New York investor John Paulson, who was the only individual to write a $1 million check to the Super PAC. By the way, that $12.2 million haul is substantially larger than the $3 million-plus haul by the Democratic Super PAC supporting Obama, Priorities USA Action; its sister group, Priorities USA, brought in an additional $2 million.

*** And a Perry Super PAC is up with TV ad in Iowa: And speaking of Super PACs, one supporting Rick Perry -- who isn’t even in the GOP presidential race yet -- is going up with this TV ad in Iowa. Politico: “Jobs for Iowa is spending less than $40,000 for two week’s worth of air time on Fox News Channel in the state… But the group is rumored to have the backing of wealthy Texas Republicans who have long supported Perry and are considering expanding the ad campaign to other states in the near future.” We thought these Super PACs would be players in the general election, but we never thought they’d also be players in the primaries.

*** On the 2012 trail: Bachmann and Santorum stump in Iowa, while Huntsman campaigns in New Hampshire.

*** Monday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Debt deal debriefings with House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), “Gang of Six” Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Tuesday Group Co-chair Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), and White House Deputy Senior Adviser Stephanie Cutter… And 2012 implications with the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, National Journal’s Ron Fournier and former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY).

Countdown to Wisconsin recall general for GOP senators: 8 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 12 days
Countdown to Wisconsin recall general for Dem senators: 25 days
Countdown to NV-2 and NY-9 special elections: 43 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 99 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 189 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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“Liberals were furious as the terms of the agreement came into focus Sunday, and yet another capitulation by Obama on economic policy threatened to further dampen enthusiasm among the core Democratic voters he will need to win reelection next year,” the Washington Post writes. “But for a White House eager to improve its standing with centrist independents who have been fleeing Obama, even a losing deal can be a winning strategy.”

More: “Most important for the president, the agreement struck Sunday averted a government default — an outcome that probably would have hurt the U.S. economy and added to voters’ frustrations with Obama’s leadership.”

The New York Times’ Zeleny makes this point: “The outcome, perhaps, was better for Mr. Obama as a presidential candidate than as a president. His ability to face down House Republicans over the next 18 months is in question, but when he faces voters next year, his advisers believe that the debt ceiling fight will have created a clear contrast between his priorities and that of a Republican Party that he and his allies will no doubt portray as extreme.”

USA Today says everyone looks bad. “In the debate over raising the government's debt ceiling, President Obama has seen his approval rating fall to a new low, his political adeptness questioned and his liberal base enraged over compromises he made on line-in-the-sand issues such as protecting Medicare from cuts. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been weakened, too. He not only was forced to retreat from a legacy-making grand bargain, but he also had to pull his own plan from the House floor for revisions demanded by conservative Tea Party members. Washington itself has looked to many American voters and international investors like a bickering, dysfunctional family, unable to address the nation's considerable and looming problems in a timely way.

“Responding to criticism from liberal Democrats, White House officials said Sunday night that the deal President Obama helped broker provides a path to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while protecting domestic programs,” The Hill writes.

A round up of today’s front pages:

The New York Times (with a sullen-looking photo of Obama): “Leaders agree on outlines of deal to end debt crisis.”
The Washington Post (with a smiling Minority Leader Mitch McConnell): “Leaders strike debt deal.”
The Wall Street Journal (with shots of Boehner, Reid and McConnell): “Leaders agree on debt deal.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer (also with the McConnell photo): “Accord is reached on federal budget.”
The Boston Globe: “Leaders reach 11^th-hour debt deal; passage in Congress still uncertain.”
The New York Post: “House call: Deal at last – now up to reps.”
The New York Daily News: “Done deal: Obama reaches accord with Congress bigs on debt ceiling.”
The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Obama, McConnell, Reid OK debt deal’s framework.”
The Orlando Sun-Sentinel: “Congress, Obama reach debt deal.”
The Miami Herald: “And it’s a deal.”
The Denver Post: “Hard-fought deal emerges.”
The Charlotte Observer (with a smiling Mitch McConnell on the cover): “A debt deal at last, but Congress must approve.”

“House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) began selling his conference on the deal struck late Sunday during a call and slideshow presentation, assuring them ‘there's nothing in this framework that violates our principles,’” The Hill writes.

Roll Call’s anti-CW: “Speaker John Boehner’s right flank might not be the conservative albatross that moderates and Democrats have made it out to be, if last spring’s continuing resolution vote and this summer’s debt fight are any indication.”

The Hill has this take: “The debt-limit deal has put Nancy Pelosi in an awkward, and politically powerful position.”

The AP profiles the Senate’s Tea Party standard-bearer, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): “The man behind the revolutionizing is a 59-year-old grandfather who used to play drums in a band called Salt and Pepper but now sticks to the guitar. His mother once ran a school of dance and decorum out of his boyhood home in Greenville, S.C. He has little use, however, for many Washington rituals — backslapping, small talk, Sunday shows or fancy dinners with other political players.” 

“Senate Republican conservatives say they do not plan to delay a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling, giving Congress a chance to make the Aug. 2 deadline set by President Obama,” The Hill reports.

“Same-sex marriage might seem like a straightforward issue: You're for it or against it,” the AP writes. “Yet for the field of Republican presidential hopefuls, it's proving to be an awkward topic as public attitudes change and more states legalize gay unions, the latest being New York.

The University of Minnesota’s SmartPolitics blog finds: “’Affair,’ ‘gay,’ ‘wives,’ and ‘Paul Revere’ are among the most commonly-searched terms associated with announced and rumored 2012 Republican presidential candidates.”

BACHMANN: “Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, during a town hall meeting in Fort Dodge, derided the latest proposed deal to raise the debt ceiling,” the Des Moines Register reports. “Bachmann said raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion would just get Washington politicians through the next election.”

CAIN: Over the weekend, per NBC’s Carrie Dann, Herman Cain won a presidential straw poll of Republicans in Colorado, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- who traveled to address the Denver conservative conference amid speculation that he will soon mount a run -- coming in a distant second in the survey.

NBC's Ali Weinberg reports that Cain celebrated his first-place finish -- and took a subtle dig at the wide margin between him and second-place finisher Rick Perry. Surprising a conference call of grassroots supporters by dialing in from Denver, Cain said the results of the Western Conservative Summit's straw poll were “almost overwhelming.”

“Let me just tell you that second place got 13% of the vote,” Cain continued, indirectly referencing Perry’s showing. “First place got 48% of the vote, and it was yours truly, Herman Cain.”

HUNTSMAN: In Utah, Huntsman is known as “a diplomat to the core,” someone “well known here as a likable guy who prefers compromise to combativeness. Niceness is such a strong part of his persona that the Republican pledged to run a civil campaign for president,” the AP says. “But now, as Huntsman struggles against better-known opponents, he is both subtly and directly criticizing GOP front-runner Mitt Romney as well as the Democrat who named him U.S. ambassador to China just a few years ago, President Barack Obama.”

Huntsman will be the first candidate to participate in a series of town hall meetings sponsored by Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) planned for each GOP presidential hopeful, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. Huntsman’s town hall will be held at 5 pm this Sunday.

PALIN: “The pro-Sarah Palin documentary, The Undefeated, suffered another huge drop in ticket sales over the weekend, earning just over $5,000,” GOP12 writes.

PAWLENTY: Tim Pawlenty campaigns in Florida this week, but the Tampa Tribune explores whether the former Minnesota governor will be able to gain enough momentum to be a factor when the Sunshine State holds its primary next year.

PERRY: A new Super PAC called Jobs for Iowa is going up with ads calling Perry "a better option" for president, Politico reports. 

The San Antonio Express-News outlines some of Perry's nuanced positions on immigration and states rights: "Complex views can be expected on complex issues, but if he runs, any sign of contradiction will raise questions among voters just learning about Perry."

Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin warns that Perry's reversal on gay marriage could signal some rocky adjustment for Perry as he transitions into being a national candidate. "It should serve as a warning to Perry to figure out exactly how he is going to address and communicate on dozens and dozens of issues, some of which (e.g. foreign policy) he has never faced before."

The Texas Tribune dives into Perry's inner circle. 

ROMNEY: On Sunday, “Restore Our Future” -- the Super PAC supporting Romney -- reported it has raised $12.2 million dollars in the first six months of this year, NBC’s Garrett Haake reports. The Super PAC, which can accept unlimited donations, was funded exclusively by just 86 donors. There were four $1 million dollar donations, and no single donation was less than $2,500. Among the bold-faced names who wrote checks to the committee: members of the Marriott family (on whose board Romney sat until earlier this year), beer magnate August Busch III, and New York investor John Paulson, who was the only individual to write a $1 million check to the Super PAC.

By the way, that $12.2 million haul is substantially larger than the $3 million-plus haul by the Democratic Super PAC supporting Obama, Priorities USA Action.

SANTORUM: Speaking to a group of over 60 people sitting at picnic tables in 100 degree heat, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum -- wearing navy shorts, rolled up shirt sleeves and sandals -- discussed the debt ceiling debate, the economy, health care and education, NBC’s Anthony Terrell notes.

NBC’s Carrie Dann, Garrett Haake, Ali Weinberg, Anthony Terrell, Andrew Rafferty, and Jamie Novogrod contributed.