Obama: “I deserve a second term”… The president also talks Iran and Syria… Romney’s rough week… He trails Obama by six points (51%-45%) in new WaPo/ABC poll… On contraception and the Catholic vote… On those Super Bowl car ads… Gingrich’s strategy to stay in the race… Paul’s disappointing 3^rd-place finish in Nevada… And the disappointing GOP turnout.

*** “I deserve a second term”: Two things stood out to us in President Obama’s interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer before yesterday’s Super Bowl. First, when asked about his comment three years ago that his presidency would be a “one-term proposition” if he hadn’t turned the economy around, Obama responded, “I deserve a second term, but I am not done.” He added, “We've created 3.7 million jobs in the last 23 months. We've created the most jobs since 2005, the most manufacturing jobs since 1990, but we're not finished." And he concluded by saying that progress has been made on the economy, but that it’s important not to reverse that progress. The other thing that stood out to us: his comment that a president gets better as time goes on. When Lauer asked about some of his supporters being disappointed with the amount of change his administration has accomplished, Obama replied, “I'm going to just keep on doing is plodding away, very persistent. And you know what? One of the things about being president is you get better as time goes on.” It’s mildly surprising to hear a president say that, but it is also one of the truths the public does believe -- and it’s an additional hurdle for a potential challenger. In a close call election, the “don’t change horses in midstream” mantra can be a strong pull.

Obama on TODAY: 'You get better as time goes on'

*** Obama talks Iran and Syria: And while we think we know the contours of the 2012 election -- namely, the economy’s direction -- the news coming out of Iran and Syria are additional reminders that its driving issue could change in the blink of an eye. Obama said this about Iran to Lauer: “We have done extensive planning over the last several years about all our various options in the gulf.  And, you know, we are prepared to exercise these options should the need arise. But my goal is to try to resolve this diplomatically mainly, because the only way over the long term we can assure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon is by getting them to understand it's not in their interest.” On the violence in Syria, the president added, “I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that's possible. My sense is that you're seeing more and more people inside of Syria recognizing that they need to turn a chapter. And the Assad regime is feeling the noose tightening around them.”

Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images

US President Barack Obama speaks on jobs for veterans February 3, 2012 at Fire Station #5 in Arlington, Virginia.

*** Russia’s back as rival: One other thing exposed this weekend during the debate at the U.N. regarding Syria: Russia as a rival is back. The Russians have been VERY vocal about saying they wish they could have had their Libya-U.N. vote back. Just asking, but the Russians being more aggressive in opposing the U.S. (and most of the world) on this issue a signal Putin’s back to believing less in a more cooperative relationship with the U.S. on foreign policy issues in general?

*** Romney’s rough week: Paradoxically, the past week for Romney -- which has included two of his three victories, in Florida and Nevada -- might have been his roughest yet a presidential candidate and exposed some serious weaknesses as a general-election candidate. For starters, there was his “I’m not concerned about the very poor” comment, which only furthered the narrative that this uber-wealthy pol isn’t in touch with the problems of average Americans. Then there was him getting Donald Trump’s endorsement, which not only was unfortunate timing after his “poor” comment, but which also linked him to America’s most famous “birther.” And then came Friday’s jobs report, which -- at least for the time being -- undermined the rationale behind his entire candidacy. (What role is there for a turnaround artist if something is already turning around?) The good news for Romney: It’s a new week, February is set up very well for him, and we have a LONG way to go…

*** Obama leads Romney by six points, per new poll: But the new Washington Post/ABC poll is a clear indication of how rough last week was to Romney. According to the poll, conducted from Wednesday to Saturday, Obama has opened up a six-point lead over Romney among registered voters, 51%-45%, and Obama’s overall approval rating now stands at 50%. What’s more, 52% say Obama better understands the economic problems people are having, while 37% say Romney does. And respondents are split on Romney’s wealth, with 44% seeing it negatively and 43% viewing it positively. But there are still danger signs for Obama in this poll: Romney has leads over the president when it comes to handling the economy and budget deficit; nearly 90% rate the economy negatively; and just 33% believe the economy is a good reason to back Obama’s candidacy for re-election.

Obama on TODAY: 'You get better as time goes on'

*** On contraception and the Catholic vote: Despite the relative good news for Obama over the past few weeks -- on the economy and on the divisive GOP race -- critics have seized upon the administration’s decision mandating that Catholic universities and hospitals must eventually offer contraception prescriptions to those who want it. That decision has angered the Catholic bishops and has produced speculation that it could produce a backlash among Catholic voters. But consider this: If Catholic voters are going to be fired up about this, then shouldn’t they have been voting more Republican over the past 20 years, when we’ve seen tons of OTHER highly charged political debates over abortion, stem-cell research, and euthanasia? There have been many predictions that those issues would push Catholics monolithically toward the GOP, but they haven’t. As it’s turned out, there’s a big difference between culturally conservative Catholics -- those who abide by all Catholic teachings, even those against contraception -- and those who aren’t as culturally conservative. Think of the divide as active/church going Catholics vs. less active members of the church.

*** On those Super Bowl car ads: Whatever you want to think about the Clint Eastwood car ad -- “It’s Halftime, America” -- and all of the other car ads during last night’s Super Bowl, they only seemed to reinforce the message the Obama campaign wants to make this fall: The U.S. automotive industry is back, and that’s a big success for the country. Could the Big Three ad campaigns be a subliminal Super PAC supporter of the president?

*** Gingrich’s strategy to stay in the race: Over the weekend, the Washington Post mapped out Gingrich’s strategy to stay in the GOP presidential race. “He will focus heavily on upcoming contests in Southern states, where he expects his Georgia roots and conservative rhetoric to play well. And he will step up his attacks on his leading rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, for being too liberal to take on President Obama in the fall.”

*** Paul’s disappointing third-place finish in Nevada: Just askin’, but if Ron Paul’s campaign team was supposed to have such a good organization and if it was trying to make inroads in all of the caucus contests, then wasn’t his third-place finish in Nevada pretty disappointing? Gingrich, who doesn’t have too much of an organization and who didn’t campaign as aggressively in Nevada, finished second there.

*** And the disappointing GOP turnout: By the way, just slightly under 33,000 participated in the Nevada GOP caucuses – which was down from the 44,000 who participated four years ago. In fact, it’s the second-consecutive contest where turnout was down from ’08. Here are the numbers:

IOWA
2008: 118,411
2012: 121,503
+2.6%
NH
2008: 233,464
2012: 248,485
+6.4%
SC
2008: 443,203
2012: 601,215
+36%
FL
2008: 1,925,911
2012: 1,669,647
-13%
NV
2008: 44,325
2012: 32,930
-26%

*** On the 2012 trail: Santorum stumps in Minnesota and then heads to Colorado… Romney holds two rallies in Colorado, in Grand Junction and Centennial… Paul, in Minnesota, campaigns in St. Cloud and Minneapolis… And Gingrich campaigns in both Colorado and Minnesota.

Countdown to Super Tuesday: 29 days
Countdown to Election Day: 274 days

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*** Monday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Richard Lui talks to Bloomberg’s Jonathan Alter, Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith, the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, Col. Jack Jacobs, and Roll Call’s Jonathan Strong.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews liberal commentator Ron Reagan, the Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston, RCP’s Erin McPike, Democratic strategist Karen Finney, GOP strategist Tony Fratto, and Newsweek’s Justin Rosenthal.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, MSNBC’s Joe Scarbororugh, former Minnesota Gov. (and Romney supporter) Tim Pawlenty), William Cohen, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, Politico’s Maggie Haberman, and NBC’s Meredith Vieira

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Michael Smerconish and the New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg.

Here are the official certified results of the Nevada caucus released this morning from the Nevada GOP:

Romney 50% - 16,486 votes (about 6,000 fewer votes than he got in 2008)
Gingrich 21% - 6,956
Paul 19% - 6,175 (almost 100 more votes than he got in 2008)
Santorum 10% - 3,277

The turnout was just 32,930.

That's way below the 44,000 that turned out in 2008.

The Las Vegas Sun: “In the casinos, they call it going bust. After months of reassurance that they could play with the big boys despite a trail of mishaps, the Nevada GOP played all of its cards Saturday and lost big time in a messy, disorganized election that saw low turnout and complaints of voter fraud and unexplained ballots.” As of Sunday night, just 89 percent of the vote was counted and the party was scrambling to meet its self-imposed midnight deadline.

More: “The preliminary results indicated party leaders would likely not beat their previous statewide turnout of 44,000 in 2008. That contest was largely considered a flop and party officials had vowed to do better.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal: “A day late and amid high-level GOP hand-wringing and threats of a lawsuit, the Nevada Republican Party on Sunday released caucus results after the presidential campaigns monitored a hand count to verify thousands of Clark County ballots.”

The New York Times adds, “A special Saturday night Republican caucus here intended to accommodate Orthodox Jews who could not vote before sundown became the scene of controversy and confrontation after caucusgoers were told that to be admitted they had to sign a legal declaration under penalty of perjury that they could not attend their daytime caucus because of ‘my religious beliefs.’” More: “Many supporters of Representative Ron Paul of Texas protested when given the declaration to sign. They had arrived at the polling place — a school here named after its benefactors, the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam — after they received an automated phone call from the Paul campaign saying voters unable to attend their regular caucuses could go to the night meeting.”

The percentage of Mormons who turned out was similar to 2008 (25% in 2012 versus 26% in 2008), according to the 2012 entrance poll. Romney won 88% of them this time; 95% in 2008.

Just 28% described themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians, the second-lowest of the contests so far behind New Hampshire.

Just 5% of the voters were Latino, down from 8% in 2008 in a state where 27% of the population is Latino.

75% of voters said they support the Tea Party movement; Romney won them 47%-25%. But among those who said they strongly support the movement, Romney split – 35%-32% -- with Gingrich.

The Boston Globe notes that Romney’s represents “the first back-to-back victory of the Republican nominating contest.” And: “Making a hard pivot to the general election, Romney didn’t even mention his Republican primary opponents during his 10-minute address — using all of his rhetorical energy to criticize President Obama.”

GINGRICH: The Boston Globe’s Johnson: Gingrich fell woefully short in Nevada … There was no cheering crowd assembled to buck him up as Romney was declared the winner. The dearth of public events, and Gingrich’s total lack of television advertising in a state where he spent all week ostensibly lobbying for caucus votes, made it appear - his own protestations aside - as if he were more interested in garnering attention than votes.”

Gingrich called Romney “Obama-lite” Friday and said, “‘I am a candidate for president of the United States. I will be a candidate for president of the United States. We will go to Tampa.’”

On Meet the Press, Gingrich said, per the Boston Globe: “My goal over the next few weeks is to draw very sharp distinctions between [mine and] Romney’s positions, which are very, the Wall Street Journal described them as timid, and in terms of tax policy, as being like Obama.”

More: “Gingrich said he is relying on the southern states to boost his delegate count. That includes Georgia, the state he represented in Congress, and Tennessee, which both vote March 6; Alabama, which votes March 13; and Texas, which votes April 3. ‘We believe by the time Texas is over, we’ll be very competitive in delegate count,’ Gingrich said.”

Gingrich on Meet the Press, per USA Today: "Our goal is to get to Super Tuesday, where we're in much more favorable territory. By the time Texas is over, we'll be very, very competitive in delegate count."

With another photo of Gingrich at a podium in an empty Nevada room, the New York Daily News notes that Gingrich is vowing to fight on.

“A central Florida man is suing Newt Gingrich, claiming a security officer for the Republican presidential candidate stomped on his foot ‘like he was stomping out a cigarette,’” AP writes. was wearing a Ron Paul T-shirt and holding a sign when Gingrich arrived. “The lawsuit claims a ‘swarm’ of security guards from Patriot Group International surrounded Dillard and one stomped on his foot while he was wearing open sandals, causing a fracture.” Paul’s campaign called on Gingrich to apologize.

“Newt Gingrich says he didn't call Mitt Romney after his rival's decisive victory in the Florida primary because Romney ‘doesn't deserve congratulations,’” USA Today writes.

PAUL: “Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) "appears to have been paid twice for flights between Washington, D.C., and his Congressional district, receiving reimbursement from taxpayers and also from a network of political and nonprofit organizations he controlled," Roll Call reports,” Political Wire writes.

On ABC’s This Week, Paul took credit for an “intellectual revolution.” "There's a lot more people talking about free-enterprise economics rather than Keynesian welfare-ism and interventionism. There is ... an intellectual revolution going on with young people. It has not been translated to absolute political change but, believe me, the intellectual revolution is going on and that has to come first before you see the political changes, and that's where I'm very optimistic.”

ROMNEY: Greg Sargent's take on the new WaPo/ABC poll: “Obama’s edge over Romney despite disapproval on the economy seems to be driven by a growing awareness of Romney’s image and by the GOP nomination process. Fifty-two percent say the more they hear about Romney, the less they like. And Americans disapprove of the things the GOP candidates have been saying, 54-36.”

The New York Times’ Frank Bruni wonders if voters would gain a deeper understanding of Romney if he talked more about his Mormon faith.

SANTORUM: Looking to Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, Santorum said on FOX: “This race is a long, long way from being over.” He said in Nevada, Romney had the “natural advantage.”

Santorum called Romney a “uni-dimensional candidate” and said that being a CEO "not the greatest qualification for being president of the United States.” And: “Santorum also repeated his concerns that Gingrich is ‘prone’ to support ideas that aren't fiscally prudent, such as backing a lunar colony. Those kinds of ideas means Gingrich is not ‘authentically conservative,’ Santorum noted.”

COLORADO: “Colorado Republicans will get their chance to weigh in on who should be the party's nominee for president when they gather in schools, churches and neighbors' homes for GOP caucuses Tuesday night,” The Denver Post writes. Who can vote: “Participants must be registered to vote, be affiliated as a Republican for at least two months (as of Dec. 7, 2011) and have lived in their precinct 30 days. If you are not a registered Republican, you may still attend the caucus, but you may not participate in the presidential straw poll or precinct elections.”

“It may be a four-man race in Colorado, but one candidate clearly has had a head start,” USA Today writes. “Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the state's Republican caucuses with 60% of the vote in 2008, while his nearest competitor, Sen. John McCain, received 18%. Romney supporters here say the organization that led to that big win four years ago has never gone away. Romney's campaign is well organized and will have enough speakers to represent him at various precincts during caucuses Tuesday, said state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, Romney's honorary Colorado campaign chairman.”

MINNESOTA: “In a bid to clip Mitt Romney's break-away national momentum, the remaining Republican presidential candidates are scrambling to Minnesota to woo voters in the closing hours before Tuesday's precinct caucuses,” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes. “With the path to victory narrowing, the candidates are hoping that a victory in Minnesota convinces contributors and activists that they have the muscle to capture the nomination.”

“Santorum, who shook up the race by eking out a surprise victory in last month's Iowa caucuses, has been trying to rejuvenate his campaign after failing to win another state since then. On Sunday morning, Santorum visited Grace Church in Eden Prairie, telling congregants that God is directing his campaign. His talk focused almost exclusively on his Christian faith and his belief that ‘God has specifically blessed this country,’ rather than delving directly into politics. ‘I am trying to walk the path that Christ has laid out for me,’ Santorum told hundreds of congregants at the nondenominational megachurch.”

The St. Paul Pioneer-Press writes Santorum “recently has gained steam in Minnesota” because of a lead in a robo-poll.

Updated at 11:23 p.m.

In winning the Nevada Republican caucuses, Mitt Romney added another victory in a campaign built on organization and momentum.  And the former Massachusetts governor wasted no time in looking ahead to the potential contest with President Obama. 

As expected, Romney won Nevada easily with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul jostling for second place and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum far behind.

The victory for Romney marks his second this week, following a similarly decisive win on Tuesday in Florida's Republican primary. A win in the Nevada caucuses, while expected, gives Romney added momentum for his campaign, and a new piece of evidence to support the sense that Romney is the GOP's emerging front-runner to face off against President Obama in November. 

After the win, Romney quickly turned his attention to Obama (and not his GOP foes) in remarks before an especially boisterous crowd Saturday night in Las Vegas.

"This president began his term by apologizing for America. He should now be apologizing to America!" Romney said. "America needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy. I do, and I will."

In Nevada, Romney won the caucuses convincingly, winning almost every age and income group, and, more importantly, with healthy margins of support from moderate and conservative Republicans alike. 

While last week's Florida's primary results contained some warning signs for Romney — namely, his inability to win over the core, conservative part of the GOP — Saturday's caucus reflect an instance in which Romney was able to rally conservatives to his candidacy. 

Nevada caucus-goers who described themselves as "very conservative" made up almost half of the electorate. Romney won about half of them, while his competitors split the rest. Romney performed even better with caucus-goers who described themselves as "somewhat conservative."

In that sense, Nevada offered Romney his most convincing argument in support of his ability to rally Republicans of all stripes.

 Romney's prime opponent in the race, Gingrich, had campaigned throughout Nevada this week making the argument that Romney was too moderate to unite the GOP and effectively fight Obama. 

Romney was bolstered, as he was when he won the state in 2008, by Nevada's Mormon population. According to entrance poll data, about a quarter of caucus-goers on Saturday identified themselves as Mormon. Those voters broke overwhelmingly — roughly nine in 10 of them — for Romney.

Romney's win in Nevada also carries a degree of symbolic importance. The contest is the first in the West during the GOP primary, and Nevada — like Florida and New Hampshire — is decidedly a swing state in 2012, a state that Obama had won in 2008.

Romney's Florida win helped him reclaim his status as the putative frontrunner in the Republican campaign, a status that had come under threat just 14 days ago in South Carolina, where former House Speaker Newt Gingrich rallied conservatives and scored a major upset victory in that state's primary. 

Gingrich sought to dispel any notion, though, that the primary was anywhere close to over.

"I am a candidate for president of the United States. I will be a candidate for president of the United States. We will go to Tampa," he said at a press conference. 

The former speaker said that he would move on to Colorado and then Minnesota before decamping to Ohio, one of the largest Super Tuesday states. 

"I'm not going to withdraw," Gingrich said, blaming Romney's team for rumors that he would drop out. "I'm actually pretty happy with where we are."

But Romney's bigger organization has left little to chance as the campaign goes on and that was evidenced in Nevada.  Having made frequent visits to the state last year — one in April to tour a foreclosed neighborhood and stoke speculation about his candidacy, and another in May shortly after the Romney campaign had launched to raise over $1 million in a "national call day."

Romney's been equally aggressive in the past few days, too, his campaign pressing the case against Gingrich, and touring Nevada with a number of events. 

But the path between victories in Florida and Nevada have not been the smoothest for Romney. 

The day after winning in Florida, Romney drew intense scrutiny for saying in a CNN interview that he is "not concerned about the very poor" as the focus of his campaign. 

"I misspoke. I've said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time. And you know when you do I don't know how many thousands of interviews now and then you may get it wrong. And I misspoke. Plain and simple," Romney told Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston later this week in a bid for damage control. 

Romney also appeared publicly with Donald Trump, the bombastic billionaire, to receive an endorsement from the reality TV star that had dubious value in the Republican Party, and had more Democratic tongues wagging than anything else. 

"A man who hasn't worked in 10 years, has his money in the Cayman Islands and in Switzerland, and is talking about the poor people have a safety net?" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada's top Democrat, said of Romney's comments in an interview to air Sunday on Univision. 

The Democratic National Committee also gleefully pounced, producing a web video about Trump and Romney's appearance together. 

Democrats are particularly mindful that Nevada, a state hard hit by the collapse of the housing market, could be a general election battleground in 2012. President Obama beat Sen. John McCain by about 6 points there in 2008, but Romney, if nominated, is hoping to make a better showing there this November. 

While the primary race goes on for Republicans, new questions have arisen about the future of Gingirch's efforts.

The former speaker is in need of the financial resources needed to wage a full campaign and the New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate who had donated $10 million to a super PAC that supports Gingrich — sustaining the former speaker's campaign almost by itself — is now open to backing Romney as the GOP nominee.

Gingrich is slated to appear Sunday on "Meet the Press" and other public affairs shows throughout the morning, where he'll almost certainly be forced to answer questions about the viability of his campaign.

Paul and Santorum seemed poised to continue their candidacies, as well. Paul skipped the Florida primary to focus on caucuses like Nevada's, where his enthusiastic, organized corps of supporters tend to make a better showing than in primaries. Nevada's outcome could be a key test of Paul's ability to accrue delegates. 

Santorum, meanwhile, has been busy campaigning in Colorado, which, along with Minnesota, hosts a caucus on Tuesday. Romney is also favored in those states, though their more minor stature in the nominating calendar arguably offers the three other Republicans their best chance of upsetting Romney.

The campaign enters a relatively dead period after Tuesday until the end of February, when Arizona and Michigan host their primaries. Romney, having grown up in Michigan, where his father served as governor, is heavily favored in that contest. 

The biggest test, then, follows on March 6 — this cycle's "Super Tuesday — which features a number of large primaries, including some more Southern and conservative contests in which Gingrich might have his best shot at parrying Romney's march to the nomination.

ELKO, Nev. – Mitt Romney brought his jobs and economy-focused message to a part of the country Friday that is focused on a figure separate from Friday's unemployment and jobs data.

That other number is 1,739.19 -- the price of an ounce of gold.

The town of Elko is at the very heart of Nevada's gold country, encased in a gilded bubble, where rising gold prices have helped keep unemployment low and the city's economy booming, creating a class of overworked, local entrepreneurs who dotted the audience here Friday.

“I’ve had them call me at two o’clock in the morning, to rush all the way to Wyoming -- which is 900 miles,” said Robert Brown, 36, of his list of clients in the mining industry. 

Brown, who lives here in Elko, owns an equipment transport company servicing the mines.

(Friday’s labor data, showing more than 240,000 jobs added last month, drove gold prices down by a percentage point, though not enough to make people like Brown worry.)

Romney’s speech inside an airport hangar here included references to the local economy. Joined on stage by Nevada’s lieutenant governor, Brian Krolicki, the former Massachusetts governor joked about how it may be easy to assume there is “nothing” in the barren high desert surrounding this small town.

"Some of that nothing you have under the ground, that gold stuff, that's doing pretty good for you right now too," Romney said, earning the loudest cheers of any remark this afternoon.

Earlier Friday, in the city of Sparks, east of Reno, Romney struck a more sober tone, walking a tightrope between optimism about the improving economy, and blaming President Obama for the slow pace of the economy's rebound.

“This recovery has been slower than it should have been, people have been suffering for longer than they should have had to suffer. Will it get better? I think it’ll get better," he said during a business roundtable.

But in Elko, Romney found himself buoyed by a receptive crowd that also included tourists in town for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

“He has the business expertise that he needs to get this company back on track economically. I believe in the values that he espouses, and he’ll make a good president,” said Scott Anderson, a banker from Salt Lake City in for the festival.

GOP Voters Head to the Polls in more battleground states and conservatives gather in Washington. After Nevada, it’s on to Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota and the Conservative Political Action Conference begins.

For Mitt Romney, it was a week of highs (his victory in Florida and expected triumph in Nevada) and lows ("I am not concerned about the very poor," Trump endorsement).

Video edited by NBC's Morgan Parmet.

Over the past two days, Mitt Romney has resurrected this claim hitting President Obama: He has made the economy worse.

Yesterday, when receiving Donald Trump's endorsement, Romney said:

“He’s frequently telling us that he did not cause the recession, and that’s true. But he made it worse.”

And today, according to NBC's Garrett Haake, he said something similar:

"This has been a tough time. And I know the president didn't cause this downturn -- this recession. But he didn't make it better, either. He made it worse. He made it worse because instead of focusing his energy on the economy and getting people back to work, he used his mandate being elected-- he used that to put through a series of programs that he and his base and his friends thought were important but frankly made it harder for our economy to recover. And so we've suffered."

However, most of the economic numbers don't support Romney's claim.

For example, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that the economic stimulus Obama signed into law added -- in the 4th quarter of 2009 -- between 1 million and 2 million employed workers and boosted the GDP between 1.5% to 3.5% higher than it would have been without the stimulus.

In addition, a more recent CBO study -- for the second quarter of 2011 -- found that the stimulus raised real GDP between 0.8% and 2.5% and lowered the unemployment rate between 0.5 and 1.6 percentage points, compared with what would have occurred without it.

And another analysis, by economists Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi, estimated that the stimulus raised 2010 real GDP by 3.4%, held the unemployment rate about 1.5 percentage points lower, and added nearly 2.7 jobs to U.S. payrolls.

Looking solely at quarterly Gross Domestic Product, it's gone from -6.7% in the first quarter of 2009 and -0.7% in the second quarter of '09, to positive territory ever since -- including 2.8% the past quarter.

And looking at monthly payroll statistics, the numbers have gone from a loss of 818,000 jobs in Jan. 2009 -- when Obama took office -- to 16-straight months of positive job growth, including a preliminary gain of 243,000 jobs in Jan. 2012.

The one metric that might support Romney's claim that Obama made the economy worse is the unemployment rate. When Obama took office, the unemployment rate stood at 7.8%, and it was 8.3% in his first full month as president.

The unemployment rate later rose to a high of 10.0% in Oct. 2009, and it remained at or above 9.0% for all of 2010 and most of 2011. But beginning in the fall of 2011, it began to decline, and it now sits at 8.3% -- the same percentage as it was in his first full month as president, before his policies went into effect.

When First Read reached out to the Romney campaign to provide additional data to support the claim that Obama has made the economy worse, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul responded: "The economy grew only 1.7% in [all of] 2011, the slowest growth in a non-recession year since the end of World War II. This is worse than growth in 2010 and is worse performance over time."

Also: "In Oct. 2009, 58.51% of the American population had a job. Today, 58.46% of the American population has a job. All that has changed is that fewer Americans are even trying to find a job –- the percentage of Americans in the labor force has declined from 65.0% to 63.7%."

And Saul adds that Obama's economic advisers -- before he took office -- said the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8.0%. And, of course, it still remains above that level.

Interestingly, back in June 2011, Romney used this same Obama-made-the-recession-worse rhetoric. But when NBC asked Romney why he made that claim -- when the data didn't support it -- he replied: "I didn't say that things are worse."

He went on to say:

What I said was that economy hasn't turned around, that you've got 20 million Americans out of work, or seriously unemployed; housing values still going down. You have a crisis of foreclosures in this country. The economy, by the way, if you think the economy is great and going well, be my guest. But the president of the United States, when he put in place his stimulus plan and borrowed $787 billion, said he would hold unemployment below 8% -- and 8% seemed like an awfully high number. It hasn't been below 8% since.  That's failure. We're over 9% unemployment. That's failure. He set the bogie himself at 8% ,which strikes me as a very high number and we're still above that three years later.

LAS VEGAS -- Newt Gingrich had no comment about January's jobs figures at an event late Friday morning in Nevada because, the former House speaker explained, he hadn't seen them yet.

Gingrich was asked several times about this morning's jobs report, which showed the economy added over 240,000 jobs and the unemployment rate falling to 8.3 percent, while working the rope line following an event in which he assailed President Obama's economic record.

“I haven’t seen them yet,” he told reporters late morning and was overheard by some members of the press telling his deputy press secretary, "I don't know what to tell them on job numbers. I don't know what to say now. These people are driving me up the wall with this."

Gingrich would address the January figures shortly after the event concluded in a pre-taped interview with CNN.

"He's [Obama] gonna take credit for it. We've been in the longest deepest recession since the depression," Gingrich said. "I think he [Obama] will get some limited credit and it depends on how much the economy recovers and what the rest of the year looks like."

Gingrich took aim at Obama and his main Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at this morning's event, just a day before Saturday's Nevada caucus.

“It isn't good enough for the Republican Party to nominate Obama lite,” Gingrich said inside Stoney's Rockin Country bar a few miles from the Las Vegas strip.

The former House speaker, who frequently labels President Obama “the best food stamp president in history,” today took those remarks a step further and threw Romney in the mix.

“Obama is big food stamp, he's {Romney] little food stamp but they both think food stamps are okay,” Gingrich told the crowd, which had a couple hundred people in attendance. “I don't think food stamps are a future for America.”

The Speaker gave one of his more energetic speeches Friday, drawing a number of standing ovations on a day when he has just two public events scheduled.

On Wednesday morning, Gov. Romney made what some believe are controversial comments about the poor and Gingrich has continued to criticize Romney for “his boo-boo” and today labeled him as rich.

"We did not create Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so rich guys like Mitt Romney and Goldman Sachs could make money," the speaker said.

President Obama urged passage of his top jobs initiatives on Friday, warning Congress not to "muck up" the economic growth reflected in Friday's positive jobs report.

Obama said the drop in the unemployment rate, from 8.5 to 8.3 percent, in January shows “the recovery is speeding up,” and that in order to keep it going, Congress should pass long-term extensions of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, programs that are otherwise set to expire at the end of February.

“Do not slow down the recovery we're on. Don't muck it up,” Obama said, addressing Congress while speaking at a firehouse in Arlington, Virginia this morning.

He added that both measures need to be passed “without drama, without delay, without linking it to some ideological side issue.”

That comment seemed intended, at least in part, as a warning against lawmakers' push for add-ons like the Keystone oil pipeline project, which House Republicans tied to the short-term extension of the tax cut in December, requiring the president to either approve the pipeline within 60 days or declare it not in the national interest.  

While the Keystone language was included in the final legislation, the White House originally threatened to veto any bill containing it, saying it introduced “ideological issues into what should be a simple debate about cutting taxes for the middle class.”

Obama seemed most forceful Friday when talking about the tax cut extension but he also pushed for passage of his new veterans’ employment program, which he said could be funded by money saved from troop drawdowns in Iraq and eventually Afghanistan.

“Congress should take the money that we're no longer spending on war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building here at home,” he said. 

Obama’s new plan would create a New Deal-style “Veterans Jobs Corps” intended to put 20,000 post-9/11 veterans back to work restoring national parks and infrastructure. The program would require Congress to approve $1 billion over five years.

The plan would also add $5 billion to existing programs that spur police officer and firefighter hiring, as well as create new training programs for veterans transitioning out of the armed forces, both of which also need Congressional permission.

During his speech, the president emphasized how qualified veterans are to join the civilian workforce. 

“Our veterans are some of the most highly trained, highly educated, highly skilled workers that we've got.  These are Americans that every business should be competing to attract.”

SPARKS, NV -- Mitt Romney on Friday hailed news that the economy added over 240,000 jobs in January as "good news," while blaming President Obama for making the economic recovery more difficult.

Romney, who's made criticism of the president's economic stewardship a centerpiece of his campaign, engaged a delicate political balancing act between seeming upbeat about the news, which also saw the unemployment rate drop to 8.3 percent, while making the case that Obama's leadership has made the recovery slower and more painful.

"This recovery has been slower than it should have been, people have been suffering for longer than they should have had to suffer. Will it get better? I think it’ll get better. I don’t know how long it’s going to take," Romney said  at a business roundtable outside Reno. " We got good news this morning on job creation in January. I hope that continues, we get people back to work."

“But this president has not helped the process," Romney continued. "He’s hurt it."

For Romney, reacting to news as he did today is a bit like walking through a political minefield. Any economic indicators that show a stronger or swifter economy undercut Romney's message that Obama's policies have made, or are making, the economy weaker.

"This has been a tough time. And I know the president didn't cause this downturn -- this recession. But he didn't make it better either. He made it worse," Romney said. "He made it worse because instead of focusing his energy on the economy and getting people back to work, he used his mandate being elected-- he used that to put through a series of programs that he and his base and his friends thought were important but frankly made it harder for our economy to recover. And so we've suffered."

This morning's event, the first of three planned campaign stops across Nevada today, had a bit of a back-to-the-future feel. Roundtable discussions with business leaders were a regular feature of Romney's fall campaign in New Hampshire and Iowa, but have fallen out of favor as the campaign has held more rallies and large events since voting began in January.

Also hearkening back to Romney's fall campaign strategy? The frontrunner made no mention of any of the remaining GOP candidates in his hourlong campaign stop.

Obama draws his battle lines against Romney -- on fairness, the auto industry, housing, and the “poor”… The president also keeps his eye on independents… Romney says he “misspoke” regarding his “poor” comment… A big January jobs report: Economy adds 243,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate drops to 8.3%… An October (or May) surprise: Israel to attack Iran?... Previewing Saturday’s Nevada caucuses and its loosey-goosey procedures… The Bunny Ranch folks are “pimping for Paul”… And Gregory to interview Gingrich on “Meet the Press.”

*** Obama draws his battle lines against Romney: If you've followed every twist and turn in the GOP presidential contest, you might have missed it. But in the last two weeks, President Obama has drawn clear battle lines against the man his team expects will be his general-election foe: Mitt Romney. We can point to four examples, although in each case Obama never mentions Romney by name. The first occurred in the State of the Union address last week, when the president talked about economic fairness just after Romney released his tax returns (showing that he paid an effective rate of less than 15%). “We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said. "Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

*** Fairness, auto industry, housing, and very poor: On Tuesday, the president made an unannounced stop at the Washington Auto Show, where he appeared to offer a rebuttal against Romney’s ’08 New York Times op-ed entitled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Said Obama: “There were some folks who were willing to let this industry die. Because of folks coming together, we are now back in a place where we can compete with any car company in the world.” The next day, Obama appeared to rebuke Romney’s Oct. 2011 comment to not stop the foreclosure process and allow the market to hit rock bottom. “It is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom.” And yesterday, he took a not-so-subtle jab at Romney’s “I’m not concerned about the very poor” remark. “Requiring much from those who have been given so much. Living by the principle that we are our brother’s keeper. Caring for the poor and those in need.  These values are old… They are values that have always made this country great.” (For what it’s worth, the White House says the president’s remarks to the Prayer Breakfast were done earlier in the week, but it did not release “prepared remarks” and we’re told there’s always some last minute tinkering.) Two weeks, four pretty clear shots at Romney.

*** Obama also keeps his eye on independents: As of one us wrote yesterday, the last several weeks have also allowed Obama to tailor his re-election to appeal to independents. In fact, he’s done five things: 1) go populist and stress economic fairness; 2) turn his rhetoric into a Midwestern sense of plain-spokenness and sensibility; 3) run against Congress while attempting to show he’s a fighter; 4) respond to the GOP presidential field without naming names; and 5) tout more frequently what he sees as his biggest accomplishments.

*** Romney says he “misspoke” regarding “poor” comment: Speaking of Romney’s “I’m not concerned about the very poor” remark, the former Massachusetts governor yesterday tried to clean up the damage. “It was a misstatement; I misspoke,” Romney told Jon Ralston, per the Washington Post. “I’ve said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time.” More Romney: “When you do — I don’t know — how many thousands of interviews, now and then, you may get it wrong,” he said. “And I misspoke, plain and simple.” As for yesterday’s Trump endorsement, it’s hard to imagine that it will be an asset for Romney. The best that he and his team could hope for -- “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

*** Economy adds 243,000 jobs in January; unemployment rate drops to 8.3%: The folks in the White House couldn’t have asked for a better January jobs report. The question is if these kind of positive economic numbers continue. The AP: “The unemployment rate fell for the fifth-straight month after a surge of January hiring, a promising shift in the nation's outlook for job growth. The Labor Department says employers added 243,000 jobs in January, the most in nine months. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3% from 8.5% in December. That's the lowest in nearly three years.”

*** An October (or May) surprise: Israel to attack Iran? While everyone -- including us -- expects that the economy will be the central issue in the 2012 general election, we received yet another signal yesterday that there might be a military confrontation with Iran this year. On Thursday, the Washington Post’s David Ignatius wrote that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there’s a “growing possibility” that Israel will attack Iran in the next few months. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube report, without referring to Panetta specifically, that Pentagon sources say that "senior officials here are growing increasingly nervous, uh, concerned" over the possibility Israel will attack Iran's nuclear facilities "sometime soon."

*** Saturday’s Nevada caucuses: Turning back to the GOP presidential race, tomorrow brings us the fifth GOP contest: the Nevada caucuses. Per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod, a Las Vegas Review-Journal poll shows Romney leading Gingrich by 20 points among likely caucus-goers, 45%-25%; Santorum gets 11% and Paul gets 9%. How do tomorrow’s caucuses work? Frankly, the process is a bit of a joke: The caucus places start and stop at different times throughout the state. Every county but Clark County (Vegas) will be closed issues results by 8:00 pm ET, Clark County (except one location) closes has results at 10:00 pm ET, and one special caucus – at the Adelson Educational Complex -- closes has results between 11:00 pm and 11:30 pm ET to allow Jews observing the Sabbath to participate. As the Atlantic’s Ball writes, “Each county was allowed to set its own caucus procedures this year, leading to a divergent array of start times and rules across the state… The bizarre arrangement leaves the door open to all kinds of campaign hijinks. Party officials say attendees at the evening caucus will have to sign an affidavit swearing that they didn't already vote earlier, and their names will be checked against the voter rolls.” There are 28 delegates at stake, and they will be divided up proportionally. Note: The earliest networks will call the race is at 10:00 pm ET, when the final caucus sites close.

*** Nevada four years ago: Four years ago, Romney won the Nevada caucuses with 51% of the vote, and Paul finished second with 14%. What’s more, 26% of GOP caucus-goers in 2008 were Mormon, and Romney got 95% of their vote. The turnout in 2008 was just over 44,000, and it means half of Romney’s raw vote total came from Mormons. It’s why Nevada this year appears to be over before it started. 

*** “Pimping for Paul": You can't make this up: NBC's Anthony Terrell reports that Ron Paul spoke to more than 700 people in Reno last night. And guess who was in the crowd: Famed Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof. Terrell was able to interview Hof. Why is he supporting Paul? "The Bunny Ranch bunnies are supporting Ron Paul because he’s for state’s rights. That’s why the Bunny Ranch exists, we love Ron Paul!" More Hof: "We agree with everything -- repeal the Patriot Act, let’s stay home, let somebody else fight the wars, we need to look at the Fed system and fix it. Ron Paul will do all that, and that’s why I’m pimping for Paul.” Hof's girlfriend, Cami Parker, added, "All the bunny babes are registered Republicans. We will be at the caucus on Saturday and we are pimping for Paul."

*** On the trail, per NBC’s Adam Perez: One day before the Nevada caucuses, most of the activity is in the Silver State: Romney makes stops in Elko, Las Vegas, and Reno… Paul hits Pahrump and Las Vegas… And Gingrich holds two events in Vegas… Meanwhile, Santorum stumps in Missouri, whose upcoming contest doesn’t award any delegates.

*** Gingrich to appear on “Meet” this Sunday: On Sunday, NBC’s David Gregory will interview Newt Gingrich, as well as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. On Gregory’s weekly “PRESS Pass,” he interviewed Gingrich supporter J.C. Watts. 

Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 1 day
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 32 days
Countdown to Election Day: 277 days

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*** Friday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Richard Lui interviews Dems Sen. Chuck Schumer and Jeanne Shaheen (on their Super Bowl wager), Dem Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on his “Buffett rule” legislation, the Grio’s Joy-Ann Reid, the Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston, Politico’s Maggie Habermann, and Roll Call’s David Drucker.

*** Friday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews former Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein, CNBC’s Ron Insana, the Las Vegas Sun’s Anjeanette Damon, the Daily Beast’s Patricia Murphy, and former Nevada State Sen. Bob Beers (a Gingrich supporter).

*** Friday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, former Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart, Politico’s Ben White and Jim VandeHei, and CNBC contributor Velma Hart.

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (on the controversy surrounding the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, White House economic adviser Alan Krueger, and the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus.

*** Friday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Elizabeth Crum and John Ralston (on Nevada and 2012) and Jim Cooper from Ad Week (on the upcoming Super Bowl) ads.

GINGRICH: “The Newt Gingrich campaign announced today that it was appealing to Florida Republican officials to award the delegates from their primary last Tuesday on a proportional basis, rather than the winner-take-all formula that gave all 50 to victor Mitt Romney,” the Boston Globe writes. Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said, “The existing rules that the (Republican National Committee) already agreed upon were that any contest held before a certain date, those contests need to award their delegates proportionally to the outcome of the election. So, we are asking the state party of Florida to enforce that rule.”

Yet, as NBC’s Sarah Blackwill points out, Gingrich said the following on Sunday in Lutz, FL: Look, I’m not going to get involved in an RNC procedural fight. They’ve got to decide what they want to do. I’ll play by whatever the rules are that are given to us.”

PAUL: The Las Vegas Sun puts Paul on its cover today. The headline: “Ron Paul: Why he thinks he can make inroads with Mormons.”

And then there’s the non-Mormon vote…. Ron Paul’s got the Bunny Ranch vote locked up. In the crowd at a Paul event last night was Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof and his girlfriend. Prostitution is legal in parts of Nevada. On Trump’s endorsement, Hof said, per NBC’s Anthony Terrell: “The Bunny Ranch bump is more important to Ron Paul than Donald Trump to Mitt Romney. Who cares about Donald Trump, go home, stay in New York, we don’t care about your arrogance. … Donald, get on the real side, vote for Paul!”

Hof’s girlfriend, Cami Parker of the Bunny Ranch, said the girls of the Bunny Ranch are registered Republicans and will caucus for Paul tomorrow. (As TMZ first reported, yes TMZ, the girls of the cathouse are “Pimpin for Paul” because of his message of liberty and letting states decide.)

Remember, when Paul was asked at a debate if legalizing heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and prostitution would be OK if states allow them, Paul said, "In essence, if I leave it to the states, it's going to be up to the states. Up until this past century, you know for 100 years, they were legal. What you're inferring is 'You know what? If we legalize heroin tomorrow, everybody is going to use heroin.' How many people here would use heroin if it was legal? I bet nobody would."

ROMNEY: In 2008, Romney won Nevada decisively, 51%-14% over Paul who came in second. And about half of Romney’s vote total came from Mormons. Mormons made up 26% of the electorate, according to entrance polls. And Romney won them with 95%. (On that math, total turnout was about 44,000, with 26% being Mormon that’s 11,440, and with 95% going for Romney that’s 10,868 with a margin of error, of course. Romney’s vote total was 22,646.)

The front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Trump backs Romney: Billionaire’s moves surprises Gingrich supporters who expected the nod.” The story’s lede: “In an attention-grabbing twist worthy of Cirque du Soleil acrobats, real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Thursday.” It notes that Romney and his wife looked “bemused.”

Romney’s first couple of sentences summed it up: "There are some things you just can't imagine happening in your life. This is one of them.”

“Mitt Romney donned a cloak of Secret Service protection yesterday that, for all intents and purposes, he may never take off,” the Boston Globe’s Glen Johnson writes, adding, “For Romney, though, the conference of Secret Service protection doesn’t just signal his arrival as a presidential contender; it harkens back to a way of life in which he was most comfortable as Massachusetts governor. It is no stretch to say that no recent governor relished the protective role of his security force as much as Romney. The State Police troopers in the gubernatorial protective detail are among the agency’s elite, and they protect the governor 24/7 against all foes, foreign and domestic. But in Romney’s case, they also provided a buffer that ensured the former businessman’s sense of order, and limited his exposure to unscripted encounters.”

SANTORUM: He took some potshots at Donald Trump: Asked if it’s hypocritical for Trump to have endorsed Romney after criticizing him in August, Santorum said, per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod, “I can't imagine Donald Trump being hypocritical. That would be totally out of character for Donald Trump.”

He added: “I'm sure that's why he waited until Las Vegas to be able to introduce him, so he could get a lot of media at his casino, and get a little attention for his property down there.”

He also criticized President Obama for his prayer breakfast speech: "I've talked to who were there regarded it as the most political speech ever given at the national prayer breakfast by a president."

He also took shots at Romney for his “poor” remark from a couple days ago: "Out of touch, much?" he said.

He added with a conservative argument: "To go out and say that all I care about is to make sure that those who are very poor have a safety net, so that they can continue to be dependent on government? That’s all that I care about? When it comes to the very poor? That’s not the Republican party that I want to belong to. I want to belong to the Republican Party who cares about every single person having the opportunity to rise in America."

“President Obama yesterday told the National Prayer Breakfast that God serves as his top adviser for pushing higher taxes on wealthy Americans and other lofty policy goals,” the New York Post chides. “ ‘For me, as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,’ ‘ the president preached to the 3,000 people at the annual spiritual gathering. Like Moses descending from Mount Sinai, Obama had a list of policies that God himself would endorse. Obama extolled the virtues of his Wall Street reforms, ObamaCare laws that stop insurance companies from ‘discriminating against those who are already sick,’ and proposed rules to crack down on mortgage lenders.”

“Legislation to explicitly prohibit members of Congress and their staff from financially profiting from insider information now awaits House action, after winning overwhelming passage in the Senate,” the Boston Globe writes. “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia, said this evening that the House would take up the measure next week. The bill is expected to have broad bipartisan support.” The bill passed 96-3.

“Dozens of American industries and businesses, from biodiesel producers to stock car racing facilities, are urging Congress to quickly revive 60 targeted tax breaks that expired on Dec. 31,” msnbc.com’s Tom Curry writes, adding, “If you're an employee of one of the affected industries that lost its tax break on Dec. 31, the congressional inaction could mean that you lose your job. If you’re an investor in one of those industries, your assets could lose their value. But if you're an advocate of a simpler, flatter tax code – as many members of Congress claim to be – then it might be time to let the expired tax breaks rest in peace – or at least make a few of them permanent and let the others remain dead.”

NEVADA: Many polls will close at 3 pm local time, some at 5 pm and there’s going to be one very special 7 pm caucus closing for Gingrich backer and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson at the Adelson Educational Complex, because it’s the Sabbath.

“Each county was allowed to set its own caucus procedures this year, leading to a divergent array of start times and rules across the state. Some precincts will open their doors as early as 8 a.m.; others won't get under way until noon. But all must wrap up the action by 3 p.m.,” The Atlantic’s Ball writes. “At 5 p.m., the party will publicly announce the results of the caucuses for the 16 smaller counties. (Since these results will have been announced at the precinct level, the campaigns and media likely will already have a sense by then.) At 7 p.m., just as the special evening caucus is getting under way, the results for the rest of Clark County will be announced. … The bizarre arrangement leaves the door open to all kinds of campaign hijinks. Party officials say attendees at the evening caucus will have to sign an affidavit swearing that they didn't already vote earlier, and their names will be checked against the voter rolls.”

The bruising Republican primary battle has allowed President Obama and his campaign to craft and refine their re-election message, tailoring it to win over a bloc with which the president faces his most glaring vulnerability: independents.

The national conversation in recent months has been directed more toward conservatives than independents, thanks to nationally televised debates and four bruising primary battles. Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney has suffered one piece of fallout as a result, seeing his negative rating with independents spike by an unusually large 20 points in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

“We’re just sitting back and watching the show,” an Obama campaign official said of the GOP race. “Audiences have gone up in the past month. We’ve seen our supporters get engaged. Attacks on the president have driven people into our camp … They’ve been busy courting their Tea Party base.”

The official added that Romney’s negatives among independents have shot up, because, “There has been a debate over his background as a corporate buyout specialist, the discussion of his tax returns, that he’s comfortable paying a lower rate than most Americans, that he made a decision to park his investments off shore. That combined raised them.”

As a result, Obama has begun to do five different things:  1. Go populist, stressing economic fairness; 2. Return to a Midwestern plain-spokenness and relatability; 3. Run against Congress while showing he is a fighter; 4. Subtly respond to the Republican presidential field without naming names; and 5. More frequently tout what he sees as his biggest accomplishments.

Economic fairness – and unity (to a point)

The president started tweaking his re-election message in Osawatomie, Kan., with a speech focused on economic fairness amid the waning strength of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Their philosophy is simple,” the president said of Republicans, “we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. Well, I’m here to say they are wrong. I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules.”

Obama sought to strike chords intended to remind voters of the rhetorical unity that launched him into the national spotlight during his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

“Those aren’t Democratic or Republican values, 1 percent values or 99 percent values,” he said. “They’re American values, and we have to reclaim them.”

Those themes were echoed in last week’s State of the Union.

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said, "or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake aren’t Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. And we have to reclaim them.”

Midwestern common sense: Simple, relatable

A hallmark of Obama’s since his emergence onto the national stage is his ability to reflect a certain common-sense sensibility.

The former Illinois senator focuses on the way voters feel Washington should work, where a president supports one thing, Congress supports another, and the two come together to reach an optimal point of compromise.

It’s the kind of almost Midwestern values and tone that many political observers cite as a reason why this child of Hawaii -- who grew up in Indonesia with a foreign middle name, “Hussein” -- was able to win so convincingly in 2008, with particular strength in the Midwest.

Obama reached for that again in his housing speech yesterday.

“This is the most important purchase a family makes,” the president said of homeownership. “But how many of you have had to deal with overly complicated mortgage forms and hidden clauses and complex terms? I remember when Michelle and I bought our first condo – and we're both lawyers.”

That got some laughs.

“And we’re looking through the forms and kind of holding it up--.”

More laughs.

“Reading it again -- ‘What does this phrase mean?’ And that’s for two trained lawyers,” he deadpanned again before getting serious.

“The forms, the confusion, the potential for abuse is too great just because the forms were too complicated. So this is what a mortgage form should look like,” Obama said, holding up a one-page mortgage application. “This is it.”

People understand the difference between a pile of paperwork with tough-to-read fine print and a single sheet of paper with clear rules. Accompanying story after story after story today about the speech was the picture of the president holding up that single page.

This kind of simple and relatable Midwestern sentiment embodies the art of political messaging, and it’s proven to be a lot easier for Obama to employ while campaigning than governing.

A line in the sand: Running against Congress

Almost everywhere the president travels, he decries congressional instransigence. That's good politics when Congress is at historic lows in approval.

“Thanks to some of the same folks who are now running Congress,” Obama said in Osawatomie, “we had weak regulation; we had little oversight, and what did it get us? Insurance companies that jacked up people's premiums with impunity and denied care to patients who were sick, mortgage lenders that tricked families into buying homes they couldn't afford, a financial sector where irresponsibility and lack of basic oversight nearly destroyed our entire economy. We simply cannot return to this brand of ‘you're on your own’ economics if we're serious about rebuilding the middle class in this country.”

In the State of the Union, Obama went after Congress again, trying to show he’s open to compromise, while also showing he wouldn’t be bullied by the GOP leadership.

“As long as I’m president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum,” Obama said. “But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits.”

And he did it again during the housing speech. "We're going to need Congress to act," Obama said, which was greeted by chuckles in the crowd.

"I hear some murmuring in the audience here,” he added with a smile. “We need them to act.”

Gone is the lofty hope for transcendence and compromise. Instead, Obama now reflects the realism of a president who has been burned.

For example, when he called in his State of the Union address for comprehensive immigration reform, he had this caveat: “But if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let's at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country.”

Offering what seem like “common-sense” items for Congress to work on, Obama can have it both ways. If Congress doesn’t act on the poll-tested items he suggested, he can continue to run against Congress. If it does, he can claim a measure of credit.

Subtly respond to GOP, especially Romney

The president has also taken to subtly responding to the GOP primary battle without directly engaging any of his would-be challengers in November.

He seized, for instance, on the notion that it was unfair for a millionaire to pay lower taxes on earnings from their investments just as Romney was having to defend his wealth and low effective tax rate as part of the GOP nominating battle.

“[Y]ou can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense,” Obama said in his State of the Union address.

“We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get a tax break I don’t need and the country can’t afford ... That’s not right. Americans know that’s not right,” the president added in a bit of messaging that could just as easily double as a campaign speech.

On the auto industry, Obama said: “Some even said we should let it die,” a clear allusion to Romney, who authored a 2009 op-ed advocating bankruptcy for General Motors and Chrysler. Obama made that reminder again during a visit this week to the Washington Auto Show. “[I]t's good to remember that the fact that there were some folks who were willing to let this industry die…,” he said.

He defended his record on Iran and Israel, even ad-libbing during the State of the Union when talking about Israel’s security, adding “and I mean iron clad,” referring to the U.S.’s commitment to its ally.

Even his nationalistic tone about America -- he said “America” or “American” 88 times in the address -- seemed to be a response to Republican candidates who have accused him of going on apology tours or not believing in “American exceptionalism.”

During his Osawatomie speech, Obama also employed the some-would-say tactic: “Now, in the midst of this debate, there are some who seem to be suffering from a kind of collective amnesia. After all that's happened, after the worst economic crisis, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, they want to return to the same practices that got us into this mess.”

During his housing speech, Obama said this: "It is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom.”

Anybody -- or, once again, his most likely opponent this fall?

Mitt Romney on Oct. 17 told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Nevada, the state that leads the country in unemployment and rate of foreclosures:  “As to what to do for the housing industry specifically, and there are things that you can do to encourage housing, one is, don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up."

Tout accomplishments

The president added another vital wrinkle to running for reelection -- listing accomplishments. Presidents up for reelection have to be able to run on their record, at least how they spin their record.

But up until the State of the Union, the president hadn’t given a full listing in one place of what he saw as his best achievements. He ticked them off that night -- killing bin Laden, helping the auto industry become solvent again, private-sector job growth (especially in manufacturing), cutting the deficit by more than $2 trillion, and adding new rules for Wall Street.

Obama has his challenges. He is facing a difficult national environment. Unemployment is still high, and those who have stopped looking for work just about doubles that number. A huge number of people say the country is off on the wrong track. There’s a big budget deficit, gaping long-term debt (much of it owed to China) -- which many say is the top issue facing the country in the long run.

But the president’s team hopes to be able to talk about trajectory, that things are “getting better,” and, of course, to make the election a “choice” and not a referendum.

With the GOP field locked in a battle for the nomination, the messaging has not been geared to the middle.

Some Republicans argue that a long primary battle helped Obama and could help Romney as well. There was some evidence of that, as Romney sharpened his debate performance in the run up to the Florida primary -- something that likely wouldn’t have happened if he had won South Carolina and appeared on his way to the nomination.

The difference, the Obama campaign official said, “President Obama and Sen. Clinton did not spend 2007 and 2008 getting dragged out to ideological pasture. They had a debate about how to draw down troops in Iraq and health care. They [the GOP] have been courting the Tea Party base with a scorched-earth campaign.”

The president -- not facing a primary challenge -- is quietly trying to take advantage. That’s the power of the incumbency.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Obama linked his faith to his policies at a speech Thursday, making a reference at one point that some saw as a subtle dig at Mitt Romney.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast here, Obama said that he is driven to public service in part by "the Biblical call to care for the least of these -- for the poor; for those at the margins of society."

The president’s remarks came a day after Romney said during an interview that he is "not concerned about the very poor," noting that there is already "a safety net" for that income bracket and that he was focused on the struggles of the middle class. Those comments sparked a firestorm among both liberal and conservative commentators.

Several reporters at today's White House briefing asked press secretary Jay Carney whether Obama's comments were an intentional dig at Romney.

Carney insisted that Obama’s use of scripture was an appropriate way to articulate his policy positions, considering the venue.

“I think if you can't discuss in a prayer breakfast one of the central tenets of your faith which is prevalent throughout the New Testament, I think you're really circumscribing yourself too much,” he said. “He was not trying to engage in campaigning; he was simply talking about faith and how it affects the decisions he makes.”

But this instance was not the first in which Carney had to push back on the president’s perceived motivation for using particular phrases in his speeches.

Wednesday, Obama seemed to make an indirect reference to a past Romney comment when, during an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, the former Massachusetts governor said the housing industry should be left to “hit the bottom” on its own.

“It is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom,” Obama said in a speech about mortgage finance relief.

When asked whether that comment was directed toward Romney, Carney would only say that he had no response “specifically to any comment like that by a candidate.”

During the prayer breakfast, the president also explained several times how his faith informed some of his policies, a departure from his previous two speeches at the annual event.

"When I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren't discriminating against those who are already sick, or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren't taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody," Obama said, making direct references to legislation passed under his watch on financial regulation and health care.

"But I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God's command to 'love thy neighbor as thyself,'" he continued.

He also explained the biblical underpinnings of his support for more middle-class tax breaks, while placing a heavier tax obligation on the wealthiest Americans.

"I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it's hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income, or young people with student loans, or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone.

“But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus's teaching that, ‘For unto whom much is given, much shall be required,’” he said.

Obama's previous prayer breakfast speeches, while not devoid of politics, have included much more oblique references.

In last year’s speech, he spoke about the role of government in society: "Our values, our love and our charity must find expression not just in our families, not just in our places of work and our places of worship, but also in our government and in our politics."

And in 2010, Obama lamented the "erosion of civility in the public square" which he said "makes politics an all-or-nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong when, in reality, neither side has a monopoly on truth."

The politics in Obama’s previous speeches may have been more muted, however, due to the events surrounding those years’ prayer breakfasts.

The 2011 event held soon after the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and had among its guests Giffords’s husband Mark Kelly.

And in 2010, the president was, in fact, fairly pointed on the issue of those who questioned his Christianity or his citizenship, telling the audience, "Surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith, or, for that matter, my citizenship.”

The event that year also happened soon after the tragic earthquake in Haiti.

NBC’s Shawna Thomas contributed reporting.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell today interviewed Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which has decided to end much of its funding for Planned Parenthood.

Mitchell also interviewed Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who disagree with the foundation's decision.

A transcript is below...

ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC HOST:  Women and men across the country are expressing anger and outrage over the Susan G.  Komen Foundation's decision to end funding to Planned Parenthood.  That funding provided breast screening and other breast health services for low-income men and uninsured women.  And the backlash has been fierce online and on the streets.  Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards spoke earlier today. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PLANNED PARENTHOOD:  We were very shocked and really surprised.  I really hope that they will rethink this decision and that we can become partners again. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MITCHELL:  Richards was on with Alex Wagner in the earlier hour.  Ambassador Nancy Brinker is the founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and joins me now. 

Well, the storm has exploded, and you've been in this for a long time.  You started Susan G. Komen in 1982 after the death of your sister and in her name.  And you have raised more money than any other group for breast cancer research. 

Which is why I have to tell you this is shocking for a lot of your long-time supporters.  I want to give you a chance to answer -- let me just tell you what I was confronted with at the gym this morning.  A woman came over to me, I had not met her before, gray-haired woman, probably in her 60s, she was wearing a gray T-shirt, and she said,  "Look at my T-shirt.  It's inside out.  I put it on by accident today.  I'm not going to wear it anymore.  I've torn the label out.  It's a Komen T-shirt." 

These are longtime supporters who have run with you, who have supported you financially and otherwise.  So they're asking, how could this have taken place? 

NANCY BRINKER, FOUNDER AND CEO, SUSAN G. KOMEN FOUNDATION:  Well, Andrea, I frankly think, I don't know, it's a mischaracterization, of certainly, of our goals, our mission, and everything that we do.  In fact, we haven't defunded Planned Parenthood.  We still have three grants that we've committed to, at least for another year, through the end of the grant cycle, and we’re going to --

MITCHELL:  But that's just through the end of the grant cycle.  Let me just put out there first of all, that I have been very identified, an outspoken supporter and participant in the races over the years long before I, myself, ended up being diagnosed with breast cancer.  So I want to just put that out there.  We've known each other a long time as well, both when you were a diplomat at the State Department.

But I come to you today, you know, expressing the anger of a lot of people -- 

BRINKER:  Sure. 

MITCHELL:  Channeling through them, you see it on Twitter, you see it everywhere.  And the fact is, a lot of people are tracing this back.  My colleague, Lisa Myers, reporting last night on "Nightly  News," a lot of people are tracing this back to what some found the surprising hiring of Karen Handel, who ran for governor. We've seen her statements and her strong support.  She said when she was running for office, "I am staunchly and unequivocally pro-life.  Let me be clear, since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood." 

So, the question is, for a bipartisan organization such as yours, which has a broad-based advisory group, why hire a key staff person who is so strongly, fiercely identified against Planned Parenthood, one of your grantees? 

BRINKER: Well, let me just for the record tell you, Karen did not have anything to do with this decision.  This was decided at the board level and also by our mission, Andrea.  Everything that we get up and do every day is about the mission.  To provide women, vulnerable populations, with care, treatment, and screening. 

And let me just take a step back for a minute. We are not defunding Planned Parenthood.  We have three grants that will go on this year, and they will probably be eligible for the next grant cycle -- 

MITCHELL: But you've said that this is the one group out of 2,000 grantees, Planned Parenthood is the only group that comes under the rubric of this new policy, which is to not fund any organization that is under investigation.  And their investigation, from Congressman Sterns, many believe is trumped up. 

BRINKER:  Well, but there are other investigations in states, number one.  Two --

MITCHELL: They're always the target of an investigation.  That's the way --

BRINKER:  The investigation isn't the only issue, Andrea.  In 2010, we set about creating excellence in our grants.  Not just in our community grants, but in our science grants.  Putting metrics, outcomes, and measures to them so that we can translate all of the science we funded over 30 years. 

Now, part of that includes taking these grants into communities and being excellent grant givers. Many of the grants we were doing with Planned Parenthood do not meet new standards of criteria for how we can measure our results and effectiveness in communities.  That is not to say that if they did meet those criteria, they would not be --

MITCHELL: Their supporters say they are the only ones that have been singled out among these thousands -- 

BRINKER:  No, that's not true.  That's not true. 

MITCHELL:  -- and that their grants for breast screening have nothing to do with any contraceptive or abortion counseling. 

BRINKER:  It's not --

MITCHELL:  That they separate this funding completely. 

BRINKER:  The issue -- that's not the issue.  Because that's not our issue.  Our issue is grant excellence.  They do pass-through grants with their screening grants.  They send people to other facilities.  We want to do more direct-service grants.  You know, we contacted them in the fall, because we've been a longtime partner of Planned Parenthood, almost 20 years. 

MITCHELL:  I know. 

BRINKER:  We've given them over $9 million.  Many of our grants worked for a long period of time. 

This is not -- this is about the restructure of our grant program.  Now, as an NGO and as a leader in the breast cancer space, we have an obligation to the community we serve, to donors, and to this country to translate cancer care in the way we know how. 

MITCHELL:  What do you do about the fact that donors are pulling back?  Some people would say that -- I mean, the anger that's being expressed is going to hit you in the pocketbook.  You have worked so hard to create a bipartisan organization.  Look at your Facebook page.  Your Facebook page has people cutting pink ribbons in half. 

BRINKER:  Well, Andrea --

MITCHELL:  Your branding is at stake. 

BRINKER:  -- all I can tell you is that the responses we're getting are very, very favorable.  People who have bothered to read the material, who have bothered to understand the issues -- again, we work for a mission, every day of our lives.  And our job now is to translate cancer therapy into usable types of therapies that can be accessible for people --

MITCHELL:  Aren't the most vulnerable women going to be affected by this?  Planned Parenthood --

BRINKER:  We are not giving less money in the communities where we're giving money.  Let me just set the record straight: where we are giving money in these communities, we are not taking it back.  We will, with some of them, go to direct service providers. 

But we still have these grants in place with Planned Parenthood, in places where there aren't direct service providers, and they are good grants and they work with us. 

But unless we have a way, again, to measure grants, to create metrics, outcomes in ways that we can say, this works in this community with this vulnerable population, this is what will work.  These are the barriers, this is how it works.  That is our only mission to cure breast cancer. 

MITCHELL:  Are you going to put out the evidence that you have that there's been anything flawed in the way they've delivered services to --

BRINKER:  All we're doing is explaining, again, to our mission, what the criteria for new grants and community-based grants are, for our organization, for the time we are. 

Many of the grants were education-oriented.  We don't need to do that kind of education anymore.  We've done it for 30 years.  Now we need to translate this care into usable clinical care in communities.  That means that if a person's screened, we need to follow.  We need to follow-up the screening.  Did something happen.  Once they go through the Planned Parenthood program, they also have to come to us for additional therapy and care. 

We are trying to advise our community grant program.  And we're doing it, and they've been a longtime partner of ours.  We've notified them of this change, and frankly, we've been very private about it.  And we have not said that we won't accept grants who meet our criteria. 

MITCHELL:  Ambassador Nancy Brinker, thank you very much. 

BRINKER:  Thanks, Andrea.
 
MITCHELL: And now we are joined by Democratic senators Patty Murray of Washington and Barbara Boxer of California. Senator Murray, can you respond. From your information about Planned Parenthood, what is the flaw in the way they are providing services and what are you planning to do about it?
 
SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): Well, look, this is really a sad day for many of us who have been proud supporters of an organization whose mission has been to save women’s lives, who also know that Planned Parenthood’s mission is to save lives. And the tremendous work they do across this country in providing preventive services so women don’t miss out on their screenings for mammograms and diseases, cancer that can take their lives. So it’s a very sad day and Susan G. Komen has put in place a policy that says directly that they will not provide funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood because of a partisan witch hunt in the House against Planned Parenthood, an investigation. I would ask all the members of Susan G. Komen to reconsider that policy because it’s dangerous for women and it’s dangerous for organizations. If Susan G. Komen comes under partisan investigation here in Washington, DC, they are going to be in violation of their own policy altogether. So we’re putting out a letter along with Senator Lautenberg and 22 senators to ask them to reconsider this terrible decision.
 
MITCHELL: Senator Boxer, why don’t you speak out as well as to where you think we should go from here?
 
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-CA): Sure, I listened to everything Ambassador Brinker said and I have to say this is a complete revisionist comment that she’s making about why suddenly Planned Parenthood lost this funding. Which, by the way, has served 170,000 women over the past 5 years, giving them the absolutely life-saving screenings that they deserve to have. And, you know, if you just go back a day ago, two days ago, the official spokespeople for that organization, Susan G. Komen, said the reason was an investigation in the House. Well, could I say this. I was not born yesterday as most of your viewers can tell. And the fact is I’m reminded of the McCarthy era, where somebody said: ‘Oh,’ a congressman stands up, a senator, ‘I’m investigating this organization and therefore people should stop funding them.’ What’s next? Are they going to attack the American Lung Association? The YMCA? The YWCA? This is so sad, as Patty Murray has so eloquently stated, because it’s about women’s health. And we do hope that they will reconsider. But to change the story is not going to work. People know what they said and this means that – unwittingly or wittingly – they’ve put themselves in the middle of a political witch hunt. And that is very very sad.
 
MITCHELL:  Well, it's certainly troubling -- this whole debate is troubling for people on all sides of it.  And Nancy Brinker is still here.  Let me just ask you -- I know we're out of time, but is there any chance that you would respond to the senators and change the policy? 

BRINKER:  Well, yeah, I'm troubled that it's been labeled as political.  This is not a political decision.  We operate from one set of standards every day, and it is to our mission.  And if we don't advance and revise and make grants that meet the mission and bring real care to vulnerable populations, we won't be doing our job.  Again, these grants --

MITCHELL: I think there's a lot of communication --

BRINKER:  There's a lot of communication –

MITCHELL:  that needs to go back and forth --

BRINKER:  -- that needs to go back and forth, you bet. 

MITCHELL:  We will follow up with you, the senators.  Twenty-two senators have now signed that letter, and we will continue to report this story and there'll be more throughout the day on NBC and MSNBC as well.  And we'll be right back.