WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mitt Romney on Wednesday detailed his education proposals in a major policy address, laying out a plan to promote school choice and reform existing laws -- all while combating teachers' unions, whom Romney blamed for obstructing many of the needed changes in the nation's schools.

Romney assailed President Obama as beholden to powerful organized labor groups during a speech to the Latino Coalition here in the nation's capital.

In his speech, the former Massachusetts governor called improving public education "the civil rights issue of our era," saying that unions favor teachers' well being over students', leading to an education system that Romney said was "third-world" in nature.

"The teachers unions are the clearest example of a group that has lost its way. Whenever anyone dares to offer a new idea, the unions protest the loudest," Romney said, quoting a former leader of the American Federation of Teachers. "He said, and I quote, 'When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of children. The teachers unions don’t fight for our children. That’s our job.'"

Romney almost seem to draw on the experience of Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Chris Christie of New Jersey, each of whom have achieved a moderate amount of political traction by doing battle with teachers' unions in their respective states.

Antipathy between Romney and teachers' unions has deep roots, though, reaching back to Romney's tenure as governor in Massachusetts, when teachers' groups ran advertisements fighting Romney's implementation of a statewide test required for graduation. Romney mentioned the ad battle, which was not in his prepared remarks, and decried unions wielding "outsized influence in elections and campaigns."

"As president, I will be a champion of real education reform in America, and I won’t let any special interest get in the way," Romney said. "We have to stop putting campaign cash ahead of our kids."

Obama has stressed the importance of working with unions, an important Democratic Party constituency, in his past efforts to pursue education reform. A top adviser of Romney's suggested, though, that Romney would work around the powerful teachers' groups in implementing his agenda.

"The opposition is going to be led by the teachers unions which of course have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo," senior Romney adviser Eric Fehnrstrom told reporters on a conference call. "We are not handcuffed at all by the political limitations faced by president Obama, who is completely beholden to the union leadership."

Romney's most ambitious effort would be to greatly expand school choice programs for disadvantaged students and their parents in a way similar to the capital's D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Romney's program would allow any low-income or special needs student (in the so-called Title One category) to attend any public or public charter school in their state, without regard to district.

"For the first time in history, federal education funds will be linked to the student, so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school of their choice," Romney said.

Romney told donors in April that he hoped to dramatically reshape -- but not eliminate -- the Department of Education, and also said Wednesday that he hopes to make the evaluation of schools and teachers a state responsibility, instead of a federal one, as it exists under President Bush's controversial No Child Left Behind law. Romney said that landmark law represented a "giant step forward," but was also "not without its weaknesses."

Romney advisers said before the speech that none of the presumptive GOP's proposals today would involve new federal spending.

There were some elements of the Romney plan, though, that were still wanting for details. His plans to improve teacher quality were ill-defined; Romney vowed to consolidate federal programs designed to boost teacher quality and block grant their funds -- about $4 billion dollars -- back to states that he asserted would adopt "innovative policies" for improving teacher quality.

And Romney only briefly touched upon his plans to increase the affordability of higher education, vowing to "stop fueling skyrocketing tuition prices," but providing no specifics in his speech as to how to accomplish such a task.

The Obama campaign savaged Romney's record on education before his speech had even been delivered, declaring Romney's views on education are just the latest example of a philosophy designed to help only those at the top.

“Mitt Romney’s career in both the private and public sectors has been guided by one principle: helping the wealthiest prosper by any means necessary, even if it means undermining workers and middle class families. These are the values that he would bring to the White House and that would prioritize budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans over good schools and affordable higher education," Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith said in a statement. 

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- President Obama told the graduating class of Air Force Academy cadets that they would be starting their military careers in an international environment shaped largely by his administration's policies.

The president described a new era in combat defined by stronger international alliances and a leaner fighting force, shaped by this administration's work to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and efforts to overhaul the defense budget.

“For a decade, we have labored under the dark cloud of war. Now, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon,” Obama said, noting that this class was the first to graduate in nine years with no American soldiers fighting in Iraq. He mentioned several of his administration’s other defining national security actions, including killing Osama bin Laden, putting al Qaeda on “the path to defeat,” and drawing down forces in Afghanistan.

“Ending these wars will also ensure that the burden of our security no longer falls so heavily on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform. As good as you are, you can’t be expected to do it alone.”

Obama, who campaigned on ending the war in Iraq, suggested that the view of the United States around the world has improved since his administration implemented his national security plan.

“Around the world, the United States is leading once more. From Europe to Asia, our alliances are stronger than ever. Our ties with the Americas are deeper. We’re setting the agenda in the region that will shape our long-term security and prosperity like no other—the Asia-Pacific.”

“When people around the world are asked, 'Which country do you admire most?' one nation comes out on top: the United States of America,” he added.

During the speech at the Academy’s Falcon Field, the president also seemed to subtly push back on some criticisms he’s weathered from opponents on his approach to national security.

Alluding to the criticism that the United States had “led from behind” during the March 2011 military operations in Libya, the president turned that phrase around, saying that the military prevented a massacre in the country “with an international mission in which the United States – and our Air Force – led from the front,” with extra emphasis on the last word of the sentence.

Obama also paraphrased a conservative buzzword –- “American exceptionalism” -- often used by Republican detractors to criticize the president's worldview.

“The United States has been, and will always be, the one indispensable nation in world affairs. This is one of the many examples of why America is exceptional,” he said.

And later, he used the phrase again: “I see an American Century because of the character of our country—the spirit that has always made us exceptional.”

The president also noted the spending reductions that will affect the military in the coming years, mandated in part by last summer's debt-ceiling agreement. But he said that he would not “allow us to make the mistakes of the past,” without getting into specifics.

The trip was the president’s second to Colorado, a crucial swing state for his re-election, in a month. He visited the University of Colorado at Boulder on April 23 on an official visit intended to urge Congress to pass measures to keep student loan interest rates low.

Mitt Romney said he expected the nation's unemployment rate to approach 6 percent by the end of his first term, should voters elect him president this fall.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said that he couldn't predict where the jobless rate might stand after a first year in office, but asserted it would decrease "quite substantially" depending on the conditions in the U.S. and abroad.

"I can't possibly predict precisely what the unemployment rate would be after one year. I can tell you, after a period of four years, by virtue of the policies we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent -- perhaps a little lower, depends in part upon the rate of growth [around] the globe, as well as what we're seeing here in the United States," Romney told TIME magazine's Mark Halperin.

Romney said in early May that an unemployment rate "over 4 percent is not cause for celebration."

The former Massachusetts governor said that his election and subsequent installation of policies would contribute to a change in perspective among businesses, and attract more investment as a result.

"We'd get the rate down quite substantially, and frankly, the key is we're going to show such job growth that there will be competition for employees again," he said. "And wages, we'll see the end of this decline."

The Congressional Budget Office, in its baseline projection of the economic and budget outlook, said it expects the unemployment rate to drop to around 6 percent naturally at some point in 2016, coincidentally toward the end of what would be a hypothetical first term for Romney.

President Barack Obama’s most glaring vulnerabilities this election cycle are laid bare in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, in which Americans say the incumbent commander in chief has either made no impact on pocketbook issues – or even made them worse.

More respondents said Obama made worse the budget deficit (47 percent), health care (43 percent), and the partisan divide in politics (39 percent) than those who said the president had improved – or at least made no difference – upon them during his first term in office.

Those are numbers that help explain the Romney campaign’s almost singular focus on the economy in prosecuting his case against Obama.

“What these polls are telling us is that we have a close race, and the number one issue on people's mind is the economy,” said an adviser to the former Massachusetts governor. “If you look at the president's performance on that No. 1 issue, he's getting failing grades across the board.”

Obama leads big with Latinos

There are issues on which the president has an advantage – Americans view Obama as having improved the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. auto industry, and protections for the middle class. And more respondents (32 percent) in the NBC/WSJ poll said they’re quite or extremely confident that the Democrat’s policies would improve the economy than the 19 percent who said the same for his Republican rival.

But Obama faces serious and stubborn frustration toward his handling of the economy. The number of Americans who said they expect the economy to improve over the next year dipped slightly, and 50 percent of poll-takers said that last month’s jobs report – which showed the economy added 115,000 jobs in April – was no reason for optimism.

Romney’s challenge, though, lies in convincing voters that he would represent an improvement over Obama.

First Thoughts: Economic pessimism is back

The new poll data show that the private sector resume that Romney frequently cites on the campaign trail is an asset, especially as it relates to how voters expect the Bain Capital co-founder to turn around the economy and close the budget deficit.

It also explains why the Obama campaign has launched a full-fledged attack on Romney’s business experience, in hopes of diminishing his advantage – for now – versus the president on those pocketbook issues.

“It depends how credible of a messenger Romney really is. Do people think that his work at Bain made life better for the average people?” said former Texas Rep. Martin Frost, a veteran Democratic campaigner. “The public probably doesn't know too much about Romney's record in the private sector, but my bet is they'll know a whole lot more by the end of the election.”

Thirty-five percent of Americans said Romney’s private sector career at Bain Capital is a major advantage in improving job creation; another 24 percent said it’s a minor advantage. A combined 59 percent said Romney’s background was an advantage in working to reduce the federal budget deficit.

(Voters’ impression of Romney’s business background is still positive, though less so, when it comes to ensuring corporations pay their fair share of taxes, protecting workers’ rights, and enforcing environmental standards for businesses.)

The data lay the groundwork for the summertime campaign battles, which Obama himself helped launch this week, when he openly called into question Romney’s qualifications to be president.

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama, Romney locked in tight contest

"The reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Gov. Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business expertise," Obama said at a press conference in Chicago. "And when you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits.  Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot."

Obama’s aggressive tack is directed toward erasing Romney’s advantage when it comes to the economy, what may prove to be the trump card should the former Massachusetts governor end up winning in November. For instance, 41 percent of poll respondents said they’re “not at all” confident that Obama has the right policies to improve the economy (36 percent said the same for Romney).

“What the Obama campaign wants to do is to continue focusing on issues that are not important to the overall anxieties that they have in terms of the economy right now,” said the Romney adviser. “They want to offer a distorted version of the governor’s business background, and we see it as an opportunity to remind the American people of the importance of free enterprise.”

But at the same time, more Americans, 32 percent, said that they’re quite or very confident in Obama’s proposals (versus 19 percent who said that of Romney). Four in 10 voters said they’re “somewhat confident” in Romney’s proposals, a number that could prove fluid as the president campaign works to define “Romney Economics” for the general public.

Those variables could all be shaken by factors outside of either campaign’s control, though. Frost expressed particular worry about the effect of a European backslide on the U.S. stock market – a tangible symbol that could temper voters’ thoughts toward Obama. “The economic situation is still pretty volatile. The numbers could coming out of Europe could really put a damper on things,” he said. “To the extent the stock market reacts adversely, that's a problem. If the stock market just kind of muddles through, it doesn't really affect the average person.”

Less than six months before November’s presidential election, President Obama enjoys a sizable lead over Mitt Romney among Latino voters, according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll of Latino respondents.

The challenge for the Obama campaign, however, will be turning out these voters, who aren’t as interested in the election as all other Americans are.

Larry Downing / Reuters

President Barack Obama speaks at a news conference after the 2012 NATO Summit May 21 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

In this survey, Obama holds a 34-point lead over Romney among registered Latino voters, 61 to 27 percent. In 2008, according to the exit polls, Obama defeated McCain among this key voting bloc, 67 to 31 percent.

In addition, Obama’s approval rating among all Latino adults stands at 61 percent (compared with 48 percent of all Americans in the new NBC/WSJ poll), and approval of his handling of the economy is at 54 percent (versus 43 percent overall).

Meanwhile, Romney is struggling with Latinos, the poll shows. Just 26 percent view him positively, while 35 percent see him in a negative light. By comparison, Obama’s positive/negative score among Latinos is 58/23 percent.

(Click here for a PDF of this NBC/WSJ/Telemundo poll.)

What’s more, this demographic group is more optimistic about the economy and the nation’s direction than the general population. Forty percent of Latinos believe the country is headed in the right direction (versus 33 percent of all Americans in the NBC/WSJ poll), and 46 percent of them say what they’ve read and heard recently makes them feel more optimistic about the economy (versus 42 percent).

But here’s a troubling sign for the Obama campaign: Latinos aren’t as excited about the upcoming election. A combined 68 percent of Latino voters say they are highly interested in the upcoming election (registering an “8”,”9”, or “10” on a 10-point scale). That’s compared with 81 percent of all voters who express high interest.

This NBC/WSJ/Telemundo survey -- an oversample from the just-released NBC/WSJ poll -- was conducted May 16-21 of 300 adults who identified themselves as coming from a Latino or Spanish-speaking background. That sample includes 119 interviews that were conducted in Spanish.

The overall margin of error for this survey is plus-minus 5.7 percentage points. The margin of error for the 188 registered Latino voters survey is plus-minus 7.2 percentage points.

NBC/WSJ poll: Economic pessimism is back, and that ties directly into Romney’s message… But these are still re-electable numbers for Obama (see Bush in 2004)… Poll also shows doubts about Romney, which Team Obama is trying to exploit… The Dems’ empathy edge… Introducing our NBC/WSJ/Telemundo oversample of Latino respondents, which comes on the very day Romney speaks at a Latino Coalition Economic Summit in DC… Q-Poll: Romney’s up in FL… Rattner blasts Romney… And about those Arkansas and Kentucky primary results (is anyone really surprised by this?).

Charlie Riedel / AP

President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address to graduates of Joplin High School Monday, May 21, 2012, in Joplin, Mo.

*** Economic pessimism is back: Our new NBC/WSJ poll provides a pretty clear understanding of WHY the two campaigns are pushing the messages we’re seeing on the campaign trail and in their TV ads. For the Romney camp, it wants to channel the public’s economic anxiety and use that as a political weapon against President Obama. And our poll shows that economic pessimism -- after the April jobs report, new worries out of Europe, and stock losses -- is back. Only 33% of respondents believe the economy will get better in the next year, down five points from April and seven points from March. In addition, approval of Obama’s economic handling stands at 43%, down two points from last month, his worst showing on this question since December. And just a third of respondents (33%) think the nation is headed in the right direction, which is consistent with the numbers from our previous NBC/WSJ polls this year. So this begs the question…

*** Are these re-electable numbers for Obama? The answer to that question is yes. Just look at our May 2004 NBC/WSJ poll. Back then, George W. Bush’s economic handling was 41% (Obama’s is 43%); 33% said the nation is headed in the right direction (identical to now); Bush’s overall approval rating was 47% (Obama’s in our new poll is 48%); and Bush was leading John Kerry in the presidential ballot by three points. 48%-45% (Obama is leading Romney in our poll by four, 47%-43%). So despite these numbers, Obama can win re-election, but it’s no cakewalk. “Obama’s chances for re-election … are no better than 50-50,” says NBC/WSJ co-pollster Peter Hart (D). “It tells you this is a dead-even race.”

*** Romney the successful businessman vs. Romney the vulture CEO of Bain Capital: While the Romney camp wants to make the economic pessimism stick to the incumbent president, Team Obama wants to raise doubts about Romney. Although just 32% say they are either “extremely” our “quite” confident that Obama has the right policies and goals for the country, only 19% say the same about Romney. What’s more, Romney’s fav/unfav in the survey is STILL upside down at 34%/38%, versus Obama’s positive 49%/41% score. And Bain Capital’s fav/unfav is 9%/19% -- which means it’s negative to the people who’ve heard about it. But the poll also shows that Romney’s business background is a plus. Nearly 60% say that his background could be a major or minor advantage for improving the economy, and another six in 10 say it could help to reduce the federal budget deficit. Our pollsters tell us candidates with business backgrounds have an initial “halo effect” with voters. This all explains why the Obama camp is trying to lessen Romney’s business “halo effect” through its campaign against Bain.

*** The Dems’ empathy edge: There’s one more message that Team Obama is trying to trumpet (and it goes to the heart of what Obama said about Romney and Bain on Monday) -- empathy. In our poll, Republicans have a clear advantage when it comes to which party is more sensitive and attuned to religious conservatives (51-point edge), men and women in the military (an eight-point advantage), and small business owners (six points). But that’s it. Democrats have the advantage everywhere else: retirees (two points), you and your family (seven points), stay-at-home moms (eight points), the middle class (13 points), working women (26 points), young adults under 30 (29 points), Hispanics/Latinos (35 points), and gays and lesbians (58 points). The Obama campaign wants voters to believe Romney doesn’t have share their VALUES, and that disqualifies him for the office. The Romney campaign, meanwhile, believes their road to the White House is making the case the Obama doesn’t have the SKILLS to get the economy moving again and that disqualifies him for a second term.

*** Introducing our new NBC/WSJ/Telemundo oversample: Later today, we will debut our brand-new NBC/WSJ/Telemundo oversample of Hispanic or Spanish-speaking respondents. We conducted a statistically significant 300 interviews here in our NBC/WSJ poll, and we’ll unveil those numbers today -- on the very day Romney addresses a Latino Coalition Economic Summit in DC at noon ET. How are Latinos viewing Obama and Romney? What about the economy and the nation’s direction? We’ll have answers to those questions.

*** Romney leads Obama in Florida, according to Q-Poll: Speaking of polls, a new Quinnipiac survey shows Romney leading Obama in the battleground of Florida among registered voters, 47%-41%. Tomorrow, we’ll have a slew of new NBC/Marist surveys, so stay tuned.

*** Rattner blasts Romney: One of the downsides to Republicans and the Romney campaign citing the Cory Bookers, Steve Rattners, etc. when it comes to Bain Capital is this: These folks are supporting Obama, not Romney. And today in a New York Times op-ed, Rattner clarifies his position on Bain – and unloads on Romney in the process. “On Monday, Mr. Obama struck the right balance, emphasizing that he wasn’t attacking private equity but was questioning Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital credentials to be the job creator in chief. That’s fair, particularly because Mr. Romney himself has been foolishly reweaving history to claim, as recently as last week, that he helped create 100,000 jobs during his time at Bain. In fact, Bain Capital — like other private equity firms — was founded and managed for profit: ideally, huge amounts of gain earned legally and legitimately. Any job creation was a welcome but secondary byproduct.” Rattner concludes: “Adding jobs was never Mitt Romney’s private sector agenda, and it’s appropriate to question his ability to do so.” 

*** About Arkansas and Kentucky: Republicans last night were doing victory dances regarding the results coming out of Arkansas and Kentucky, which showed Obama getting less than 60% of the vote in those Democratic primaries. This is a bad headline for Obama -- just like the story about some West Virginia Democrats voting for a convicted felon over Obama was. But let’s also not pretend that what took place in Arkansas and Kentucky (or West Virginia before that) was surprising to anyone who’s been covering politics for more than a couple of years. In these southern/Appalachian states, there are A LOT of folks who are still registered Democrats but who consistently vote Republican in presidential elections. Ever wondered how Obama would do if 30%-40% of Democratic primary voters consisted of conservatives and people who will vote Republican in a presidential contest? We found out last night. The point is Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia are among the last states of the culturally southern states that haven’t actually bothered to change their party registration; it’s as simple as that. 

Countdown to WI recall: 14 days
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Countdown to Dem convention: 104 days
Countdown to Election Day: 168 days

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*** Wednesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) on Romney's education push and more… Pollsters Fred Yang and Bill McInturff take a deep dive into the NBC/WSJ numbers… NBC's Richard Engel with the latest on the Egyptian elections… More 2012 headlines with the Washington Post's Nia-Malika Henderson, USA Today's Susan Page and Roll Call's David Drucker.

*** Wednesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews American Crossroads’ Steven Law, National Journal’s Major Garrett; thegrio.com’s Perry Bacon; Voto Latino’s Maria Teresa Kumar; Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D); UFT’s Randi Weingarten.

*** Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts talks with Jamal Simmons, S.E. Cupp, Anne Kornblut, and Melissa Harris Perry.

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Colin Powell, NBC’s Chuck Todd, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Steve Rattner, MSNBC Political analyst Charlie Cook and NBC’s Richard Engel.

*** Wednesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Jimmy Williams, Anne Kornblut, and Michael Smerconish.

Here’s our take on the new NBC/WSJ poll: “Despite a volatile and eventful past few weeks in the early presidential contest, President Barack Obama continues to hold a small – and slightly narrowing – lead over Mitt Romney… But given the public’s pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country, Romney finds himself well within striking distance in an election that has the potential to be as close as the 2004 race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry.”

Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take: “Voters remain deeply pessimistic about the nation's future and uncertain of President Barack Obama's ability to set the economy on the right course… The president tops the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, 47% to 43%, when Americans are asked their choice today for president, a lead little changed from last month and within the poll's margin of error. But the poll found much to stir concern within the burgeoning Obama re-election campaign.”

Romney is up six points (47%-41%) in Florida, according to a new Quinnipiac poll out today. The race was essentially deadlocked earlier this month and Obama had a seven-point lead in March.

Bloomberg: “Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are on track to raise more than $1.5 billion to finance their presidential campaigns, and only an elite segment of the electorate will see them do it: their own donors. … This is the first presidential race since the public financing system was enacted, in time for the 1976 election, in which both candidates shunned all taxpayer money in favor of funding their operations with individual donations. That means they’ll devote more time to gathering cash. Obama already has held more fundraisers for his re-election -- 138 since April 2011 -- than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton during their second presidential campaigns.  So far, Obama and Romney have chosen to conduct their check collecting mostly out of the public eye, hosting off-the-record fundraisers with such celebrities as George Clooney and billionaires, including [Philip] Frost [of Teva Pharmaceuticals].”

John Harwood in the New York Times: “In One Corner, a Champion of Government. In the Other, Its Foe.”

“Uncommitted” in Kentucky and an opponent in Arkansas got about 40% of the vote in the Democratic primaries last night against President Obama. This comes a week after West Virginia Democrats gave about 40% of the vote to a man who was a convicted felon serving time in prison in another state. The Republican National Committee is doing a social media push today with new “Fired up! Ready to go! Uncommitted” buttons.

But none of this should be all that surprising. Obama struggled in the Democratic primaries in 2008 in Appalachia, and it was his worst area of the country in the general election.

“How often I heard it said, ‘Nobody likes change but a baby with a dirty diaper,’” William Turner, chairman of Appalachian Studies at Berea College, told West Virginia public radio in 2008 after Obama’s loss to Hillary Clinton in the primary. “So this kind of change is maybe just a little too much for people to absorb.”

Turner, who grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky, added, “I don’t think Barack could have in the short time he had change these long-standing stereotypes of black people or Appalachia. So what we need is just more education, more interaction, people getting to know each other better. And if he did nothing else but held up a mirror so we see ourselves better than we did last week, that’s good that he did that.”

The piece interviewed several people who invoked Obama’s race and suspicions about his religion for not being open to voting for him, and one man who voted for Clinton couldn’t even recall her name.

The Washington Post editorial page says Obama is trying to have it “both ways on private equity” and thinks his “vampire” ad goes too far: “What we’re left with is a president who seems content to present an even-handed view of private equity at his news conferences while propounding a much more tendentious one in his campaign advertising. Pointing out that a business career hasn’t fully prepared Mr. Romney to be president, in other words, is a long way from suggesting that he’s a vampire.”

Bloomberg: “From extra shifts at auto and steel plants in Ohio to office buildings rising in Northern Virginia, the geography of the U.S. economic rebound is providing an edge to President Barack Obama’s re-election. The unemployment rates in a majority of the 2012 battleground states are lower than the national average as those economies improve.”

Of course, as NBCPolitics.com’s Michael O’Brien wrote earlier this month, the recoveries in those states have been uneven.

The Boston Globe’s Johnson: Vice President Joe Biden today laced into the Republican Party and its presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, saying its Tea Party faction had blocked progress by President Obama while Romney wants to take the country back to recessionary practices.

Romney’s up with a video highlighting stories of people struggling financially.

What the Boston Globe took out of yesterday’s Washington Post/ABC poll: “Mitt Romney remains in a virtual tie with President Obama, but Americans no longer believe he would manage the nation’s economic recovery better than the incumbent….”

“Mitt Romney on Tuesday announced an extensive list of education policy advisers, further adding to the growing roster of voices helping the presumptive Republican presidential nominee flesh out his policies on major national issues,” the Boston Globe writes. “The policy group includes several top officials from the administration of President George W. Bush….”

“Mitt Romney has begun delivering a series of weekly policy speeches aimed at outlining his proposals and drawing contrasts with President Barack Obama on issues from education and health care to energy and debt,” the Washington Post writes.

So where do Romney and Obama actually differ on education? The Fiscal Times wrote earlier this month: “On the surface at least, President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney see eye to eye on a number of key education issues: Both politicians place great store in standardized testing to evaluate teacher performance and student progress, and both generally back former President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind program. Both favor charter schools as an alternative to failing public schools and merit pay to attract better teachers. And both have had their run-ins with teachers unions.”

But: “Yet on critical issues of funding and government aide to colleges and local schools, the two rivals couldn’t be further apart, and some experts say those are the most telling and significant differences between the two rivals. Romney insists that the Department of Education has grown too big and intrusive on state and local officials, and has pledged to either sharply downsize it or merge it with another federal agency.”

Reap what you sow… Donald Trump wants to speak at the GOP convention. Trump again recently questioned Obama’s place of birth.

RUBIO: Adding Rubio to the ticket adds two points to Romney’s lead in Florida, according to Quinnipiac – from 47%-41% to 49%-41%.

RYAN: NBC’s Alex Moe reports from California: “Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), a potential vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney, had harsh words for President Barack Obama Tuesday evening, but told the crowd the nation could get back on the right track with the 2012 election. ‘We face not just a failed president, but a failed ideology. We face a pessimistic mood in the nation's capital. A belief that our best days are over and the only thing left to do is to manage the nation's decline,’ Ryan told the nearly 1,000-person crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. ‘But, we have the same opportunity today to reject this defeatist attitude and to embrace a positive reform agenda possible to kick start a new era of prosperity, an American renewal, a comeback.’”

Ryan, it’s worth noting, was a reliable vote for former President George W. Bush’s agenda -- Ryan voted for the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq war authorization, and the Medicare prescription-drug plan.

Jae C. Hong / AP

House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Ryan, a potential pick to join Mitt Romney's presidential ticket, blamed President Barack Obama on Tuesday for anemic job growth and unchecked spending and debt that he said are pushing the nation toward decline.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), a potential vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney, had harsh words for President Barack Obama Tuesday evening, but told the crowd the nation could get back on the right track with the 2012 election.
 
"We face not just a failed president, but a failed ideology. We face a pessimistic mood in the nation's capital. A belief that our best days are over and the only thing left to do is to manage the nation's decline,” Ryan told the nearly 1,000-person crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “But, we have the same opportunity today to reject this defeatist attitude and to embrace a positive reform agenda possible to kick start a new era of prosperity, an American renewal, a comeback.”
 
The House Budget Committee chairman, who focused the majority of his 30-minute address on Obama, said the president continues to want “to take us further in the wrong direction” and acknowledged the only way to make progress is “the removal of certain partisan roadblocks” -- like the president.
 
“Americans have always rejected those with nothing to offer but cynicism and the politics of division. And right now, that’s all they are getting from the president,” Ryan said, noting the president has become “just another Washington politician.”
 
Romney, who Ryan threw his support behind before the primary in his home state of Wisconsin, is the man who can best change the trajectory of America according to the Congressman.
 
“What I see in Mitt Romney are the kind of tools, the kind of skills, the kind of character and attributes you need in a leader. He makes decisions. He doesn’t pander. And so what I see is a person who understands the moment our country is facing and a person who is willing to do what it takes to get us out of the path we are on and back on a path to prosperity,” Ryan said. “I really believe he is the right guy for the times and I think he is going to beat Barack Obama and I think we are going to save this country.”

Former first lady Nancy Reagan, 90, who invited Ryan to speak at the library was scheduled to attend but it was announced at start of event she is at home on doctor's orders recovering from broken bones she suffered in a fall a few weeks back.
 
This high profile speech in California will only continue speculation that the seven term congressman may be selected to serve as Romney’s No. 2. Both New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Florida Senator Marco Rubio – two additional names on the potential VP list – have spoken at the venue.  Asked about accepting the position if approached by the presumptive nominee, Ryan did not completely shut down the idea as other Republicans in question have recently.
 
“That’s somebody else’s decision months away and that’s a conversation I need to have with my wife before I have it all with you,” Ryan said to loud applause, but added, “I like what I am doing. Don’t underestimate how important Congress is.”
 
The Congressman did say he was optimistic Republicans would retain control of the House and gain control of the Senate but cautioned, “you can’t take anything for granted.”

President Obama headed toward wins in both primaries Tuesday in Arkansas and Kentucky, but suffered losses of about 40 percent of the vote in each contest against token opposition.

Over four in 10 Democratic voters in Kentucky's primary on Tuesday chose the "uncommitted" option versus President Barack Obama, who won the state's primary. 

And perennial candidate John Wolfe, Jr. took just about 40 percent of the primary vote versus Obama in Arkansas, according to early returns tabulated by the Associated Press. (Wolfe won't be awarded any delegates, either.) 

The president's performance in both contests carries no substantive importance; Obama has already scored the necessary delegates in previous caucuses and primaries to be re-nominated by Democrats, and he wasn't expected to win either Arkansas or Kentucky in the general election versus Mitt Romney.

But the primaries carry a degree of symbolic weight, if only to fuel Republicans' gawking about how an incumbent president could fare so poorly in primaries despite facing no meaningful opponent. 

Romney wins Kentucky, Arkansas primaries

Obama lost 65 of 120 counties in Kentucky to the uncommitted option, though most of those counties were lost by a slim margin, in some of the least populous counties in the state.

But Republicans have been especially eager to point toward the fact that Kentucky's primary is closed only to Democrats, meaning that some portion of the state's Democrats had to turn out at the polls (likely to participate in other contests on the ballot), and decide to explicitly oppose a president of the same party. 

Lessons learned from inmate's challenge to Obama in W.Va.

That was the same case in the West Virginia primary earlier this month, when convicted felon Keith Judd won about 41 percent in a similarly uncompetitive primary. 

But all three states — West Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas — are home to either Appalachian or white, rural poor voters with whom Obama has traditionally struggled and historically underperformed in 2008 versus other Democratic presidential candidates. Some political observers have suggested that Obama's race has unduly weighed on his prospects in those ares. Moreover, turnout in each contest was especially low, opening the door for swings in the vote.

The general election, though, won't generally be fought in states where these voters make up a large portion of the electorate, more likely making Tuesday's primary results a footnote to the 2012 campaign than a dominating theme.

Larry Downing / Reuters

President Barack Obama speaks at a news conference after the 2012 NATO Summit at McCormick Place in Chicago, May 21, 2012.

Despite a volatile and eventful past few weeks in the early presidential contest, President Barack Obama continues to hold a small – and slightly narrowing – lead over Mitt Romney, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

But given the public’s pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country, Romney finds himself well within striking distance in an election that has the potential to be as close as the 2004 race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry.

“Obama’s chances for re-election ... are no better than 50-50,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican Bill McInturff.

“So much has happened, and so little has changed,” Hart adds. “And it tells you this is a dead-even race.”

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama's gay-marriage announcement a 'draw'

This poll – which was taken after the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, Obama’s announcement in support of gay marriage, fresh economic worries about Europe, and last month’s tepid jobs report – shows the Democrat leading Romney by four points among registered voters, 47 percent to 43 percent.

In April, Obama’s edge in the survey was two points higher, 49 percent to 43 percent.

In the newest poll, Obama leads Romney among African Americans (88 percent to 2 percent), 18 to 34 year olds (55 percent to 35 percent), women (53 percent to 38 percent), independents (44 percent to 36 percent), and seniors (46 percent to 44 percent).

Romney, meanwhile, holds the advantage with whites (52 percent to 39 percent), men (49 percent to 40 percent), suburban residents (47 percent to 41 percent), Midwest residents (48 percent to 43 percent), and high-interest voters (47 percent to 44 percent). 

Down on the economy and nation’s direction
Yet attitudes about the economy and country’s direction appear to give Romney more than a puncher’s chance to make up his deficits against Obama.

Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

Mitt Romney speaks to supporters in front of Sawyer Bridge during a campaign event in Hillsborough, N.H., May 18, 2012.

Only 33 percent of respondents believe the economy will get better in the next year, which is down five points from April, and seven points from March. In addition, approval of Obama’s handling of the economy stands at 43 percent, down two points from last month.

“It feels a little tick worse” than it was earlier in the year, GOP pollster McInturff said about the economy.

What’s more, just a third of respondents think the nation is headed in the right direction, which is virtually unchanged from this year's previous NBC/WSJ polls (but remains significantly higher than late last year, after Washington’s debt-ceiling showdown).

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

And by a 48 to 45 percent margin, they think the U.S. is experiencing a long-term decline versus ordinarily tough times, while another 63 percent aren’t confident that life for their children will be better than it’s been for them.

Obama’s high marks – and low ones
But Americans also give Obama high marks on key issues. By a 54 to 13 percent margin, they say his approach and policies have made the Iraq war better.

By a 48 to 18 percent margin, they say he’s improved the war in Afghanistan. And by 47 to 18 percent margin, they say he’s helped the U.S. auto industry.

But respondents give him negative marks on the budget deficit (47 percent say he’s made things worse), health care (43 percent), partisanship in politics (39 percent) the economy (37 percent) and the housing market (32 percent).

The president’s overall job-approval rating in the poll stands at 48 percent, which is virtually unchanged from April, and his foreign-policy handling is at 51 percent.

Advantages for Romney – and doubts about him
The NBC/WSJ poll also shows that respondents believe that Romney’s business background is an asset that can be applied to several issues.

Nearly 60 percent say that business background can be a major or minor advantage for improving the country’s economic and job conditions, and nearly six in 10 say it could help to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Another 57 percent believe it could be an advantage in signing trade deals with foreign countries.

But doubts remain about Romney. While just 32 percent say they are either “extremely” or “quite” confident that Obama has the right policies and goals for the country, only 19 percent say the same about Romney.

And regarding Romney’s past work at the private-equity firm Bain Capital, the poll shows that 9 percent have a positive view of the firm and 19 percent have a negative view; 53 percent either weren’t sure or weren’t familiar with it.

In the last two weeks, the Obama campaign has pointed to examples where Bain – under Romney’s leadership – took over companies, saddled them with debt, laid off workers, all while making big profits for the investors.

A replay of 2004?
Given all of these different elements – the president’s approval rating, attitudes about the country’s direction and economy, doubts about the challenger – this presidential race looks very similar to the 2004 one between Bush and Kerry.

According to the May 2004 NBC/WSJ poll, Bush’s approval rating was 47 percent (Obama’s is 48 percent); just 33 percent thought the nation was headed in the right direction (33 percent say that now); and approval of Bush's handling of the economy was at 41 percent (Obama’s is 43 percent).

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

And also in May 2004, Bush was leading Kerry by three points, 48 percent to 45 percent (Obama is now leading Romney by four points).

Hart, the Democratic pollster, sees this additional parallel to 2004: Both Democrats and Republicans will spend an enormous amount of money to influence a sliver of undecided voters.

Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, Hart says, “Never will so much money be spent to persuade so few.”

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted May 16-20 of 1,000 adults (250 reached by cell phone), and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points; among registered voters, the margin of error is plus-minus 3.4 percentage points.

NBC’s Domenico Montanaro contributed to this story.

KEENE, N.H. -- Someone page "Joe the Plumber." He might want to hear this one. 

As the Obama campaign continues its assault on Mitt Romney's record as the CEO of investment firm Bain Capital, Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the business experience like the presumptive GOP nominee's is no more qualifying than that of a Roto-Rooter. 

"Your job as president is to promote the common good," he said, comparing the job of a president to that of a private equity mogul. "That doesn't mean that private equity guys are bad guys; they're not. But that no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber!" 

Biden, who spoke to a crowd of over 450 supporters and students at Keene State College, called the private-equity business itself "legitimate," but pushed the administration's argument that its imperative of wealth creation for investors doesn't translate to the skill set of a national leader. 

"Folks, making money for your investors, as Romney did very well, is not the president's job," he said. "The president has a different job." 

The visit to Keene State College was Biden's fourth trip this year to the Granite State, where Romney overwhelmingly won the GOP primary earlier this year. 

The vice president, who made a similar case last week in swing state Ohio, painted Romney on Tuesday as an economic throwback to the Bush administration and as the cultural equivalent of the clean cut dad from a black-and-white TV sitcom. 

"We will not go back to the 50s on social policies, to the Cold War on foreign policy, and the policies of the last administration on our economic policies," he said, raising his voice above applause. "We will not do it their way again. We intend to move forward." 

With a nod to the equine Triple Crown competitor recently in the news, Biden said Romney's affinity for policies of the past has the same ring to it as the colt's name. 

"He begins to sound a little like the horse that just won the Derby and the Preakness. "I'll Have Another." Except the horse was a real winner!" Biden exclaimed. 

While the Scranton-born pol took heat from Republicans last week for calling himself "Middle Class Joe" despite a $2m Wilmington home, Biden made a point today to note his humble roots and his subsequent success as a public servant. 

"I don't live like I did when I was growing up," he said. "I have a beautiful home. You pay me a lot of money. But I remember." 

Soccer moms, or whatever the lexicon is nowadays, are a key swing group -- one both sides are watching. Today, Crossroads GPS went up with a $10 million ad buy making a play for the group across 10 battleground states.

Crossroads says the ad will run beginning today in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

In 2008, Obama narrowly won suburban women, and he led narrowly with them in the most recent NBC/WSJ poll.

By the way, the woman in the ad is an "actor based on a composite of women Crossroads interviewed in focus groups," said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio.

Two weeks after President Obama announced he supports gay marriage, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that his announcement -- politically -- looks to be a wash.

Larry Downing / Reuters

President Barack Obama gestures upon arriving at Joplin Regional Airport aboard Air Force One in Missouri.

In the poll, a combined 17 percent say it makes them "much more likely" or "somewhat more likely" they will vote for him. That's compared with a combined 20 percent who say the announcement will make them more likely to vote for Mitt Romney, who opposes gay marriage.

Perhaps more importantly, 62 percent say the president's support for gay marriage doesn't make a difference in their vote -- including 75 percent of independents, 76 percent of moderates, 81 percent of African Americans, and 65 percent of residents in the Midwest.

"From my distance, it looks more like a voting draw than anything else," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

In addition, the NBC/WSJ poll finds that a majority -- 54 percent -- would support a law in their state making same-sex marriage legal. Twenty four percent would actively support such a law, while 30 percent would favor it but not actively support it.

By comparison, a combined 40 percent say they would oppose such a law.

Asked to reconcile this majority supporting gay marriage in their states with North Carolina recently voting to for an amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, McInturff says the respondents in this poll are different than the types of people who would vote in that kind of election.

The full NBC/WSJ poll -- conducted May 16-20 of 1,000 adults, with an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points -- will be released at 6:30 pm ET.

Obama unloads on Romney, delivering his harshest and most personal indictment against the GOPer to date… Romney fires back… How do we know this race is close? When both men are going to extremes to disqualify each other… It’s NBC/WSJ poll day!... WaPo/ABC poll shows Obama at 49%, Romney 46%... Powell praises Obama, but doesn’t endorse (yet)… Booker: “I am very upset that I am being used by the GOP this way”… The myth of the “Catholic vote”… And Biden stumps in New Hampshire, while Romney raises money in NYC.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks at a press conference during the NATO Summit at McCormick Place on May 21, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.

*** Obama unloads on Romney: Over the course of the past year, Mitt Romney has fiercely criticized President Obama and his presidency at every opportunity -- which isn’t surprising given the nearly yearlong GOP primary campaign; being a candidate is his full-time job. But yesterday, President Obama became Candidate Obama and delivered his harshest and most personal indictment against Romney to date. (Remember, Obama criticisms have usually been directed more at the Republican Party than Romney.) The thrust of Obama’s argument: Romney isn’t qualified to be president. When asked at the NATO summit in Chicago about Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s (D) criticism of the Obama campaign’s attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, the president responded this way: “If your main argument for how to grow the economy is I knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you’re missing what this job is about. It doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity, but that’s not what my job is as president. My job is to take into account everybody, not just some. My job is to make sure that the country is growing not just now, but 10 years from now and 20 years from now.”

*** Romney fires back: Interestingly, Obama better articulated this argument against Romney and Bain -- private equity is a healthy part of capitalism, but leveraged buyouts don’t qualify you to be president -- than from any other Democrat we’ve heard in the past couple of weeks. And while the entire Booker episode wasn’t helpful to the campaign, it elevated the discussion about Bain (in fact, we’ve been talking about it for the past two weeks now) and it gave Obama a high-profile opportunity to make his side’s attack. Romney responded to Obama with this statement yesterday: “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.” The best thing Romney has going for him on Bain are the lack of Democratic surrogates who seem to back the president’s criticisms. In fact, the Romney campaign video using Booker, Harold Ford Jr. and Steve Rattner is a pretty effective pushback. What’s also pretty effective counter-pushback: A Priorities USA video showing Gingrich, Perry, Huntsman, and Palin hitting Romney on Bain. (Remember that?)

*** Going to extremes: Yesterday’s back-and-forth made us wonder if this is May or October. How do we know the Obama-Romney race is close? Because both men are going to the extremes to disqualify each other. Obama’s argument is that Romney doesn’t have the values to be president (he’ll look out only for the 1%, not the 99%); Romney’s is that Obama doesn’t have the skills (he’s never run a business and his policies have failed). In addition, we’ve now seen Republicans -- Marco Rubio was the latest -- to describe Obama as the most divisive president in modern times. (Yet channeling National Journal’s Jill Lawrence, Obama is only the most polarizing president since Bush, who was the most polarizing president since Clinton, who was the most polarizing since Reagan, etc…. And, boy, that Lincoln was so polarizing that his election triggered the Civil War.)

*** NBC/WSJ poll day! It’s worth noting that Obama has been unable to drive a message on the economy in May. For instance, there was the recent NATO summit on Afghanistan. There also was Obama’s own announcement on Afghanistan, as well as the Osama bin Laden anniversary and the gay-marriage announcement. So how do Americans currently view the economy? Where does the Obama-Romney contest currently stand? Tune in to “Nightly News” or click on to msnbc.com for the answers to those questions from our brand-new NBC/WSJ poll beginning at 6:30 pm ET. Meanwhile, a new Washington Post/ABC poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by three points among registered voters, 49%-46%, though it’s within that survey’s margin of error. The poll shows the two men deadlocked on handling the economy, 47%-47%.

*** Powell praises Obama but doesn’t endorse: On “TODAY” this morning, Colin Powell largely praised Obama’s presidency thus far, though he said he was still waiting to make an endorsement. Powell told NBC’s Matt Lauer that Obama had stabilized the financial industry, rescued the auto industry, and taken the country out of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. His biggest criticism of the Obama administration, he said, was its failure to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, but he acknowledged that was due to congressional opposition. But Powell didn’t endorse Obama, saying that he wanted to listen to what Romney is saying.  “I owe that to the Republicans,” he said. 

Related: Colin Powell declines to endorse President Obama

*** Booker: “I am very upset that I am being used by the GOP this way”: While Republicans have made Cory Booker their new hero in the battle over Bain, it’s worth remembering that will only go so far. Booker, clearly nervous about how this episode is playing with base Democrats, went on “Rachel Maddow” last night, and said this: “I am very upset that I am being used by the GOP this way and it's, uh, while I thought today I was going to be quiet, I've been pushed so far that you are going to hear a lot from me to the extent possible and to the extent that President Obama and his campaign want to hear from me.”

Watch the video

*** The myth of the “Catholic vote”: Be sure not to miss msnbc.com’s Mike O’Brien piece on the myth of the Catholic vote. He writes, “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.”

*** On the trail: Vice President Biden gives a speech in Keene, NH at 1:45 pm ET (the Romney camp holds a conference call at 10:30 am pre-butting his speech)… Romney continues to raise money in New York… And the RNC is holding a conference call at 9:00 am charging that Obama has rolled out “the red carpet for the Castro family.”

*** Primaries in Arkansas and Kentucky: While the GOP presidential contest is essentially over, Arkansas and Kentucky hold their presidential primaries today. Here’s where the delegate race stands: Romney 992, Santorum 253, Gingrich 131, Paul 119. That means that Romney is 152 delegates away from mathematically clinching the GOP nomination, which he’ll probably do on May 29 when Texas holds its primary.

*** Veepstakes watch: Paul Ryan speech at the Reagan Library at 9:00 pm ET…And per NBC’s Alex Moe, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he would disconnect the phone if the VP call was coming, he said on FOX yesterday.

Countdown to WI recall: 14 days
Countdown to GOP convention: 97 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 104 days
Countdown to Election Day: 168 days

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*** Tuesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) on their latest effort for a bipartisan push to help create jobs… NBC’s Pete Williams on the birth control battle for health care… Politico’s Jonathan Martin takes a deep dive on where the battleground ad spending is happening the most… More 2012 headlines with Bloomberg News’ Jeanne Cummings, communications strategist Jill Zuckman, and the Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy’s Michelle Bernard.

*** Tuesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), NY Times’ Nicholas Confessore, astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, Salon.com’s Steve Kornacki, the Atlantic’s Molly Ball, and president of “The Advocate” Matt Smith.

*** Tuesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’S Thomas Roberts talks with former RNC Chair Michael Steele, Richard Goodstein, USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich, CNBC’s John Harwood, NAACP Vice-Chair Leon Russell, Pastor Delman Coates, and USA Today’s Susan Page.

*** Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews NBC’s Chuck Todd, NBC’s Lester Holt, NBC’s Ron Mott, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), former Defense Sec. William Cohen, Politico’s Roger Simon, Dem strategist Tad Devine and GOP strategist John Feehery.

*** Tuesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews the Washington Post’s Nia-malika Henderson and Michael Smerconish (on Bain and Booker fallout), Salon.com’s Irin Carmon and Beckett Fund attorney Emily Hardman (on the birth-control lawsuits).

A new Washington Post/ABC poll finds Obama up 49%-46% over Romney, but they’re tied at on handling of the economy at 47% apiece. And Obama is upside down in his approval rating – 47%/49%. “Asked where they stand financially compared with when Obama took office in January 2009, 30 percent say they are worse off, and only 16 percent say they are better off,” the Post writes, adding, “On this question, Obama’s numbers continue to resemble those of George H.W. Bush, who lost his bid for reelection in 1992 amid a flagging economy.”

For as much money as Obama is spending on TV ads right now, Bloomberg reports under this headline: “Obama Hits Romney Less in TV Ads Than Bush Pounded Kerry in 2004.”

Gingrich Productions is in bankruptcy proceedings now, too.

Obama was asked about his campaign’s attacks on Romney’s experience in private equity. He insisted that the issue was not a “distraction.” And he made the case this way, per NBC’s Jordan Frasier: “I think there are folks that do good work in that area [private equity] and there are times when they identify the capacity for the economy to create new jobs or new industries. But understand that their priority is to maximize profits. And that's not always going to be good for communities or businesses or worker. And the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. … And, when you're president, as opposed to when you're 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.”

He added, “And so if your main argument for how to grow the economy is "I knew how to make a lot of money for investors" then you're missing what this job is about. That doesn't mean you weren't good at private equity. But that's not what my job is as president.”

AP: “It was Obama’s most expansive argument yet against Romney, and the president delivered it from a world stage in his home town.”

Bloomberg: “President Barack Obama cast his race against Republican Mitt Romney as a contest against a private-equity executive whose goal was maximizing profits, while the president’s job is to ‘figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot.’”

The Boston Globe called it a “pointed defense.”

The Boston Globe on the Ampad attack: “The saga of SCM Office Supplies Inc. in Marion, Ind., was used by Kennedy in television ads and campaign trail appearances by SCM workers to undercut Romney as he mounted the most serious reelection challenge of Kennedy’s career. 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.”

Priorities is using Romney’s GOP opponents against him in a new video on Bain.

Buzzfeed looks at Obama sometimes strains in corralling young, black leaders like ex-Rep. Artur Davis, ex-Rep. Harold Ford and Neward Mayor Cory Booker. “[F]ew figures have proven more troublesome than that cadre of black leaders, each of whom was seen at some point as a candidate for the post which only Obama will ever hold: First Black President,” Buzzfeed writes, adding, “The men have, for reasons of politics and personality, found themselves largely to the right of the president and well outside his inner circle.”

The reality is, though, as the story points out, Davis’s and Ford’s politics are more to the right of Obama because they were trying to win statewide in southern states, Ford makes millions from Wall Street, and as Davis says in the story, “Cory Booker has a very close relationship with a number of people in the private equity world and the hedge fund world.”

Birthers, birthers everywhere… As the Washington Post puts it, last week it was Arizona, now it’s Iowa: O. Kay Henderson: “The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party’s platform committee says the group is intentionally questioning President Obama’s citizenship with the wording in one section of the document. It calls for presidential candidates to ‘show proof of being a ‘natural born citizen’ of the United States.’

“Don Racheter, chairman of the Iowa GOP’s 2012 platform committee, spoke with Radio Iowa by phone this afternoon. ‘There are many Republicans who feel that Barack Obama is not a ‘natural born citizen’ because his father was not an American when he was born and, therefore, feel that according to the Constitution he’s not qualified to be president, should not have been allowed to be elected by the Electoral College or even nominated by the Democratic Party in 2008, so this is an election year. It’s a shot at him,’ Racheter said.”

Rahm’s role: “President Obama’s reelection campaign is taking strategic advice from former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, whom one operative described as the ‘Democratic Party’s Karl Rove,’” The Hill writes. “Emanuel, a friend of both campaign manager Jim Messina and senior strategist and fellow Chicagoan David Axelrod, periodically weighs in ‘very clearly’ on what the campaign should be doing, a Democratic official said.”

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom responded on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports to the Obama campaign’s attacks on Bain: “[T]hese attacks are so old they have cob webs,” he said. We saw this attack rolled out by some of Mitt Romney's Republican opponents during the primary and it didn't work. Before that, we saw these negative attacks on Bain being used against Gov. Romney when he ran for governor in Massachusetts in 2002 and didn't work. Look, this election is going to be about jobs and the economy, but I agree with Mayor Booker who said that these attacks against Bain and free enterprise are nauseating.  I think people deserve better from president, after all he promised that if he didn't get this economy turned around in three-and-a-half years, he would be a one term president and Mitt Romney is here to collect on that.”

While Obama and Democrats may have been on defense after Cory Booker’s comments calling the attacks on Bain “nauseating” and “very uncomfortable” on Meet the Press, AP points out: “The core of his presidential candidacy under attack, Mitt Romney has yet to shape a playbook to defend a quarter-century in the business world that created great riches for himself and great hardship, at times, for some American workers. Romney and his aides have struggled to respond consistently to intensifying criticism about his tenure at Bain Capital and how it would be reflected in his presidency. The lack of a cohesive message stems, in part, from Romney's fundamental belief that any debate that puts the economy front and center is a win for Republicans.”