The president will be heading back to Ohio next week and this time he’ll appear in Speaker John Boehner’s backyard. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced this afternoon that President Obama will take his jobs message to the foot of an aging bridge that connects Ohio to Kentucky.

He'll deliver the message “at the Brent Spence Bridge, urging Congress to pass the American Jobs Act now,” Carney said, “so that we can make much needed investments in infrastructure projects across the country and put more Americans back to work.”

While this section of Ohio isn’t actually in Boehner’s 8^th Congressional District, it’s close enough to cause a flurry of questions during Carney’s briefing, including if the White House alerted the Speaker’s office of the speech plans. Carney didn’t know the answer to that and as for the optics of it all he said was, “If you're asking me if, by going to this bridge, are we hoping to draw some attention to this urgent need? The answer is unequivocally yes.”

The president spoke of the bridge during his Joint Session of Congress speech last week.

“There are private construction companies all across America just waiting to get to work,” Obama said then. “There's a bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that's on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America.”

There’s already a website highlighting the Brent Spence Bridge Replacement/Rehabilitation project which states

“Currently, the Brent Spence Bridge and the I-71/I-75 corridor support a level of use that far exceeds its original design. Specific problems include growing traffic congestion, safety concerns, and design deficiencies…The National Bridge Inventory lists the Brent Spence Bridge as functionally obsolete due to the capacity, sight distance, and safety concerns associated with its current configuration. “

It’s anticipated work on the bridge will begin in 2015 though the nature and cost of that project is still in the process of a review. 

AP

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) at the NBC-Politico presidential debate at the Reagan Library.

Since 9/11, the United States has been embroiled in wars and nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as involved in military operations around the globe from Pakistan and Libya to Yemen and Somalia.

But the current front runner for the Republican nomination, Rick Perry, does not appear to have a clear foreign policy.

Looking at the Texas governor's statements on foreign policy over the past month on the campaign trail and in two debates reveals a foreign policy that is inconsistent, muddled, and sometimes contradictory. Perry's not the only one. His top rival, Mitt Romney, has also been inconsistent, especially when it comes to Afghanistan.

It's particularly striking that the two men most likely to lead the Republican Party next year -- a party that usually doesn’t mince its words -- do not appear to have a clear direction on foreign policy. And it reflects the tension in the GOP between the hawkish neo-conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years and a public that’s grown tired of war. (The prominence of a Tea Party that’s skeptical of any federal spending, even on the military, also plays a role here.)

Perry made extensive remarks on foreign policy Aug. 29 before the VFW National Convention. There, he spoke out against multilateralism.

"We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multi-lateral debating societies," he said. "And when our interests are threatened, American soldiers should be led by American commanders."

But yesterday, Perry seemed to suggest the opposite when he talking about engaging allies.

"Our response cannot be to isolate ourselves within our borders," he said, "but to engage our allies and the quest to build these enduring allies around the world for freedom."

In his VFW speech, He also has seemed to be for muscular interventionism -- "We must renew our commitment to taking the fight to the enemy wherever they are, before they strike at home."

But then in the very next sentence, he seemed to be against it -- "I do not believe that America should fall subject to a foreign policy of military adventurism. We should only risk shedding American blood and spending American treasure when our vital interests are threatened."

Asked about his "adventurism" comment at the NBC-Politico debate, and whether he thought former President George W. Bush had been rash in launching full-scale military interventions, like in Iraq, for example, Perry deflected.

"I was making a comment about a philosophy," Perry said, declining to say how as Commander-In-Chief he would put that philosophy into practice.

Pressed for specificity, Perry, reiterated, "[T]hat was a philosophical statement that Americans don't want to see their young men and women going into foreign countries without a clear reason that American interests are at stake, and they want to see not only a -- a clear entrance, they want to see a clear exit strategy as well."

But then instead of delivering a critique of the Iraq war, which never had a clear exit strategy under the previous administration, he pivoted to President Obama.

"We should never put our young men and women's lives at risk when American interests are not clearly defined by the president of the United States," Perry said, "and that's one of the problems with what this president is doing today."

In the subsequent CNN-Tea Party Express debate five days later, he was asked about Afghanistan.

"[I]t's time to bring our young men and women home and as soon and obviously as safely as we can," Perry said, in part.

But then, he added this -- "But it's also really important for us to continue to have a presence there."

And he seemed to advocate a narrower presence, that the U.S. should reverse course from fighting insurgents and nation-building.

"[I]s it best spent with 100,000 military who have the target on their back in Afghanistan?" Perry asked. "I don't think so at this particular point in time."

But then, in directing his answer to the original questioner, a female Afghani émigré, Perry seemed to advocate a position that would likely mean a broad U.S. presence, or at least significant funding.

The U.S. needs to "continue to help them build the infrastructure that we need, whether it's schools for young women like yourself or otherwise," he said.

As social conservatives continue to mull over the controversy regarding Gov. Rick Perry's 2007 mandate of a vaccine to young girls to prevent HPV, one Christian leader is urging Perry to keep clarifying his apology for pushing the policy.

"He's going to have to be a little clearer," said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday evening. "He's going to have to  say, 'That was a violation of the sacred relationship between parent and child.'"

Perkins, an influential voice in evangelical circles, said that Perry has offered a similar explanation in private conversations but has not adequately explained to the broad audience of social conservatives why he regrets using an executive order to administer the Gardasil vaccine to 12 year old girls.

"He just wasn't that strong on this in the debate, and it opened him to [attacks from] other candidates," Perkins said. 

Perry has defended his motive for the mandate, saying that he intended to help eradicate the danger of cervical cancer that is caused by HPV. But he has apologized for instituting the policy through executive order rather than through the legislature. And on Wednesday in Richmond, he went a step further, saying that the policy should have allowed parents to "opt-in" to the immunization rather than only offering them the chance to "opt-out."

Asked to respond to Michele Bachmann's allegation on Monday that the vaccine could be linked to mental retardation, Perkins warned against "blanket statements" and noted the absence of such a documented side effect. But, he added, the long term effects of the vaccine are not fully understood - a fact of which parents should be aware.

Perkins and Perry overlap frequently at events that mingle religion and politics. The FRC head was a speaker at Perry's 30,000 strong "Response" event in Houston in August; Perry has announced that he will attend Perkins' Values Voters Summit in Washington DC in October.

We are gearing up for another edition of Inside the Boiler Room. Please post your questions for Mark and Domenico below!

ORLANDO, FL -- Following a town hall event at an Orlando public library, Newt Gingrich told NBC News yesterday that American troops should come out of Afghanistan as soon as the U.S. military can arrange a safe exit.

"I don't see us creating a stable government in Afghanistan in the foreseeable future," Gingrich said. "I think that we'd be far better off to get out as early as the generals can figure a safe way to do it." 

The statement is part of a national security outlook that Gingrich's campaign describes as looking beyond Afghanistan -- to security threats the GOP candidate sees as more immediate, including the prospect of loose nuclear weapons in Pakistan and the spread of radical Islam through Africa.

In his one-on-one interview with NBC, Gingrich also encouraged House Republicans to propose their own jobs measure. "If they don't like Obama's approach, then they ought to show us their approach," he said. 

Asked if he thought Speaker Boehner had a duty to bring President Obama's jobs bill to the House floor, Gingrich demurred.

"He can," Gingrich said, "but it'll be defeated badly. I suspect by the time they're done looking at it, a lot of the Democrats even won't for it."

Gingrich also reiterated his support for the idea of one-on-one debates among the GOP presidential candidates, but he said he had not sent letters of invitation to any candidates -- indicating he thinks that's a job for "somebody like C-Span."

Finally, asked if he thought Tuesday's special election in New York was a referendum on President Obama, Gingrich said yes, but added that it doesn't make a GOP victory in 2012 "fore-ordained." 

But Gingrich added, "It sure should be a signal to Democrats that his joint session speech didn't work."

The White House wanted President Obama's jobs bill to take center stage this week. Instead, many eyes are now squarely focused on the solar-panel manufacturing company, Solyndra, which recently declared bankruptcy.

At issue: Did the Obama administration influence and rush a federal review of a $500-million-dollar loan to the company so that Vice President Joe Biden could announce its 2009 groundbreaking? Some Republicans in the House say the answer is “yes,” but White House officials dispute the allegations.
 
Yesterday, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee released documents and emails that are now at the center of the debate. “Our investigation raises several questions about where the administration did everything it could to protect taxpayer dollars,” said GOP Rep. Fred Upton, the chairman of the full committee. 

Emails first reported in the Washington Post show OMB officials acutely aware of time pressures. According to the Post, “One e-mail from an OMB official referred to ‘the time pressure we are under to sign-off on Solyndra.’ Another complained, “there isn’t time to negotiate.’"

During Wednesday’s hearing, officials with the Energy Department’s loan office and the OMB insisted their actions were not politically motivated. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also pushed back, telling reporters that the emails are being misinterpreted. “What the emails, I believe, made clear is that there was urgency to make a decision about a scheduling matter. As you know ... it is a big proposition to move the president or to put on an event ... so people were simply looking for answers about whether or not we could move forward.” 

Carney also pointed out that the company was initially put under review for a loan during the Bush administration.

The Obama administration gave the Silicon Valley-based company stimulus money as a part of its push to invest in green energy programs. The president visited the company last year and hailed it a stimulus success. 

Solyndra, however, was forced to declare bankruptcy and lay-off 1,100 employees last month, when competition from foreign companies made it impossible for the company to stay in business. The subcommittee hearings continue into next week when two executives with Solyndra are expected to testify.

AP

President Obama holds up his jobs bill during a speech yesterday at N.C. State University.

Is Obama’s jobs plan a political trap for Republicans?... But even if that’s true, are congressional Democrats already self-destructing?... Boehner unveils his own jobs plan at 12:30 pm ET… Romney hearts Cheney, suggesting he’s a model for his VP choice… Newt wants a safe exit from Afghanistan… Missouri and the GOP calendar… And is Gov. Lynch (D) not going to seek re-election in 2012?

*** A trap for Republicans? Yesterday, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint summed up the potential political peril for Republicans on President Obama’s jobs legislation. “If we vote for this plan, we’ll own the economy with the president, and he desperately needs someone else to blame it on,” DeMint said. “If we vote against it, he’s going to try to say Congress blocked his ability to create jobs.” Indeed, on paper, the politics on this job bill potentially is in the White House’s favor. The question is whether Democrats unite around it and whether -- as DeMint puts it -- Republicans allow themselves to get trapped. While that Bloomberg poll we cited yesterday found a majority (51%) doubting the jobs bill will create jobs, a new Gallup poll finds that 45% want their member of Congress to vote for the legislation and just 32% want their member to vote against it (23% didn’t know enough about it). And a recent CNN/Opinion Research poll shows a plurality liking the president’s jobs plan outline by a 43%-35% margin, but with 22% undecided. The frustrated public simply may want “something” over “nothing.”

*** But are Dems already self-destructing? So the politics appear to be on the White House’s side. But are Democrats going to self-destruct? Just check out these quotes on the jobs bill from Dem members, per the New York Times. “I think the American people are very skeptical of big pieces of legislation,” said Sen. Bob Casey. “For that reason alone I think we should break it up.” Here’s Sen. Mary Landrieu: “I have said for months that I am not supporting a repeal of tax cuts for the oil industry.” Rep. Peter DeFazio: “I have been very unequivocal: No more tax cuts.” Sen. Joe Manchin: “I have serious questions about the level of spending that President Obama proposed.” And Rep. Heath Shuler: “The most important thing is to get our fiscal house in order. Then we can talk about other aspects of job creation.” (Um, didn’t Congress just pass some serious budget cuts back in August?) The Democratic griping is well under way, and it undercuts the White House’s message -- no matter how good the politics are. Republicans never panic the way Dems do. Just look at how Republicans handled the Ryan budget plan.

*** Boehner unveils his own jobs plan: Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner is delivering his own jobs speech today at 12:30 pm ET. In remarks to the Economic Club of Washington, per NBC’s Frank Thorp, Boehner will say that while the House will consider Obama’s proposals -- some of which offer opportunities for common ground -- they are no substitute for the pro-growth policies needed to remove barriers to job creation in America. He will discuss the GOP’s “Plan for America’s Job Creators,” which is focused on streamlining and reforming the tax code, stopping regulations, and cutting Washington spending. Moreover, Thorp reports that Boehner also will offer a path he believes the “Super Committee” should follow: advance tax reform, and address the structural problems in entitlement programs. But the speaker will stress that tax reform should include closing loopholes -- but that tax increases are not an option.

*** Romney hearts Cheney? Over the past couple of weeks, Mitt Romney has done a very good job of positioning himself to win independent votes -- if he becomes the GOP nominee. For example, he’s cast himself as the protector of Social Security (in his contrast with Rick Perry). And his overall jobs/economic message is very indy-friendly. That’s why it came as a surprise to hear Romney go out of his way to praise someone that isn’t exactly held in high regard by the political middle: former Vice President Cheney “Whether you agree or disagree with him, this is a man of wisdom and judgment,” Romney said, according to NBC’s Garrett Haake. "That's the kind of person I'd like to have -- a person of wisdom and judgment."

AP

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaking at a town hall in Florida, Wednesday, September 14, 2011.

*** Newt wants a safe exit from Afghanistan: Following a town hall event at an Orlando public library, Newt Gingrich told NBC’s Jamie Novogrod that American troops should come out of Afghanistan as soon as the U.S. military can arrange a safe exit. "I don't see us creating a stable government in Afghanistan in the foreseeable future," Gingrich said.  "I think that we'd be far better off to get out as early as the generals can figure a safe way to do it." Meanwhile, Perry said this yesterday, which seemed to contradict his remarks at Monday’s debate about wanting to exit Afghanistan: “Our response cannot be to isolate ourselves within our borders, but to engage our allies and the quest to build these enduring allies around the world for freedom,” he said.

*** On the 2012 trail: Perry stumps in Iowa, speaking at a Greene County GOP fundraiser in Jefferson at 7:00 pm ET… Huntsman continues to campaign in New Hampshire… Rick Santorum’s in South Carolina… And Bachmann is out in California.

*** Show Me the Calendar: Per NBC’s John Bailey, Missouri could be the latest state to jump toward the front of the Republican primary calendar. A bill to move Missouri’s primary from February back to March stalled in the state Senate yesterday. Any state other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina that holds its primary or caucus before March 6 is stripped of half its delegates, according to GOP party rules. Arizona has already jumped the March 6 cutoff and will lose half of its delegates, and Florida is likely to follow. Michigan and Georgia, meanwhile, have left the door open to jumping the deadline, and Missouri may now be on that list as well. (Hat tip: Josh Putnam at Frontloading HQ.) More on the calendar craziness on “Daily Rundown” in minutes.

*** Is Lynch not going to run for re-election in NH? Are Dems going to have to deal with a key gubernatorial vacancy next year? “The state's only governor to serve four consecutive terms, Gov. John Lynch, will discuss his future plans Thursday at Manchester's Northwest Elementary School,” the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. “There has been much speculation in Concord this summer about whether Lynch would seek a fifth term as governor, or if he would step down after his fourth term as most observers expected after he won his last election in 2010. WKXL's Chris Ryan tweeted Wednesday evening that the radio station had learned the governor will not run again. A handful of other media sources also reported Wednesday that Lynch would announce he would not run. ‘Anyone who is saying anything about it right now is merely speculating,’ Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said Wednesday night.”

*** Thursday's "Daily Rundown" line-up: Former Bachmann 2012 Campaign Manager Ed Rollins on the state of the race… Sen. John Thune (R-SD) on President Obama’s jobs bill and Boehner’s jobs speech today… One of us (!!!) and Davidson College Professor Josh Putnam, who runs frontloading.blogspot.com, on the evolving GOP 2012 calendar… Plus more 2012 news with National Journal’s Beth Reinhard, New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny, and former Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL).

*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Chuck Todd is guest-hosting, and he will interview Time’s Rick Stengel (on the magazine’s interview with Perry), National Journal’s Ron Fournier, and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza. The show also will cover Boehner’s jobs speech.

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 54 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 144 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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“President Barack Obama urged enthusiastic college students Wednesday to join him in his fight to get Congress to act on his new jobs bill,” AP writes. “‘Every single one of you can help make this bill a reality,’ the president called out at a hot and noisy rally at North Carolina State University.”

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds: “President Barack Obama's approval rating got a small lift after he unveiled a jobs plan last week, keeping him ahead of all potential Republican rivals in the 2012 election, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday. The percentage of Americans who view Obama's performance favorably edged up to 47 percent in the poll conducted Sept. 8-12.” In the poll, Obama beats Romney 49%-43% among registered voters (51%-39% among all surveyed) and Perry 50%-42%, Bachmann 54%-36%. The president’s approval among independents is just 42% approve, 47% disapprove.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll finds that more people trust the president than Republicans in Congress to handle the economy by a 46%-37% margin. It also finds that by a 65%-29% margin that more Americans would rather see Washington focus on creating jobs than reducing the deficit. A plurality also like the president’s jobs plan outline by a 43%-35% margin, but with 22% undecided the next few weeks and months will be critical for both sides to win over those people. By wide margins, they favor giving more money to states to hire teachers and first responders (74%-25%), for increasing infrastructure spending (64%-36%), cutting the payroll tax for workers (65%-33%) and businesses (58%-40%). But they are more split on increasing aid to the unemployed (52%-47%). But on the key question of whether people feel they are better off than three years ago, almost six-in-10 say no (58%-32%). And nearly three-in-four say they are upset and scared about the direction of the country.

“The CNN poll finds that a plurality of independents generally opposes the American Jobs Act — 39 percent are against it, and 35 percent favor it. More than one fourth of independents has no opinion,” the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent writes. “But guess what — dig deeper into the internals and you find solid majority support among independents for the jobs bill’s actual proposals.”

“A Gallup poll released Wednesday shows that 45 percent of Americans would want their member of Congress to vote for the bill, with 32 percent opposed to the president's plan. 23 percent said they did not know enough about the legislation,” The Hill writes.

A Quinnipiac poll finds President Obama’s approval rating in Virginia at just 40% with 54% disapproving, that’s down 8 points from June. Just 29% of independents approve of his job there.

Good grief. “A man driving a car containing swords, muskets, black powder and a bayonet was arrested Thursday near the Capitol, just hours before President Barack Obama gave a jobs speech to a joint session of Congress,” Roll Call reports.

Yawn. “Some frustrated Democrats in Congress are saying that a primary challenge to President Obama would be a good thing, but others maintain it would only help the GOP,” The Hill writes.

“The company that owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and four other popular restaurant chains is following Michelle Obama's lead and pledging to reduce the calories and sodium in its meals and overhaul its kids' menu,” AP writes. “Drew Madsen, president of Darden Restaurants, tells The Associated Press he will make the announcement Thursday at one of its restaurants in a Maryland suburb of Washington. The first lady, who is campaigning to reduce childhood obesity, will be on hand for support.”

“Fifty-three percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed believe the government should give legal recognition to marriages between couples of the same sex, about the same as last year, according to the nationwide telephone poll by the Associated Press and the National Constitution Center. Forty-four percent were opposed,” the Boston Globe writes.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to slide down an emergency chute at Dulles.

The Hill: “The debt super committee is unlikely to ‘go big’ and find more than $1.5 trillion in budget cuts, according to a member of the special panel.”

“The Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction will hold its first full-member closed-door session Thursday morning, multiple sources have confirmed,” Roll Call writes.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Rep. Joe Walsh “appears to be $100,000 behind in child-support payments” – and a judge wants to know why he wasn’t in court yesterday. His ex-wife “has gone into court on numerous occasions since filing for divorce in 2002, seeking court orders to have her ex-husband meet his court-ordered child-support obligations.”

A Bloomberg poll finds Rick Perry leading Mitt Romney 26%-22%, with no other candidates in double digits.

In Virginia, Perry leads Romney 25%-19% with no one else cracking double digits, according to a Quinnipiac poll.

BACHMANN: “If you're running for president, how do you convince supporters you are tough enough on immigration? Get the endorsement of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America whose uncompromising stand on illegal immigration is a point of pride,” the AP writes. “On Wednesday Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was the latest Republican presidential candidate hoping for Arpaio's backing…  Arpaio said he hasn't yet decided which candidate he will back in the GOP primary race.”

PALIN: She makes the cover of the New York Daily News for a racy detail leaked from a forthcoming anti-Palin book.

PERRY: “Perry became a millionaire through a practice common to many other politicians over the years: taking part in profitable deals involving political friends and their businesses. He made more than $800,000 in 2007 reselling a resort development plot he had gotten from a Republican friend in the Legislature, and he cleared a quick $38,000 in 1995 by flipping stock in a company owned by one of his top campaign donors,” AP writes. “Private deals involving campaign supporters are widely criticized by government reformers as a potential form of backdoor donations or influence-buying. But they are often legal; in Perry's case, the Securities and Exchange Commission did not act on a complaint about his stock windfall.”

More: “However, even if perfectly legal, the transactions still raise questions about Perry's ethics, said Craig McDonald, the director of Texans for Public Justice, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign money and lobbying activities in Texas. ‘It clearly looks like he got some special favors,’ MacDonald said. ‘Perry has a lifestyle that is probably beyond even his own million-dollar finances because people want to get close for many reasons to the governor of the state of Texas.’”

“Rick Perry criticized Michele Bachmann Wednesday for relaying the story of a woman who claimed her daughter became mentally retarded after being vaccinated against HPV,” Politico writes. “ ‘I think that was a statement that had no truth in it, no basis in fact,’ Perry said of the comments Bachmann made in a TV interview following the CNN/Tea Party Express debate.”

Texas is up to 235 executions, by the way. One has already been executed this week. Three more are scheduled for execution this week.

ROMNEY: NBC’s Garrett Haake reports Romney wants a VP like Dick Cheney.

“The former Massachusetts governor has an eight-point lead over Texas Gov. Rick Perry among Republican voters in California, according to a new Field Poll, and will be scouring California on a fundraising drive Friday,” the San Francisco Chronicle writes. “But while he'll visit San Diego, Atherton and Pebble Beach, Romney doesn't plan to greet hundreds of activists who make up the nation's largest Republican organization as they kick off a three-day state convention this weekend in Los Angeles.”

VIRGINIA: George Allen and Tim Kaine are in a statistical dead heat, 45%-44%, in a new Quinnipiac poll.

SUN LAKES, AZ -- In what was a free-wheeling town hall that felt more like a rally, Mitt Romney, with shirt sleeves rolled up and pacing the stage, seemed to be able to do no wrong -- receiving generous applause, even as he praised one of the most controversial political figures in recent American history: former Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I think it was last weekend I was watching C-SPAN, and I saw Vice President Dick Cheney and he was being asked questions about a whole host of issues -- following 9/11, the affairs in various countries in the world. And I listened to him speak and said whether you agree or disagree with him, this a man of wisdom and judgment, and he could have been president of the United States," Romney told the crowd to their loud approval. "That's the kind of person I'd like to have --  a person of wisdom and judgment."

That answer came to a question about whether Romney would name a "Tea Party person" as his vice presidential nominee. Romney demurred, saying only that his one "overwhelming criteria" for a VP choice, should he be lucky enough to make one, would be that that person is ready to become president, as he felt Cheney was.

Romney, fresh from a fundraising luncheon, was buoyed by a crowd estimated to be nearly 800 strong -- mostly seniors, whose parked cars stretched for block after manicured block here in the Sun Lakes golf and retirement community near Phoenix. It was perhaps the largest, friendliest Romney crowd of the campaign season, which one Romney aide said showed the candidate's strength in Arizona, but also could have been related to a front-page story in this morning's Arizona Republic, which several attendees said was how they learned of the event.

The former governor of Massachusetts stung his biggest rival, Rick Perry of Texas, on issues likely to carry more than a little water in this now early-voting, senior-heavy, border state: Social Security and immigration.

On Social Security, Romney joked, "You may have watched the debate. It came out in a big way."

"Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme," Romney began telling a questioner, to the laughter and approval approval of the crowd. "Social Security has worked for 75 years pretty darn well. You guys have not taken advantage of Social Security; you contributed to it. It's a savings plan, a pension plan. There are no bad guys in Social Security, so I don't call it a Ponzi scheme."

But Romney, who said he wouldn't touch the plan for current seniors, admitted the funding system would need changes in the long term to keep it solvent for younger generations. How would he accomplish this?

"No.1, we're not going to change it by sending it back to the states. Gov. Perry, in his book, said: 'Look, it's unconstitutional at the federal level, give it back to the states,'" he said. "Look, you can't have people who move from state to state to state having different plans state to state. I wouldn't want the state legislatures raiding the trust funds of Social Security state by state. It needs to be a federal entitlement. I will save Social Security as a federal program and as a federal entitlement." 

On immigration, Romney gave mostly his standard answer, and did not reference Perry directly -- instead, the crowd did it for him. Romney said that he likes legal immigration, that he supports building a fence to stop illegal immigration, and that he wants to turn off the "magnet" in the United States.

"We create advantages for people to come here illegally -- jobs, employers who hire people who are here illegally, giving in-state tuition to people who come here illegally," Romney said, drawing laughs and applause just as he mentioned in-state tuition, something Perry has approved in Texas, of which Romney has at times been sharply critical.

Romney took some criticism of his own in one testy exchange. He was questioned about his Massachusetts health-care plan, which one woman in the crowd pressed him to admit was a failure. The questioner continued speaking over Romney as he first tried to respond, saying he put "Obamacare" into place in Massachusetts, and that he made Masschusetts the most expensive state for health care.

"First of all, you're wrong," Romney responded, showing perhaps a flash of annoyance. "And let me explain why I said that. First, you said Obamacare. We had ours in place before Obamacare. We had ours in place before Obama had his. Four years before, we put our bill in place. And let me tell you -- Massachusetts health-care is the most expensive in the nation -- and it was before our bill -- and it was after."

That exchange aside, the crowd was consistently a friendly one, which after also covering Iran, school choice, and a few other meaty issues, presented the following as the penultimate question: Everyone who becomes president turns old on the job. Can you tell us why do you want to take on the responsibility?

Romney laughed as he responded. "It won't happen to me! It won't happen to me! I'm already old! I'm 64," he said to applause, adding: "I could live here!"

As he put up his microphone, Romney was mobbed -- as if he were Justin Bieber and the crowd, preteen girls. Autograph seekers with Romney's jobs book in hand, and seniors with iPhones looking for pictures surged around him, as he made his way towards the exits and a final evening fundraiser.

As he approached the door, Romney shook hands with one supporter who pumped his arm vigorously as he told the candidate, "I named my yacht 'Deregulation'. It was a political statement."

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Mitt Romney was in former CEO mode this morning as he addressed a group of 40 local business leaders at a Ford dealership here, with regulatory reform, tax policy and health care reform dominating the hour-long discussion.

Romney opened his hour-long question-and-answer session with a private-sector anecdote about his decision to pass on investing in a start-up airline.

"I said look, I'm not investing in anymore airlines, I don't care what the story is. It's just too scary. And Jet Blue went on and did pretty well without me," Romney said to laughs from the group. "I haven't been right 100% of the time, but I've learned from the mistakes. I learned what causes businesses to grow, what causes them to shrink. I've learned about competition domestically and internationally, and I'm devoted to making America the most attractive place in the world for business."

That business-friendly message is a cornerstone of Romney's frequent roundtables with local business leaders, and he largely stayed on that message today.

In response to a question on the topic of immigration reform -- an important issue in this border state -- and Gov. Rick Perry's position on offering in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, Romney noted that this was an area in which he disagreed with Perry, but that he himself was strongly in favor of legal immigration -- with highly skilled immigrants or those with advanced degrees moving to the front of the line.

In a nod to his host, local car dealer and major GOP donor and kingmaker Jim Click, who also hosted a luncheon for Romney later in the day, the former Massachusetts governor compared structural health-care cost problems to the car business.

"It'd be like in the automobile business if the customer came in and they paid $1,000 dollars -- and that was it, that was effectively their deductible,” he said. “They pay $1,000 dollars and after that it’s free. They can get any car they want. They pay $1,000 dollars and after that it’s free, paid for by someone else. And then the sales person, they get a commission based on the more automobile they give you," Romney said, describing the pay-for-service model of healthcare. "So we'd all be driving Ferraris and Rolls Royces. That's what happened in health care, and we've got to change that."

On the economy, Romney continued in his ongoing critique of President Obama's policies, saying his new jobs program simply moved money from one federal pocket to another, and repeated that while he thinks Obama is a "nice guy," he doesn't have a clue on the economy "never having signed the front of a payroll check."

Romney also weighed in on last night's special-election results in New York and Nevada. He pointed a questioner to Dan Senor's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning, which suggests President Obama (and by extension other democratic candidates) are losing the Jewish vote for what Senor (a Romney foreign policy advisor) considers to be Obama's "one-sided" relationship with Israel.

Romney said voters also selected GOP candidates because they believe the president's economic policies have failed. He did not mention either new congressman by name.

Asked by one business leader to handicap the race, Romney used a quote he attributed to Yogi Berra, saying he didn't like forecasting, "especially when the future is involved."

But Romney did say he still felt the economy would be the driving force in the 2012 elections, and that "if people don't like the way the economy is going, they'll vote for someone new." Earlier in the event, he was more bold, saying it was important to get ideas to help the economy from business leaders.

"There's a good shot I could be in the White House some day," Romney said. "Not a sure deal, but a good shot."

As Romney was preparing to leave the building, a reporter shouted a question, asking how important Arizona, which yesterday announced it would move it's primary up to the end of February, was for his campaign.

Romney's only response: "Very."

MERRIMACK, NH -- Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman today was greeted by a full marching band here at Merrimack High School, before he criticized the GOP field for "political bluster" on Social Security and slammed Mitt Romney on his approach to China.

Huntsman talked about the "scary references" to Social Security in Monday's GOP debate.

"This is all about presenting real proposals to the American people, cutting out the scary references, cutting out the political bluster and hot air," Huntsman said. "We find ourselves sometimes at extreme ends politically kinda shouting past one other. All the American people are looking for is simply some proposals. Just give us a road map."

The former ambassador to China also jabbed Romney on his jobs plan, which calls China a currency manipulator. Huntsman cautioned Romney that election campaigning could endanger the relationship.

"We don't want a trade war during a recession," Huntsman said about Romney's China position to call the country a current manipulator.

"Rhetoric doesn't work. The US-China relationship has never been based on rhetoric. That may work when you're trying to get a cheer or a response from an audience. But in the real world, which is where I see the US-China relationship, those are the kinds of things that result in unwanted results and an escalation of trade frictions. Those don't get us anywhere. They don't create jobs."

Huntsman's campaign also announced that the executive chairman of Morgan Stanley Tom Bell, as well as Nike chairman and co-founder Phil Knight, will serve as his business and economic advisers.

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- In remarks focused strongly on redemption and his own personal “faith journey,” Gov. Rick Perry urged a crowd of over ten thousand students at evangelical college Liberty University Wednesday to speak up for their future in the political sphere.

“This country is your country as well. Don’t leave it to a bunch of Washington politicians to tell you how to live your life,” Perry said at the school founded by religious leader Jerry Falwell in 1972.

The Texas governor offered a candid description of a time when he “wrestled with God,” saying that at age 27 after serving as an officer in the Air Force he felt “lost spiritually and emotionally… and I didn’t know how to fix it.”

“My faith journey is not the story of someone who turned to God because I wanted to,” he said. “It was because I had nowhere else to turn.”

Perry, whose grades at Texas A&M were far from sterling, also appeared to push back against those who question the intellect of an animal science major with a transcript peppered with Cs and Ds.

“Managing to balance between being a cadet and being a student, preparing for that life in the military while trying to focus on the variety of subjects that would prepare me for life after the military,” Perry said of his life at Texas A&M. “It wasn’t always easy. Quite frankly, I struggled with it. I fully admit that.”

While the 2012 contender’s remarks touched on few policy issues, he did mention the broad framework of his foreign policy philosophy, arguing for forceful American action to counter “evil.”

“Our response cannot be to isolate ourselves within our borders, but to engage our allies and the quest to build these enduring allies around the world for freedom,” he said.

Jerry Falwell Jr., the chancellor of the school and the son of its famous founder, spoke admiringly of Perry at a press conference with reporters before the event, calling the governor’s flirtation with the idea of secession “gutsy.”

“I just think a candidate that’s willing to say things that most polished politicians are advised not to say, I think that shows that he’s real,” Falwell said. “He’s a real person. He’s down to earth.”

The governor’s visit to Lynchburg comes two weeks before his rival Michele Bachmann is scheduled to speak at a similar “convocation” event there; by the end of this month, five of the eight major presidential candidates will have visited the school in recent years.

After his speech at Liberty, Perry heads to a Virginia GOP lunch fundraiser with Gov. Bob McDonnell, and then New York City, where he meets with Donald Trump.

BOSTON -- In what one of the event hosts jokingly called "campaigning in enemy territory," a jocular Rick Perry took the stage in Mitt Romney's home state of Massachusetts last night with plenty of quips and pushed his Social Security position. The Texas governor also sustained attacks on Romney and President Obama, specifically on his trip to Columbus, Ohio, yesterday. He even had a compliment for former Democratic governor of Texas, Ann Richards.

At an awards dinner sponsored by a think tank dedicated to rewarding government innovation, Perry offered an aggressive post-debate rebuttal to Romney on Social Security.

"When it comes to Social Security, every Republican candidate knows that the current system is unsustainable with an unfunded liability and trillions of dollars,” Perry said to a packed ballroom. “Other candidates in this race use words like fraud and compared it to a criminal enterprise. And under the media spotlight, they change their tune and they start sounding like liberals.”

This comes after Romney criticized Perry on his Social Security stance at Monday’s GOP debate. Perry has called the retirement scheme a "Ponzi scheme," but last night dialed back his earlier statements questioning it constitutionality.

Perry kept digging at Romney throughout his appearance here.

"Republican primary voters want candidates, who not only campaign like conservatives, but they also govern that way too," he said. "I know I can be hard on Massachusetts from time to time, especially Massachusetts politicians.

Perry also attacked Obama's jobs plan, calling it too expensive.

"There ought to be a 12-step program in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “First, admit you are powerless over your spending addiction and that your budget has become unmanageable.”

In typical fashion, the Texas governor  called for less federal involvement in issues he believes should be handled by the states, or "50 laboratories of innovation."

"Not every good idea is implemented by Washington, D.C.," Perry said. "No political party has a monopoly on good ideas."

President Obama’s base has abandoned him – so goes the conventional Beltway wisdom.

The problem with this accepted narrative: There’s no data to back this up, according to the most recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll.

The survey, which was conducted in late August, was abysmal for the president, save for his head-to-head match ups with GOP presidential contenders. But it also included these numbers:

-- By an 81%-14% margin, Democrats approved of his job performance, essentially unchanged from his 82%-14% score in July.

-- Among liberals, it was 74%-21% -- exactly the same numbers from July.

-- What about African Americans? Over the past month, Rep. Maxine Waters and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus – in addition to outspoken Princeton’s Cornell West and talk-show host Tavis Smiley -- have criticized the president for not focusing on African-American unemployment. Despite apparent outrage at the president at one of the CBC’s town halls in Detroit, which was replayed for multiple days on cable, 92% of black respondents said they approved of Obama’s job with 5% disapproving. That’s actually up from July, when his approval with the group stood at 83%-13%.

-- And among Hispanics, his approval stands at 57%-38%, up from his 45%-48% score in July.

Going further, looking at intensity in President Obama’s favorability rating, which is sometimes called the “feeling thermometer,” it indicates very slight slippage among Democrats and liberals (and slightly more so among liberals). But it’s very minor. Here are the numbers:

-- In June, the last time the NBC/WSJ poll measured fav/unfav, 51% of Democrats viewed President Obama “very positive.” In August, it was down to 47%. Those voters appeared to move into the “somewhat positive” category (that went up from 31% to 35%).

-- Among liberals, the president’s “very positive” rating was essentially the same, going from 46% to 47%. His “somewhat positive” score among liberals went down six points from 31% to 25%. And his negative ratings went up -- from 12% overall (4% somewhat, 8% very) to 16% overall (8% somewhat, 8% very).

Obama has a host of problems, with a lot of different groups. But, based on the data, liberals and Democrats are not it.

His biggest problem has been -- and continues to be -- with independents. His rating dropped with the group from a low 41% in July to 37% in August.

Yes, intensity with the base matters -- and if Obama can’t get them fired up, then he’s in jeopardy. But their attitudes about his presidency are the least of his worries.

*** UPDATE *** I got a question (or rather what someone thought was a statement of fact, trying to say that the "myth" was my post) on Twitter about where liberal/Democratic approval of the president was a year ago, rather than a month ago. That's a fair thing to look at. So I went back and checked the NBC/WSJ poll's crosstabs from August of last year, and here's what I found:

According to NBC/WSJ poll Aug 5-9, 2010, the president's approval:

- Among liberals was 78%/18%. Now, it's 74%/21%.

- Among Democrats, it was 82%/13%. Now -- 82%/14%.

Essentially unchanged.

Obama’s rough news day: GOP wins Weiner seat in NY… GOP also wins Heller seat in Nevada… Bloomberg poll finds doubts about Obama jobs plan… Solyndra takes center stage on Capitol Hill… Obama delivers remarks on jobs plan in NC at 12:55 pm ET… What Sandoval’s endorsement of Perry means… Perry speaks at Liberty University at 10:00 am ET… Romney’s in AZ… And Elizabeth Warren makes it official.

*** Obama’s rough news day: If Tuesday was “Pile on Rick Perry Day,” today is “Pile on Barack Obama Day.” Consider: Democrats last night lost special elections in New York and Nevada, and Obama’s approval rating didn’t help; a new poll shows that 51% of Americans don’t believe his jobs plan will help lower the unemployment rate; and a congressional hearing today is looking into the administration’s half-billion-dollar loan via the first stimulus to a solar-panel manufacturer, Solyndra, that later went belly up. All of these stories can be explained away via individual context. But taken together, they signal how Obama’s brand has taken a big hit. A stronger Obama could have helped the Democratic candidates, especially the one in New York; a stronger Obama would be getting a bigger reception for his jobs plan; and a stronger Obama would be able to dismiss the Solyndra story as just a minor irritant.

AP

Bob Turner (R), center, at an election night party, last night.

*** GOP wins Weiner’s seat in New York: Less than four months ago, Democrats scored an upset special-election victory in Upstate New York to replace Rep. Chris Lee (R) -- he of that shirtless photo -- largely on the issue of the GOP’s plan to shift Medicare to a voucher program for future seniors. The day after that May 24 congressional race, we called it a wake-up call for the Republican Party. And last night, Democrats received their own wake-up call when Republicans scored a special-election victory in Queens, NY, to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), he of those lewd Tweets and messages. In the race, Republican businessman Bob Turner defeated Democratic state Assemblyman David Weprin, 54%-46%. A confluence of factors that contributed to the Dems’ loss in a district where Weiner got 61% of the vote in ’10 and President Obama won 55% in ’08: the president’s sinking approval rating, Weprin’s poor campaign, Weprin’s vote for gay marriage (which didn’t sit well with the district’s numerous Orthodox Jews), and the hangover from the Weiner scandal. Yet no matter how you spin it, the loss isn’t good news for Democrats. And to make matters worse for the White House, the loss happened in the backyard of the media capital of the world (and the country).

*** How things can change in less than four months: But as we pointed out earlier this week, what the two New York special elections prove is how things can change. In May, Democrats -- buoyed by Medicare and Osama bin Laden’s death -- were riding sky high. Now -- after the bruising debt-ceiling debate, the S&P downgrade, and the stalling economy -- they’re back to where they were before the 2010 midterms: in deep trouble. So it’s not only a wake-up call for Democrats; it’s also a sign how quickly things can change in America politics. As we said on Monday, last night’s race will either be an exclamation mark on a disastrous summer for Democrats, or it will be a sign of things to come in Nov. 2012. The answer will be determined by what happens in the next 14 months. As for the White House, they’ll argue privately this is an August problem that has hung over into September. They’ll also say they’ve made the necessary strategic and message shifts already when it comes to some of the Obama problems that were exposed in NY-9. They now have a jobs message and a bill to sell. To prove their point about effective localized selling of the jobs plan, they point to some of the local Ohio coverage of the trip. Here’s Dayton, and here’s Cleveland.

AP

Mark Amodei (R) speaking at a victory party in Reno, NV, after defeating Kate Marshall (D) in a special election for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

*** GOP wins Heller’s seat in Nevada: Republicans also won another congressional special election in Nevada last night. “Republican Mark Amodei chalked up a crushing victory in Tuesday’s special election for U.S. Sen. Dean Heller’s old House seat, routing Democrat Kate Marshall by 22 percentage points,” the Las Vegas Sun writes. “With an assist by national Republicans wary of losing another special election in the run-up to a presidential campaign year, Amodei’s win surprised few in the heavily Republican district… Amodei received 74,976 votes, or 58 percent, while Marshall collected 46,669 votes, or 36 percent.” But what’s lost about this race is that four months ago (during the aftermath of the Dems’ NY-26 success): The party recruited a top notch candidate in Marshall and envisioned another chance to use Medicare to win a GOP-leaning seat. And then, well, July and August happened. And voila: a GOP blowout

*** Poll finds doubts about Obama’s jobs plan: Per a new Bloomberg poll, “A majority of Americans don’t believe President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan will help lower the unemployment rate, skepticism he must overcome as he presses Congress for action and positions himself for re- election.” (However, that assessment doesn’t match what economists are saying about the legislation. The New York Times writes that Macroeconomic Advisers projects “that the plan would add roughly 1.25 percentage points to gross domestic product and create 1.3 million jobs in 2012. JPMorgan Chase estimated that the plan would increase growth by 1.9 points and add 1.5 million jobs.”) The Bloomberg poll also finds Obama’s job-approval rate at 45% and approval of his economic handling at 33%. It’s a lesson in the fact that Washington brands are a mess, including the president’s. And while the ideas might be receptive to folks, the minute the idea is tied to a Washington brand, it becomes unpopular. A day after the president stumped for his jobs legislation in Ohio, he does the same at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC at 12:55 pm ET.

*** Solyndra takes center stage on Capitol Hill: At 9:30 am ET, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee takes a look at Solyndra. As the Washington Post writes, “The Obama White House tried to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra so Vice President Biden could announce the approval at a September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s factory, newly obtained e-mails show… The August 2009 e-mails, released to The Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to information provided by Republican congressional investigators.”

AP

President Obama holds up his jobs bill legislation while speaking in Columbus, OH, yesterday

*** A consistent message? Meanwhile, NBC’s Kristen Welker reports that White House officials are pushing back against assertions that their message about the president’s jobs plan got muddled yesterday. The day started with top campaign strategist, David Axelrod, telling ABC: "We want them [Congress] to act now on this package... We are not in negotiation to break up the package. And it's not an a la carte menu." A few hours later, though, senior administration officials told a group of reporters that Obama would sign portions of the “American Jobs Act,” while continuing to push for passage of the rest of the bill. Yet by mid-afternoon, Welker adds, administration officials insisted Axelrod’s comments were not inconsistent with the White House’s. According to one official, "We're going to take this to them [Congress] every day ... and challenge them to pass the whole bill." Bottom line, White House officials say, Obama is open to passing portions of the bill, but he will continue to press Congress to pass each measure -- and won’t be “satisfied” until that happens. 

AP

Presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) in Boston yesterday

*** What Sandoval’s endorsement of Perry means: Turning to the 2012 race… Just when the Conventional Wisdom (thanks to an assist from the New York Times) was suggesting that the GOP establishment was beginning to embrace Mitt Romney over Rick Perry, the Texas governor picked up a major endorsement yesterday -- from Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. As it turns out, Sandoval checks a lot of boxes. Call it a four-fer: Hispanic governor. GOP rising star. Figure from a general-election swing state. And a figure from a state that Romney won in 2008. Perhaps the best news here for Team Romney is that Sandoval endorsement forces Perry to make more of a play for Nevada than he was probably counting on.

*** On the 2012 trail: Perry speaks at Liberty University at 10:00 am ET… Huntsman stumps in New Hampshire… Romney holds a business roundtable in Tucson, AZ… Santorum campaigns in South Carolina… And Gingrich remains in Florida.

*** Warren makes it official: The other 2012 news today: Elizabeth Warren officially kicks off her Senate campaign in Massachusetts. She has already released an announcement video, and she hits Boston, New Bedford, Framington, Worcester, and Springfield.

*** Wednesday's "Daily Rundown" line-up: Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-CA, on the first meetings of Congress’ super deficit committee… NBC’s Ken Strickland and the Washington Post’s Felicia Sonmez on the outlook for President Obama’s jobs bill and how it shapes the super committee’s plans… NBC’s Lisa Myers on today’s Solyndra hearing on Capitol Hill… Producer Mark Farkas on C-SPAN’s new series “The Contenders” about history-making presidential race losers… More 2012 news with USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich, National Review’s Jim Geraghty and Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist Cynthia Tucker.

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell today interviews MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, TV producer Fenton Bailey, the New Yorker’s Lawrence Wright, and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza.

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 55 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 145 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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The New York Times: “President Obama took his jobs sales pitch to a high school in this politically crucial swing state on Tuesday, challenging Congress to act swiftly on his $447 billion proposal of tax cuts and stimulus projects to buck up the economy. In a high-octane performance that came with all of the bells and whistles of a campaign event — right down to U2’s ‘City of Blinding Lights’ blaring across the field — Mr. Obama said the $25 billion for education construction and improvements in the plan would achieve two goals at once: modernizing American schools and putting construction workers back on the job.”

“President Obama wants Republicans to okay his jobs bill - but he'll accept a piecemeal approach if that's the best deal he can cut,” the New York Daily News writes.

A new Bloomberg poll shows similar numbers to the latest NBC/WSJ poll with Obama’s approval at 45%-49% with 53% of independents disapproving. His handling of the economy sits at a low of 33%-62%. The direction of the country numbers are an abysmal 20%-72%; 19% of Obama voters says they no longer support him; 30% say they’d like to see another candidate try for the Democratic nomination. His fav/unfav is 50%-47%; John Boehner is 33%-38%; Mitt Romney 42%-38%; Rick Perry 32%-41%; the GOP 37%-53%; the Democratic Party 44%-46%.

A new Field poll in California finds Obama at just a 46% approval in the state.

The Washington Post on Solyndra: "The Obama White House tried to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra so Vice President Biden could announce the approval at a September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s factory, newly obtained e-mails show."

BACHMANN: Per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod, Michele Bachmann defended herself against the backlash she’s facing for lending credence to the false notion that vaccines can cause “mental retardation.” “I am not a doctor; I am not a scientist; I’m not a physician,” she said on Hannity’s radio show. “All I was doing was reporting what this woman told me last night at the debate. And as a mother, my husband and I have five biological children. Three daughters, and we raised 23 foster children in our home. As a mother, I would not want the federal government, or a state government, to mandate that my child has to have an injection just because government says so.”

The New York Daily News wraps the backlash Bachmann’s facing.

CAIN: “Facing concerns from supporters in Iowa, Herman Cain's presidential campaign tried to conceal the role of a top adviser who had been ousted as leader of a gay pride group in Wisconsin amid a financial scandal, a former staffer has alleged in legal testimony,” AP reports. “Cain's former Iowa straw poll coordinator, Kevin Hall, made the allegation in a letter applying for unemployment benefits and in testimony during a hearing last week. The Associated Press obtained the letter, supporting documents he submitted and audio of the hearing from Iowa Workforce Development. A Cain campaign lawyer did not dispute Hall's allegations during the hearing and Administrative Law Judge Bonny Hendricksmeyer awarded benefits, ruling he resigned only after the campaign tried to get him involved in the alleged cover-up and changed the conditions of his job.”

PERRY: AP: “Texas Gov. Rick Perry is addressing students at the nation's largest evangelical university just as he's fending off criticism from his Republican presidential rivals over cultural issues. It's not clear whether Perry will use the speech Wednesday at Liberty University to defend — or even address — his effort to require girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease or a law allowing children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition. Neither issue sits well with social conservatives, who hold great sway in the GOP nomination race.”

“Texas Gov. Rick Perry is being asked to stop Thursday's scheduled execution of an African American murderer who was sentenced to die after jurors were told that blacks are more likely to pose a future danger to the public,” the L.A. Times reports. Duane Edward Buck faces execution for shooting two people near Houston in 1995 while under the influence of drugs, but his attorneys say the racially charged testimony calls for a new sentencing hearing.”

“GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry brought his Texan swagger to rival Mitt Romney’s home turf last night, touting his jobs record as governor of the Lone Star State while subtly tweaking the former Bay State governor,” the Boston Herald reports. “ ‘I know I can be hard on Massachusetts from time to time, in particular Massachusetts politicians,’ said Perry, who packed the Boston Hyatt Regency last night as the keynote speaker at an event held by the conservative think-tank the Pioneer Institute. He went on to slam Romney’s habit of flip-flopping on issues without naming him, saying voters need candidates who don’t just ‘campaign like conservatives, but they also govern like that, too.’”

ROMNEY: He was on O’Reilly last night, where he defended the mandate and said Obama’s foreign policy will have more lasting effects than his domestic policy. (Via GOP 12.)

“Mitt Romney’s visit today officially kicks off the 2012 presidential campaign in Arizona, an important GOP battleground state that now is set to have an earlier-than-most primary,” the Tucson Citizen reports. Romney, it writes, “is staking out ground in a state that, despite its size, is ground zero for issues that resonate on a national level and will play well in the battle for the Republican nomination.”

MASSACHUSETTS: Elizabeth Warren officially announced her bid for the Senate. Here’s her launch video, in which she says, in part: "Middle class families have been chipped at, hacked at, squeezed and hammered for a generation now, and I don't think Washington gets it."

But it’s not a coronation. Warren still faces a crowded primary. Alan Khazei, for one, said in this local report: “This is for the voters to decide, it's not for Washington insiders' party elites to decide.” And Mayor Setti Warren: “I've served this country in uniform. I understand the challenges abroad and understand what we have to too here at home to get people back to work.”

“Should Elizabeth Warren be fortunate enough to win the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s US Senate nomination next year, state voters could see an election contest that rivals the concurrent presidential campaign,” the Boston Globe’s Johnson reports, adding: “Not since the Weld-Kerry race in 1996 could Massachusetts see a general election campaign like this. As in that battle royale between two bluebloods, then-Governor William F. Weld and still-Senator John Kerry, the candidates would be well-financed, nationally supported, and adept at debating.”

NEW YORK: The New York Daily News’s cover: “Turner takes Weiner seat.” The Daily News’ Celeste Katz puts the blame on Weprin: “Sure, Obama was a drag. But Democrat David Weprin was his own worst enemy - and his name was on the ballot, not the President's. The race against GOP political novice Bob Turner shouldn't have been close, but Weprin's campaign fumbled it away.”

The New York Post, on the other hand, of course, draws a straight line to President Obama with this cover headline: “Wham Bam!”

The AP: “The national mood has darkened since May, when Democrats scored their own unexpected win in another New York special election. Then, Democrat Kathy Hochul won an upset victory in a heavily Republican district by stressing her commitment to protecting Medicare, the government health plan for seniors. Weprin tried to adopt that strategy, warning that Turner would try to cut programs like Medicare and Social Security. But with unemployment still stubbornly high and voters upset with Washington over the debt ceiling negotiations, the pledge to protect entitlements was less resonant this time.”

Msnbc.com: “In a sharp rebuff to President Barack Obama, Republican Bob Turner won a special House election in New York Tuesday night, giving the GOP a district that Obama had carried with 55 percent in 2008 and which Democrats had held for years. Meanwhile, Republican Mark Amodei won a landslide victory over Democrat Kate Marshall in a U.S. House special election in Nevada, an important presidential swing state.”

The latest AP results: 54%-46% with 449 of 512 districts reporting.

WINGATE, N.C. -- Sounding more like a candidate for national office than a freshman in the U.S. Congress, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio laid out his vision for America’s role in the 21^st century, framing America as a model for all democracies and warning that it could lose that distinction under President Obama’s administration. 

Speaking at Wingate University in North Carolina, Rubio said that while America should not intervene in every conflict around the world, it has an obligation to act as an example for other countries to follow, through diplomatic and financial and, when necessary, military means.  

“Without our commitment to the rights of man, annunciated by our forefathers, what are we? Just another big rich country,” Rubio said.

At a time when Republican presidential candidates like Rick Perry are warning against “military adventurism,” Rubio struck a different town, saying that America should not back down from perceived threats.

“Some suggest that America should heed the famous words of John Quincy Adams and ‘go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.’ The problem is when America turns inward, and ignores the monsters abroad, they are likely to come here.”

He listed several examples of such incursions, including German U-boat attacks on American merchant ships during World War I, the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, and the September 11^th, 2001 terrorist attack, devised in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He cited the latter as reason for continued vigilance against possible attacks.

“If we do not have the luxury of ignoring developments in lands as remote as Afghanistan, then there is no corner of the world from which we can safely turn our backs,” Rubio said.  

And, Rubio added, America’s responsibilities do not end within its own borders, but extend worldwide.

“If America refuses to lead, who will combat international outlaws? Who will stop terrorist weapons proliferators? Who will deal with Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs? The rising consortium of Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. The growing challenge from China, which seeks to dominate East Asia but won’t even let its people use Google.”

Rubio praised President Obama for supporting the popular uprisings around the Middle East, but said he waited too late to make an impact in the region as its governments undergo massive transitions.

“He has been slow and hesitant and we have missed some significant opportunities to alter the strategic landscape in America’s favor,” Rubio said.

Rubio also blamed Obama for not heeding the advice of generals in Iraq when he ordered a drawdown of troops there, turning his back on Israel by, early on, opening lines of communication with Iran, and delaying the passage of free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

His criticism was not limited to Obama. He also targeted his colleagues in Congress for agreeing with the president to cutting billions of dollars in military spending and to further cuts if the Congressional deficit committee cannot reach an agreement – calling such a situation “the worst case scenario.”

“If the so-called debt super committee doesn’t reach any deal, the Pentagon could stand to be slashed by more than a trillion dollars over ten years,” Rubio said. “Our new secretary of defense, himself a well-known veteran, has warned that cutbacks of this scale would have a devastating effect on our national defense.”

Despite the sweeping scope of his speech, which did little to quell the perception that he might join a presidential nominee’s ticket, Rubio told reporters after the event, “I’m not going to be the Vice Presidential nominee.” 

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The presidential primary and caucus calendar is still far from set, despite Arizona’s decision yesterday to keep its primary date at the end of February.

Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) had been toying with the idea of pushing her state’s date up to January, but decided to keep it on Feb. 28 -- the same day South Carolina’s primary is currently scheduled for.

"Arizona will be a player in determining our nation’s next president,” Brewer said in a statement Monday.

But the February date is still a week before the RNC rules dictate states other than the four early voting states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada -- are allowed to hold primaries and will force the voting calendar to shift.

"The decision of Arizona in and of itself does not end the potential of early states moving up, because there's still other states,” New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said. “It is a piece of the puzzle.”

Those other states Gardner is referring too include Florida, Michigan, and Georgia, among others. 

Florida has expressed immense interest starting in the last cycle to play a key role in the nomination process. The Republican Party of Florida spokesman, Brian Hughes, acknowledged that this year, Florida would aim to be fifth on the calendar.

“Florida deserves its own day, and a day that reflects how important Florida ultimately is to not just how the nominee is chosen, but also how we win the White House back,” Hughes said.

But being fifth would require Florida to also move ahead of the RNC sanctioned March 6th date and moving up will only come with penalties. Penalties, Hughes notes, that would be a big disappointment since the state is hosting the Republican National Convention this cycle.

“The rules are the rules, and any state, like Arizona or Florida or Michigan, that violates the rules will lose 50% of the delegates,” an RNC spokesperson told NBC News. 

A similar situation took place back during the 2008 election, when Florida and Michigan were penalized for moving up in the schedule.

“We remain hopeful that everything will remain in tact with the calendar,” the RNC spokesperson said. “We are going to work with the remaining states to make sure they are within our rules.” 

But shifting of dates will surely continue as the South Carolina GOP chairman has already vowed to move its primary forward in light of Arizona’s primary being on the same day in order to not dilute the Palmetto State’s position.

Chairman Chad Connelly warned other states that his state would leapfrog over any additional states that push its primary forward.

The first contest, in Iowa, is currently scheduled for Feb. 6th, and Iowa vows to remain the first-in-the-nation caucus no matter what other states decide.

“It’s a little too soon to tell the ultimate decision to move our date,” said Matt Strawn, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. “But I certainly hope Iowans are not wrapping Christmas presents and caucus-going.”

Gardner, whose New Hampshire primary traditionally comes eight days after the Iowa caucuses, added, "It is a little less likely that reporters will have to spend New Years in Des Moines. But it's not over yet."

States have until Oct. 1 to inform the RNC of their state’s primary or caucus date and how they will a lot their delegates. But, Republican sources acknowledge that the four early voting states will probably wait and make sure that other states are locked in before they set their dates.

NBC's Jo Ling Kent, Andrew Rafferty, and Ali Weinberg contributed to this report.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In a speech here in the presidential battleground state of Ohio, President Obama today pressed Congress to pass his American Jobs Act. 

Like he did in his address to Congress on Thursday, as well as in his remarks in Virginia a day later, Obama uttered his new catchphrase, "Pass this bill." And this time, the supportive crowd was willing to chant along.

The backdrop here was a school in the home state of House Speaker John Boehner and in the district of a first-term Republican member of Congress who helped the GOP win back control of Congress last year.

The president referenced a report that some Republicans don’t want to work with him on the jobs bill because it would be a “win” for the White House. When the audience jeered this suggestion, Obama said it wouldn’t be a win for Republicans or Democrats. “It’s about giving the American people a win,” he said. 

And he said it would be a win for the schools of Columbus, too. According to the White House, the president's plan -- in its submitted-to-Congress form -- could provide the Columbus City School District up to $111.6 million to help "modernize" schools. In total, the White House has proposed to spend $25 billion on improving and updating 35,000 public schools across the country.  

What Obama stayed away from in his speech was talk of whether he'd accept Congress passing pieces of his bill -- instead of the whole 155-page package that the White House delivered yesterday. Earlier today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “If Congress were to send a portion of the American Jobs Act, the president would, of course, not veto it. He would sign it and then he would return to press the Congress to get the rest of the job done."

Elizabeth Warren will announce tomorrow that she is officially running for the U.S. Senate, a Warren adviser tells NBC News.

She will start out in Boston meeting with commuters, then make three more stops.

“The pressures on middle-class families are worse than ever, but it is the big corporations that get their way in Washington,” Warren said in a statement. “I want to change that. I will work my heart out to earn the trust of the people of Massachusetts.”

Warren -- who served as the chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, created after the 2008 financial collapse -- faces a crowded primary and a potentially tough fight against a popular incumbent Republican in Scott Brown. Democrats hope to make this a competitive race in a presidential year in a blue state.