Bill Clinton: president, philanthropist, statesmen … diehard college basketball fan.

While President Barack Obama’s love affair with college hoops is well known, his predecessor might just be the first “March Madness President.” While in office, Clinton traveled to the Final Four to watch the University of Arkansas win the 1994 national title. Even with his busy schedule he still makes plenty of time to watch college hoops.

At the end of a wide-ranging interview about youth empowerment, health care reform and the 2012 presidential election that will air Monday on MSNBC 9 a.m. ET, Clinton gave his Final Four winners' picks for tonight exclusively to NBC: Ohio St and Kentucky.

Complete coverage of the Final Four

On the Ohio State-Kansas game Clinton told me: “And the Ohio state, that guy's great – (Jared) Sullinger’s great – but I think I would put Ohio State as a slight favorite, and I would put Kentucky as a slight favorite, just massively talented.”

“But Kansas, it’s a tough call between Kansas and Ohio State because Kansas has actually played better as the tournament's gone on and showed more coherence in their game than they did in, even during the season. But I’d say, I think Ohio State is a slight favorite.”

On Kentucky-Louisville: “I think Kentucky is a slight favorite. I love Louisville, you know it’s a Big East team so I see them and to full disclosure (coach) Rick Pitino is a friend of mine. But I love the team so I wouldn’t be shocked if Louisville won, but Kentucky ... they’ve got big-time talent and not just their player of the year but it’s just a talented, talented team.”

The 42^nd president was originally high on Syracuse but thought the loss of Fab Melo hurt the Orange: “I didn’t think that they could get all the way – I wasn’t surprised that Ohio State won without this center. I think Syracuse would if he’d been playing.”

The former president was especially high on one team – Florida. “Even though they were eliminated from the Final Four, they’re a seven seed, they’re really the story of the tournament. They had the most convincing wins, the most solid the most well-balanced team. I mean they just came out of nowhere and played out of their minds consistently.”

President Clinton plans on watching both games tonight. He even scheduled events at his annual Clinton Global Initiative University Conference around the games.

Clinton even weaves bracketology into his initiative, pitting college kids and their social service based commitments against each other in a Final Four-like online tournament.

APPLETON, WI -- Mitt Romney might not have formally wrapped up the Republican nomination, but his speech here on Friday sounded more like a late-October general election pitch than a primary candidate's plea.

The 24-minute speech to an auditorium filled with supporters and Lawrence University students, the Republican frontrunner delivered a rebuilt stump speech which dissected the Obama administration's economic record and made no mention of, or allusion to, any other Republican candidate seeking the White House.

Romney, looking visibly rested after a weekend at his home in La Jolla, CA and a relatively light schedule of mostly fundraising events this week, stayed tightly bound to his economics-first thesis, and repeatedly hit the president for expanding the powers of government at the expense of free enterprise.

"Under President Obama, America hasn't been working. The ironic tragedy is that the community organizer who wanted to help those hurt by a plant closing became the President on whose watch more jobs were lost than any other time since the great Depression," Rommey said. "And instead of doing everything possible to promote the power of the free enterprise system, to create jobs and get us out of this crisis, Barack Obama has promoted the power of government. And the results have been predictable and dismal."

Romney also accused the president of "certainly" failing to lead the nation's economic recovery, and described what he said was the creation of a "government centered society," in which business and success are vilified, and the government's powers are wielded to "reshape the society into something that is more fashionable and politically correct."

It wasn't just the speech itself that lent today's event a general-election feel. Romney was introduced at the event by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the fourth leading figure in the Republican party (after Sen. Marco Rubio, Jeb and George Bush) to step off the sidelines in the last two weeks and back Romney's candidacy in hopes of ending the primary fight.

Security was also noticeably enhanced, with attendees and media all passing through metal detectors, and reporters' bags searched thoroughly by hand (a first) and checked by K9 units.

Previous efforts by Romney at delivering a broad, candidacy-defining speech have been marred by scene-stealing bad optics (see: Ford Field) or lackluster delivery. Neither were at issue today, as Romney delivered prepared remarks more confidently than usual off a tele-prompter, and was backed by a field of American and Wisconsin flags, neatly framed for television cameras.

Bruising attacks on President Obama's record aside, Romney closed on a hopeful tone, asking supporters to "join me" and "walk together this Tuesday," promising a future in which "the help wanted signs can be dusted off and we can start again."

The Obama campaign wasn't content to let the speech stand by itself, though.

"Mitt Romney’s latest attempt to pivot to the general election offered little in the way of new solutions and more of the misleading rhetoric that has become par for the course for him. Whether he is willfully ignoring the facts or rooting for failure, Mitt Romney’s speech overlooked key facts about the economic progress we’ve made under President Obama’s leadership. From 24 straight months of private sector job creation to a thriving automobile industry that is creating hundreds of thousands of jobs to lower taxes for every working family, the president’s decisive actions over the past three years have begun to pay off," Obama campaign spokesman Lis Smith said in a statement.

The Obama administration approved further sanctions Friday on Iranian crude oil exports after determining that oil supplies were adequate to justify the new penalties.

President Obama announced the new sanctions, which were written into law by Congress and will take effect at the end of June, which actually bar foreign banks from doing business in the United States if they buy or sell Iranian crude oil.

The White House was careful not to speculate on how this would affect global oil and gas prices. A Democratic aide said that while congressional leadership had been notified of the president's decision before it became public, there was no mention of the strategic petroleum reserve in that notice.

According to a statement from Press Secretary Jay Carney, while the administration believes "the oil market became increasingly tight over the first two months of 2012" and "that tightness remains today," there still "appears to be sufficient supply of non-Iranian oil to permit foreign countries to significantly reduce their import of Iranian oil."

The State Department believes there are currently 23 countries that publicly import Iranian oil. The State Department announced exemptions from these sanctions last week for 11 of those countries.  Those 11 countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan) have taken steps to significantly reduce their imports of Iranian crude oil.

Senior administration officials say that the exemptions list is not finalized, and they are still in consultations with allies like South Korea and Turkey about how to proceed. This was one of the issues that came up during Obama's talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak earlier this week when the President was in Korea for the Nuclear Security Summit.  There were indications that South Korea had an interest in pursuing a reduction in importing Iranian oil and avoiding these sanctions.

Two other countries on the sanctions list, India and China, are significant importers of Iranian oil.  A senior administration official says that even if these two countries do not reduce their imports, the moves by the U.S. government will put pressure on Iran "above and beyond anything it's experienced before." And the official clarified that they continue to have a dialogue with both India and China.

With more endorsements by prominent Republicans and a new poll showing him leading next week’s Wisconsin primary, Mitt Romney is on the cusp of becoming the party’s presumptive nominee.

Yet it’s taken Romney far longer to win the nomination than most observers expected, especially against under-funded and under-organized competitiors.

Why?

Republicans and analysts point to several culprits: the proportional delegate system, Romney’s gaffes, his flip-flops, his message, even his Mormon faith.

But he's also been plagued this primary season by a Republican Party still in the midst of an identity crisis, which has made things rocky for the former governor (and former moderate) from Massachusetts.

First Thoughts: Romney to wrap it up?

A wave of conservative enthusiasm -- with the new “Tea Party” movement as its leading edge -- propelled Republicans to record victories in the 2010 midterm elections, which delivered them control of the House and gains in the Senate.

The new freshman class, though, demanded more purity from their leaders. The very enthusiasm that helped Republicans win back part of Congress hampered their ability to govern; House Speaker John Boehner encountered great difficulties in convincing the newly elected ideologues to join in legislative compromises.

These fratricidal squabbles continued into the presidential campaign, where conservatives have resisted, at virtually every turn until now, the opportunity to get onboard with the establishment-favored candidate who’s regarded as most electable: Romney. 

“There's clearly a bit of a crisis,” said former Delaware Rep. Mike Castle, a moderate Republican who was considered a shoo-in to win his state’s Senate seat in 2010 before losing a primary to the Tea Party-backed Christine O’Donnell.

“The division and savagely attacking of other Republicans when they don't vote the right way I think is very counterproductive,” added Castle, who is supporting Romney (ironically, along with O’Donnell). “I don't think that has appealed to some Republicans, and I'm sure it doesn't appeal to independents and Democrats.”

Other reasons why Romney has been unable to gel conservatives behind his candidacy are probably more technical. Republicans cite his campaign's shoddy work in courting conservatives, the new primary rules that prolong the nominating process, and the candidate's gaffes at key points in the campaign. Romney also struggled to shake his image as a “flip-flopper” at points in the campaign, an image underscored by a senior aide’s recent comment likening the candidate’s pivot to the general election to an Etch A Sketch.

But while Romney is hardly a perfect candidate for today’s Republican Party, such a mythical creature might not exist anywhere on the planet. In some important respects, Romney's troubles stem from a party that is re-fighting its internal struggles from 2010.

“I think it's directly attributable to the spirit of 2010,” said Ken Buck, one of the Tea Party-linked Senate candidates that year, said in reference to the former Massachusetts governor’s struggles.

While the Tea Party -- a group of especially conservative activists angered by the bailouts to the financial industry and President Barack Obama’s health care law -- helped give kindling to the GOP in 2010, its insistence on ideological fealty in Republican candidates was seen as a factor that limited their success.

Republicans were successful in retaking the House but fell short of winning the necessary seats in the Senate, where Tea Party-backed nominees in Nevada, Delaware, and Colorado lost in opportunities Republicans had hoped to gain.

(Other candidates backed by the Tea Party were able to win in states like Utah, Kentucky and Florida, however.)

NBC/Marist poll: Romney leads ahead of Wisconsin primary

But the fallout hasn’t been limited to those primaries; Boehner’s struggles to win the votes of conservative freshmen elected in 2010 are well-documented. Those freshmen have pushed their leader to hew to strictly conservative positions at major junctures in the last year and a half, fueling a perception of Republicans in Congress as an intransigent lot, while weakening the speaker’s bargaining position in fights over spending cuts and the debt ceiling.

The tug of war between ideological purity and practical politics has been on display, again, during the campaign for Republicans to pick their nominee versus Obama.

Romney has long been considered the tentative frontrunner to become the GOP’s nominee, and he appears poised now to accrue the necessary delegates to accomplish that task.

But this primary has been defined, if nothing else, than by the flailing search by conservatives to identify a more palatable alternative to Romney.

While he’s stayed steady in primary voter polls, a veritable merry-go-round of challengers -- Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Gingrich again, and now, Santorum again -- have overtaken him in the polls before fading.

Moreover, exit polls of the primary contests to date have borne out Romney’s struggles in winning over self-described “very conservative” primary voters -- the core of the modern Republican Party.

While Republicans of all stripes express confidence that the party will rally around the eventual nominee, the conservative wing of the party has been nothing less than dogged in its resistance to Romney.

Romney and his current main rival, Santorum, “reflect different parts of the Republican Party,” said Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, one of the GOP’s veteran political strategists, who has remained neutral in the primary fight.

“Both of them have proven remarkably tough and durable -- it's like watching a great bar room fight. That's the kind of punching match that we're in right now,” Cole said. “In a sense, Republican voters want to be assured that whoever emerges is tough enough to go toe to toe with the president.”

Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman who represented the Tea Party in her presidential bid, acknowledged last week on “Morning Joe” that the Republican Party is “factionalized” at the moment.

But some Republicans argue that Romney’s struggles were essentially avoidable, and they blamed his campaign for doing a poor job of reaching out to conservatives.

Poll: Majority of GOP says Gingrich, Paul should end campaigns

A former chairman of a major state Republican Party, who is sympathetic to Romney’s candidacy and requested to speak anonymously in order to offer more candid analysis, argued that the former Massachusetts governor’s struggles were directly related to poor outreach.

“They’ve been unwilling or unable to close the deal among conservatives,” the chairman said of the Romney campaign.

“Why don’t they send someone to Grover’s meeting in D.C.?” added that person, referring to the weekly meeting of conservative activists hosted by anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist.

The suggestion was that Romney’s campaign was basically self-involved and did little to show conservatives that Romney was one of them -- an especially curious strategy given Romney’s presidential run in 2008, which was staked on running as the conservative alternative to John McCain.

“There’s no history there; they’ve never dated,” said Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer whose public relations firm did work for the Gingrich campaign for a stretch this primary. “It’s a little hard to ask people to marry you when you haven’t courted them first.”

The Romney campaign’s strategy, though, has sought to maintain the candidate’s viability for the general election to the best of their ability. The Romney campaign has been nothing if not careful in navigating Romney through the briar patch of conservatives’ demands on the candidate.

But the primary campaign appears to have taken its toll; a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday had Romney’s unfavorable ratings at an all-time high. Romney will no doubt pivot toward the center in the general election, but he has more ground to make up than many Republicans would like.

“The question becomes: Can the eventual Republican candidate, diminished by the primary, come back and win the election,” said Castle.

But Buck, perhaps illustrating conservatives’ ambivalence toward Romney, said it would be “fascinating” to see really how competitive Romney would be versus Obama.

“The question is, which Mitt Romney?” he asked.

Edited by NBC's Matt Loffman.

For Roscoe Bartlett, Tuesday's congressional primary in Maryland will be the easy part. The hard part, however, will come in November.

Bartlett -- the second-oldest member of the House (he's a month older than John Dingell) -- is the incumbent in the Maryland's redrawn 6th congressional district. Often described in profiles as "quirky", Bartlett is without a doubt one of the most idiosyncratic (and interesting) members of Congress. A 10-term congressman, Bartlett is a goat farmer, an inventor, and a former college professor who holds a Ph.D. in physiology. He's a member of the Tea Party caucus, opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iran, and was the first member of the GOP caucus to buy a Toyota Prius.

He's also a marked man.

Maryland's new map was redrawn by Democrats who wanted to take him out. The 6th district -- which comprised most of the western part of Maryland -- was redrawn to also include a good chunk of Washington, DC suburbs of Montgomery County. The result is what was once rural solidly Republican district -- giving President Obama nearly 40% of the vote in 2008 -- is now a Democratic district that gave Obama 56% of the vote. According to Cook Political Report, it's the biggest redistricting swing in the country.

Bartlett is not going down with a fight, however; he's raised more money than all seven of his Republican primary opponents combined. Nothing if not cantankerous, Bartlett insists he's the only Republican that can hold onto the seat. He's expected to win his primary fairly easily, but faces a big challenge in November.

The Democrats are running a bitter campaign to take on Bartlett. State Sen. Rob Garagiola was thought to be the favorite, and the district was reportedly redrawn to help his chances. But that rankled others, especially wealthy financier John Delaney. Delaney, who founded commercial lender CapitalSource, has chipped in $1.3 million of his own fortune into his campaign so far.

The race has turned nasty as Garagiola has attacked Delaney as a "loan shark" foreclosure profiteer, and highlighted the fact that Delaney doesn't live in the district (his residence is just outside the new lines.) Delaney has fired back trying to cast Garagiola as an "Annapolis insider" who once worked as a lobbyist. The state Democratic establishment is clearly favoring Garagiola: Steny Hoyer has endorsed him, and late this week Gov. Martin O'Malley did as well.

Delaney claims support from Bill Clinton.

Campaign and Hill sources say that fresh off his endorsement, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will appear with Mitt Romney today at Lawrence University in Appleton. Ryan will also stand with Romney at the second event, a fish fry in Milwaukee.

Edited by NBC's Adam Perez.

The American Energy Alliance -- a group with reported ties to the conservative Koch Brothers -- has launched a $3 million-plus TV ad campaign hitting President Obama on higher gas prices.

The campaign -- at a buy of $3.2 million -- will air in Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia from March 30 through April 12, according to NBC's ad-tracking data.

"Since Obama became president, gas prices have nearly doubled. Obama opposed exploring for energy in Alaska. He gave millions of tax dollars to Solyndra, which then went bankrupt. And he blocked the Keystone Pipeline, so we'll all pay more at the pump," the ad goes.

"Obama's Energy Secretary said we need to -- quote -- boost the prices of gasoline to the levels in Europe. That's nine dollars a gallon. But what does he care. 'I don't own a car at the moment.' Tell Obama: We can't afford his failing energy policies.

Meanwhile, the DNC is up with a web video noting that the people behind this ad campaign are from "Big Oil."

Politico reported yesterday the person who runs American Energy Alliance -- Tom Pyle -- is a former Koch Industries lobbyist who regularly attends the political summits organized by the Koch Brothers.

Romney about to wrap it up?... NBC/Marist poll shows Romney leading Santorum in Wisconsin, 40%-33%... Demographics are destiny: Poll shows that 41% of likely GOP primary voters in Wisconsin are evangelicals, and we know what that means… Poll also finds that Obama leads in the general election… Total Recall: Wisconsin’s polarized electorate divided on recall… Ryan to endorse Romney… And Obama’s SCOTUS silence so far, but that could change today.

Sean Gardner / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses supporters during a "Repeal & Replace Obamacare" campaign in Metairie, Louisiana March 21, 2012.

*** Romney to wrap it up? A new NBC/Marist poll of Wisconsin, as well as Rep. Paul Ryan’s new endorsement today, suggest that Mitt Romney is on the cusp of pulling away from his Republican rivals -- and for good. In the new poll, Romney leads Rick Santorum by seven percentage points among likely GOP primary voters, 40%-33%, with Ron Paul getting 11% and Newt Gingrich 8%. And when is a seven-point lead a potential blowout? When demographics have been destiny in this GOP presidential contest. So far, Romney has won in every contest where evangelical voters have accounted for less than 50% of the electorate, and he has lost in every contest where that number has been higher than 50%. The evangelical percentage among likely Wisconsin GOP primary voters, according to the NBC/Marist poll: 41%.

SLIDESHOWS: Mitt Romney | Rick Santorum

*** Demographics are destiny: Indeed, the Wisconsin race follows a familiar pattern: Romney holds the advantage over Santorum among liberal and moderate Republicans (43%-24%), conservatives (42%-33%), non-Tea Party supporters (42%-31%), and those who earn $75,000 or more annually (47%-32%). Meanwhile, Santorum leads among very conservative primary voters (42%-33%), strong Tea Party supporters (40%-32%), and evangelical Christians (40%-29%). But look at some of Santorum’s leads among “very conservative” and among “strong” Tea Party -- they aren’t blowouts. Another bad sign for him.

*** Obama leads in the general: Looking ahead to the general election, the NBC/Marist survey shows President Obama holding a sizable advantage over his Republican opposition in Wisconsin, which he carried in 2008 but where Republicans made big gains in the 2010 midterms. Obama leads Romney in Wisconsin among registered voters, 52%-35%, with 13% undecided. And he edges Santorum, 51%-38%, with 11% undecided. The poll suggests, however, that both Romney and Santorum would have room to grow in the general election, given that a LARGE portion of the undecided vote here leans Republican. The Obama number basically matches his job-approval rating (which is 50%). What we’re learning is that the GOP-leaning voters haven’t yet bought into the GOP candidates and some are simply sitting in the “undecided’ column; keep that in mind in general these days. Benefiting Obama is growing optimism about the state of the economy (52% believe the worst is behind them), as well as a more negative perception of the Republican Party (48% say the Democratic Party does a better job in appealing to those who aren’t hard-core supporters, while just 32% say that about the GOP).

Slideshow: Obama's 4th year in office

*** Wisconsin’s polarized electorate: As for this summer’s recall contest of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, it’s looking like a coin flip: 46 % of Wisconsin voters say they will support him in that race, while 48% indicate they’ll vote for the eventual Democratic candidate who will face off against the incumbent governor. (The potential good news for Walker here: He’s down two points to a generic candidate, not one that Republicans will be able to define.) Moreover, Walker’s approval rating in the state is 48%-48% -- yet another sign of how polarized the Wisconsin electorate is.  And get this: A majority of likely Republican voters say they’re following the recall more closely than the GOP presidential primary race, 51% to 37%. Yesterday, the state determined that there are more than 900,000 valid signatures to recall Walker, and the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is supposed to schedule the recall election today -- with primaries expected to occur on May 8 and the general on June 5. By the way, talking to strategists on both sides of the aisle about what impact the recall will have on November is this universal belief that the party that “loses” the recall will find its base a tad less enthusiastic. For Republicans, it means that a loss would almost certainly concede the state to the Democrats. For Democrats, a recall loss almost certainly means this state will be more like 2004 than 2008.

*** Ryan to endorse Romney: On FOX this morning, Ryan announced his endorsement of Romney, saying that the former Massachusetts governor "is the best person to be president" and "best person to beat" President Obama. "Mitt Romney is clearly that person," he added. Ryan also said he "spent a good deal of time with Romney" and "I am convinced Mitt Romney has the skills, principle, courage, and tenacity to do what it takes to get America back on track." And he stressed that the "primary could enter a phase when it becomes counterproductive if this drags on much longer." While Ryan held an official role with the RNC -- as head of the committee’s presidential trust -- that work is now completed, leaving Ryan free to endorse (as other RNC members and members of Congress have done).

*** On the trail, per NBC’s Adam Perez: All the activity is in Wisconsin: Santorum holds rallies in Hudson, Eau Claire, and Chippewa Falls, and he hits a fish fry and bowls in Weston… Romney stumps in Appleton and Milwaukee… And Gingrich hosts a rally in Green Bay.

*** Obama’s SCOTUS silence (so far): Well, we found out how President Obama is reacting to the three days of Supreme Court oral arguments on the landmark health-care law: with silence so far. Yesterday, in remarks from the White House on legislation to end federal subsidies to the oil industry, Obama didn’t once mention the oral arguments, which suggested that the individual mandate -- and possibly entire law -- could be in trouble. But could he say something today? The president attends a combined four fundraisers today in Vermont and Maine, and it’s possible he says something about the matter to his donors. So don’t write this up as another fundraising day. We could have some news.

Countdown to DC, Maryland, Wisconsin primaries: 4 days
Countdown to Election Day: 221 days

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*** Friday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Breaking down the new Wisconsin numbers with Marist’s Lee Miringoff… VA Dep. Asst. Secy. John Garcia on Hiring Our Heroes… NBC's Kristen Welker wrapping up the past week… NPR's Nina Totenberg on what we learned about the personalities of the SCOTUS justices this week… 2012 latest with Roll Call's Shira Toeplitz, Mother Jones' David Corn and National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru.

*** Friday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, the New York Times’ Michael Shear, theGrio.com’s Joy-Ann Reid; National Journal’s Matt Vasilogambros, financial expert Carmen Wong Ulrich, and The Atlantic’s Molly Ball.

*** Friday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith, and the Associated Press’ Kasie Hunt

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, David Ignatius, Jonathan Capehart and Eugene Robinson; and the National Journal’s Major Garrett and Reid Wilson

*** Friday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Democratic strategist Jimmy Williams and the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut.

“On Wisconsin TV, Rick Santorum is getting pummeled as someone who doesn't understand the economy. On the radio, he's portrayed as squishy on funding for women's health care provider Planned Parenthood. In mailings, Santorum has ‘crazy ideas’ that the state's Republican voters are asked to reject in their presidential primary next week,” the AP reports. “Yet again, the White House hopeful finds himself on the short end of a lopsided ad battle with rival Mitt Romney and his deep-pocketed allies. Santorum and his supporters are fighting back by calling the prospect of a Romney nomination a ‘disaster,’ but the counterpunches are hardly landing with the same power.”

ROMNEY: The Washington Post: “Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is preparing to broaden his challenge to President Obama’s management of foreign affairs, sensing political vulnerability in an area in which the incumbent has received his strongest public support.”

What about W? “Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is refusing to say whether he's seeking the endorsement of former President George W. Bush,” the AP writes. “Romney and his Republican rivals on the campaign trail have intentionally ignored the 43rd president for months. But his absence has been more pronounced over the last seven days as Romney trumpets endorsements from Bush's father and younger brother, former Florida. Gov. Jeb Bush.”

And The Hill takes that up too: “Mitt Romney is facing a dilemma in how to publicly tackle George W. Bush’s tenure. Some of Bush’s relatives have recently endorsed Romney, and he will likely be asked about Bush’s legacy and policies on the campaign trail.”

Chris Christie endorsed Mitt Romney, but does he have his sights on running in an open seat in 2016? "In terms of me, I'll be much more ready four years from now,” he told Oprah Winfrey. (Hat tip: Political Wire.)

Speaking of lukewarm endorsements, here’s Marco Rubio: "There are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish had run for president -- but they didn't."

SANTORUM: Wisconsin might be tough for Santorum, because his base has proven to be evangelicals. In places Santorum has won (and where exit polls are available), evangelicals averaged 72% of the population. He hasn’t won anywhere where evangelicals were less than 57% of the population. But in the NBC-Marist poll, 41% said they were evangelicals. And in 2008, just 38% of Wisconsin Republican primary voters said they were born-again or evangelical Christians.

“Mitt Romney had Michigan, Newt Gingrich had Georgia, and now Rick Santorum is hoping Pennsylvania can provide the hometown boost to help justify staying in the Republican presidential race,” USA Today writes, adding, “Both Romney and Gingrich placed a high priority on winning their home turf, and Pennsylvania's April 24 contest has become critical for Santorum as Romney has racked up endorsements and a lead in polls in advance of Tuesday's Wisconsin primary.”

USA Today raises the curtain behind how the voting will take place at the Supreme Court on the health law. And the first votes will be today. “The fate of President Obama's landmark health care law likely will be decided Friday in an oak-paneled conference room adjoining the chambers of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts,” USA Today writes. “There, the nine justices will meet alone to discuss the case that transfixed Americans for three days of oral arguments this week. When all have had their say, they will vote in order of seniority. That initial decision may be altered as drafts of majority and dissenting opinions are written, circulated and rewritten, often many times. It might even be reversed during the lengthy writing process if one or more justices switch sides.”

More: “For most of the next three months, only the justices and 39 law clerks — four per justice and one each for the three living retired justices — will be privy to the ruling. And even in an age of Twitter and YouTube, it won't leak.”

All the speculation is on Anthony Kennedy, per the New York Times. “Justice Kennedy’s understanding of liberty is idiosyncratic, and there is every reason to think that both lawyers’ arguments in the concluding minutes of the argument on Wednesday afternoon resonated with him, said Helen J. Knowles, the author of ‘The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty.’ (The title is telling. Another book on the justice, by Frank J. Colucci, is called ‘Justice Kennedy’s Jurisprudence: The Full and Necessary Meaning of Liberty.’) ‘I really don’t think Justice Kennedy has any idea at the moment how he’s going to vote in these cases,’ Professor Knowles said.”

“Democrats are fuming over Justice Antonin Scalia’s conduct during this week’s Supreme Court deliberations on President Obama’s healthcare law,” The Hill notes. “Scalia appeared hostile to the law while several of the high court’s liberal justices seemed to cheerlead for its defense. But it was Scalia’s attitude that rubbed some Democrats the wrong way. Scalia mocked the so-called ‘Cornhusker Kickback’ without seeming to know that provision was stripped out of the law two years ago. Scalia also joked the task of having to review the complex bill violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Senate Republicans, including Scott Brown of Massachusetts, today foiled President Obama’s plan to strip $24 billion in tax subsidies from the country’s largest oil companies, potentially fueling an election-year issue among voters disgruntled by escalating gas prices,” The Boston Globe notes.

“President Obama will touch down in Vermont and Maine on Friday afternoon for a series of fund-raisers for his reelection campaign,” the Boston Globe writes. “His New England visits will begin with a private luncheon with approximately 100 supporters at the Sheraton Burlington in Burlington, Vt., where the president will give a speech. Ticket prices for the luncheon started at $7,500 per person.

After lunch, Obama will speak at the University of Vermont, also in Burlington, to approximately 4,500 people. The event will include a musical performance by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. General admission tickets started at $100 per person, with student tickets available for $44.” 

“The House easily passed Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) $1.028 trillion fiscal blueprint today, ending months of GOP infighting over spending levels but scuttling hopes of passing the appropriations bills in regular order this year,” Roll Call writes.

House GOP leaders on Thursday brandished their newly passed 2013 budget as the foundation of the Republican fall election campaign,” The Hill writes. “The Democratic response is ‘bring it on.’ They said they are eager to run against what they are dubbing the Ryan-Romney plan, which they say destroys Medicare, hobbles the economy and provides a tax break windfall to the rich.”

The Democratic Governors Association today announced it raised approximately $8 million in the first three months of 2012 -- over $2 million more than in the first quarter during the comparable 2008 cycle.

NORTH DAKOTA: Heidi Heitkamp (D), running for the U.S. Senate, is out with her first ad. It’s now the second anti-Washington ad from Democrats. Montana Sen. Jon Tester came out with his last week.

From his home state of Wisconsin, Rep. Paul Ryan endorsed Mitt Romney ahead of Tuesday's primary there. He said Romney "is the best person to be president" and "best person to beat" President Obama.

"Mitt Romney is clearly that person," he said this morning on Fox and Friends.

He said he "spent a good deal of time with Romney" and "I am convinced Mitt Romney has the skills, principle, courage, and tenacity to do what it takes to get America back on track."

He also stressed that the "primary could enter a phase when it becomes counterproductive if this drags on much longer."

He added that he hasn't been able to touch base with Rick Santorum yet, will do so later today, but the point he would make to him, Ryan said -- after spending the last six months figuring out what it takes to run and fund a presidential campaign -- is that he's "convinced if this drags out into the summer, it's just going to make it tougher to beat Barack Obama. The more we drag it out, the harder it is to beat" Obama. He said conservatives need to “coalesce."

Ryan has for the past six months led the Republican National Committee's presidential fundraising efforts as head of the RNC's Presidential Trust.

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- Making his first campaign stop in the Badger State, Newt Gingrich was quick to share his Wisconsin ties.

“We own a share of Green Bay stock so we have ties to the whole state in that sense,” Gingrich said, adding that his wife, Callista, grew up here and her mother still resides in White Hall.

The former House Speaker addressed a few hundred people at Marquette University and wrapped up his almost hour-long lecture speaking about the popular Wisconsin Congressman, Paul Ryan.

Gingrich praised the Wisconsin native hours after the Republican budget passed the house and just as news began to speculate that Ryan would endorse Mitt Romney before Tuesday’s primary in the state.

“His budget is very, very positive and it’s very exciting,” the Speaker said, acknowledging that Ryan responded well to critiques. “His budget is dramatically better than the Congressional Budget Office will score it because the bureaucrats at CBO completely misunderstand the power of people changing their behavior and it’s really unfortunate.”

Ryan, who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional district, saw his $3.5 trillion budget plan pass the House Thursday will all but ten Republicans voting in favor of it.
 
But last May, Gingrich referred to Ryan’s plan as “right wing social engineering,” showing little admiration for the Republican budget proposal on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Tonight, Gingrich’s tone was different, and he said his remarks last spring were “vastly overblown by the news media.”

“I’ve always endorsed his [Ryan’s] proposal to block grant Medicare, I mean Medicaid, I think it’s a good idea. And I admire both his intelligence and his courage because he’s doing a lot of things,” he said.

While tonight mark’s Gingrich’s first appearance in the state, Callista has been campaigning on her husband’s behalf all week – her first solo campaign trip all cycle.

While there were few applause lines for Gingrich in the college auditorium, there was a lively back and forth between one attendee and the Speaker over where your rights come from.

After listening to Gingrich describe “American values,” a man questioned if Gingrich meant specifically Christian values and how that is fair under the first amendment and freedom of religion.

“What about people who maybe are agnostic or atheist. What about those Americans?” the man in the audience, who left as soon as the interaction was over, asked.

“They can live here but they have no explanation of where their rights come,” Gingrich shot back.

This back and forth continued for almost five minutes until the Speaker finally said, “next question.”

Gingrich, who is struggling to remain seen as a credible candidate, holds three events in Wisconsin on Friday – including a Green Bay Brats and Beer Rally.

FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- Rick Santorum delivered what was billed as a major foreign policy speech at One Jelly Belly Lane in his latest in a series of attempts to invoke images of conservative icon Ronald Reagan.

Speaking to a crowd gathered at Jelly Belly Candy Company here, the candy manufacturers who produced Reagan's beloved jelly beans, Santorum's policy address was part homage to the former president and part blazing critique of his chief rival for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney.

A picture of Reagan's face made out of jelly beans hung outside on the room where the former Pennsylvania senator told supporters the spirit of the Great Communicator had been lost.  Santorum was not shy about citing Romney as an example of a politician who does not fit the Reagan mold.  Santorum said Romney's inconsistencies on issues like gay marriage and abortion rights.

"We as conservatives need to stand up and fight for a candidate that can win this general election, who stands solidly, firmly on the 3 legs of the stool that brought the Reagan coalition together," Santorum said, referring to Reagan's belief in free enterprise, strong national defense, and conservative social values.

But it is an ad in Wisconsin which Santorum says paints him as an abortion rights advocate that GOP hopeful seemed particularly bothered by.

"I find it sort of remarkable that Gov. Romney is out running ads in Wisconsin right now basically saying I'm not pro-life," Santorum said, following with a list of the anti-abortion rights legislation he help push in Congress.  "To suggest somehow or another that I am not pro-life, again, is a disingenuous game that is played by politicians who seek power instead of trying to be truthful to the American public," he said.

Santorum laid out a national security platform based in strengthening the U.S. relationship with its allies and holding other countries accountable, two things he criticized Obama for failing to have done.

"If you are a foe of the United States, and you do not respect the United States and our security interests, you will learn to fear the United States and your security interests," he said to applause.  "Of all of the failings of this president, perhaps the greatest is on national security.  And folks that’s saying something."

Visiting California meant a break from campaigning in Wisconsin, where polls showed Santorum struggling to keep pace with Romney.  And yesterday, more bad news as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) gave his much anticipated endorsement to Romney.

"If an endorsement hurt me, I wouldn't be here," Santorum said while greeting voters after the event.

The candy company was Santorum's only campaign event in the Golden State, which holds its primary June 5.  He spent the earlier part of the day fundraising in the Los Angeles area.  And despite their late primary, the GOP hopeful seemed confident the state would be important this cycle.

"California doesn't get a chance very much to play in presidential politics, of late," he said.  "But you will in this presidential primary."

In the latest evidence that Newt Gingrich isn’t exiting the GOP race anytime soon, the former House speaker ended a closed-door meeting on Wednesday with his backers in Congress poised to push ahead with his campaign, possibly through the June 5 primary in California.

When he sat down this week with 10 of the 11 lawmakers who have endorsed him, each of them took turns offering their assessment of the health of the Gingrich candidacy. While some of the lawmakers expressed misgivings about the toll his continuing in the race would take on the eventual Republican nominee, none of them called on Gingrich to drop out.

Four of the attendees, who spoke with NBCPolitics.com, said that Gingrich's interest in staying in the race is driven by a desire to advance certain policy proposals in the primary and general elections.

“We believe that Newt staying in there is very helpful to the conservative cause,” said Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, who was among the attendees. “I think Newt was realistic and saying there is a path.”

Still, Kingston added, “He didn't use the word longshot, but it's difficult.”

Gingrich reached the apex of his political strength this primary season when he won South Carolina’s influential primary on Jan. 21.

But in the two months since that point, the ex-speaker, pummeled by negative ads in Florida and succeeding primary states, has seen his support once again hit the bottom. He finished a distant third in Louisiana’s primary; Rick Santorum, who’s assumed the role of Mitt Romney’s chief conservative alternative, won that caucus.

Not having won another primary besides the Super Tuesday contest in Georgia -- the state which elected Gingrich to Congress -- the campaign has struggled to regain any momentum. Gingrich laid off a third of his staff this week and severely curtailed travel, prompting political observers to wonder when he would finally drop out.

“I encouraged him to do what he feels is in his heart he has to do,” said Texas Rep. Michael Burgess, who attended the gathering.

But to hear the members of Congress who attended the meeting describe its outcome, Gingrich appears no closer to ending his candidacy.

“We kind of came to a collective conclusion that there were still some significant goals and objectives that could be achieved by him maintaining his place in the race," said Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, another participant in the meeting.

Related: Gingrich axes third of staff, cuts travel

In addition to Kingston, Burgess and Franks, another seven congress members attended: Reps. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., Austin Scott, R-Ga., Tom Price, R-Ga., Joe Barton, R-Texas, Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Dan Lungren, R-Calif.

The outstanding question now is not whether Newt will be the nominee, but rather, when will he exit the race, and how much collateral damage will have been done to the Republican nominee when Gingrich does drop out.

Those who did attend described a campaign that is realistic that its odds of winning the nomination are especially long. But, unless Romney were to begin regularly steamrolling his primary opponents in upcoming contests, the lawmakers said Gingrich was likely to stay in the race until the May 29 primary in Texas (where he has the endorsement of Gov. Rick Perry), or the primary a week later in California.

“I think the endgame is that we won't know what it's going to be until after Texas,” said one of the Republicans who went to the meeting, who was granted anonymity to speak more candidly about the closed-door huddle.

“I still think he's got a shot in Texas,” added that lawmaker, who noted that the slower pace of forthcoming primaries might allow Gingrich to conserve resources and survive through those contests.

But the former speaker still faces significant hurdles, not least of which was the public warning by Sheldon Adelson -- the casino magnate who’s primarily financed a supportive super PAC -- that Gingrich was “at the end of his line.”

A significant factor in Gingrich’s thinking involves whether his continued presence in the race would harm the party, or even his own political legacy.

Gingrich remains a prominent figure in the conservative movement despite the fizzling of his campaign.

If his candidacy were to stretch to the point where it hurts the party, it could threaten the generosity of conservative donors, on whose largesse Gingrich’s private endeavors sometimes depend.

The speaker’s sense was that if he were to leave the race, the media coverage he’s gained as a candidate would evaporate. By staying in the race, one of the lawmakers present said, Gingrich believes he “would have a great opportunity to drive some planks of the platform,” especially as it relates to some pet issues on health care, science and national security.

But the congressmen also said that Gingrich understood the long odds posed by the math, and described the speaker’s understanding that Santorum’s position in the race has made it difficult to challenge Romney one-on-one.

Moreover, Romney continues to amass delegates and prominent endorsements, most recently on Wednesday from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who said he backed Romney in part to forestall a messy convention fight -- the type Gingrich would need to orchestrate to make good on those long odds of becoming the Republican nominee.

“If you talk to people in the conference, you've got some people who want it over. You've got some people who have people in the race and want to see them do better,” said Westmoreland, a supporter of Gingrich. “Kind of a mixed bag, but I do think it would be nice to have your nominee on the same page as we are with our agenda. Trying to nail that down has been kind of hard.”

“The one thing that is there is, whoever our nominee is, they're going to have 242 people behind him,” he added.