DANIELS: Just how much does Mitch Daniels want you to know he’s not going to be Romney’s veep: “If I thought that call was coming, I would disconnect the phone,” Daniels said in an interview with Fox News on Monday, per The Hill.

And: “When asked if the Romney campaign had contacted him during its vetting process, Daniels responded, ‘of course not,’ and added that it’s ‘not an office I want to hold, expect to hold, have any plans to hold.’”

MCDONNELL: “Virginia’s General Assembly wrapped up its session last week by handing Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) some solid victories, humbling defeats and yet another divisive social issue to overshadow it all,” the Washington Post writes.

Marc Thiessen goes after McDonnell on national security: “[N]ow McDonnell’s national security credentials have come into question, thanks to his mishandling of a bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly that disassociates the commonwealth from the military detention of al-Qaeda or its terrorist affiliates who happen to be U.S. citizens.”

The most misunderstood voting bloc in the 2012 election is the Catholic vote.

Why?

Because there isn’t one.

The religious assemblage, which has evolved over the past century from a strong Democratic constituency into a national election bellwether, is no longer discernible from most other voter groups. As the community has become less homogenous and more assimilated into mainstream culture, so has its voting habits – sending many politicians on a fool’s errand in pursuit of the “Catholic vote.”

“I think the Catholic vote is very fractured right now,” said Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., the editor in chief of “America,” a Catholic newsweekly published by the Jesuits.

The breakdown of the Catholic vote in recent presidential elections has been predictive of the ultimate winner, leading many casual observers to label it as a “bellwether” bloc.

President George W. Bush won the Catholic vote, 52 percent to 47 percent, in his 2004 re-election effort, according to exit polls from that cycle. President Barack Obama won the group (which made up 27 percent of the electorate, according to exit polling), 54 percent to 45 percent, during his bid for the White House in 2008.

But to call the Catholic vote a pure bellwether would be a mistake; the determination of an individual’s vote is more likely in 2012 to turn on more common political variables (like income, education, or ethnicity) – than simple religious identity.

“Catholicism was never as monolithic as its foes assumed,” said William Dinges, a professor of religion and culture at the Catholic University of America. “In many respects, Catholics are less distinguishable than they once were from other religious groups.”

A Gallup poll released earlier this month bore out those details.

First Read: Catholic heavyweights challenge Obama rule on contraception

While the survey found Obama and Romney tied, at 46 percent, among American Catholics, support for either candidate broke down along more familiar dividing lines. Obama led heavily, for instance, among Hispanic Catholics, and Romney led (more modestly) among Caucasian Catholics.

Similarly, Romney leads among moderately or very religious Catholics, according to Gallup, while Obama wins Catholics who describe themselves as not especially religious. Highlighting further splits within the Catholic vote along lines of church attendance.

“You want to think about Catholic voters in terms of intensity of their religion,” said R.R. Reno, the editor of the conservative religious journal “First Things.”

“Catholicism tends to be a cultural-ethnic identity ... It makes it very complicated as to how to think about the Catholic vote.”

That hasn't stopped politicians from targeting the "Catholic vote," however. Republicans were vocal critics of Obama’s proposed rule requiring employers to include coverage of contraception in their health insurance plans.

This, in particular, invoked the regulation's effect on employers affiliated with the Catholic Church.

During a February campaign stop, Romney called the proposal a “real blow” to American Catholics. "This kind of assault on religion will end if I’m president of the United States," he vowed.

That issue re-emerged on Monday, when the University of Notre Dame and the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., joined other religiously-affiliated institutions in filing a lawsuit against contraceptive coverage mandates.

Republicans haven’t been immune from Catholic criticism, either. Many congressional offices pointed to a letter issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the official voice of the church in the U.S., for its censure of cuts to social programs contained within the 2013 budget authored by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, himself a Catholic.

“It just strikes me as more problematic for a politician to think in terms of the ‘Catholic vote,’” Dinges said.

Catholics no longer show any overwhelming loyalty to a candidate sharing their faith, at least judging by this year's Republican primary. The Catholic vote made up about a third of the electorate in three of this spring's most competitive primaries – Florida, Michigan and Ohio.

Two Catholics were on the ballot in each of those contests: Rick Santorum, a vocal proponent of the church's teachings on abortion and contraception, and Newt Gingrich, a convert to the faith who frequently screened his film on the late Pope John Paul II on the campaign trail. And yet, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is an active member of the Mormon Church, won the Catholic vote in each of those contests. Gingrich and Santorum had stronger showings among other Christians, especially evangelical voters.

To the extent that any political leader could court a segment of the Catholic vote in future elections, they might only succeed at the margins, or in very specific locations or instances.

“There's a group in the middle, maybe 10 percent, and that's a big enough group in important states like Pennsylvania and Ohio,” said Reese, not coincidentally naming two swing states this fall. “They're extremely important, and the swing voters are what we used to call Reagan Democrats – white, ethnic people who sometimes vote their pocketbook, or sometimes vote other issues.”

Reno, of “First Things,” was also more sanguine about the way higher-intensity Catholics might shift over time. Citing the example of the contraception mandate, he argued that, if the Democratic Party is increasingly seen as hostile to persons of faith, enough Catholics could shift toward Republicans in a way that makes a difference.

“If there's a shift of 10 percent in the way Catholics vote over a 10-year period,  that could be very important,” he said.

Updated 5:51 p.m. - President Obama offered a full-throated defense of his campaign's scrutiny of Mitt Romney's private sector career, flatly stating, "This is not a distraction."

The president, speaking to reporters in Chicago at the conclusion of a NATO summit there, said that it's perfectly fair to pore through Romney's record at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he had cofounded, since the former Massachusetts governor had made his private sector experience a cornerstone of his campaign.

Pool via Getty Images file

President Barack Obama offered a full-throated defense of his campaign's scrutiny of Mitt Romney's private sector career, flatly stating, "This is not a distraction."

"This is not a distraction. This is what this campaign is going to be about," Obama said.

The president said that he thought that private equity played an important role in the economy. (Republicans have noted that Obama's re-election campaign hasn't always been shy in soliciting contributions from individuals in that industry.) But Obama also argued that the primary role for those firms is to maximize its return for investors.

"If your main argument for how to grow the economy is that I knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you're missing what this job is about," the president said.

The president's remarks come in the aftermath of a friendly fire incident this weekend, when Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democratic mayor who's a surrogate for Obama, said that he found "nauseating" the Obama campaign's attacks on Romney's Bain record.

(Obama avoided publicly chiding Booker, calling him an "outstanding mayor" before pivoting to launch an attack on Romney.)

"The reason this is relevant to my campaign is because my opponent, Gov. Romney -- his main calling card for why he should be president is his business experience. He's not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts; he's saying I'm a business guy, I know how to fix it," Obama said, coyly hinting at the typically-Democratic state where Romney served a single term as governor.

"When you're president -- as opposed the head of a private equity firm -- your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot," Obama said.

Earlier in the day, the Romney campaign had sought to claim political momentum based off of Booker's comments (and a subsequent defense of them by Harold Ford, Jr., a former Democratic congressman). The Romney team released a video pronouncing Obama's attacks the "Big Bain Backfire."

Romney himself responded to Obama in a statement: "President Obama confirmed today that he will continue his attacks on the free enterprise system, which Mayor Booker and other leading Democrats have spoken out against. What this election is about is the 23 million Americans who are still struggling to find work and the millions  who have lost their homes and have fallen into poverty. President Obama refuses to accept moral responsibility for his failed policies. My campaign is offering a positive agenda to help America get back to work."

Just one month after he was named Mitt Romney's top energy adviser, Oklahoma billionaire Harold Hamm contributed $985,000 to the top pro-Romney Super PAC -- a donation that was the second largest the group collected in April, according to a new campaign disclosure filing today.

The cash infusion from Hamm, the chairman and CEO of Continental Resources -- a firm that touts itself as "America's Oil Champion" -- is a new example of how big Super PAC donors can make their policy views heard by the campaigns they are supporting.

Hamm, whose company is the largest leaseholder of the Bakken, the giant shale formation in North Dakota, has been an outspoken critic of President Obama's energy policy, including his decision to postpone the Keystone pipeline and push legislation to curb tax breaks for oil exploration.

After meeting Obama at a White House event last July, Hamm complained the president "blew him off" after he tried to press him about the abundance of domestic oil supplies, according to a Business Week story last January. "It was like, 'if you’re in the oil and gas industry, you don't matter,'" Hamm was quoted as saying in the story headlined, "The Man Who Bought North Dakota."

On March 1, Romney -- during a campaign stop in Fargo, North Dakota -- announced that Hamm would serve as chairman of the candidate's "Energy Policy Advisory  Group" charged with developing a new "pro-jobs, pro-market, pro-American" energy agenda, according to a statement put out by the campaign that day. Hamm said in the statement he was backing Romney in part because he was "acutely aware" of "how outrageously [Obama] has attacked energy producers in particular."

On April 3, Hamm made his $985,000 contribution to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney Super PAC, the group reported today. That accounts for a little more than one-fifth of the $4.6 million the group raised last month.

Hamm had already contributed $2,500 -- the legal maximum for the primary season -- to the Romney campaign last October, as well as $61,600 to the Republican National Committee in two installments in last September and this February.

But the huge new donation to the Romney Super PAC -- which can accept unlimited contributions -- could potentially raise questions about the connections between his donations and his role in shaping campaign policies that might benefit his company. So far, the campaign has not publicly disclosed the other names of the energy advisory group, making it impossible to determine whether they have also given money to the Super PAC or the campaign.

“We haven’t announced it yet,” Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email when asked the names of other members of the campaign energy advisory group. A spokeswoman for Continental Resources, Hamm's company, declined to answer any questions about Hamm's role in the Romney campaign, referring a reporter to the campaign itself.

President Obama and his allies continue to hold a sizable fundraising advantage over Mitt Romney and his allies, including a 2-to-1 edge in available cash, according to the latest totals filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The numbers show that Team Obama (the campaign, the DNC, and the major pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action) had a combined $144 million cash on hand as of April 30, and it raised $41.7 million last month.

That's compared with the $77.5 million in the bank that Team Romney (the campaign, the RNC, the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future, and the anti-Obama Super PAC American Crossroads) has reported, and it raised a total of $29.5 million in April.

But these fundraising figures tell only part of the story.

Last week, the Romney campaign announced raising a combined $40 million with the RNC and other committees -- essentially equaling the Obama-DNC haul -- which spurred stories about how Team Romney was catching up to Team Obama. The Romney camp also said it had $60 million in bank.

But the fundraising totals the Romney camp filed with the FEC are short of those numbers.

So how did it come up with $40 million raised in April and $60 million in the bank?

The Romney campaign tells First Read that its Victory Fund brought in $17 million, but those numbers won’t be filed to the FEC until July. That $17 million -- added to the campaign's $11.7 million and RNC's 11.4 million -- gets you to $40 million.

And the Romney camp gets to $60 million in the bank when adding up the campaign's cash on hand ($9 million), the RNC's ($34.8 million), and that Victory Fund ($17 million).

Overall, when you add up the totals for the campaigns, political parties, and top Super PACS, here’s where we stand:
Team Obama raised in April: $41.7 million
Team Romney raised: $29.5 million (they are also counting that extra $17 million from the Victory Fund)

Team Obama cash on hand: $144 million
Team Romney cash on hand: $77.5 million cash on hand

The components:
Obama: $25.7 million raised, $115 million cash on hand
DNC: $14.4 million raised, $24.3M cash on hand
Priorities USA Action $1.6 million raisd, $4.7 cash on hand

Romney: $11.7 million raised, $9 million cash on hand
RNC: $11.4 million raised, $34.8 million cash on hand
Restore Our Future: $4.6 million raised, $8.2 million cash on hand
American Crossroads $1.8 million raised, $25.5 million cash on hand

Two major Catholic institutions filed lawsuits on Monday challenging the Obama administration's mandate that religiously affiliated employers offer health insurance for their workers that includes coverage for contraception.

Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

The University of Notre Dame filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging a Health and Human Services rule on contraceptives.

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the University of Notre Dame separately filed lawsuits in federal court challenging a Health and Human Services rule that would require them to offer coverage for contraception, the use of which runs contrary to Catholic teaching.

"For the first time in this country’s history, the government’s new definition of religious institutions suggests that some of the very institutions that put our faith into practice — schools, hospitals and social service organizations — are not ‘religious enough,'" said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, in a statement.

Father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, said: "This filing is about the freedom of a religious organization to live its mission, and its significance goes well beyond any debate about contraceptives."

(Jenkins emphasized that the university's suit was not intended to prevent access to contraception or to prevent the government from providing services.)

The contraceptive regulation erupted into a political firestorm in February, when Republicans seized on the proposed regulation as an example of a government "assault" on religious liberty.

In the face of public pressure, President Barack Obama announced a compromise in which employers could opt against including coverage for contraception, but insurers would be required to provide the option of coverage of those services to employees who wanted it.

The proposal became a hot-button political issue in much of February, especially as Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail sought to strengthen exemptions for religiously affiliated employers from regulations that conflict with their faith's official teaching.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney will help raise money for Mitt Romney, a Romney campaign aide confirms.

Cheney and his wife will host a fundraiser in Jackson Hole, WY, July 12th.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news:

The July 12 fund-raiser will be a tiered event, giving donors the chance to pay a little extra for the privilege of dining with Mr. Romney and the former vice president. The Romney campaign launched his Victory Fund last month to raise as much as $75,800 from individual donors by bundling contributions with the Republican National Committee and four state parties.

As the presumptive GOP nominee, Mr. Romney will need to figure out how closely he aligns himself with George W. Bush and other members of his administration, including Mr. Cheney. The candidate has tapped a number of former Bush administration officials as his advisers, but it remains to be seen whether the former president or his no. 2 will get high-profile speaking slots at the convention or appear on the campaign trail on Mr. Romney’s behalf. While those decisions will be made in the weeks and months ahead, the campaign was downright buoyant to announce the Cheney fund-raiser.

Is Bain fair game? Rattner and Booker (initially) say no… Team Obama says yes… While Booker backtracked in his criticism, what he said on “Meet” hurt the Obama campaign… But remember this when it comes to Bain: There’s a BIG disconnect between opinions in the Acela Corridor vs. the Industrial Midwest… We’ll have some new polls to measure what’s happened in the past three weeks… Putting Afghanistan in the rearview mirror… New York Times examines Romney’s faith… And two weeks out from the Wisconsin recall.

Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney speaks to supporters in front of Sawyer Bridge during a campaign event in Hillsborough, New Hampshire May 18, 2012.

*** Is Bain fair game? Early last week, former White House “car czar” Steve Rattner said it was “unfair” for the Obama campaign to spotlight the layoffs, reduced benefits, and lower salaries that took place under Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital. As Rattner put it on MSNBCs’ Morning Joe, “This is part of capitalism. This is part of life.” (But Rattner also said, “Mitt Romney made a mistake ever talking about the fact that it created 100,000 jobs. Bain Capital’s responsibility was not to create 100,000 jobs or some other number. It was to make profits for its investors.”) And yesterday on “Meet the Press,” Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) also criticized the Obama camp’s hits on Bain. “I have to just say from a very personal level I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity… If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses. And this to me, I'm very uncomfortable with.” So in these tellings, attacks on Romney’s business record aren’t fair game. Bain is a successful business -- end of discussion.

*** Obama camp keeps playing the Bain card: Yet in the Obama campaign’s telling, Bain is more than fair game. If Romney is going to make his Bain record the central rationale of his candidacy -- more so than his four years as Massachusetts governor -- and if he’s going to take credit for job gains created under Bain, then it’s only fair to point out examples when Bain-controlled companies took on huge debt, slashed worker pay and benefits, laid off employees and filed for bankruptcy, all while Bain investors made money, they argue. Think of it this way, they say: If a presidential candidate says that the education reforms he enacted as a governor are the centerpiece of his presidential bid, then it would be only fair to examine those reforms. Did they work? How well? Can that experience work at the federal level? Those are the kind of questions the Obama campaign wants to raise with Bain, and they’re back today with a new video and conference call (at 11:30 am ET today) on Bain Capital’s layoffs at SCM/Ampad in Indiana.

*** But what Booker said hurt Team Obama: As it turns out, that’s the message that Booker eventually said in a follow-up video. (Think someone in Obama World gave him call? He doesn’t make a YouTube simply to deal with angry Tweeters does he?) “Mitt Romney has made his business record a centerpiece of his campaign. Therefore, it is reasonable -- and I encourage it -- for the Obama campaign to examine that record and discuss it,” Booker said in it. But make no mistake: What Booker initially said on “Meet the Press” did no favors for Team Obama, and it had to make Team Romney smile. Mitt Romney and his surrogates can now say, “Even Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker has called these types of attack unfair…” (*** UPDATE *** Indeed, here's the Romney camp's response to the new web video: "President Obama continues his assault on the free enterprise system with attacks that one of his supporters, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, called 'nauseating' and a former adviser, Steven Rattner, called 'unfair.'... Americans expected a different kind of politics from Barack Obama but, sadly, this is just more of the same failed politics that dominates Washington.") More than anything else, Booker’s initial comments are proof that Republicans know how the play the message game better than Democrats. Does anyone think Chris Christie (R) would contradict a central Romney narrative?

*** The Acela Corridor vs. the Industrial Midwest: But here’s a final point we want to make about Bain. For all the criticism the attacks receive in the Acela Corridor (on Wall Street, NY, and DC), remember that economic populism often plays VERY WELL in Peoria, IL; Elkhart, IN; Toledo, OH; and Green Bay, WI. After all, Bain has hurt Mitt Romney twice in his political career -- first in his 1994 Senate bid and then for an entire month in the 2012 GOP presidential primary. And for Romney to get 270 electoral votes, he’s going to need to win somewhere in the Industrial Midwest -- either Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin. It’s why the Obama camp isn’t going to stop with Bain, even if it creates bad headlines in the op-ed pages that are usually kind to them.

*** Measuring the past three weeks: So much has happened over the past three weeks. The back-and-forth over Bain. Obama’s gay-marriage announcement. The April jobs report. Obama’s campaign kick-offs in Ohio and Virginia. And the Osama bin Laden anniversary. How did they all shape the Obama-vs.-Romney presidential contest? Well, we have a brand-new national NBC/WSJ poll coming out tomorrow. And we’ll have some new NBC/Marist battleground state surveys coming out later in the week. Suffice it to say: We’ll have a good idea where things stand in the presidential contest before you leave for Memorial Day…

*** Putting Afghanistan in the rearview mirror: Of course, another story that’s playing is Afghanistan, which has consumed the NATO talks in Chicago. Reuters: “At a summit in Chicago, leaders of the 28-nation alliance will endorse plans for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to hand over command of all combat missions to Afghan forces by the middle of 2013 and for the withdrawal of most of the 130,000 foreign troops by the end of 2014.” Here’s the Obama White House’s goal: to get Afghanistan in the rearview mirror and turn back to domestic politics. Even Mitt Romney paid scant attention to Afghanistan in his Chicago Tribune op-ed over the weekend. Seriously, the op-ed was remarkable for its lack of attention to the war strategy.

*** ‘Cause I gotta have faith: Speaking of Romney, Sunday’s New York Times took a front-page look at the role his faith has played in his life and political career. “Now, as the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Mr. Romney speaks so sparingly about his faith — he and his aides frequently stipulate that he does not impose his beliefs on others — that its influence on him can be difficult to detect.  But dozens of the candidate’s friends, fellow church members and relatives describe a man whose faith is his design for living. The church is by no means his only influence, and its impact cannot be fully untangled from that of his family, which is also steeped in Mormonism. But being a Latter-day Saint is ‘at the center of who he really is, if you scrape everything else off,’ said Randy Sorensen, who worshiped with Mr. Romney in church.” The piece says what we have for months: This HUGE part of Romney – his faith – has been ignored by the candidate and the presidential campaign. Arguably, it’s the decision by Romney and his campaign team to ignore this part of his biography that could be creating the perception that Romney doesn’t know how to connect. Perhaps he does, but it’s through his faith and because he’s publicly guarded it stiffens him.

*** On the trail: Romney is raising money in New York City.

*** Wisconsin recall -- two weeks out: We are now two weeks away from the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall, and here are some moving parts. First, the Tom Barrett (D) campaign is up with a TV ad hitting Scott Walker (R) for the “John Doe investigation.” Second, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel endorsed Walker over the weekend, saying his recall from office isn’t justified. “Walker's rematch with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was prompted by one issue: Walker's tough stance with the state's public-employee unions. It's inconceivable that the recall election would be occurring absent that. And a disagreement over a single policy is simply not enough to justify a vote against the governor.”

Countdown to WI recall: 15 days
Countdown to GOP convention: 98 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 105 days
Countdown to Election Day: 169 days

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*** Monday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up (live from Chicago): NBC's Kristen Welker and John Yang with the latest from inside the NATO summit and the protests outside… Rev. Jesse Jackson on the Chicago protests, President Obama's re-election effort and the reemergence of Rev. Wright in the campaign… A deep dive with Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) on what's at stake in the NATO summit for the U.S. and our allies… More 2012 headlines with an all-star Chicago panel of the Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson, WMAQ/The Chicago Sun-Times' Carol Marin and The Chicago Sun-Times' Laura Washington.

*** Monday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews Gen. (ret.) Barry McCaffrey; former US Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg, Mother Jones’ David Corn; Associated Press’ Kasie Hunt, former SC GOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd, journalist & publisher Karen Hunter, Advancement Project’s Edward Hailes, and Elon Univ. Law Prof. Catherine Dunham.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’S Thomas Roberts talks with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), New York Times’ Jodi Kantor, Robert Traynham, Margie Omero, and the National Journal’s Reid Wilson.

*** Monday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include T=the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart, Salon.com's Joan Walsh, Wes Moore, the New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, and Grover Norquist.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell (anchoring from the NATO summit in Chicago) interviews former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod, Author and Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, and NBC’s Chuck Todd, Kristen Welker and John Yang.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall’s guests include Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, Democratic Strategist Jimmy Williams, MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish, The Hill’s AB Stoddard, political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson, and  Zachary Karabell.

“After attacking Mitt Romney and Bain Capital last week for their dealings with a Missouri steel company, the Obama campaign today is turning to the tale of a closed Indiana office supply company that then-Senator Edward M. Kennedy used to repel Romney in their 1994 race,” the Boston Globe’s Johnson writes. “Bain-owned American Pad & Paper bought SCM in 1994, only to cut wages and benefits before closing the Marion plant a year later. Over 200 workers lost their job. By 2000, Ampad itself was declaring bankruptcy, while the Romney-led Bain and its investors had reaped over $100 million in profits. ‘To me, Mitt Romney takes from the poor and the middle-class and gives to the rich,’ one former SCM employee says in the five-minute web video being released today by the Obama campaign. ‘He’s just the opposite of Robin Hood.’”

“Confronting an economic crisis that threatens them all, President Barack Obama and leaders of other world powers on Saturday declared that their governments must both spark growth and cut the debt that has crippled the European continent and put investors worldwide on edge,” the AP notes.

“As President Barack Obama and fellow NATO leaders herald the coming end of the deeply unpopular Afghanistan war, they face the grim reality of two more years of fighting ahead and more of their troops sure to die in combat,” AP writes.

The New York Times on Obama’s evolution on Afghanistan, and how he cut out military leaders: “[A]fter a highly contentious debate within a war cabinet that was riddled with leaks, Mr. Obama had reluctantly decided to order a surge of more than 30,000 troops. The aide told Mr. Obama that he believed military leaders had agreed to the tight schedule to begin withdrawing those troops just 18 months later only because they thought they could persuade an inexperienced president to grant more time if they demanded it. … A year later, when the president and a half-dozen White House aides began to plan for the withdrawal, the generals were cut out entirely. There was no debate, and there were no leaks.”

More: “Mr. Obama concluded in his first year that the Bush-era dream of remaking Afghanistan was a fantasy, and that the far greater threat to the United States was an unstable, nuclear-armed Pakistan. So he narrowed the goals in Afghanistan, and narrowed them again, until he could make the case that America had achieved limited objectives in a war that was, in any traditional sense, unwinnable.”

Obama in his weekly address, per Political Wire: "Unless you run a financial institution whose business model is built on cheating consumers, or making risky bets that could damage the whole economy, you have nothing to fear from Wall Street reform."

“Former President George W. Bush plans to return to the White House for the unveiling of his official portrait later this month, marking a rare visit by the two-term president who has largely shunned the spotlight since leaving office,” the New York Daily News notes. “The White House and Bush's office said Bush and former first lady Laura Bush will return to the White House on May 31 for the release of their portraits.”

Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed again – this time at his Georgetown home.

Jodi Kantor writes of Rommey’s faith: “[A]s the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Mr. Romney speaks so sparingly about his faith — he and his aides frequently stipulate that he does not impose his beliefs on others — that its influence on him can be difficult to detect. But dozens of the candidate’s friends, fellow church members and relatives describe a man whose faith is his design for living. The church is by no means his only influence, and its impact cannot be fully untangled from that of his family, which is also steeped in Mormonism. But being a Latter-day Saint is ‘at the center of who he really is, if you scrape everything else off,’ said Randy Sorensen, who worshiped with Mr. Romney in church.”

“To win, Romney must convince voters — especially those in the roughly dozen swing-voting states where the race is likely to be decided — that the situation is so bad that that they should give him a chance to do what Obama hasn't been able to do: get the economy really going. .... In a way, however, Republican governors, many of them freshmen elected in 2010, aren't making it easy for Romney to make his case,” AP writes. (H/t: GOP 12.)

The AP writes of Romney’s leadership test during the big dig: “Romney's stiffest leadership test as governor produced mixed results. He was praised, even by some Democrats, for his energetic, take-charge management style. But he also drew criticism for playing to the media and dodging personal blame.”

The power of Paul: "After years of quiet, relentless organizing, followers of libertarian-leaning GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul have exploded inside the Minnesota Republican Party, becoming its most potent army," the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, adding, “In Minnesota, more than almost any other state, Paul forces have completed a historic party takeover. They proved their might Saturday, but also firmly established Minnesota as a remote GOP outpost nationally. Now state GOP activists will march to the national convention firmly backing Paul rather than presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.”

Political Wire: “Paul won 12 of 13 open delegate spots to the GOP national convention. The 13th went to Michele Bachmann – ‘and only after a Paul supporter dropped out to let her have that spot.’”

Though the Romney campaign as of Friday had not yet expanded its Spanish-language ad buy (just $3,000 in Raleigh), Romney strategist Russ Schriefer promised in a conference call, per Matt Lewis: “There’s going to be some serious points put behind the Spanish version of the ad.”

And Lewis adds: “During the Friday morning conference call, Schriefer contrasted Romney’s new ad with previous Obama ads, which seemed to lack direction. ‘I think [the Obama campaign is] struggling to figure out what this race is about for them,’ he said.”

BUSH: Lindsey Graham to The Hill, per GOP 12: “It’s up to Gov. Romney but if I had to recommend a single person it would be Jeb."

CHRISTIE: “Over the weekend, Chris Christie told Kentucky Republicans that Barack Obama was the ‘most ill-prepared person to assume the presidency in my lifetime,’” GOP 12 notes. And he said this: "He has sat in the Oval Office and cared more about posing and preening and making partisan politics the rule of the day in Washington D.C. than he's cared about progress."

The Lexington Daily Herald: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn't mince words about President Obama in a Saturday night appearance before Kentucky Republicans in Lexington. ‘This country's problems are too serious to spend another day with a bystander in the Oval Office,’ Christie said.”

Bob McDonnell’s not the only one with ads running in favor of his statewide agenda: “A deep-pocketed group that supports Gov. Chris Christie’s agenda rolled out a new television ad today and announced a $1.6 million campaign to blanket the airwaves from New York to Philadelphia over the next three weeks,” the Star Ledger writes. “It is the fourth TV spot underwritten by the Committee for Our Children’s Future since the group was formed in September, said its spokesman, Brian Jones. The issues-advocacy organization, which is not required to disclose its donors, has now spent more than $4.8 million on TV and Internet ads trumpeting Christie’s victories in the Statehouse and drumming up public support for his plans.”

“The authors of a Chris Christie biography set for release on June 5 argue that the New Jersey governor would be a ‘productive vice president’ if presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney were to choose him as his running mate for a winning ticket in November,” Daily Caller writes.

“The administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is taking a hard line on power plant pollution near his state’s border, backing an Environmental Protection Agency order for strict reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions from a GenOn-owned plant in eastern Pennsylvania,” Politico writes.

JINDAL: Not everyone’s impressed with Jindal. The New Orleans Times-Picayune’s James Gill: “When a House committee voted to abolish the state inspector general's office, Gov. Bobby Jindal promised to put up a fight. That was only to be expected, given that Jindal never tires of criss-crossing the country to explain how he single-handedly transformed corrupt old Louisiana into a model of square government. No, of course you haven't noticed.”

MCDONNELL: NBC 12’s Ryan Nobles: “It is the last of a string of controversial measures in the explosive 2012 Virginia General Assembly and today Governor Bob McDonnell is ready to put it behind him.  The Governor signed into law a measure that will tighten the requirements to prove your identification when you cast a ballot in an election in Virginia.”

“Mr. McDonnell also took the bold step of issuing an executive order directing the State Board of Elections to send new voter-registration cards to every active voter in the state, which could help blunt charges that the legislation is aimed at suppressing the vote of the poor and minorities - groups that traditionally vote Democratic and could help deliver the state to President Obama once again,” the Washington Times writes. “That move, however, is a costly one - to the tune of $1.36 million.”

“The GOP-backed voter ID legislation was one of several passionate partisan flash points in a sometimes bitter 2012 General Assembly, particularly in the 40-member Senate where Democrats and Republicans each hold 20 seats. Republicans act as a Senate majority by virtue of Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s tie-breaking vote,” the Washington Post writes. “It was Bolling’s decisive vote that broke a party-line deadlock that advanced the measure to final passage this year.”

PORTMAN: Portman and former opponent Lee Fisher (D) were together at an event in Cincinnati. Fisher spoke glowingly of Portman and his chances at being Romney’s veep pick. He called him "a conservative with common sense ideas” and added, "I've always liked him and always respected him."

Of his chances at being veep, Portman said, “I don't think people vote for vice president, they vote for president.” And: “Asked about descriptions of him in vice president speculation as ‘boring,’ he smiled and replied that he thinks that might be a description for someone in Washington who is ‘not out there throwing partisan jabs. ... I like to work across the aisle and get things done.’”

RUBIO: He said of Obama: “We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history as we have over the last three and a half years.”

The DNC fired back at Rubio.

“For freshman Sen. Marco Rubio, a rising GOP figure seen as a possible Mitt Romney running mate, questions about whether potential vulnerabilities in his personal and political background might hold him back,” AP writes.

Or alternatively Politico’s Vogel writes: “Mitt Romney isn’t very far into the vice presidential selection process. But according to a dedicated band of conspiracy theorists, the pick is all but a lock: Sen. Marco Rubio. That’s the current thinking among a worldwide collection of activists who are obsessed with the secretive Bilderberg Group, an alternating roster of global power players who loom as large — if not larger — in the online fever swamps of the fringe as the Trilateral Commission or the Council on Foreign Relations.”

RYAN: Did Ryan undercut his party’s negotiating power if Obama’s reelected by saying on Meet the Press -- “The country will choose, and I think that will largely decide what happens in the lame duck.”

Politico: “But he ducked three separate attempts by moderator David Gregory to own the logical conclusion of his own assertion, which is that Mitt Romney losing should then mean Republicans are willing to allow some tax hikes on the rich.”

Paul Ryan’s budget, which many would call austere, said on Meet the Press House that it would actually "prevent” austerity.

“House Speaker John Boehner maintained his hard line on the nation’s debt ceiling in an interview that aired Sunday, saying he is ‘not going to apologize for leading,’” the Boston Globe writes, adding, “Boehner rejected the notion that the anxiety of another debt battle could harm the nation’s economic recovery.”

He also noted though that his caucus is a pretty “disparate” one. “It is hard to keep 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow long enough to get a bill passed,” he said on ABC’s This Week.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Paul Ryan backed Boehner. “If we fix the programs that are the drivers of our debt, then we reduce a debt crisis likelihood,” Ryan said. “Then we actually bring borrowing down, which opens up certainty for investors.”

AP’s Babington wonders: “Is GOP trying to sabotage economy to hurt Obama?”

Congressional speech has dropped a grade level to 10^th grade. The top two members – Reps. Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA). The bottom two – Reps. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and Rob Woodall (R-GA).

Political Wire: “Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was ‘forced to sell his dream home’ in Utah with ‘his mortgage bank taking a significant loss -- up to $400,000 -- in a 'short sale' as the housing bust in his neighborhood drained his house's value,’ the Salt Lake Tribune reports.”

Newark Mayor Cory Booker released a video on Sunday emphasizing his support for President Obama's re-election after condemning some the president's re-election tactics as "nauseating."

Booker said in a video posted to YouTube that he believed it was appropriate to fully vet Mitt Romney's private sector record, clarifying his head-turning comments this morning on "Meet the Press," on which he decried the Obama campaign's attacks on Romney due to an instance in which a company acquired by Bain Capital, which Romney cofounded, ended up in bankruptcy.

"This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity, stop attacking Jeremiah Wright," Booker said during a roundtable on the program, referencing also the plan mulled by a Republican super PAC to link the president to a controversial pastor. 

The remark was a badly off-script tangent for Booker, who's regarded as a rising star within the Democratic Party, and an effective surrogate for Obama. The president's re-election campaign had worked all week to drive a message painting Romney's experience at Bain as primarily motivated by profits at all costs, rather than the expertise on job creation that Romney has sought to project. 

Booker's video, released late Sunday afternoon, doesn't renounce his comments made on "Meet the Press," but it does describe the Obama campaign's scrutiny of Romney's business record as appropriate. 

"I made it clear on 'Meet the Press' this morning how I feel President Barack Obama has done such a strong job as leader of our nation, and more than deserves re-election," Booker said. 

"I also professed, on 'Meet the Press,' my profound frustration with the kind of campaigning that I think that is becoming too much of the norm in our nation — which is generally negative campaigning. And this campaigning is about to become an avalanche, and in many ways, I believe, could potentially risk muting out the important voices of the candidates themselves talking about the issues that matter," he added, referencing the millions spent by outside super PACs on campaign advertising. 

And of Romney's Bain record, Booker said: "Let me be clear: Mitt Romney has made his business record a centerpiece of his campaign … and therefore, it is reasonable — and in fact, I encourage it for the Obama campaign — to examine that record and to discuss it. I have no problem with that."

After Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) yesterday called President Obama the most "divisive figure" in modern American history, the Democratic National Committee punched back.

"Marco Rubio's attacks on the president are as dishonest as they are desperate," DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse said in a statement to NBC News. "No one has tried harder to reach across the aisle on everything from jobs and trade to a plan to get our fiscal house in order than has President Obama, and every step of the way Republican leaders have either buckled to the far right wing of their party or decided to put politics ahead of moving our country forward."

Woodhouse added, "When the president asked Republicans to help craft a health care deal, they walked away; when he asked John Boehner to make a deal on our debt the Speaker walked away; and Republicans haven't been willing to lift a finger in Congress to help improve the economy for fear that such an outcome might help the President politically. And no one needs to be reminded that Republicans met to hatch a plan to plot the demise of this president before he was even sworn in to office, and that Mitch McConnell said that the GOP's top priority above all else was denying the president a second term.  

"Republicans attacking the president for being divisive are the ultimate case of the pot calling the kettle black," Woodhouse concluded.

At the Global Food Summit in D.C. today, NBC's Andrea Mitchell interview U2 frontman Bono about efforts to curb hunger in Africa.

An excerpt:

You know, no one wants to see those extended bellies. No one wants to see children -- emaciated children. Hunger is a ridiculous thing. And we know what to do in order to fix it.  There's, you know, these whole new approaches to agriculture to increase productivity, etc. Etc.

But what's key about today's announcement is that the president of the United States is supporting African ideas on how to fix their problem. There are country-owned, country-devised plans in 30 African countries. And that's what it will take to get to that 50 million people taken out of -- out of hunger over the next decade.

So it's -- that's what's different.  It's partnership, it's not the old paternalism.  These are sort of horizontal relationships, not vertical ones.

Below is the entire transcript of the interview:

ANDREA MITCHELL, HOST:  Here at the Global Food Summit, President Obama has issued a call to action for world leaders to attack poverty in Africa by expanding agriculture.  The immediate goal is to lift 15 million people out of poverty over the next decade.  Participating in this big launch for the G-8 Summit, some big players.  Singer/songwriter, co-founder of the One Campaign, Bono.

                Welcome.

                You've spoken here to the summit.

                What is the mission and the cause and -- and why is it so urgent?

                BONO:  Well, the mission is, I guess, obvious, to...

                MITCHELL:  Right.

                BONO:  -- you know, no one wants to see those extended bellies.  No one wants to see children -- emaciated children.  Hunger is a ridiculous thing.  And we know what to do in order to fix it.  There's, you know, these whole new approaches to agriculture to increase productivity, etc.  Etc.

                But what's key about today's announcement is that the president of the United States is supporting African ideas on how to fix their problem.  There are country-owned, country-devised plans in 30 African countries.  And that's what it will take to get to that 50 million people taken out of -- out of hunger over the next decade.

                So it's -- that's what's different.  It's partnership, it's not the old paternalism.  These are sort of horizontal relationships, not vertical ones.

                MITCHELL:  And these countries have spent the last couple of years, 30 countries, submitting their plans.  And now this is the time for action, for business leaders, for others, to -- to join in and invest.

                You wrote in "Time" magazine this week that Africa is so rich in resources, that this is really the -- the continent which can be like the American continent was in the last century.

                Tell us what...

                BONO:  Yes, it's...

                (CROSSTALK)

                MITCHELL:  -- the potential there.

                BONO:  -- we've -- we've got to, you know, we've just got to reboot our thinking on the continent.  Africa is -- this -- the 21st century, people say it's about China.  Ask the Chinese.  They're all over Africa.

                MITCHELL:  Exactly.

                BONO:  Africa, by 2050, will double the population of China.  So you've got this -- there -- there will be more young people on the continent of Africa than there are Chinese in 2050.  I mean it is just stunning.  They're rich.  They've got all these minerals on the ground.  And the people are saying to us, the African people, they don't want aid as an ongoing basis.  They need it now to help them get to a place of independence.

                But they're future consumers for the United States.  The president is talking business.  This is good.  It -- it's just -- it's a whole new kind of development paradigm, I think, today.  It's -- the old sort of donor-recipient relationship, it's over.

                MITCHELL:  And I mean the Chinese, as you point out, they get it.  They're investing everywhere in Africa.  These businesses want to invest.

                What do we do about the -- the fact that there has been so much widespread corruption and how can that be tackled?

                The World Bank has tried to tackle it.

                BONO:  Absolutely.

                MITCHELL:  There are some demands here up front.

                BONO:  Exactly right.  Corruption is killing more kids than any dis -- killer -- of the killer diseases, AIDS or malaria.

                So if you look at food as a resource that comes out of the ground, the same way, if you look at oil, gas, the great mineral wealth of the continent of Africa, what can you do to make sure that the wealth that's in the ground, under the feet of the people who live there, gets into the hands of the people who live there?

                Well, there's one way, transparency, daylight, which is to say, when private contracts are put out -- given to a -- to explore for oil or for gas, that the people know how much was paid for that contract.

                So in this, in this -- this Congress is a bill in the finance reform bill, the huge big Dodd-Frank bill, there's a Cardin-Lugar Amendment what -- which actually makes it law that any company published on the United States Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, has to publish what it pays for those mining rights.

                This is huge.  This is bigger than anything you can imagine.

                Who's telling us that?

                Africans are telling us that.  This is what they're saying.  They're saying just bring some daylight, bring some transparency and we won't be as dependent on you.

                MITCHELL:  And, you know, this is such a novel idea, the Europeans, some of them, are pushing back against this, saying whoa, you know, we don't have these same rules, we don't want these rules for our companies.

                But this would really tell the people in Africa exactly what money is being transferred and what -- what their resources are going for.

                BONO:  That's it.  So then they can ask -- they can hold their own governments to account.

                Now, the British are -- are looking at this.  There's some discussion about whether it should be project by project or country by country.  It has to be project by project, I think.  We're meeting with David Cameron later.  I -- I'm -- I am hopeful to -- to convince him and to do that.

                The French are there on this.  I spoke with the Germans, with Chancellor Merkel's people, not with her yet.  But I have before on this subject.  And she is leaning in -- in this direction.  That's huge.  The German leadership will be great.

                I've actually spoken to 12 of the G-20 heads of state on this matter.  So Brazil is -- is looking to lead in this.  And Australia is.

                And this is the way of the future.  Daylight is the way of the future.  The direction of information technology, guess what, it's information.  People want information about the big decisions that affect their lives.

                MITCHELL:  Now, speaking of information technology, you have been so innovative.  You've been on the -- the cutting edge of this.  Back in 2009, I think, you were first investing in Facebook.  It's gone public.  You are reportedly going to con -- you know, conceivably have this huge payout.

                Tell me about Facebook, what you see in it, what the business model is and what you think it's going to accrue to your own investment.

                BONO:  Well, contrary to reports, in bus -- I am not a -- this boy is not a billionaire.  And -- or going to be richer than any Beatle.  And not just in the sense of money, by the way.  The Beatles are untouchable.  That's just a joke.

                MITCHELL:  I -- I get it.

                BONO:  We -- you know, in Elevation, we invest other people's money -- endowments, pension funds.  We do get paid and -- and that is a -- a good thing.  We will get, you know, I'm blessed.

                But, you know, I felt rich when I was 20 years old and my wife was -- was paying my bills, you know, just being in a band.  I've always felt like this, I mean being -- being so blessed.

                I got interested in technology because I'm an artist.  I'm interested in the forces that shape the world, you know, politics, religion, the stuff we've been talking about today.

                Technology is huge.  I wanted to learn about it.

                And people say it's, oh, you're a musician, what are you doing on this?

                But I think it's odd that -- that artists are not more interested in the world around them.  The zeitgeist, I'm always chasing that.

                MITCHELL:  What do you see in Facebook?

                What is it about Facebook that you think, to those who say, well, what is the business model here, what do you think is the future of Facebook?

                BONO:  Well, they're -- they're an amazing team.  They're a brilliant team.  And they really care about this stuff.  And -- and, you know, it's -- it's a technology that brings people together, people who are traveling a lot, to keep in touch with their families, with their friends.

                And -- and you see it, the role it's played in -- in -- in North Africa, in the -- in the so-called Arab Spring.

                So it's a whole -- it's -- it's the village square.  But it was the leadership of it that got me excited to going back.

                And -- but there's other companies out there.  Yelp I invested in, Drop Box.  There's -- there's just a -- there's just -- there's a lot of excitement in America.  This is -- in this area.

                MITCHELL:  What do you say to people, Wall Street and others, who say there is no real business model here, that people might go to Google and, you know, really look at the ads, but not on Facebook, that social networking is a different kind of -- of zeitgeist and that you don't really want advertising?

                BONO:  That's an intelligent criticism.  I'm not even going to try to answer it.  I'll let Facebook do that.

                You know, I'm, in a ways, the -- the thing that I bring to elevation is I'm curious about people.  You know, I asked Warren Buffet what was the most important thing in investing.  He said judgment of character.

                And -- and there's some pattern recognition and some sensing of what the future might look like.

                But I think -- I think Facebook has gone -- is only beginning.  That's my own view.

                MITCHELL:  We'll be back in a moment with the president of Tanzania joining our conversation...

                BONO:  Yes, he's a very special man.

                MITCHELL:  And he is a very special leader...

                BONO:  -- worth meeting.

                MITCHELL:  And we will meet him and talk more.

                Our exclusive interview with Bono coming up and Tanzania's president, Jakaya Kikwete, next, right here on ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS at the Global Food Summit.

                (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDREA MITCHELL, HOST:  And we are back here at the Ronald Reagan Building at the Global Food Summit with Bono.

                And joining us now, Tanzania's President Kikwete.

                Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us.

                We've been talking about the crisis of poverty and the opportunities now to really do something significant to lift 50 million people out of poverty with food, with a different approach to food and agriculture.

                Tell us, what does it mean at the -- at the grassroots level, for people to have a different kind of food security?

                PRES. JAKAYA KIKWETE, TANZANIA:  Well, of course, in most African countries, Tanzania included, 80 percent of the people live in rural areas.  And this is where the majority of the people, of the poor are.

                So any initiative to improve the agriculture, increase productivity, means increasing their incomes, producing more food, ensuring them food security is something that is welcome.

                For us in Africa, no meaningful intervention to deal with poverty would -- would be successful if you leave out agriculture.

                MITCHELL:  What is your pitch to businesses and to other government leaders as to how this can work?

                What do you tell them you want and what can Tanzania do as a partner in all of this?

                KIKWETE:  Well, of course, we -- we have developed plans and programs to accelerate the pace of transformation in the growth of our agriculture.  We are looking for partners.

                And who are these partners?

                Governments in the developed countries to help us where our governments cannot reach.

                We're looking for private sector participants to work with our small holder farmers, to work with our government.  The small holder farmers, support them, get -- get the inputs that they need, the seeds, the fertilizers, the pesticides, the herbicides.

                But for our small farmers, assure them of a market for their produce, a good market at a good price.

                So in essence, the -- this -- this is the partnership that we are looking for, support from the -- from -- from -- from -- governments of 12 countries support us with infrastructure like roads and so on, through the farming areas.  They will support us with infrastructure for the irrigation schemes, because you need -- the major canals have got to be done by government.  You cannot leave it to the small holder farmers.  They are too poor to do that.

                With electricity, with clean water supply and with other -- with other services, IT and telecommunications.

                MITCHELL:  You know, Bono, you, I know, have traveled so often across the continent with -- with teams of people looking at these issues.  It is -- the big issues have to be done by governments.  They can be done with private investment, as well.

                But when we talk about, as the president has said, what about clean water and communications, but the small farmers then can get the water that they need and then they can put the herbicides to use and the seeds, so that there really is a whole hierarchical system here that has to be attacked.

                BONO:  Yes, I -- I'm particularly excited when I go to Tanzania.  If you could see what this -- what the president has...

                MITCHELL:  Tell me what you've seen there.

                BONO:  -- and his team has pulled off.  It's -- first of all, it's just the most stunning country, I mean just in every which way, you know, from, you know, looking up there at Kilimanjaro and then right down to the astonishing beaches to Dar-es-salaam and the industry there and Arusha.  And -- and this is a very fine and accomplished macroeconomist who is not just leading in this region, but I think the whole of the continent, and -- and people outside of the continent are looking to their successes.

                And the Maputo commitment, which is 10 percent of your GDP to be spent on this agriculture thing, it's a hard thing, sometimes, to -- to -- to pull it off.  And -- and -- and the president has committed to this next year.  And that was, you know, it was a tough and brave decision.  And we harassed him.  You know, the One Campaigners were in -- making a petition.  We handed in 20,000.  These are African One Campaigners.

                And he was so gentle with them and respectful to them.

                So I can't really say too much about this man.  And he's kind of a hero of mine.

                But it's just when things work and when you have also seen that he's in -- he gets annoyed.  He gets restless when things don't move fast enough.  But -- but Tanzania is -- is one of the -- the -- the great stories to keep an eye on.

                There -- there are other countries that it's -- it's harder.  And so you need some to really work and as success stories to be contagious (INAUDIBLE).

                MITCHELL:  And Tanzania can really be a model...

                BONO:  Yes.  Oh, yes.

                MITCHELL:  -- for the continent.

                What about the One Campaign and how you can keep the pressure up to keep governments focused and to keep businesses interested and honest in the way they approach the Campaign?

                BONO:  I mean why is David Cameron sticking with his aid pledges in the greatest austerity that his country has seen since the Second World War?

                Why is he doing that?

                The reason he's doing that is because he has a mandate from people who care about this stuff up and down the UK.  That way he -- he does it.  I'm not -- I think because he's also moved to do it and interested to do it.  But he's been given permission.

                So that's why the One Campaign is important, because we help to sort of create wind at your back if you make a good decision.

                We're not, as -- as the president know, we're not from the left, we're not from the right or sort of -- we're all over the shop.  We're ambidextrous.

                But, you know, so -- so whether it's President Bush stepping out on AIDS or whether it's President Obama stepping out on -- on food security, we have people in every state and every jurisdiction of this country who will support people who do the right thing.  They're motivated by conscience.  They're motivated by their faith.  Whatever the reasons are, they knew that the -- this world does not have to be the way it is and that very structural things can be made to happen to help.

                I mean they don't need our help, to be honest with you.  We're really here to keep all the politicians in Europe honest.  We don't actually have to keep him honest.

                (LAUGHTER)

                BONO:  He's -- sorry.

                KIKWETE:  The One Campaign is awesome, you know.

                BONO:  Yes.

                KIKWETE:  A few months ago, the One Campaign marched the hundreds of people to -- to the statehouse to bring a petition on behalf of 120,000 farmers asking governments in Africa to scale up investment in agriculture.

                BONO:  They're quite wonky, as well, our -- our campaigners tend to -- you know, they're very -- they're the (INAUDIBLE)...

                KIKWETE:  Yes.

                BONO:  -- variety.

                KIKWETE:  I made a commitment and a promise that I -- I would deliver the message to the -- to the African heads of states in July in Malawi.

                MITCHELL:  In Malawi.

                KIKWETE:  Yes.

                MITCHELL:  And what do you want to see?

                Briefly, we've just got a few seconds left, Mr. President.

                What do you want to see come out of the summit here?

                What kind of promise and -- and delivery system do you want?

                KIKWETE:  Well, of course we -- we look -- we -- we look to the G-8 to -- to increase support to governments and farmers in Africa.  We look to the private sector in America and -- and elsewhere in the G-8 countries to -- to be forthcoming, come and work with us, work with the farmers in Africa.

                So a combination of these, of -- of the governments in the G-8, governments in the developed countries, our governments in Africa, the private sector, local in Africa, and the international private sector coming and working with us, and the small holder farmers, I'm sure we should be able to increase agricultural production, ensure food security, improve nutrition and eradicate poverty in Africa.

                MITCHELL:  Well, not...

                BONO:  Not bad for a...

                MITCHELL:  Not bad at all.

                BONO:  -- first summit.

                MITCHELL:  Thank you...

                BONO:  Between now and the G-20, I think you can pull that off.

                MITCHELL:  That's pretty exciting.

                Thank you so much, Mr. President.

ANDREA MITCHELL, HOST, MSNBC'S ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS:  And which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours?  We have a special guest, Bono.  In the next 24 hours, the president is going to be meeting with four African leaders at Camp David, over lunch, to talk about food, poverty, African -- global security.  And, including, of course President Kikwete.  What's different about these summits?  Have the G8, the G20 - have they outlived their usefulness? 

BONO, MUSICIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST:  That's a very interesting question.  I mean, it is sort of absurd that eight -- seven men and one woman will get into a room and the decisions that they make in those rooms will affect hundreds of millions of lives outside of their own geographies.  So that is -- It's a hell of a burden.  And I think they know that.  I hope they know that.  The G20 sort of democratizes it further by bringing in China, and, you know, Brazil, and India, of course.  But it gets a little harder to get things done because there's more of them. 

MITCHELL:  We've seen that on climate change. 

BONO:  Yes, Yes.  But I think what's actually happening, is in a funny way what we've seen at the start of 21st century, is the pyramid.  The old pyramid of power has turned upside down.  Ironic that it started in the land of the pyramids, in Egypt.  But the base is now in charge, and the top is strangely at the bottom.  So for these political leaders to achieve anything, they really have to listen to what people are saying, and that's  different.  So the civil society, the role of civility society has become really important. 

And I think people are sending a message to this G8.  Please don't let it just be a talking shop.  We know Iran is important.  We know the euro is important, critically important if you live in Europe as I do.  But actually, the idea of taking 50 million people out of hunger and poverty over the next ten years, if that's possible, wow.  After the stuff we've done on AIDS and malaria, you know, it gets you -- that's a reason to get out of bed, Mr. President. 

MITCHELL:  And to sing. 

BONO:  And to sing. 

MITCHELL:  Thank you, Bono, as always.  Thanks for all your leadership on this, and the ONE Campaign.

First Read confirms with the campaign that Mitt and Ann Romney contributed $75,000 each to the Romney Victory Fund – money going to the campaign, the RNC, and various other state committees.

That $75,000 is the maximum an individual can contribute to these entities.

Those contributions – first reported by CNN – will show up in the May FEC report (which doesn’t have to be filed until June 20).

While $150,000 is a significant amount of money, it pales in comparison to the millions Romney contributed to his 2008 campaign.

Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss four stories from this week that could impact the 2012 campaign. New Obama ads attack Romney’s work at Bain Capital while a GOP super PAC considers rehashing the Rev. Wright attack on Obama from 2008. Romney nearly matches Obama in April fundraising, and John Boehner hints at another debt ceiling showdown.

Video edited by Matt Loffman

HILLSBORO, NH -- Wrapping up a weeklong effort to paint President Obama as a heavy-spending "old-school liberal," Mitt Romney stood here Friday before a half-built bridge, an example of what he claimed was the failure of the president's stimulus program.

"This is the absolute bridge to nowhere if there ever was one," Romney said of the Sawyer Bridge, a handsome stone archway, restored with stimulus dollars, that ends abruptly several yards before reaching the far side of the Contoocook River. "That's your stimulus dollars at work: A bridge that goes nowhere."

Romney regularly assails the president's stimulus package on the campaign trail, and today was no exception as he deployed a new number -- what he claimed was the cost per job created of the $787 billion dollar stimulus.

"They're required to report these things and they did an analysis and of course they stretched I'm sure as far as they could as to how many jobs they saved and how many jobs they created. Then they take that number and divide it into the size of the stimulus. It turns out the cost per job was $317,000," Romney said.

Romney, whose remarks today were uncharacteristically brief, clocking in around nine minutes, was greeted in Hillsboro by a small but vocal group of pro-Obama protesters, who chanted "Four more years" and "O-ba-ma" audibly throughout his remarks.

Romney laughed off the group in with his opening lines.

"We have behind us a Greek chorus, and I say that because they remind us this president is leading us towards Greece," Romney said. "And one reason we're going to get rid of him is to make sure we don't have the kind of deficits that lead to Greece. So I hope they keep up with their Greek chorus over there."

Forget a president's first 100 days. Mitt Romney's first television ad of the general election, "Day One," comes as close as anything in describing the most urgent priorities of a President Romney upon taking office.

The ad is running in five swing states, and the presumptive GOP nominee's campaign is putting $1.3 million behind it; a Spanish-language analog is running in North Carolina, with a much smaller ad buy behind it.

Nonetheless, Romney's ad is meant to drive a three-point plan: 1. Approve the Keystone Pipeline, 2. Introduce tax reform, and 3. Begin dismantling and replacing President Obama's health care law.

In short, Romney's message is about jobs, taxes, energy and health care.

So what do we know about the specifics of Romney's three-point plan?

Keystone -

Republicans, including Romney, have vocally criticized President Obama for rejecting an initial proposal by the TransCanada Corporation to build an oil pipeline through the central United States. The administration rejected the project out of environmental concerns and because it felt Republicans were rushing its approval of the project, at the expense of due diligence. (TransCanada has subsequently re-applied for a permit to build a pipeline along new routes.)

Romney invoking the example is meant to address the issues of jobs and energy.

TransCanada and supporters of the pipeline -- who range from Republicans in Congress to the organized labor community -- contend the project would create at least 20,000 jobs. The project's most ardent supporters claim these, in turn, would lead to additional job creation.

As for energy, it's much more difficult to say what the effect of building the Keystone Pipeline would have on the price of oil. Its mere approval could conceivably diminish speculation that drives up oil prices, but gauging the direct impact is difficult. Moreover, the pipeline would take years to become fully operational and deliver excess supply to gas stations in the U.S.

"Taking advantage of our energy resources is one of my priorities," Romney said Friday in a conference call with supporters. Among his other plans for his first day in office, Romney said he would also allow expanded permits for oil and gas exploration on federal lands. Romney said, for instance, he would authorize drilling on the East Coast's Outer Continental Shelf.

Tax reform -

The centerpiece of Romney's plan would include a permanent, across-the-board reduction of 20 percent for all income tax brackets.

He's also on the record supporting a number of other tax cuts, including maintaining current tax rates on investment income, eliminating the taxes on estates, cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, and repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax, among other reforms.

The impact of these reforms on the rising national debt -- something Romney routinely decries -- is much more opaque, though.

Romney has said eliminating some tax deductions, combined with economic growth and cuts in spending would make the impact of his tax plan deficit-neutral at a minimum.

"One thing I'm also going to to do is work with Congress to limit the deductions and exemptions and special deals that are in our tax code," Romney said on the conference call.

But the former Massachusetts governor hasn't specified the exemptions or deductions he would eliminate beyond a select few (for instance, the mortgage deductions associated with a second home). Romney has previously said that the wealthy might shoulder a greater tax burden under his reforms, though he hasn't said how. (An analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has suggested that might not be the case.) The Romney campaign also hasn't provided a detailed enough tax plan in order to subject it to static or dynamic scoring of its impact on the deficit and debt.

As for the spending side, Romney's website offers some additional details, but not enough to necessarily account for the total impact of his plan -- either on jobs, or the deficit.

The "issues" section of Romney's website includes an additional "Day One" promise: to send Congress a bill slashing non-defense discretionary spending by five percent across-the-board.

Other parts of Romney's site detail areas he would cut, and the savings associated with each of those cuts. Those savings include the elimination of subsidies to programs like the National Endowment for the Arts, and cuts in subsidies to Amtrak or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

"There are items that I like that I will stop funding," Romney explained during the call.

Health reform -

Romney's new ad calls for not just the repeal of "ObamaCare," but its replacement, as well.

If part or all of the law were allowed to stand following the Supreme Court's ruling next month, Romney would have some options to undo the law on his first day in office, but they would be limited.

The former Massachusetts governor has said his ultimate goal is to return health care decisions to individual states, and create incentives for more efficient health care delivery.

Romney repeated his promise to issue a waiver to states, allowing them to duck some of the requirements of health care reform that conservatives find most onerous. But many other parts of the law would remain in effect, and would require legislative action to both enact a repeal of ObamaCare and a subsequent replacement. That could conceivably pass the House if it were to remain in Republican control, but unless Republicans were to somehow win a 60-seat majority in the Senate this fall, the GOP would need to attract Democratic support for Romney's alternative.

* * *

There are other things Romney said he would do on his first day, among them labeling China a currency manipulator and putting a hold on regulations enacted by the Obama administration.

Democrats have contested Romney's ad, with the Obama campaign labeling it as full of "empty promises."

"We know why Mitt Romney didn’t keep his promises- his business experience wasn’t in strengthening companies and creating jobs for long-term economic growth. It was in reaping quick profits for himself and his investors at the expense of workers and communities," said Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the president's re-election. "These are the values that he wants to bring to the White House by giving more budget-busting tax cuts to the wealthy and letting Wall Street write its own rules—the same formula that benefited a few, but crashed our economy and punished the middle class."

A Democratic super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, also produced a parody ad concluding of Romney's first-day plans: "We'll pass."

Vice President Joe Biden stayed mostly on message during a two-day swing in eastern Ohio this week, but one comment made to a local TV news station may have earned him some rolls of the eye at Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago.

In an interview yesterday with WTOV-TV, NBC's Steubenville-Wheeling affiliate, Biden said that he doesn't "blame people" for voting against Barack Obama in West Virginia's Democratic primary earlier this month, when an incarcerated felon won about four in 10 votes against the sitting president.

"Look, I come from a household where whenever there's a recession, somebody around my grandpop or my dad's table lost their job - a brother, a sister, a friend, a neighbor," he said.  When you're outta work, man, it's a depression. And a lot of people are still hurt because of this God-awful recession we inherited that cost 8.4 million jobs before we could really get going. And so I don't blame people. They're frustrated. They're angry."

Biden quickly pivoted to make the case that the administration's economic values would prevail nationwide over Mitt Romney's in the general election.

"At the end of the day they're going to decide is the way back to their employment, is the way back to being able to have a job and raise a family, is it under the value set and the ideas of Romney? Or is it under ours? And we feel confident we'll do just fine. "

Keith Judd, also known as Prisoner 11593-051, is serving a sentence at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico. He makes occasional cameos on state ballots and won about 40 percent of the vote in West Virginia's May 8 primary, embarrassing national Democrats and highlighting Obama's challenges in coal country.