Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images

Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla, speaks at the Brooking Institution in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2012. Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney dodged mounting speculation Monday about a potential running mate, even with Senator Marco Rubio, the man now in the VP spotlight, standing right beside him.

A prime obstacle facing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as he engineers his ascent within the GOP — possibly even to the vice presidency — involves murmurs regarding his previous political career in the Sunshine State. 

Rubio's staff has carefully worked to dispel allegations of impropriety surrounding his dealings with embattled Rep. David Rivera (R-FL), as well as whether he used a card issued by the Florida state GOP to pay for personal expenses. 

Well, the senator went great lengths in an extensive interview on Fox News to address those controversies.

Regarding the Republican Party card he had used as a state lawmaker, Rubio said:

It was totally resolved years ago. But let me walk you — it's a very valid question. First of all, I've already said that if I had to do it again, I would not do it that way. What I had was not a credit card; it was an American Express card, as a charge card. So basically, you charge things on a card and, at the end of the month, you have to pay it off completely. At the end of every month, we would get those statements, we would see what was on there that was party-related, and the party would pay that. If it wasn't party-related, I would pay that — directly to American Express. It wasn't like I reimbursed the party; I paid it directly to American Express at the time. 

Now obviously, in hindsight, it looks bad, right? I mean, why are you using the party credit card at all? Well, some of these expenses were because a travel agent had the number — you know, the credit card number — and they billed it to that card instead of the other card. Sometimes, it was just a mistake. I just reached for the wrong card. 

The point is that, if I had to do it again, I'd be a lot more careful. And I am because, in politics, perception is often reality. But it's important people understand: I did not bill personal expenses to the Republican Party of Florida. The Republican Party of Florida never paid my personal expenses. Never. I paid them directly to American Express, in the month that I would get those statements. 

Fox: And you addressed this in the campaign?

Oh, sure. You think I would have been elected if I hadn't? We did, repeatedly. And I answered questions like that all the time. It's a valid question and, you know, it was a mistake. If I had to do it over again, I'd do it very differently. And I think in life, you live and you learn. But again, let's be ver clear: we're talking about, at the time — it wasn't like somebody found out about this, and then I went back and paid it. These charges were on there, if they didn't belong on there, I paid them directly to American Express. But, look, I shouldn't have done it that way. Lesson learned. 

Rubio addresses his relationship with Rivera and a whole host of other issues in the Fox interview. 

More importantly, though, the appearance reflects an affirmative effort by Rubio to address some of the issues in his own background — issues that could ensnare the Romney campaign if the Florida senator were tapped as Romney's running mate. 

That effort by Team Rubio is especially important now, given the senator's own forthcoming autobiography, and another book about Rubio authored by a Washington Post writer, which is expected to be more critical.

President Obama escalated a war of words with Republican foe Mitt Romney, challenging the former Massachusetts governor to explain his 2007 comments suggesting that it might not be worth leveraging all U.S. resources to find Osama bin Laden.

The president denied that he or the United States were engaged in "excessive celebration" to mark the one-year anniversary of the mission that ended successfully with bin Laden's assassination at a safe haven in Pakistan.

Yuri Gripas / Reuters

President Obama denied that he or the United States were engaged in "excessive celebration" to mark the one-year anniversary of the mission that ended successfully with bin Laden's assassination at a safe haven in Pakistan.

"I hardly think that you have seen any excessive celebration taking place here," the president said at the White House. "And I think for us to use that time for some reflection, to give thanks to those who participated is entirely appropriate, and that's what's been taking place."

Obama continued, making no mention of Romney by name, but clearly intending to put his general election opponent on the spot, while taking a degree of credit for the mission.

Obama said in response:

As far as my personal role and what other folks would do, I'd just recommend that everybody take a look at people's previous statements in terms of whether they thought it was appropriate to go into Pakistan and take out bin Laden.

I assume that people meant what they said when they said it. That's been at least my practice. I said that I'd go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him and I did.

If there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they'd do something else, then I'd go ahead and let them explain it.

That was an unmistakable reference toward Romney's 2007 comments to the Associated Press that "it’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person," meaning bin Laden.

Those comments have become part of a bit of political gamesmanship surrounding the anniversary of the bin Laden mission, as Obama's re-election campaign works to win the president credit for his decision to authorize the risky mission.

Romney said after an event this morning in New Hampshire that "of course" he would have given the order to authorize the bin Laden mission. "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," said the former Massachusetts governor.

The Obama campaign has used Romney's 2007 remarks, though, to imply that Romney wouldn't have given that order.

"I also think it's worthwhile to make sure that, as we're heading into this general election ... the American people know where Mitt Romney did stand on it. It's not exploitation, it's fact," Obama's deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, told Andrea Mitchell this afternoon on MSNBC. "Mitt Romney ... said he wouldn't have gone into Pakistan to pursue bin Laden with actionable intelligence if the Pakistanis wouldn't get him [bin Laden]. And he also said he wouldn't move heaven and earth to get bin Laden. Well, the president did move heaven and earth."

PORTSMOUTH, NH -- Mitt Romney's short list of vice presidential candidates is expected to include 10 to 15 names, a source with knowledge of the deliberations said Monday as one of those potential candidates, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, joined Romney on the campaign trail this morning.

Making his first appearance in the Granite States since having assumed the role of the presumptive Republican nominee, Romney was flanked by Ayotte, a longtime ally who's now receiving new scrutiny as a possible contender for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket this fall.

A freshman senator and former New Hampshire attorney general, Ayotte, who endorsed Romney last November, toured the port here with Romney this morning, and introduced him, telling a crowd of supporters and local fisherman "help is on the way" under a Romney presidency.

The stop was sure to stoke speculation due to its spot in a series of campaign stops Romney has made with potential candidates to round out his ticket. He campaigned heavily in Wisconsin with Rep. Paul Ryan, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, another vice presidential favorite, appeared with Romney last week in Pennsylvania.

"There's a whole ledger of items you check off, and Senator Ayotte is a strong candidate on the list," Former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John Sununu told reporters. "She knows how to cut budgets. She knows that you cut spending instead of raising taxes to cut budgets. She's a hard campaigner. She's earned the respect of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Washington."

Sununu, whom Romney described in his remarks as a "bulldog" for the campaign, played down the notion that today's appearance in Portsmouth constituted an audition for Ayotte. He pointed to her previous appearances and work for Romney, and the former New Hampshire governor suggested that Romney would continue to appear with GOP heavyweights in swing states.

But Sununu also raised eyebrows when he suggested that the vice presidential search committee, being led by longtime Romney aide Beth Myers, would be working with an extensive short list of prospective running mates.

"I know that the bowl has about 19 or 20 little folded pieces of paper in it, and they keep shaking the bowl," Sununu said.

A source with knowledge of the deliberations thus far called that number "a little high" and said the working list contained somewhere around ten to fifteen names instead.

Ayotte might earn her way onto that list because of her experience in law enforcement and background in the swing state of New Hampshire. Adding a woman to the ticket might help Romney to close the gap with women voters, as well.

But, even as Sununu acknowledged, Ayotte has little relative experience on the national stage -- something that could open her up to attacks on her inexperience.

But for all the speculation surrounding the second spot on the GOP ticket, the man at the top remained almost exclusively focused on the economy in his remarks today, accused the president and his campaign of engaging in "silliness" and distractions, and saying he would remain focused on "helping those that need help the most."

"I wish the president would start talking about the economy and stop trying to divert with all the silliness day in and day out," Romney said. "Let’s focus on what people care about, and the issue people care about is the one that is effecting us, which is their pocketbooks. The gasoline prices. The cost of higher education. The need for more jobs. The need for better incomes."

Top White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said today that Al Qaeda is now "on the path to its destruction" in a major speech that for the first time publicly acknowledged the role of "targeted strikes" using remotely piloted vehicles, otherwise known as drones.

The drone program against Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Yemen has long been officially classified, even though its use has been widely reported and become a central component of President Obama's counter-terrorism efforts.

But, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's death, Brennan essentially declassified the program, saying the use of such vehicles gives the government "laser-like" precision to target terrorists planning attacks on the United States.

Brennan also acknowledged -- again for first time -- "innocent civilians have been killed in these strikes." But he said such instances have been "exceedingly rare, but it has happened. When it does, it pains us and we regret it deeply, as we do any time innocents are killed in war."

Brennan did not give any details, and he declined to answer how many times the White House has declined to proceed with drone strikes recommended by intelligence agencies.  

President Obama roused union members behind supporting his re-election bid in a speech Monday to labor leaders, a core Democratic constituency with which his administration has had differences in his first term.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

President Barack Obama speaks April 30 at the Building and Construction Trades Department Legislative Conference.

"These have been some tough years we’ve been in," Obama said to members of the Building and Construction Trade Department, an AFL-CIO-affiliated group. “I know a lot of your membership can get discouraged. They can feel like nobody’s looking out for them. They can get frustrated and it sure is easy to give up on Washington.”

Among those labor members who have expressed their frustration with Washington -– including the president –- is AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who in January criticized the administration’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness for focusing on reforming regulations and the tax system.

There are varied other instances in which unions that supported Obama during the 2008 election felted jilted by the president. Labor leaders pushed for a more robust stimulus and jobs program, and were generally disappointed deeply by Obama's decision to jettison the so-called "public option" as part of health care reform. The Employee Free Choice Act, a priority of organized labor that had enjoyed administration support, also died in Congress amid heavy business opposition.

Unions have also been generally supportive of a plan to build the TransCanada Keystone Oil pipeline, development of which the administration has mostly blocked.

Obama told the group Monday that, while he has not always been “a perfect president,” he has kept his promise to labor unions –- and, by extension, all voters.

“I made a promise I’d always tell you where I stood, I’d always tell you what I thought, what I believed in. And most importantly, I would wake up every single day working as hard as I know how to make your lives a little bit better," he said. "And for all that we’ve gone through these three-and-a-half or four years, I have kept that promise."

While not mentioning presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney by name, Obama also contrasted his views on labor with those of Republicans, saying that the party wants to weaken labor unions.

“If you asked them what's their big economic plan in addition to tax cuts for rich folks, it's dismantling your unions,” Obama said.

He criticized Republicans for advocating so-called “right to work” laws, which bar unions from requiring prospective employees to join as a precondition for being hired. Twenty-three U.S. states currently have such laws.

“I believe when folks try and take collective bargaining rights away by passing so-called ‘right to work’ laws that might as well be called ‘the right to work for less and less,’ that's not about economics -- it's about politics," Obama said.

He said that his support for labor unions was evident in his belief in strong collective-bargaining rights.

“The right to organize and negotiate a fair pay for hard work should be the right of every American -- from the CEO in the corner office to the worker who built that office,” he said.

Asked on a rope line if he would have "gone after" Osama bin Laden, if he would have "given the order," presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney responded, "Of course, of course. Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."

The former President Carter, of course, did undertake a risky hostage rescue attempt in Iran in 1980 that failed -- and cost Carter dearly politically. It sealed an image of a weak president. That coupled with a weak economy, ultimately led to Ronald Reagan's landslide victory.

If the bin Laden raid had failed in similar fashion, Republicans would have surely portrayed President Obama in the same way.

Romney and the GOP have tried to paint Obama as a Jimmy Carter caricature, anyway, weak and inept. Reports have indicated, however, that the call to undertake the raid was not with 100 percent certainty. Intelligence, White House officials said, was thought to be about 50-50 that bin Laden was in the compound.

"At the end of the day, the president assessed that it was a circumstantial case, and it was probably a 50-50 chance that Osama bin Laden was there," said Tom Donilon, National Security Adviser, last year following the raid.

Vice President Joe Biden has said he advised Obama against going through with the raid.

The Obama campaign has questioned whether Romney would have given the order. In a video released Friday, a graphic asks, "Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” the ad asks. It highlights this Romney quote: “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”

Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs defended the video on Meet the Press on Sunday, saying, "I don’t think it’s clear that he would" have ordered the raid.

Ed Gillespie, an adviser to the Romney campaign and former Bush adviser, though, said: “This is one of the reasons President Obama has become one of the most divisive presidents in American history. He took something that was a unifying event … and he’s managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan, political attack. … I think most Americans will see it as a sign of a desperate campaign.”

The Obama campaign posted a video called, "Forward," that highlights his record in the past three years, including again touting the killing of bin Laden. The video will be played ahead of the president's first "official" campaign events -- in Virginia and Ohio.

Would Mitt Romney have given the order to authorize the daring mission that ended in Osama bin Laden’s assassination?

It’s impossible to say, but that hasn’t stopped President Barack Obama’s campaign from stoking doubts that a President Romney, essentially, wouldn’t have had the guts to make that order.

“Thanks to President Obama, bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,” Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday in a campaign speech. “You have to ask yourself, if Gov. Romney had been president, could he have used the same slogan – in reverse? “

Jason Cohn / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses supporters at a rally at Consol Energy's Research and Development facility outside Pittsburgh, Pa.

Marking the one-year anniversary of the mission that successfully killed bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2011 terror attacks, has undoubtedly given the Obama campaign an opportunity to remind voters of one of the president’s biggest accomplishments on foreign policy and national security.

“He took the harder and more honorable path, and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result,” former President Bill Clinton said in a web video released Friday by the Obama campaign – one that directly asks the question about what Romney would have done if he were in that position last year.

But some Republicans are crying foul. For starters, the Republican National Committee was eager to highlight the 2008 Obama campaign’s own complaint against then-rival Hillary Clinton, accusing her of trying to “invoke bin Laden to score political points” by depicting the infamous al-Qaida leader in a campaign ad.

“I think it's irresponsible and unfair,” said Brian Hook, a foreign policy adviser to both President George W. Bush and former White House hopeful Tim Pawlenty, said of the Obama campaign’s questioning of Romney. “What person running for commander in chief doesn't want to bring bin Laden to justice?”

“In my experience, every president will try to do the right thing,” said Charles Hill, a conservative foreign policy expert and lecturer at Yale University.  “You can't say one person would do it and another person wouldn't; it depends on the operational plan.”

And Sen. John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, protested in a statement: "No one disputes that the President deserves credit for ordering the raid, but to politicize it in this way is the height of hypocrisy. The Obama campaign asks whether Mitt Romney would have made that decision. Of course they want to focus on this one tactical decision because the other decisions this president has made have harmed our national security."

By most press accounts, the decision to authorize the mission that killed bin Laden was fraught with difficulties; there was no “slam-dunk” guarantees that the risky strike would end with success. Biden himself has said that he had counseled the president against the Special Forces mission.

The Obama campaign’s effort to translate that decision into a political chit is two-fold. First, they’re looking to build up the president’s stature as a commander in chief, and their efforts are meant to cast Obama as a figure of fortitude in the face of Republican criticism that he’s too weak.

The other prong – and this is where the claim that Romney wouldn’t have acted comes into play – is intended to seize on the instances in which the former Massachusetts governor’s foreign policy positions have seemed muddled or, worse, inconsistent.

The crux of that argument stems from comments Romney made in 2007 when, in reference to bin Laden, Romney said “it’s not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”

That comment, said former Gen. Wesley Clark, a onetime Democratic presidential candidate and surrogate for the Obama campaign, made it fair to question whether a Romney presidency would have ended in the same outcome of killing bin Laden.

Clark argued that Obama deserves credit not just for ordering the mission, but for initiating an overall shift in strategy that helped collect the actionable intelligence that allowed the president to make the call he did.

“It’s not quite a fair comparison to say Gov. Romney might have decided to go after him, too, if he had that information,” Clark said. “But that information is the result of thousands of man hours of effort at the exclusion of not focusing on other things. The decision was just one step of many that led to the takedown of Osama bin Laden.”

Rudy deLeon, a senior vice president of national security and international policy at Washington’s Center for American Progress, concurred.

“You had actionable intelligence, which is something the president doesn't always get. But in swinging the forces from Iraq to Afghanistan, you were able to swing with it the kind of surveillance that was able to get you actionable intelligence,” he said, referencing the surge in troops in Afghanistan that Obama had authorized.

“He basically took on his own party. That's not a sign of weakness or indifference,” deLeon added.

Hook cautioned, though, against overly politicizing the bin Laden mission, referencing the instance in which Obama said he was wary of appearing to “spike the football,” referring to the photos of a dead bin Laden.

“Didn't Obama say we shouldn't be spiking the ball in the end zone?” Hook asked. “Well, isn't this spiking the ball in the end zone?”

DUE TO TECHNICAL ERROR, FIRST THOUGHTS WAS LATE PUBLISHING.

The bin Laden killing, one year later – how quickly things change … Republicans cry foul that Obama campaign is using the death as a reelection weapon … Foreign policy vs. the economy (it’s still the economy) … Is Obama the Warrior in Chief? … Another veep tryout – this time it’s Romney with New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte. … Gingrich to drop out Wednesday.

Believe it or not, tomorrow marks a year since Osama bin Laden was killed. We wrote then: “While it’s doubtful that Osama bin Laden’s death will have as long of a political impact [as 9/11] -- especially in this fast-changing, short-term memory media landscape -- it will surely shape the contours of next year’s presidential race. … Last night changes everything (for now), but we also know how quickly it can dissipate.” And dissipate it did. The president’s bump – for something that was as big a singular accomplishment that any president could have -- was short-lived, because of the economy and the debt-ceiling fight. It’s a reminder of just how important the economy is that the bump was never as big as it would have been under normal circumstances. (By the way, NBC’s Rock Center went inside the decision making of the killing of bin Laden. Brian Williams previewed his interview with the president on Meet the Press. The full show, with interviews of others that were in the room) airs Wednesday at 9:00 pm ET.

*** Playing politics: Republicans are crying foul at the Obama campaign’s touting of the killing (and using it in a campaign video charging that Mitt Romney might not have made the same call. There are two lines of attack: (1) Republicans are trying to minimize the accomplishment, saying anyone would have done it; and (2) They say he’s politicizing everything, including foreign policy. Ed Gillespie, an adviser to the Romney campaign and former Bush adviser said on Meet the Press: “This is one of the reasons President Obama has become one of the most divisive presidents in American history. He took something that was a unifying event … and he’s managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan, political attack. … I think most Americans will see it as a sign of a desperate campaign.” It’s fascinating to watch Democrats try to demagogue foreign policy, the way Republicans do and have done over the years (see Cheney, Dick in 2004). Republicans usually find themselves almost overreacting when Democrats go over the top in their foreign policy attacks. Count on some REALLY heated cable and Twitter rhetoric this week on this topic as the run-up to the bin Laden anniversary kicks in.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks to troops at Third Infantry Division Headquarters at Fort Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia, on April 27, 2012, prior to Obama signing an Executive Order to protect them from deceptive targeting by educational institutions.

*** Warrior in Chief? The Romney campaign has pushed the issue of foreign policy, trying to paint Obama as weak and appeasing (especially when it comes to Iran). The GOP would have liked to paint the picture of Obama as a feckless, weak president, lacking strength. But despite the rhetoric, Obama’s foreign policy has been incredibly muscular. In fact, Peter Bergen of the New America Foundation in the New York Times Sunday Review provocatively casts President Obama as the “Warrior in chief,” ticking off several of Obama’s foreign-policy raids, killings, and use of drones. The death of bin Laden undercut any hopes Republicans had of being able to paint Obama as Jimmy Carter. And he makes the point of this disconnect: “Despite countervailing evidence, most conservatives view the president as some kind of peacenik. From both the right and left, there has been a continuing, dramatic cognitive disconnect between Mr. Obama’s record and the public perception of his leadership….” Make no mistake, had it failed, that’s exactly how he would have been portrayed. Bergen writes that if Romney runs a risk when criticizing Obama on foreign policy. If he tries to portray him as “a typical, weak-on-national-security Democrat,” then “he will very likely trap himself into calling for a war with Iran, which many Americans oppose.”

*** McCain as top foreign-policy attack dog: Taking the lead on the attack, though, is Sen. John McCain, Obama’s 2008 opponent (who also believes Obama hasn’t had courage to act in Syria). McCain, now a Romney surrogate, said Obama’s “diminishing the memory of September 11th,” and accused him of “doing a shameless end-zone dance.” It’s a fine line. McCain clearly doesn’t mind playing this role. He says things Romney couldn’t get away with and it’s something that’s quite beneficial to Romney. If Romney said what McCain did, Romney might get ridiculed. It’s an interesting role that McCain is willing to play. It could be a preview of the role McCain might play going forward in the campaign -- traditional role of VP, but on foreign policy. McCain doesn’t mind going personal with Obama, as he’s demonstrated since 2008. You can try to explain away McCain’s motives all you want, but it could be oddly effective for Romney.

*** STILL THE ECONOMY: But for all the talk of foreign policy and how much credit Obama deserves or whether or how he should be touting it, the most important issue this election – as it was a year ago -- remains the economy. It should be like a flashing red sign – IT’S THE ECONOMY, IT’S THE ECONOMY. Jobs will get a fresh look Friday when the latest report comes out. The unemployment rate has been essentially flat for three months. Even though the rate has come down from a high of 10.0%, if the rate continues to appear not to drop very much or the trajectory seems flat, that is going to be a problem for the incumbent president. Watch the trajectory; it will tell you the whole ballgame.

*** Another veep tryout: Today’s another veep tryout with Romney and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte at 10:50 am ET. Though she’s been a senator for just two years, Ayotte served as New Hampshire’s attorney general (she was appointed by Republican Craig Benson in 2003 and RE-appointed by a Democratic governor). The Republican Party’s problems with women have been well documented over the last few months. If Romney is going to pick a woman, the most serious candidate is likely Ayotte. That is, aside from Condoleezza Rice if she wants it, and there’s no indication she does. But the shadow of Palin still looms large over the GOP pick, and the Romney team may be more risk averse because of it. But as GOP 12’s Heinze wrote last week: “Sarah Palin didn't prove that picking a woman doesn't help with women. Palin was simply the wrong woman.” (By the way, over the weekend, NBC’s Alex Moe reported that Newt Gingrich would officially drop out Wednesday.)

*** Obama fundraises with Clinton: There were a couple striking things at the fundraiser with President Clinton this weekend at the home of Terry McAuliffe: (1) How little Romney was mentioned. After a weekend and week of going after Romney personally, last night was more in line with where the Obama campaign was when this campaign first started -- go after the entire GOP. It was more the theme of -- they want to take you back, it’s their failed economic policies on steroids, not the party of Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt; it’s not their Republican Party. (2) This was not an ordinary Obama fundraiser speech. Here, he was trying to follow one of the Democratic Party’s best economic communicators. Obama knew he was on friendly turf, but not the friendliest turf, as he was trying to appeal to Clinton people. One Democratic source who is more of a member of Team Clinton than Team Obama described last night as kind of like a “first date” between Clinton and Obama; For the first time, this person could actually see the two of them starting to bond; It took a while for Clinton to get over 2008 but so far, things have gone well in this courtship. Two more Obama-Clinton fundraisers to go; New York and PROBABLY Hollywood.

*** A way to bring up Seamus: Don’t overlook the fact that the White House used the opportunity of the White House Correspondents Dinner -- when they knew they’d get lighter coverage for what they did – put a story that they’ve struggled to put into the mainstream, quietly trying to do for months, the Seamus story. It was frankly a way to get Seamus out there. Yes, Obama made fun of himself and eating dog, but they’ll take that to get the Seamus story mainlined; They’ve been trying for months.

** Waiting on Lugar’s fate: There are just eight days until the Indiana Senate primary that could see the ouster of the most senior Republican in the Senate. AP today wonders whether Richard Lugar waited too long to brand his opponent. On Friday, the 2008 GOP presidential ticket split its endorsement – John McCain endorsed Lugar; Sarah Palin endorsed his challenger and Tea Party favorite, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Mitt Romney said he was staying out of it. A poll aligned with Mourdock showed him up 44-39% Thursday. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette headline: “Hundreds cheer Mourdock at city rally.” The rally was organized by Tea Party Express, which has played a big role in this race.

Countdown to Indiana Senate/Wisconsin recall primaries: 8
Countdown to Wisconsin recall election: 36
Countdown to Election Day: 190 days

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The bin Laden killing, one year later – how quickly things change … Republicans cry foul that Obama campaign is using the death as a reelection weapon … Foreign policy vs. the economy (it’s still the economy) … Is Obama the Warrior in Chief? … Another veep tryout – this time it’s Romney with New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte. … Gingrich to drop out Wednesday.

*** The politics of bin Laden, one year later: Believe it or not, tomorrow marks a year since Osama bin Laden was killed. We wrote then: “While it’s doubtful that Osama bin Laden’s death will have as long of a political impact [as 9/11] -- especially in this fast-changing, short-term memory media landscape -- it will surely shape the contours of next year’s presidential race. … Last night changes everything (for now), but we also know how quickly it can dissipate.” And dissipate it did. The president’s bump – for something that was as big a singular accomplishment that any president could have -- was short-lived, because of the economy and the debt-ceiling fight. It’s a reminder of just how important the economy is that the bump was never as big as it would have been under normal circumstances. (By the way, NBC’s Rock Center went inside the decision making of the killing of bin Laden. Brian Williams previewed his interview with the president on Meet the Press. The full show, with interviews of others that were in the room) airs Wednesday at 9:00 pm ET.

*** Playing politics: Republicans are crying foul at the Obama campaign’s touting of the killing (and using it in a campaign video charging that Mitt Romney might not have made the same call. There are two lines of attack: (1) Republicans are trying to minimize the accomplishment, saying anyone would have done it; and (2) They say he’s politicizing everything, including foreign policy. Ed Gillespie, an adviser to the Romney campaign and former Bush adviser said on Meet the Press: “This is one of the reasons President Obama has become one of the most divisive presidents in American history. He took something that was a unifying event … and he’s managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan, political attack. … I think most Americans will see it as a sign of a desperate campaign.” It’s fascinating to watch Democrats try to demagogue foreign policy, the way Republicans do and have done over the years (see Cheney, Dick in 2004). Republicans usually find themselves almost overreacting when Democrats go over the top in their foreign policy attacks. Count on some REALLY heated cable and Twitter rhetoric this week on this topic as the run-up to the bin Laden anniversary kicks in.

*** Warrior in Chief? The Romney campaign has pushed the issue of foreign policy, trying to paint Obama as weak and appeasing (especially when it comes to Iran). The GOP would have liked to paint the picture of Obama as a feckless, weak president, lacking strength. But despite the rhetoric, Obama’s foreign policy has been incredibly muscular. In fact, Peter Bergen of the New America Foundation in the New York Times Sunday Review provocatively casts President Obama as the “Warrior in chief,” ticking off several of Obama’s foreign-policy raids, killings, and use of drones. The death of bin Laden undercut any hopes Republicans had of being able to paint Obama as Jimmy Carter. And he makes the point of this disconnect: “Despite countervailing evidence, most conservatives view the president as some kind of peacenik. From both the right and left, there has been a continuing, dramatic cognitive disconnect between Mr. Obama’s record and the public perception of his leadership….” Make no mistake, had it failed, that’s exactly how he would have been portrayed. Bergen writes that if Romney runs a risk when criticizing Obama on foreign policy. If he tries to portray him as “a typical, weak-on-national-security Democrat,” then “he will very likely trap himself into calling for a war with Iran, which many Americans oppose.”

*** McCain as top foreign-policy attack dog: Taking the lead on the attack, though, is Sen. John McCain, Obama’s 2008 opponent (who also believes Obama hasn’t had courage to act in Syria). McCain, now a Romney surrogate, said Obama’s “diminishing the memory of September 11th,” and accused him of “doing a shameless end-zone dance.” It’s a fine line. McCain clearly doesn’t mind playing this role. He says things Romney couldn’t get away with and it’s something that’s quite beneficial to Romney. If Romney said what McCain did, Romney might get ridiculed. It’s an interesting role that McCain is willing to play. It could be a preview of the role McCain might play going forward in the campaign -- traditional role of VP, but on foreign policy. McCain doesn’t mind going personal with Obama, as he’s demonstrated since 2008. You can try to explain away McCain’s motives all you want, but it could be oddly effective for Romney.

*** STILL THE ECONOMY: But for all the talk of foreign policy and how much credit Obama deserves or whether or how he should be touting it, the most important issue this election – as it was a year ago -- remains the economy. It should be like a flashing red sign – IT’S THE ECONOMY, IT’S THE ECONOMY. Jobs will get a fresh look Friday when the latest report comes out. The unemployment rate has been essentially flat for three months. Even though the rate has come down from a high of 10.0%, if the rate continues to appear not to drop very much or the trajectory seems flat, that is going to be a problem for the incumbent president. Watch the trajectory; it will tell you the whole ballgame.

*** Another veep tryout: Today’s another veep tryout with Romney and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte at 10:50 am ET. Though she’s been a senator for just two years, Ayotte served as New Hampshire’s attorney general (she was appointed by Republican Craig Benson in 2003 and RE-appointed by a Democratic governor). The Republican Party’s problems with women have been well documented over the last few months. If Romney is going to pick a woman, the most serious candidate is likely Ayotte. That is, aside from Condoleezza Rice if she wants it, and there’s no indication she does. But the shadow of Palin still looms large over the GOP pick, and the Romney team may be more risk averse because of it. But as GOP 12’s Heinze wrote last week: “Sarah Palin didn't prove that picking a woman doesn't help with women. Palin was simply the wrong woman.” (By the way, over the weekend, NBC’s Alex Moe reported that Newt Gingrich would officially drop out Wednesday.)

*** Obama fundraises with Clinton: There were a couple striking things at the fundraiser with President Clinton this weekend at the home of Terry McAuliffe: (1) How little Romney was mentioned. After a weekend and week of going after Romney personally, last night was more in line with where the Obama campaign was when this campaign first started -- go after the entire GOP. It was more the theme of -- they want to take you back, it’s their failed economic policies on steroids, not the party of Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt; it’s not their Republican Party. (2) This was not an ordinary Obama fundraiser speech. Here, he was trying to follow one of the Democratic Party’s best economic communicators. Obama knew he was on friendly turf, but not the friendliest turf, as he was trying to appeal to Clinton people. One Democratic source who is more of a member of Team Clinton than Team Obama described last night as kind of like a “first date” between Clinton and Obama; For the first time, this person could actually see the two of them starting to bond; It took a while for Clinton to get over 2008 but so far, things have gone well in this courtship. Two more Obama-Clinton fundraisers to go; New York and PROBABLY Hollywood.

*** A way to bring up Seamus: Don’t overlook the fact that the White House used the opportunity of the White House Correspondents Dinner -- when they knew they’d get lighter coverage for what they did – put a story that they’ve struggled to put into the mainstream, quietly trying to do for months, the Seamus story. It was frankly a way to get Seamus out there. Yes, Obama made fun of himself and eating dog, but they’ll take that to get the Seamus story mainlined; They’ve been trying for months.

*** Waiting on Lugar’s fate: There are just eight days until the Indiana Senate primary that could see the ouster of the most senior Republican in the Senate. AP today wonders whether Richard Lugar waited too long to brand his opponent. On Friday, the 2008 GOP presidential ticket split its endorsement – John McCain endorsed Lugar; Sarah Palin endorsed his challenger and Tea Party favorite, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Mitt Romney said he was staying out of it. A poll aligned with Mourdock showed him up 44-39% Thursday. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette headline: “Hundreds cheer Mourdock at city rally.” The rally was organized by Tea Party Express, which has played a big role in this race.

Countdown to Indiana Senate/Wisconsin recall primaries: 8
Countdown to Wisconsin recall election: 36
Countdown to Election Day: 190 days 

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*** Monday’s “Jansing & Company”: Chris Welcomes: The associated Press’ Kasie Hunt; Reason Magazine’s Matt Welch; The Atlantic’s  Steve Clemons; the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson;  Huffington Post Columnist Christine Pelosi;  MSNBC Contributor Richard Wolffe; The Goldie Taylor Project’s Goldie Taylor; American’s for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist.

*** Monday’s Andrea Mitchell Reports: Andrea anchors from DC today. Joining her:  The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter, GOP strategist Vin Weber, Fmr. Defense Secretary William Cohen, Christopher Johnson from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Augusta Thomas and William Fletcher from the American Federation of Government Employees, RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights Founder Kerry Kennedy and actress Gloria Reuben.

*** Monday’s News Nation with Tamron Hall: Erin McPike and Jimmy Williams on politics and 2012. Newsweek’s Allison Samuels

*** Monday’s Now with Alex Wagner: The Nation’s Ari Melber, MSNBC Contributor Robert Traynham, Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn, TIME’s Rana Foroohar, and Fmr. CIA Officer Mike Baker

Lost in the shuffle from Friday was Obama’s speech before the National Women’s Leadership Forum. His comments about how the GOP see women were pointed, NBC’s Shawna Thomas reports. Obama started off talking about his mother and the women in his life and then ended by seriously attacking the GOP.

“The days of male politicians controlling the health care decisions of our wives and our mothers and our daughters and our sisters, that needs to come to an end,” Obama said. He added, “This contraception fight, in particular, was illuminating. It was like being in a time machine. … I'm always puzzled by this. This is a party that says it prides itself on being rabidly anti-regulation. These are folks who claim to believe in freedom from government interference and meddling, but it doesn't seem to bother them when it comes to women's health.

“A lot of them seem like they want to turn back the clock to the '50s or the '40s or the '30s or maybe further back than that and close doors of opportunity that we thought we kicked open a long time ago, doors of opportunity to people who haven't made it quite yet.”

Politico: “A year after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama’s team is launching another precision operation: a full-scale public relations offensive aimed at using the bin Laden mission to boost the president’s reelection bid.”

The New York Times: “Back then the Democratic president refused to do a victory dance, saying Americans didn’t ‘need to spike the football.’ But that was a year ago. Facing an onslaught of criticism from Republican rivals who try to paint him as a lightweight celebrity, the Obama White House and campaign are engaging in a media blitz meant to remind everyone who has been calling the shots on foreign policy.”

AP: “The killing of Osama bin Laden, first presented as a moment of national unity by President Barack Obama, has become something else: a political weapon.” More: “The broader goal for Obama, whether through campaign web videos or the trappings of the White House, is not to just to remind voters of an enormous victory on his watch. It is to maximize a political narrative that he has the courage to make tough calls that his opponent might not.”

“The Obama administration rushed to contain a growing diplomatic crisis between the United States and China, sending a senior diplomat to Beijing to discuss the fate of a blind dissident who fled house arrest last week,” the New York Times writes.

McCain on Obama: “Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad. This is the same President who once criticized Hillary Clinton for invoking bin Laden ‘to score political points.’ This is the same President who said, after bin Laden was dead, that we shouldn’t ‘spike the ball’ after the touchdown. And now Barack Obama is not only trying to score political points by invoking Osama bin Laden, he is doing a shameless end-zone dance to help himself get reelected. No one disputes that the President deserves credit for ordering the raid, but to politicize it in this way is the height of hypocrisy.”

The RNC notes that Obama’s done 128 fundraisers, more than George W. Bush at this time in 2004 when he was running for reelection.

WISCONSIN: The New York Times: "The recall vote here has been billed as a critical test of labor muscle versus corporate money. But it is only a warm-up for a confrontation that will play out during the presidential election, which both sides view as the biggest political showdown in at least 30 years between pro- and anti-union forces — a labor-management fight writ large."

RYAN: The New York Times profiles Paul Ryan: “He may be, as a friend described him, ‘a hunting-obsessed gym rat,’ but Mr. Ryan, 42, of Wisconsin, has become perhaps the most influential policy maker in the Republican Party, its de facto head of economic policy, intent on a fundamental transformation of the federal government.”

WESTERVILLE, Ohio --  At the close of a political week focused in large part on the youth vote, Mitt Romney visited a small liberal arts college in central Ohio, and after taking the pulse of a small group of graduating seniors, delivered a political speech billed as a "guest lecture" that touched on politics and economics, but focused on rhetoric and history in an election year.

"Words are easily malleable but facts, they’re stubborn. And so I suggest that in the campaign ahead and in the campaigns of various officers running for various positions ahead, that you consider not just the brilliance of their words, but also the facts of their record and what they’ve done and that will be the best predictor I believe of what they’ll do going forward," Romney told an audience at Otterbein University.

This veiled reference was one of several allusions to President Barack Obama in Romney's remarks, which focused primarily on the former Massachusetts governor's own background and not the president's record -- unusual for Romney on the stump.

Romney's advisers said on Tuesday that the candidate would begin re-introducing himself to the American public this week, and his first public appearance since accepting the mantle of "presumptive nominee" on Tuesday night in New Hampshire did exactly that. The former private equity firm CEO spent far more time than usual in his remarks Friday touching on highlights of his business career - including investments in Staples and Steel Dynamics - and even joking about passing on becoming a founding investor in JetBlue.

But in delivering his re-introduction message, Romney passed on the opportunity to comment on the day's major news stories: disappointing GDP growth (Romney at one point referred to the recovery as "anemic" and the worst such recovery since the Hoover administration, but did not address the day's report directly), and the House of Representatives passing a bill to keep student loan interest rates down. The latter was a bill that both Romney and Obama supported, and which was on the minds of students here Friday.

"I'll probably have around $50,000 to $60,000 in student debt," sophomore nursing major Jessica Hindman, who said she was planning to support Romney, told NBC News. "I actually have a lot of fears that I’m going to be paying off college for a long time way past when I’ve graduated."

"If the rate doubles for student loans, I might have to switch colleges," freshman accounting major Jacob Hobbs said.

Before his speech, Romney talked with a small group of graduating seniors over cheeseburgers in a roundtable discussion.

"It’s been a tough, ah, a tough few years for people coming out of college. And this year does not look at any better than the prior years. And that’s gotta change," Romney said. "Because folks who cant find work in the first few years coming out of college find that over a long period of time, that really affects their long-term earning potential. So we want to get you to work and your colleagues to work."

Perhaps Romney's best nod to his college audience of mostly economics and political science majors, wasn't policy-related at all, but rather his fluency with the gourmet dining preferences of many college students, who survive on sandwiches and pizza. He described Champaign, Ill.-based Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches chain founder Jimmy John Liautaud:

We've always encouraged young people: Take, take a shot, go for it. Take a risk. Get the education. Borrow money if you have to from your parents. Start a business. I was with a guy named Jimmy John -- (laughter) -- You know Jimmy John? Yeah. I met Jimmy John. Jimmy John he... grad-- I hope I get this story entirely right, I think I will. He graduated from from high school and he didn't want to go to college. And he said to his dad, can I borrow some money, I want to start a business. His dad said you know what? You- I just don't think you've got the discipline to start a business and make it work. And he said, I'll loan you the money but if you can't pay it back, with interest, by the end of the year I want you to go into the military, and sign up. And he said ok, I'll do that."

"And I think he, I think he said he borrowed $20,000 dollars from his dad. Was going to start a restaurant. Then he found out how expensive it is to buy all the restaurant equipment and twenty thousand dollars wouldn't cut it. The only thing that would work for $20,000 was a sandwich shop, so he started making sandwiches. And as you chucklingly, chucklingly indicated a moment ago you know that his sandwiches are doing pretty well. He's got shops all over the country and thousands of people that work with him."

"This is a, this is kind of an American experience. You see it time and again. The other night I was with another restaurant guy, Papa John (laughter). Papa John. I think he said it was in 1986, he opened his first pizza restaurant and today employs thousands of people. We welcome that. We celebrate that in this country. Its one of the reasons we are the nation we are."

It may not be a top tip in the Toastmaster's guide, but Vice President Joe Biden did win back the attention of a sleepy audience of donors Friday when he jokingly berated them for being "dull as hell."

"I guess what I’m trying to say without boring you too long at breakfast –- and you all look dull as hell, I might add," he told a crowd of more than 200 fundraisers from the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities in Washington DC. "The dullest audience I have ever spoken to. Just sitting there, staring at me. Pretend you like me!”

The comment was met with laughs, per a White House pool reporter on the scene of the $2,500-per-ticket fundraising breakfast.

At the end of his remarks -- which included specifics about America's relationship with Azerbaijan and Turkey, "one of our most valuable and proudest allies" -- Biden wrapped up with the explanation that he was "boring you as much as I’m boring myself."

It's not the first time that the affable veep has kidded a less-than-excited bunch of donors with some light-hearted jabs at their lack of attentiveness to his remarks.

At an October 2010 fundraiser for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Barrett in Madison, Wisconsin, Biden similarly called his listeners "the dullest audience I've ever spoken to!"

Barrett lost that election but is currently running again in the state's gubernatorial recall contest.

FORT STEWART, GA -- President Obama traveled to an Army base here on Friday to sign an executive order intended to curb predatory practices by colleges -- many of them for-profit institutions -- seeking to attract members of the military and veterans.

“As some of your comrades have discovered, sometimes you’re dealing with folks who aren’t interested in helping you. They’re interested in getting the money,” the president said, noting that some colleges lie, for example, about having credit transfer and work placement programs. “They don’t care about you, they care about the cash.”

Obama added that he’s “heard the stories” from veterans who sign up for information on a college’s website and are then bombarded with emails, phone calls and even on-base visits from recruiters. He said that some schools have been known to solicit Marines with brain injuries who can’t even remember the classes they were signed up for.

“They’re trying to swindle and hoodwink you. And today at Fort Stewart we’re going to put an end to it,” Obama said to approximately 10,300 soldiers in a large field here.

The executive order require colleges to provide more information to about their programs including the percentage of military members and veterans who complete courses and degrees, as well as access to the “Know Before You Owe” financial aid form drafted by the Consumer Financial Protection bureau and the Department of Defense.

“We’ve got to make sure you’ve got every tool you need to make an informed decision when it comes to picking a school,” Obama said.

The administration says that eight of the top ten educational institutions collecting the most post-9/11 GI Bill benefits between 2009 and 2011 were for-profit schools, six of which had bachelor student withdrawal rates above 50 percent. The White House’s hope is that military members’ access to more information about these schools’ outcomes will help them avoid going to colleges that have bad records of graduation and degree completion.

The executive order would also direct the Defense Department to set rules for which education recruiters can visit military installations to limit the access of “bad actors” to potential recruits. And the Veterans Administration will seek a trademark for the term “GI Bill” so that it can crack down on deceptive websites made to look like they are affiliated with the military.

Pending legislation in Congress would accomplish similar and in some cases more extensive goals than the executive order; Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)’s GI Bill Consumer Awareness Act of 2012 would for example require schools to disclose more information than the executive order does, like transferability of credits earned, the number of veterans enrolled and job placement rates.

And while the White House does require schools to provide academic and financial counseling, Murray’s bill would also specifically require schools to have at least one employee with expertise in military and veterans’ education benefits as well as to provide tutoring, career counseling and referrals to veterans centers.

In response to the president’s speech, the Republican National Committee released a statement criticizing his wider post-9/11 G.I. bill that took effect in August 2009.

“President Obama’s new G.I. Bill has failed to deliver on its promises to veterans and today’s event doesn’t address veterans losing their homes and the thousands of claims that remain unprocessed. Our veterans deserve the best and the President’s G.I. Bill has broken his promise to take care of veterans once they return from protecting freedom on the battlefield.”

Before the president and first lady Michelle Obama spoke, they toured the Warrior’s Walk, a tree-lined area featuring markers for fallen service members, where they placed presidential coins and folded American flags on the markers of two young fallen soldiers.

Fort Jackson is home to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, which has deployed numerous times to Iraq and currently has elements in Afghanistan.

The House narrowly passed on Friday the Interest Rate Reduction Act by a vote of 215-195 -- largely along party lines. The White House has already threatened to veto the legislation.

The bill, introduced by House Republicans, would postpone, for a year, the doubling of interest rates on student loans to 6.8 percent on July 1st. Those interest rates currently sit at 3.4 percent as a result of a five-year bill passed by Democrats in 2007.  

The Republican's bill would offset the almost $6 billion price-tag for the year-long interest rate freeze by taking money from programs established by President Barack Obama's health care overhaul -- including those for prevention, wellness, and public health.

Democrats oppose that plan, saying they would rather pay for the bill by taking away subsidies for oil companies.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, which is expected to pass its own version in May. After that, both chambers will likely end up going to conference on the bill, to negotiate a way to fund the proposal that's amenable to both sides.

Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images

Congressional hopeful Tammy Duckworth arrives at a World War II Memorial ceremony to pay tribute to World War II veterans of the Pacific in this file photo on March 11, 2010 in Washington, DC.

There’s a proud tradition of service members and veterans of the military serving in Congress, but a new generation of political leaders, forged by tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, are poised to possibly join their ranks next year.

The 2012 elections could send as many as 20 veterans of those two wars to Washington. While they would join many other lawmakers in having a background in military service, these veterans are of a different class – both younger in age, and experienced in a new era of warfare. Two of those veterans, one soldier and one Marine, spoke to NBCPolitics.com about their journeys to the campaign trail.

“We think that citizens are looking for a new generation of leadership to take our country in a much better direction,” said Josh Mandel, a 30-year-old former Marine who was elected as Ohio’s state Treasurer in 2010.

Mandel, who served two tours in Iraq, is running for Senate against incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, and he’s viewed as one of the GOP’s rising stars. This is his first bid for national office, and has said his campaign’s main focus is on economic and job-related issues.

Jay Laprete / AP

Senate hopeful Josh Mandel, celebrates his win as the Ohio State Treasurer, in this file photo, with his wife Ilana on stage at the Ohio Republican Party celebration Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010, in Columbus, Ohio.

But his campaign has taken every opportunity to remind voters of his two combat tours in Iraq. The campaign’s first TV ad, titled “Boots,” features multiple references to military service and includes a photograph of Mandel on duty in Iraq. At the end of the ad, Mandel is lacing a pair of combat boots while a narrator says "Washington is broken and needs new leaders. And this Marine is ready to answer the call."

Military service is just as much a part of Democrat Tammy Duckworth’s bid for a seat in Congress from Illinois.

A former combat aviator for the Army, Duckworth is a double amputee who lost both her legs and severely injured her right arm in 2004 when her helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents. She ran for Congress in 2006, but lost by less than three points to Republican Peter Roskam. Following that electoral defeat, Duckworth spent five years working for the Department of Veterans Affairs – first as director of the Illinois office, then as an assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs in Washington. In 2011, she resigned to launch her campaign for the 8^th congressional district in Illinois, which had been redrawn following the 2010 census.

Stan Honda / AFP/Getty Images

President Elect Barack Obama and Iraqi war veteran Tammy Duckworth, place a wreath at The Bronze Soldiers Memorial in this file photo, November 11, 2008 on the Lakefront in Chicago, Illinois.

“I would not have sought public office if I had not been wounded,” Duckworth said. She recounted meeting Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama while she was recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital. She said Obama, who at the time was serving on the Veterans Affairs Committee, “would come through and visit people in the hospital.” She added, “he would come through without a lot of fanfare because he was just a junior senator.” As a result of these meetings, she was urged to consider a career in politics. “It was Sen. Durbin who called and said ‘Barack and I have been talking and we really think you should consider running for office.” She said prior to being injured, she “ would not have had the bravery to do it.”

Both Mandel and Duckworth have enjoyed the support of influential figures in their respective parties. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Arizona Sen. John McCain, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio have either endorsed or campaigned for Mandel.

Recommended: GOP infighting gives Democrats hope of picking up Indiana Senate seat

Duckworth has attracted national attention since her entrance into politics and time spent at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Obama political organization strongly supported her during her primary battle this spring.

Combat veterans who exit the military and seek to enter the world of public service are afforded the unique opportunity to highlight their experience not only with other veterans, but also with other voters who might look toward candidates with a proven ability to lead under fire. It’s a quality of great political value as voters become hungry for leaders to help break through the partisan gridlock in Congress.

Both Mandel and Duckworth spoke about the maturity instilled by their experiences.

Mandel describes his deployments as a “maturing and eye-opening experience,” and added that they gave him a “renewed confidence in the next generation” of citizens. “By serving with so many young people with intelligence and talents far beyond my own I came home with a great optimism about where our country is going,” he said.

And Duckworth contends that her background primes her to work with other veterans in Congress, regardless of their party affiliation. “We’ve got to find something to reach out to one another, and if I can do it through BS-ing with someone about what a jerk my drill sergeant was, then that’s what I’m gonna do,” Duckworth said. “Or talking about not showering for weeks or what our favorite MREs [meals ready to eat] were and then talk about what we can do together and maybe co-author a bill.” 

She added, “It’s probably sacrilegious of me to say that I want some Republicans to win, but I want some Republican Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to win. I’d like to win and I want to see them in Washington, and I want for us to work together just as that post-World War II [generation] worked together to try and do something.”

Both of them said they feel especially motivated to tackle issues like veterans’ health, but Duckworth and Mandel each acknowledged that the top issue for them – and most other campaigns this fall – is the economy.

Their experience allows them to speak with a degree of credibility on issues of importance to the military community, and also provides them with some political insulation, too.

Duckworth’s Republican opponent in November, Rep. Joe Walsh, faced a serious backlash after questioning her military service. “What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran … ehhh, she is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat,” Walsh was quoted as saying by POLITICO.

She said the comments are more than simply a personal attack. “I think he’s really dismissed the service of the 24 million veterans in this nation, and that’s a really disturbing thing for a sitting congressman to say. Anybody who has served their country in uniform, whether or not they gave their legs, has done a whole hell of a lot for their country.”

Mandel’s time as a Marine has also helped him fend off Democratic attacks about his relative inexperience in political office. “We think the code and the experience and integrity of veterans is something that Americans want in their leaders,” he said.

Duckworth echoed that sentiment, “Our men and women in uniform have guaranteed the quality of their work with their lives … . When my crew chief looked at me and said ‘Tammy I did the maintenance on this helicopter, and I did everything I was supposed to do’ and he handed me the keys … he guaranteed the quality of his work with his life.”

Mitt Romney will stay neutral in the Indiana Senate primary, one of the biggest battles in 2012 between establishment Republicans and the insurgent, conservative wing of the GOP.

A Romney campaign official said Friday that the former Massachusetts governor has no plans to endorse either six-term Sen. Richard Lugar, or his challenger, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, in the May 8 primary.

MSNBC.com's Tom Curry writes Friday of the upcoming showdown:

As Lugar struggles to fend off Mourdock’s challenge, Democrats hope their candidate, Rep. Joe Donnelly, will profit from the GOP schism and pick up the incumbent’s seat in November.

That schism, between the party's establishment and conservative wing, is on full display in Indiana. Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks have backed Mourdock, as did the fiscally conservative Club for Growth.

But Republicans like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have endorsed Lugar, setting up a proxy fight between the two wings of the GOP in a couple of weeks.

Romney has generally steered clear of involvement in Senate primaries this cycle as he had focused on winning his own presidential primary. However, he backed Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch -- another veteran Republican targeted by the GOP's Tea Party wing -- against conservative challengers in this primary season.

Democrats have also complained about the neutrality of Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, a recognized conservative who's seeking the Hoosier State's governorship, in the primary.

Larry Downing / Reuters

President Barack Obama waves after he talks about the rising costs of student loans while at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, April 25, 2012.

The president this week drove a message without distraction, but also pushed the limits of “official” travel … Boehner accuses Obama of making the presidency “smaller” – he’s become Mitt Romney’s biggest ally on Capitol Hill … Outside group accuses Obama of being too “cool” to be president … Bill Clinton testifies to Obama’s strength, as the campaign highlights the bin Laden raid … Cold War kids … Obama speaks to troops, women … Romney’s in Ohio – at a college campus with Gov. Kasich.

*** Driving a message and pushing the limits: It was a week in which the Obama campaign was remarkably able to push a single issue without distraction from something (or someone) – on student loans. The president took (justified) criticism for pushing that message on official business with Air Force One in swing states, on college campuses (not one but three), while mixing in slow-jamming the news. House Speaker John Boehner yesterday accused the president of starting a “fake fight,” demanded that he reimburse the government for the trips, said it was “beneath the dignity” of the White House, and even went so far as to charge, “This is the biggest job in the world and I've never seen a President make it smaller.” At the end of the day, Obama was able to get out and appeal to groups in areas that are going to matter to his reelection – and, more importantly from a trip-legitimacy standpoint, there is supposed to be a vote today (the last vote by about noon ET, we’re told), on the “policy” in the House, something that might not have happened without the president pushing the issue. Still, the White House pushed the limit on this when they picked three universities all in battleground states. Had they picked just one in a non-battleground, it would have a little higher ground to stand on.

*** A “Stark Contrast”: The Romney campaign pens a memo this morning, highlighting what it sees as the difference between its candidate and President Obama. “This past week previewed the stark contrast facing voters in this election. Governor Romney’s speech Tuesday night in New Hampshire contained a crisp and specific critique of President Obama’s policy failures and his own positive vision for a better America.” But: “President Obama … spent the week slow-jamming the news, striking a Heisman pose, and trying to pick a fight over student loans to help the one-in-two recent college graduates who are either jobless or underemployed as a result of his policies (which is apparently really funny stuff to the President). Unfortunately for him, Republicans agree with the need for a temporary extension, but want it paid for by cutting spending rather than raising taxes. So instead of the fight he was hoping for, he got a debate over taxes and spending – which he wasn’t hoping for.”

*** Too “Cool” for the White House? On cue, Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads is up with a video called, “Cool,” which cuts together clips of Obama wearing 3-D glasses, dancing on “Ellen,” singing Al Green, drinking a beer, killing a fly, calling Kanye West a “jackass,” and slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon. It asks, “After 4 years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?” The ad picks up where John McCain left off with his “Biggest Celebrity in the World” ad, a narrative that was starting to take hold… until McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate.

*** Superficial vs. Serious – Bill Clinton testifies: But the Obama campaign is out with its own strong and sober video, featuring Bill Clinton as a testifier. It is juxtaposition to the superficiality narrative the Crossroads ad tries to create. “There’s one thing that George Bush said that was right,” Clinton says, “The president is the ‘Decider-in-Chief.” It then shows pictures of Obama in the Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden raid. “Nobody can make that decision for you,” Clinton says. “Look he knew what would happen. Suppose the Navy Seals had gone in there, and it hadn’t been bin Laden. Suppose they’d been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible for him. … He took the harder, and more honorable path.” Then, a graphic comes up asking, “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” And highlights this Romney quote: “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” This Sunday, Obama will raise money with Clinton at the Virginia home of Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and former Virginia gubernatorial candidate. By the way, there’s been a lot of talk and about Obama money problems, especially with the Super PAC, Priorities USA. Bloomberg today notes that Clinton backers are waiting for Obama backers to start writing checks to the PAC before they will.

*** Boehner, Romney’s biggest ally on Capitol Hill: Back to Boehner’s attack. Of course, Democrats made similar charges against former President George W. Bush in 2004. But as NBC’s Luke Russert points out, Boehner, who stayed out of the endorsement fray, has emerged as Romney’s chief ally on Capitol Hill. “One of the more fascinating developments in the last two weeks on Capitol Hill has been the degree to which House Speaker John Boehner has gone after President Obama and helped to try and frame Obama's general election matchup against Mitt Romney.” Since endorsing Romney 10 days ago, Boehner went on the attack the next day, “accusing Obama of being ‘AWOL’ for the last 6 months and on a ‘constant campaign.’” He accused the president of “failing to lead” on the economy and on legislation related to jobs, student loans, gas prices, and the national drug shortage – instead opting for “campaign theatrics.” The DNC’s Brad Woodhouse responded on Twitter, leveling this: “Let’s be clear: John Boehner is the most useless, feckless, weak and failed Speaker of the House perhaps in American history.” Wow. Here’s NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell’s report on NBC Nightly News last night.

*** Outside spending ramps up: Those aren’t the only ads out there. Americans for Prosperity -- a conservative group with ties to the billionaire Koch Brothers, who made millions in the oil and gas industry -- is actually ON AIR in the next two weeks with a $6.1 million ad buy in eight states – all battlegrounds: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia. It once again focuses on clean energy and, in an odd way, outsourcing. “Fact: Billions of taxpayer dollars spent on green energy went to jobs in foreign countries. … Tell President Obama: American tax dollars should help American taxpayers.” There’s also a seven-figure ad buy up in Wisconsin in that recall race supporting Democrat Kathleen Falk ahead of the primary there May 8 to take on Gov. Scott Walker. And the NRCC is going up with $150,000 in ads in the Gabrielle Giffords district, AZ-8.

*** Cold war kids: Vice President Joe Biden was in full attack-dog mode yesterday, lambasting Mitt Romney’s foreign policy, saying that he “mired in a Cold War mindset.” And two Romney advisers added fuel to that attack yesterday when one, former Navy Secretary John Lehman said: "We are seeing the Soviets pushing into the Arctic with no response from us.” And Pierre Prosper, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, said, "The United States abandoned its missile defense sites in Poland and Czechoslovakia, yet Russia does nothing but obstruct us, or efforts in Iran and Syria." Czechoslovakia split into what’s now the Czech Republic and Slovakia… in 1993, two years after the Soviet Union fell. Remember, Romney called Russia America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

*** Obama signs order on troops, education, then speaks to women: Today, the president pushes the issue of education again in Georgia at Fort Stewart, where he’ll sign an executive order “intended to help protect active-duty troops and veterans from deceptive and misleading practices.” (He’ll make remarks at 12:35 pm ET). And who’s going to disagree with that? Later, the president speaks to the National Women’s Issues Conference at 4:55 pm ET in DC. Women are, of course, a key group for the president. In the latest, NBC/WSJ poll, women approved of the job the president was doing by a 52%-43% margin and favored him over Romney, 53%-41%. In 2008, Obama won them 56%-43%, an improvement from 2004, when John Kerry won them by just three points, 51%-48%. Mitt Romney is in that all-important swing state of Ohio at… a college campus (Otterbein University in Westerville). Coincidence? He’ll speak at 3:05 pm ET. Ohio Gov. John Kasich will campaign with Romney in the afternoon. Kasich, of course, isn’t the most popular politician in the country.

***Elsewhere On the trail: Newt Gingrich continues his farewell tour, with stops in North Carolina. … Ron Paul hosts a town hall in Houston, TX.

Countdown to Election Day: 194 days

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One of the more fascinating developments in the last two weeks on Capitol Hill has been the degree to which House Speaker John Boehner has gone after President Obama and helped to try and frame Obama's general election matchup against Mitt Romney.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

House Speaker John Boehner hastily arranged a late afternoon press conference on Wednesday to announce that the GOP would take up a student loans interest rate extension bill on Friday that would be paid for by stripping $6 billion from monies used to fund Obama's health care law.

After endorsing Romney on April 17, Boehner started the attack the very next day, accusing Obama of being "AWOL" for the last 6 months and on a "constant campaign." Boehner pushed Obama on his handling of the economy, asking, "Where's he been, what are his ideas?” and was critical of the president  for “failing to lead.”

On Wednesday, Boehner went after Obama for his recent trips to the Iowa, Colorado and North Carolina saying they were "campaign theatrics."

The Republican speaker took his criticism a step further Thursday morning, when he criticized Obama for using taxpayer funds for "campaign speeches" before launching into a blistering assault saying the president was falling short by not leading on jobs legislation, student loan interest rates, gas prices, the national drug shortage -- all the while going around the country drumming up "fake issues."

"This is the biggest job in the world and I've never seen a president make it smaller," Boehner said. "The president keeps attempting to invent these fake fights because he doesn't have a record of success or a positive agenda for our country."

He continued, "It's as simple as this, the emperor has no clothes. They can't talk about their record on jobs because their policies have made the economy worse. They can't talk about their record on spending because the president's policies have added 5 trillion dollars to the national debt. And they can't talk about their record on gas prices because gas prices have more than doubled on the president's watch."

NBC News today asked Boehner if he was in contact with the Romney campaign and coordinating these types of attacks. He said it had "been awhile” since he spoke to team Romney and that he "made it a habit not to talk to the candidate or the campaigns during this process." When pressed if he was in fact doing Romney’s bidding, Boehner answered, "I'm doing my own."

While Boehner may not be frequently speaking with Romney’s Boston-based campaign, he significantly assisted Romney this week by announcing he was putting a GOP version of student loan legislation on the floor. This past Tuesday. Romney stated that he supported extending student loan rates at 3.4 percent, but wasn't specific on how he’d pay for it.

Even though this issue had rarely been mentioned by House Republicans recently, Boehner hastily arranged a late afternoon press conference on Wednesday to announce that the GOP would take up a student loans interest rate extension bill on Friday that would be paid for by stripping $6 billion from monies used to fund Obama's health care law. Romney was then free to support Boehner's bill and a Republican option that made the student loan issue deficit neutral.

A GOP aide speaking on the condition of anonymity told NBC News that, last week, one of Romney’s policy aides gave the House GOP leadership a “heads up” that the campaign was going to support the extension of student loans at 3.4 percent. Upon hearing this news, the House GOP formulated a plan that would pay for an extension of the loans that wouldn’t add to the debt and inevitably gave Romney something to back that was a GOP alternative.

One GOP House member told NBC News that Boehner being Romney’s “attack dog” would be positive for the party: “He’s certainly easier to understand than Romney and makes the case against the president in a more defined way. It’ll help us.”

While the presidential race begins to heat up, this week could be remembered for when House Speaker John Boehner ratcheted up the rhetoric went into his own “campaign."