“President Barack Obama is reaffirming U.S. ties with Israel, upstaging Mitt Romney one day before the Republican challenger visits Jerusalem,” AP writes. “The White House says Obama will sign legislation Friday that expands military and civilian cooperation with Israel. The bill passed by voice vote in the House last week. The bill reiterates U.S. support for a negotiated two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

And there’s this: “The White House subtly injected itself into Romney's trip on Thursday after Romney caused a stir by calling London's problems with Olympics preparation ‘disconcerting.’ White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama ‘has the utmost confidence’ in Britain's ability to host the games.”

The Romney campaign is pushing that despite the White House’s and the president’s denials that national security leaks came from the White House, campaign adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe yesterday: “I can tell you, that the President of the United States did not leak classified information, as Mitt Romney suggested yesterday, didn't authorize the leak of classified information, as Mitt Romney suggested yesterday, and I think it was largely a diversion because what's he going to talk about?” And then said: “[T]here's an investigation going – well, you stop it by sending strong signals. Strong signals have been sent. There are leaks out of every administration.”

“Nearly four years after he was sent to the White House, less than half of American voters know President Obama is Christian, a new poll has found,” the New York Daily News writes. “A survey by the Pew Research Center found that only 49 percent of those polled knew Obama is Christian, while 17 percent thought he is Muslim and 31 percent said they don’t know. Surprisingly, the percentage of voters who know Obama is Christian has declined since October 2008, when 55 percent correctly identified him as Christian.”

Before there was the controversial Sarah Palin pick in 2008, there was Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern’s ill-fated selection in 1972. The Eagleton affair, in fact, ultimately changed how vice-presidential running mates are now made.

With political watchers on veepstakes alert for Mitt Romney’s eventual VP pick, below a mini-documentary on the Eagleton affair.

A little backstory: When McGovern arrived at the Democratic convention in Miami during the summer of '72, his campaign priority was to fend off rival Hubert Humphrey's last-ditch attempt to win the nomination through an obscure rule change. Picking a running mate was relegated to the backburner. After officially gaining the nod, McGovern was left with only an hour and a half to choose a No. 2 -- and he hastily settled on Sen. Thomas Eagleton (D-MO), a man with whom McGovern had only spoken twice.

"Vetting" the candidate was an afterthought, a decision that came to exemplify VP selection gone bad.  

LONDON -- Mitt Romney collected $2 million from expats at a fundraiser here this evening, delivering remarks that seemed to suggest the presumptive GOP presidential nominee was maybe measuring the drapes in the Oval Office, to an extent.

Romney told the crowd in the United Kingdom's capital that he was "looking forward to the bust of Winston Churchill being in the Oval Office again," referring to the sculpture of the towering World War II-era prime minister that President Obama removed from the Oval Office after taking office.

Charles Dharapak / AP

Republican presidential candidate. Mitt Romney walks out of 10 Downing Street after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London July 26.

"You live here, you see the sites day in and day out, but for me as I drive past the sculpture of Winston Churchill and see that great sculpture next to Westminster Abbey and Parliament and with him larger than life, enormous heft of that sculpture suggesting the scale of the the grandeur and the greatness of the man, it tugs at the heart strings to remember the kind of example that was led by Winston Churchill," Romney told donors gathered at the Mandarin Oriental hotel this evening.

Obama had the bust of Churchill replaced with a bust of Abraham Lincoln as part of the customary redecorating on which a new president usually embarks. At the time, some British news outlets speculated that the switch was an affront to the "special relationship" between the United States and United Kingdom.

Romney took questions from his 250 guests -- all American citizens who had their passports checked at the door -- while atypically allowing the press to remain in the room for the Q&A.

While Romney made no major news, he did criticize the financial regulatory reform bill -- a regular topic of his stump speech that took on pronounced meaning in London, one of the world's financial centers.

"I very much believe in updated regulation, but I believe Dodd-Frank has gone beyond what was appropriate for the sector. With regard to regulation here in the UK, I’ve got nothing to say about what goes on here, but back in the U.S. I want us to stay highly competitive, the financial capital of the world," Romney said. "At the same time I want to make sure that we protect the citizens in the nation and have rules that people can rely upon.

The presumptive GOP nominee did not further comment upon the day's other media kerfuffle, over comments he made appearing to criticize London's readiness to host the Olympic games, but did praise the games' setting in downtown London.

“What I love and I'm sure you've already seen this is how the organizers have placed the Olympic venues right in the heart of the city. So that it's not that Olympics will be off in some far place that only people who are able to get a ticket can then experience, instead it's right here," Romney said.

Romney was accompanied by his sons Tagg and Craig, and their wives, along with his wife Ann, who over the weekend will travel to Wales to visit with relatives there, according to a campaign aide.

Earlier in the day, Romney met with a pantheon of current and former British government officials, including Prime Minister David Cameron, Foreign Secretary George Osbourne and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. A senior adviser to the campaign, present for the meetings said they mostly revolved around economic issues, including the looming fiscal cliff in the United States, and the Eurozone crisis here in Europe.

In remarks to reporters this afternoon, Romney also disclosed that he spoke today with Sir John Sawers, the head of Britain's intelligence agency MI6; a meeting not on his public schedule and which his campaign would not explicitly confirm or comment upon after the fact.

House Republicans will allow a vote next week on the Democrats' bill to extend the expiring Bush tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Thursday.

Boehner said that Republicans were "more than happy" to bring to a vote the Democratic bill, which passed through the Senate on Wednesday in a narrow 51-48 vote.

The Democratic legislation extends the tax rates established by the President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 (referred to by many as the  “Bush tax cuts”) for only those households making $250,000 or less; tax rates for the highest income group would be allowed to spring back to their rate at the beginning of 2001.

Republicans will couple a vote on their own tax bill, which would extend the rates across the board for another calendar year, with the Democratic bill. These tax cuts were first set to expire at the end of 2009, but President Obama agreed with Republicans on legislation to extend the rates for another two years.

"If our Democrat colleagues want to offer the president's plan or the Senate Democrats' plan, we're more than happy to give them a vote," Boehner said.

Republicans are eager to allow a vote because the Democratic legislation is expected to fail in the GOP-led House. The Republican bill will likely pass, though neither bill will likely advance to the president's desk. Rather, both votes are largely for show and intended to put the other side's lawmakers on the record on taxes.

The battle over extending current tax rates equals nothing more than a common messaging war that both sides are happy to fight leading up to November's elections. Republicans want to be able to paint Democrats as trying to raise taxes on small business owners, while Democrats argue that Republicans want to give tax breaks to the richest Americans.

“The only thing standing in the way of a middle income tax cut is the House Republicans,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters today, “The Republicans want to spend hundreds of billions on an extra tax cut for people making over $250,000 a year.”

Obama echoed that call today, telling reporters that “the only thing that is going to prevent the vast majority of Americans from not seeing a tax increase next year is if the House doesn't act.”  Obama said that he and his cabinet members will continue to make that point in the coming days.

Both sides have conceded privately that this is a fight that will likely go down to the wire, when the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire on January 1, 2013. In the weeks before that deadline, Congress will need to address a number of issues that, taken together, have been deemed the “fiscal cliff” because of the potentially devastating consequences they could have on the economy if Congress does not act. 

In addition to addressing the scheduled expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Congress needs to reallocate automatic cuts scheduled to take effect as a result of the deficit Supercommittee’s failure last year. Because of their failure, automatic cuts to defense and non-defense agencies could result in an estimated 2 million jobs lost in 2013, a potentially massive blow to an already struggling economy.

In a speech at the Brookings Institution last week, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) threatened to use the extension of the tax rates as a bargaining chip going into year-end negotiations, which will also include the expiration of the payroll tax cut, as well as a fight over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling.

Murray says she could see a scenario in which Democrats allow all the tax cuts to expire, in an effort to put Republicans' feet to the fire so that they raise revenue to address the nation’s deficit. 

“If middle-class families start seeing more money coming out of their paychecks next year — are Republicans really going to stand up and fight for new tax cuts for the rich?,” Murray said in the speech, “Are they going to continue opposing the Democrats’ middle-class tax cut once the slate has been wiped clean?”

CORALVILLE, Iowa -- “The Bob brigade” kicked off a weekend of high profile surrogate events for Mitt Romney in battleground states across the country as the GOP nominee is overseas.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal spoke to voters in the swing state of Iowa on Thursday, calling President Obama a good, “family man,” while arguing his policies are failing and it’s time for a new president in the White House.

“You’re probably wondering why’s a guy from Virginia out here in Iowa. But Iowa and Virginia have a lot in common,” McDonnell told employees at Per Mar Security in Davenport early this morning. “Both are swing states, you know the president won big in both of our states last time, but the polls are a dead even heat now. So what happens in Virginia, what happens in Iowa could determine who’s going to be the next president of the United States.”

The two prominent GOP governors -- who have been rumored as potential vice presidential picks for Romney -- criticized Obama for his handling of the economy and not creating jobs.

“You know it's bad when the Europeans are giving us advice about too much spending and too much borrowing. That's like the town drunk telling you you've got a drinking problem,” Jindal told the crowd inside the Johnston County GOP Victory office. “You know it's bad when the Europeans are saying ‘Americans, you are spending and borrowing too much. Don't bother lecturing us about our problems.'"

Jindal came to Romney's additional defense in an afternoon conference call, when he was asked about a kerfuffle over Romney's assessment of London's preparation for the Olympics.

"We're not worried about overseas headlines, we're worried about voters here at home in America," Jindal told reporters.

Standing in front of a “191” poster at the first two events today, McDonnell pointed out that is the number of days since President Obama met with his jobs council. In that amount of time, the Virginia governor said, the president has had time to host numerous fundraisers and go golfing.

Both McDonnell and Jindal, whose trip today marks the first time they’ve stumped in Iowa for Romney, made a few phone calls to Republican super voters in the area following their speeches here.

While McDonnell heads back to the Old Dominion State, Jindal will continue heading West -- making two more stops today in the Hawkeye State on behalf of Romney, in Newton and West Des Moines.

Garrett Haake on First Read: “Mitt Romney said Wednesday that more restrictive gun laws would likely not have prevented last week's deadly mass shooting at a Colorado Cineplex, and argued that it would take Americans changing their hearts, not their legislation, to prevent similar future attacks.”

The Boston Globe on NBC’s Brian Williams’ interview with Romney: “Mitt Romney, responding to the deadly shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo., asserted Wednesday that the United States does not need stricter gun laws, saying they could not have stopped the killing of a dozen people by a lone gunman at a movie theater.”

The Wall Street Journal: “Mitt Romney rejected the idea that tougher gun laws could have prevented the deadly rampage in Aurora, Colo., saying in an interview Tuesday that a legislative remedy would not thwart people who want to cause harm.”

“Dan Gross -- president of the pro-gun control Brady Campaign -- tells The New Yorker that Governor Romney did more for Brady's cause than President Obama,” GOP 12 writes. But that was then… Nowadays: "Romney has certainly gone further out of his way to pander to the gun lobby during the election.”

“The Telegraph, which refused to identify the speaker, released a statement late Wednesday in which it stood by the accuracy of its story,” the New York Daily News writes. “Romney’s team, which questioned other recent news reports, including a Boston Globe investigation into the candidate’s time at Bain Capital, did not immediately demand a retraction.”

The Hill: “Rough start for Romney foreign trip.”

Charles Krauthammer says the answer to all of Romney’s problems is to show “he’s human”: "Romney has the ultimate edge,” he told FOX. “There's no way the economy will turn around between now and the election day; whereas, it's not inconceivable -- it's likely, actually -- that Romney can change the perception of him as a stiff, stolid, plutocrat who cares nothing. All he has to do is show up in the debates that he's human.... the minute Romney does, he'll win the election." (H/t: GOP 12.)

Sheldon Adelson might meet up with Romney for a fundraiser in Israel.

Actor Robert Duvall will host a fundraiser for Romney Sept. 6 at his home in Virginia. Here’s the invitation, obtained by National Journal.

London Calling: Romney begins first full day of meetings while on his overseas trip… Dem group hits Romney on fundraiser with London bankers tied to LIBOR scandal… Romney’s press-corps faux pas: He doesn’t take questions from U.S. reporters… Yesterday’s contrast on guns b/w Obama and Romney… Breaking down Romney’s interview with Brian Williams… Three months of merged data from our NBC/WSJ/Telemundo Hispanic oversample… And this week’s 10 hottest advertising markets. 

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for the presidential election, arrives in Downing Street to meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron on July 26, 2012 in London, England.

*** London Calling: On his first full day of business and meetings on his overseas trip, Mitt Romney has already met with former British PM Tony Blair, current Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, and Deputy PM Nick Clegg. At publication time, he will visit with British PM David Cameron, and then he holds a fundraiser at 1:05 pm ET. “I’ve begun a number of conversations with leaders present and past and recognize of course the unique relationship which exists between our nations, our commitment to common values, our commitment to peace in the world and our desire to see a stronger and growing economy,” Romney said during his meeting with Miliband, per the pool report. “Obviously, the world is a tumultuous and dangerous place and certainly in many regions in the world and we have great interests – a common effort to see greater peace and prosperity. I also appreciate the work of the military of this great nation and our joint effort in Afghanistan. The people of Great Britain have sacrificed enormously in helping bring peace to that nation.”

*** LIBOR pains: The Democratic-leaning group Americans United for Change is up with a web video noting that in attendance at Romney’s fundraiser in Britain will be bankers with ties to the LIBOR interest-rate scandal. As the New York Times has written, “Several of the events’ hosts are top executives at banks tied to the interest rate-fixing scandal that is now engulfing London’s financial and political world, linking Mr. Romney, however superficially, to a messy moment in the continuing debate over Wall Street excesses.” More: “The former chief executive and a top lobbyist for Barclays, the bank at the center of the scandal, helped organize a Romney fund-raiser. The former chief executive, Robert E. Diamond Jr., has since withdrawn his name as the event’s co-host.”

*** Romney’s press-corps faux pas: During his meeting with Miliband, according to the pool report, Romney answered questions from British reporters but did not take any questions from the American reporters, which isn’t protocol. In fact, it’s considered a bit of an insult to the U.S reporters who are following the presumptive GOP presidential nominee overseas. Even bringing this up will lead some to say, “There goes the media, whining again.” But folks, those of us that have traveled overseas and been involved in these VERY limited press avails have rarely seen heads of democracies TOTALLY ignore their own press corps but answer ANOTHER press corps’ questions. Sure, it would have looked REALLY bad had Romney ignored the U.K. questions. But is the campaign so intent on limiting media access that the candidate won’t call an audible when standing next to a leader from another country who DOES want to take questions? This is a bipartisan challenge for the press corps. Every president in the modern era has decided to pick up on some aspect of limiting media access to the president from their predecessor. The public never cares, because most of them distrust at least half of the press corps. But folks, it’s a slippery slope. Where did Obama get the idea of calling on an ordered list of questioners at press conferences? From George W. Bush. OK, our rant is over.

*** A contrast on guns: In a span of just hours, President Obama and Mitt Romney offered a contrast on guns in the wake of last week’s shooting in Colorado. Speaking before the National Urban League last night in New Orleans, per NBC’s Ali Weinberg, Obama said that Americans shouldn’t have access to assault weapon, especially those who are mentally ill or who have criminal records. “We recognize the tradition of gun ownership being passed on from generation to generation -- that hunting and shooting are part of the cherished national heritage,” he said. “But I think a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of shooters, not in the hands of criminal; that they belong on the battlefield of war not on the streets of our cities. I believe the majority of gun owners agree we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons.” Obama also said that “we should check out a persons' criminal record before they can check out at a gun store, that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily.” This was the most Obama has said on guns in his 3 ½ years in the White House, but it didn’t contain any specifics on how to achieve these things.

*** Romney: Changing a law won’t make bad things go away: Meanwhile, in his interview with NBC’s Brian Williams in London, Romney flatly stated, “I don't happen to believe that America needs new gun laws,” adding: “A lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening. (However, as NBC’s Garrett Haake pointed out yesterday, the guns the Colorado shooter purchased were LEGAL.) Romney went on to say, “We can sometimes hope that just changing a law will make all bad things go away. It won't. Changing the heart of the American people may well be what's essential to improve the lots of the American people.”

*** On his tax returns: Also in his interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, Romney -- once again -- said he wasn’t releasing his tax returns prior to 2010. “I'm following the same precedent that was put in place by John McCain. Two years, and by the way, hundreds of pages of returns for the Democrat operatives to go through and twist and distort and to turn in different directions and try and make a big deal out of.” Romney continued, “[W]hat we've noted is our Democrat friends, take what's there, twist it, distort it, dishonestly use it in attack ads. I just don't wanna give 'em more material than is required.” By the way, this reasoning subtlety implies there is something in there he’s embarrassed about in some form. Never have understood using the excuse of someone else will find something in it to make a negative out of it.

*** On whether his economic plan is similar to George W. Bush’s: Then when Williams asked Romney if his economic policies -- including lowering taxes and reducing regulation -- were different than George W. Bush’s, he replied, “[M]y policies are very different than anything you've seen in the past,” he said, citing 1) expanding domestic energy production, 2) promoting free trade, 3) balancing the budget, 4) creating educational opportunities for workers, and 5) lowering taxes and lessening regulations. But just an FYI: almost all of those prescriptions (energy production, free trade, education, taxes, and regulation) were pursued by the Bush administration.

*** On his faith and his heritage: Williams asked Romney why he doesn’t talk more about his faith and heritage. Romney’s answer: “I speak  actually quite regularly about the fact that my dad was born in Mexico, that with revolution in Mexico, my dad, then I think aged five or six, came back to the U.S. with his family. That they went broke multiple times. His dad was a contractor. My dad didn't complete college, but went on to be head of a car company and then a governor. I think it's a remarkable story.  And I'm very proud of my heritage. I'm without question, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I'm proud of that.  Some call that the Mormon Church, that's fine with me. I'll talk about my experiences in the church.  There's no question they've helped shape my perspective.”

*** And on “Anglo-Saxon” and Rafalca: In addition, Romney said he disagreed with the unnamed Romney “adviser” quoted in the London Daily Telegraph who suggested Obama didn’t understand the United States’ Anglo-Saxon relationship with Great Britain: “I can tell you that we have a very special relationship between the United States and Great Britain. It goes back to our very beginnings -- cultural and historical. But I also believe the president understands that.” And he said he was unable to explain the sport of dressage -- in which the Romneys’ horse is competing in the Olympics -- or even when the Romney horse is competing: “I have to tell you. This is Ann's sport. I'm not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it. I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well. But just the honor of being here and representing our country and seeing the other Olympians is something which I'm sure the people that are associated with this are looking forward to.” (Really? Romney, who’s attending the Olympics, doesn’t know when his wife’s horse is competing or even the rules of the sport? OK….)

*** Our merged NBC/WSJ/Telemundo oversample: With now three months of merged data from our NBC/WSJ/Telemundo Latino oversample, we have a treasure trove of numbers to understand the Latino electorate. According to this merged data, Obama leads Romney here by 40 points, 65%-25%. But there’s an interesting split here. Romney does a bit better among English-speaking Latinos (trailing Obama 64%-26%) than Spanish-speaking Latinos (69%-20%). And he does a bit better among Latinos born in the U.S. (trailing 57%-29%) versus those born outside the U.S. (73%-19%).

*** This week’s 10 hottest markets: Below is our latest weekly look at the 10 hottest advertising markets in the presidential race (per advertising points for the week of 7/23 to 7/29). Reminder: Colorado is missing because of the decisions by both campaigns to pull their ads down post-Aurora. A few other observations: 1) In most of these markets, Obama and Romney are running fairly even, but GOP outside groups are giving Team Romney the edge in advertising points; 2) the states here are Ohio (3 markets), Virginia (2), Florida (2), North Carolina (2), and Nevada (1); and 3)  Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA is this week’s No. 1 market.

1. Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA: 4 advertisers (Obama 1100, Romney 1000, Crossroads GPS 650, RNC 215)

2. Tampa, FL: 5 advertisers (Romney 840, Obama 775, Crossroads GPS 670, American Crossroads 600, Priorities USA 200)

3. Cincinnati, OH: 5 advertisers (Romney 1100, Obama 1000, Crossroads GPS 400, American Crossroads 265, RNC 100)

4. Toledo, OH: 5 advertisers (Obama 1000, Romney 980, Crossroads 400, American Crossroads 350, RNC 200)

5. Reno, NV: 5 advertisers (Obama 1300, Romney 650, Crossroads GPS 450, American Crossroads 370, RNC 250)

6. Greenville-New Bern, NC: 5 advertisers (Romney 970, Obama 600, Crossroads GPS 550, American Crossroads 515, RNC 350)

7. Richmond-Petersburg, VA: 5 advertisers (Obama 1200, Romney 1100, Crossroads GPS 270, Priorities USA 240, RNC 125)

8. Columbus, OH: 6 advertisers (Obama 1000, Romney 1000, Crossroads GPS 370, American Crossroads 260, Priorities USA 140, RNC 150)

9. Orlando, FL: 5 advertisers (Obama 875, Romney 860, Crossroads GPS 475, American Crossroads 425, Priorities USA 274)

10. Charlotte, NC: 5 advertisers (Romney 1000, Obama 800, American Crossroads 420, Crossroads GPS, 390, RNC 240)

Countdown to GOP convention: 32 days

Countdown to Dem convention: 39 days

Countdown to Election Day: 103 days

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***Thursday’s 30-minute “The Daily Rundown” lineup: Much more on Romney’s NBC interview… The Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut, former DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney and Club For Growth’s Chris Chocola on jobs, guns and 2012… Plus “Our Patchwork Nation” co-author Dante Chinni on how 12 categories more accurately describe our country than our red-blue maps.

2012: Debate format set

The debate schedule and format is set: “The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates released the format Wednesday for the three rhetorical showdowns in the presidential race, and a fourth between the vice presidential contenders,” the New York Daily News writes. “The debate venues were announced months ago: Oct. 3 in Denver, Oct. 16 at Hofstra, and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla. The VP debate is Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky. All four 90-minute debates will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The first debate deals with domestic policy, while the third will focus on foreign affairs. President Obama and Mitt Romney will be seated between a single moderator, who will pick six topics and devote 15 minutes to each. In a departure from previous debates, the topics will be ‘announced several weeks before the debate,’ according to the commission.”

USA Today looks at the final 100 days and what to expect. The three things to watch: Romney’s VP selection, the candidates’ convention speeches, and the three October debates. Add in advertising strategies and the unprecedented money already being spent by outside groups, get-out-the-vote and early voting strategies, enthusiasm numbers, and voter ID fights in key swing states.

Political Wire: “Gallup Poll: ‘Democrats are significantly less likely now (39%) than they were in the summers of 2004 and 2008 to say they are 'more enthusiastic about voting than usual' in the coming presidential election. Republicans are more enthusiastic now than in 2008, and the same as in 2004.’”

Get ready… Political Wire: “A new report finds six states -- Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina -- are the least-prepared states to catch voting problems.T he best prepared states are Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin.”

"Political Capital reports that Mitt Romney and his allies ran their TV ads 27, 365 times between July 16-23, while Barack Obama and his allies ran their spots, 21,082 times,” GOP 12 notes.

Obama last night to the National Urban League, via NBC’s Ali Weinberg: “When there's extraordinarily heartbreaking tragedy, there's always an outcry immediately after for action,” Obama said to the crowd of 3,700. “Too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere.”

“President Obama called for some gun-control tweaks Wednesday, including more thorough background checks,” The New York Daily News writes. “While he called hunting and shooting a ‘cherished national tradition,’ Obama added that ‘a lot of gun owners would agree that an AK-47 belongs in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals.’”

Reuters: “President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with leaders of all political stripes to ‘arrive at a consensus’ on how to reduce gun violence across the United States after the Colorado shootings highlighted the issue in an election year.”

“Some of President Barack Obama's most senior aides have begun making regular appearances at his campaign's Chicago headquarters, tightening the link between the White House and the re-election effort as the race intensifies,” the Wall Street Journal writes, adding, “White House officials and the Obama campaign said the presence of the men at Obama headquarters doesn't suggest discontent with the campaign's operations. The visits are meant to ensure the White House and campaign are aware of what the other is planning and to align campaign schedules and messages, advisers said. But others close to the campaign say Mr. Rouse in particular has been on hand to support campaign manager Jim Messina, who hasn't before run an organization as large and complex.”

Back to Bain: “President Obama's campaign looked to again focus attention on Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital on Wednesday, highlighting a new report by the Associated Press that shows the presumptive Republican nominee continued to have regular contact with his partners in the firm after his 1999 departure date,” The Hill writes.

AYOTTE: Kelly Ayotte makes The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful list.

CHRISTIE: Cross him off the veepstakes? First, NBC’s Jamie Gangel reported that Christie would be keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, now he says he’s open to a 2016 presidential bid: "If there's an opportunity for me to serve in another capacity and I think I have something to add to the mix, I don't think I'd back away from it,” he told AP.

PORTMAN: “Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Wednesday introduced a bill aimed at ending the threat of a government shutdown once and for all,” The Hill writes. “The bill would automatically extend government spending at current levels for 120 days when funding expires. If Congress continues to fail to act, spending would be cut by 1 percent across the board every 90 days.”

“Prospective VP candidate for Mitt Romney, Rob Portman, is under criticism by Democrats for advice to George W. Bush that resulted in damaging the U.S. steel industry. His advice is linked to sales declines and job losses. His defense is that Bush did better for steel than Clinton,” the Washington Examiner writes.

LONDON-- Mitt Romney said Wednesday that more restrictive gun laws would likely not have prevented last week's deadly mass shooting at a Colorado Cineplex, and argued that it would take Americans changing their hearts, not their legislation, to prevent similar future attacks.

"Political implications, legal implications are something which will be sorted out down the road," Romney told NBC's Brian Williams during an exclusive interview here in London. "But I don't happen to believe that America needs new gun laws. A lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening."

Romney, who enacted an assault weapons ban as governor of Massachusetts (with the support of a Democratic legislature) would not say whether he still believes that weapons like the AR-15 assault rifle used in the Colorado shooting were "instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people," as he described them during the bill signing ceremony in 2002.

When Williams followed up later in the interview on the Aurora attack, Romney argued that it would take a change in heart, not laws, to stop future violence.

"Well, this person shouldn't have had any kind of weapons and bombs and other devices and it was illegal for him to have many of those things already. But he had them," Romney said, although the guns used in the shooting were all purchased legally.

"And so we can sometimes hope that just changing the law will make all bad things go away. It won't. Changing the heart of the American people may well be what's essential, to improve the lots of the American people."

NBC News

NBC's Brian Williams interviews Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in London on Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Romney used the interview to shore up several policy and strategic positions laid out by his campaign in recent weeks, reiterating that he would only release two years of tax returns so as not to provide fodder for Democratic operatives to " twist and distort and to turn in different directions and try and make a big deal out of." He also repeated the major planks of his economic plan, which he says differentiates him from the last Republican president, George W. Bush.

Williams also asked the candidate about controversial comments on the front page of a British newspaper, reportedly given by an unnamed Romney adviser, who called President Barack Obama a "novice" in foreign affairs, and said the Democrat did not fully value the "Anglo-Saxon" nature of the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special. The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have,” the adviser is quoted telling the Daily Telegraph.

Earlier today, Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul flatly denied the comments came from anyone inside the Romney camp, or that those views were shared by the former Massachusetts governor. Romney said he was generally "not enthusiastic" about adopting the comments of unnamed advisers in newspaper stories, and pointed out he gets "advice" every day along rope lines and on the street.

“But I can tell you that we have a very special relationship between the United States and Great Britain," Romney said. "It goes back to our very beginnings, cultural … and historical. But I also believe the president understands that. So I don't know agree with whoever that advisor might be. But do agree that we have a very common bond between ourselves and Great Britain."

When it comes to selecting a vice presidential nominee to join him on the Republican ticket, Romney told Williams he has still not made a final decision, and confirmed that he would not be announcing his pick until at least next week, after he returns from his week-long trip abroad.

"While I'm overseas, I'm not gonna announce my vice presidential running mate. But when the decision is made, I'll make that announcement. It's not made yet," Romney said. "I can't tell you when it's gonna be. That's … that's something which we'll decide down the road."

This visit was timed to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics, where Ann Romney’s horse, Rafalca, is competing in the equestrian sport of dressage. Will the presumptive GOP nominee be cheering it on?

"I have to tell you, this is Ann's sport. I'm not even sure which day the sport goes on," Romney said. "She will get the chance to see it, I will not be watching  the event.  I hope her horse does well.  But just the honor of being here and representing our country and seeing the other Olympians is something which I'm sure the people that are associated with this are looking forward to."

WASHINGTON -- Portman. Pawlenty. Rubio. Jindal.

Those are just a few of the headliners of Mitt Romney’s summer surrogate tour, a whirlwind blitz that begins Thursday and will feature the presumptive nominee’s most prominent supporters hitting swing states throughout the country while he is overseas.

NBC News has learned at least eight surrogates will make campaign stops in the key battleground states over the next six days.  Some of those names are believed to be under heavy consideration to be named Romney’s vice presidential running mate in the coming weeks.

While speculation was rampant last week that the former Massachusetts governor could make his VP pick before heading off to London, at least one benefit of delaying his pick will be on display this weekend.

Instead of having just one running mate to campaign in the states while Romney is abroad, he’ll instead have a team spread throughout the country, most of which will be getting attention as the potential next vice president of the United States.

Voters in six battleground states -- Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin -- will see Romney campaign buses traveling the state and hearing the politicians on the stump.

The surrogate surge begins on Thursday when Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal head to Iowa.

“I've told Governor Romney anything I can do to help him win in Virginia or any other state, I'm glad to do. So they asked me to go to Iowa and I'll be there with my friend Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and we're going to talk to the people of Iowa about what's important for the country when it comes to getting us back on track,” Gov. McDonnell said while speaking at one of Romney’s “We Did Build This” events in Richmond, Va. today.

Also on Thursday and Friday, South Dakota Sen. John Thune will be in Virginia where he will bracket President Barack Obama’s visit to the Old Dominion state on Friday.

On Friday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani heads to Florida, a place where voters know him well.  During his 2008 presidential run, Giuliani spent the majority of his time and campaign resources in the Sunshine State.  He’ll even host a “Cafe Con Rudy” to reach out to Hispanic voters.

On Saturday, former Minnesota governor and one-time presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty will make an appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina.  It was in the Tar Heel State last month where he gave a rousing and well received speech at the state's Republican convention.  While North Carolina has seen limited attention from Republicans in recent weeks, it will likely be a hotbed for activity next month as Republicans prepare to distract from the Democratic National Convention being held in Charlotte at the beginning of September.

And while Pawlenty is in the East, one of the party’s most popular young conservatives will be representing the Republican ticket in the West.  Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will spend Saturday in Las Vegas, NV, the city where he spent a majority of his youth. There he will hold a rally in the elementary school he attended as a child, marking his first solo public appearance on Romney’s behalf.

Also on Saturday, Jindal hopscotches to Florida to hold an event for the presumptive nominee.

Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus will be traveling on a bus through Wisconsin this Sunday.  Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin may also join.

Not to be forgotten is the man who many consider the frontrunner in the VP search -- Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. He has spent most of his weekends away from Washington helping Romney in some capacity in his home state.  Last Friday he attended a Romney fundraiser in Lima, Ohio, and the weekend before that, he both bracketed  President Obama’s campaign stop in Cincinnati, OH and helped to open a Romney Victory office the southwest part of the Buckeye State.

On Monday he’ll take his act on the road to campaign in Pennsylvania.  It will mark the second time Portman will hit the Keystone State in hopes of turning the traditionally blue state to red.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has not campaigned for the GOP nominee for months, will also hit the trail in the coming days.  She will travel to Michigan on Romney’s behalf.

Two potential VP contenders -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte -- are notably not on this weekend’s surrogate blitz. However, both Christie and Ayotte have campaigned for Romney in recent weeks.

The rush of Romney surrogates over the next five days across the country seems to indicate it will be a full on sprint from now until the November election for the Romney campaign.

PHILADELPHIA -- Mitt Romney doesn't "get" fire fighters, Vice President Joe Biden charged Wednesday, marking the complete return to political combat after last weekend's pause following the Colorado theater shooting.

Speaking to over 3,000 fire fighters at their annual convention in Philadelphia, the vice president said that Romney "means well" but that he and his party fail to grasp the motives of public sector workers who put their lives in jeopardy for others in their communities.

"I think part of the problem is I don't think he gets you," Biden said. "I don't think he really understands - I mean this sincerely - I don't think he understands what you're all about, what makes you tick, what makes you decide to go into this profession, which you couldn't pay enough to 90 percent of the population -  including me  - to do what you do every day."

Biden, who emotionally referenced the role of firefighters in saving his sons' lives in the 1972 crash that killed his wife and daughter, lamented a "perfect storm" of economic woes and anti-union campaigns that have hit at the core of the hook-and-ladder profession.

"They act like you're the community's problem," he said of Republican lawmakers aiming budget cuts and other reforms at unionized public sector workers. "As if you're not part of the community. As if somehow you're from some other place. As if you haven't been as affected by this recession as your neighbors have, not because you're a firefighter, because you're a middle class citizen."

The vice president, whose recent comments describing a de-facto "depression" for America's unemployed were vigorously highlighted by Republicans, on Wednesday described the country as "barely" out of the economic recession.

"This is about shared responsibility," he said, noting the administration's push for tax hikes on high earners. "You know as well as we do the country is out of this recession but barely and struggling to move forward. I mean, you have ... blood brothers, blood sisters, who because of this recession are out of work."

The Romney campaign responded with a statement from Fred Donnelly, a retired battalion chief of the Philadelphia fire department.

“Joe Biden can come to Philadelphia, and he can try and tell the hard working men and women of this city that he understands what we’ve been going through. But no matter what he says, he can’t cover up the words of the president," Donnelly said. "The President may think the private sector is ‘doing fine.’  He may want small businesspeople to believe that they ‘didn’t build that.’  But we know that he is simply out of touch with the struggles that middle-class Americans are going through, and that he doesn’t understand what drives the American economy.” 

Biden's remarks, while perhaps slightly less pointed than a typical campaign speech, marked a public return to the partisan punches that preceded last week's massive shooting at an Aurora, Colorado theater.

Mentioning the heroism of rescue squads in that community, Biden lauded fire fighters for aiding at the massacre's scene and for dismantling the shooter's booby-trapped apartment.

"You were there ready to do whatever was needed if the worst happened," he said.

In an exclusive interview with NBC's Brian Williams, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney discussed gun laws in the wake of the Aurora shooting:

WILLIAMS: "On things however like Aurora, Colorado, do you see why Americans get frustrated at politics.  They can see and hear your words from earlier in their career, people are hurting out there. Perhaps they want to start a national conversation about whether an AR-15 belongs in the hands of a citizen, whether a citizen should be able to buy 6-thousand rounds off the internet. You see the argument?"

Anthony Quintano/NBC News

NBC's Brian Williams interviews Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in London on Wednesday, July 25, 2012

ROMNEY: "Well this person shouldn't have had any kind of weapons and bombs and other devices and it was illegal for him to have many of those things already. But he had them. And so we can sometimes hope that just changing the law will make all bad things go away. It won't. Changing the heart of the American people may well be what's essential, to improve the lots of the American people."

The full interview airs tonight on NBC Nightly News. 

Despite a month’s worth of efforts looking to knock down his credentials, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney retains an advantage over President Barack Obama in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on questions of which candidate would better manage the economy.

Still, while Romney holds a small lead on the central issue of the election, voters seem find Obama’s message about fairness and boosting the middle class more agreeable than the Republican alternative, which emphasizes free markets and small government.

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney addresses the 113th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Tuesday, July 24,2012, in Reno, Nev.

These crosscurrents set the stage for the dogfight between Obama and Romney on the issue of the economy that’s set to play out over the next 104 days.

Related: NBC/WSJ poll: Negative campaign takes toll on candidates; Obama up six points

Romney leads Obama by seven points – 43 percent to 36 percent – on the question which candidate has better ideas for how to improve the economy, the poll found. On the more direct question of which candidate would better deal with the economy, 43 percent of registered voters preferred Romney, versus 37 percent who thought the president would do better.

Given how much time Romney has spent emphasizing his economic acumen, said Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a veteran Democratic campaigner, the former Bain Capital executive’s margin should be even wider.

“It shows that Romney has a much weaker starting hand than he thought. His so-called experience was going to be a trump card. But it’s more of a wild card,” said Van Hollen. “This is supposed to be his strongest argument, and yet he’s far short.”

The president’s re-election campaign has sought to drive that perception by an effort over the past month to tear down and redefine Romney’s business record, along with questioning the propriety of the GOP candidate’s personal finances.

Republicans contend Obama’s offensive is little more than an effort to shift the blame for his own difficulties.

“Barack Obama’s positioning statement is, I may have sucked, but this guy will make the economy suck even more,” joked Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin.

But the Romney campaign has shrugged off most of the attacks as a distraction, betting a bad economy will overwhelm any misgivings voters might have about the Republican nominee come Election Day. And Romney’s headquarters in Boston might be heartened by increased economic pessimism contained in the poll; the number of registered voters who expect the economy to improve declined 8 percent in the last month alone, and more voters expect the economy to get worse in the next year. 

“Romney, if he is aggressive, he’s going to be fine on the economy,” said Republican Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston. “If he can’t win on the economy, he can’t win it anyhow.”

The presumptive GOP nominee’s latest tack has been to seize on a comment made earlier this month by Obama in Virginia, in which the president seemed to suggest businessowners’ successes were more rooted in government support than their own efforts.

The president’s comment gave such kindling to the Romney campaign, though, because it cuts to the core of his argument on how to fix the economy’s ills. Romney has stressed the primacy of business in spurring job creation, asserting that allowing businesses greater flexibility and lower taxes would help boost growth.

Suggesting that this attack has had some success, Obama on Tuesday released a new TV ad in response, saying, “of course Americans build their own businesses.”

Sixty-eight percent of voters said in the NBC/WSJ poll that this kind of message – one who “wants to restore the values of economic freedom, opportunity and small government” – would make them more likely to vote for a candidate for president. But a message like Obama’s tests better. Eighty percent of voters said they’d be more likely to support a candidate who “will fight for balance and fairness and encourage the investments needed to grow our economy and middle class.”

“I think what they miss is that it’s not simply a referendum on the economy,” Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said of the Romney campaign. “People are choosing someone to be the captain of the American ship, and they’ve got to trust you at the helm.”

The election might fall, then, on the question of whether Obama’s vision should trump Romney’s résumé. It explains why Obama has gone so forcefully after Romney’s business record – Democrats call it “contrast,” Republicans say it’s “negative.”

It’s a line of attack meant to play out primarily in swing districts across a series of states that will decide the election. And despite the fact that these attacks have driven up negative perceptions of the Obama campaign, it’s a strategy with which Democrats express happiness 

“I don’t think it’s been overly negative. He’s pointing out what Romney’s record really has been, and quite frankly, the most negative voices against Romney has been some of his own people,” said Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who hails from the kind of eastern Ohio district that could swing the election.

“I think he’s hit his stride on the message. I think this is the crispest and clearest message he’s had since he’s been in office,” Ryan added.

For Republicans, preserving Romney’s advantage on the economy is a matter of being aggressive. McLaughlin says he “wouldn’t have let [the Obama campaign] have the advantage in the swing state spending that they’ve let him have,” and another Capitol Hill Republican said he was “floored” that Romney didn’t have a better response ready on Bain and his taxes, given the way those issues were litigated in the Republican primary.

“Any presidential election is going to have distractions and bad days,” said the Republican. “He’s got to have more good days than bad days, but he doesn’t need to have a perfect campaign.”

President Barack Obama remains broadly popular with Hispanics, a key voting bloc in this fall’s election, according to new data from the NBC-Wall Street Journal-Telemundo poll.

The president leads presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney 67 to 23 percent among Latino registered voters, much wider than the six-point margin the president holds among all registered voters nationally.

Hispanics are the fastest-growing group in the country, fueling their increasing political importance, particularly in several swing states. More than one-in-six Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census, and they are an important pillar of the president’s hopes of winning a second term.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

President Barack Obama waves after speaking during a campaign event at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, Calif.

Click here for the full NBC-Wall Street Journal-Telemundo Hispanic oversample.

But while Obama continues to lead among Latinos by similar margins to what he won in 2008, there are indications that Latinos’ intensity continues to be lacking.

To measure enthusiasm, the pollsters asked respondents to say how interested they are in this November’s contest, on a scale of one to 10. Adding up the 8s, 9s, and 10s gives a good measure of who the most likely voters will be this fall.

By that measure, just 68 percent of Latinos put themselves in this high-interest category – similar to what they reported last month – off from the average of 79 percent of all respondents in the poll.

One glimmer of hope for the Obama campaign is that the number of Hispanics calling themselves 10s has gone up six points from last month. But even that number is down 10 points from where it was in July 2008.

A big reason Hispanics favor Obama by such a wide margin is a shared philosophy. On every category asked – from looking out for the middle class to dealing with immigration or the economy – Latinos say Obama would be better than Romney by much wider margins than all respondents.

In fact, on handling of the economy, all respondents give President Obama just a 44 percent approval rating. But, among Hispanics, it’s 58 percent. And they think Obama would be better than Romney in dealing with the economy by a 15-point margin. That’s the reverse of all respondents, who say they prefer Romney by six points.

Latinos are also more optimistic about the direction the country is headed. They are almost evenly divided about it with 41 percent saying the country is headed in the right direction and 45 percent saying it’s on the wrong track.

Compare that to all respondents, just 32 percent of whom say the country’s going in the right direction versus 60 percent, who say it’s off on the wrong track.

Romney also continues to have an image problem with Latinos. While the former Massachusetts governor is viewed more negatively than positively with all Americans, it’s even worse with Hispanics – just 22 percent view him positively; 44 percent view him negatively.

By contrast, 64 percent of Hispanics say they have a favorable view of Obama.

NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Telemundo has sponsored two polls since the president’s immigration announcement, which halted the deportation of illegal immigrants younger than 30 and who were brought to the United States as children.

There is no significant movement in support from Hispanics, but that support appears to have solidified. The president’s challenge, however, continues to be turning out these voters in the numbers he will need this November.

POLL NOTES… With the Olympics starting this week, there was an interesting difference that emerged in the poll between Hispanics and all respondents when it comes to Olympic viewing preferences. A plurality of all Americans (29 percent) named gymnastics as their favorite Olympic sport. But nearly 4-in-10 Hispanics (39 percent) say they prefer team sports.

That’s no surprise, considering cultural differences in views relating to soccer -- a.k.a. “fútbol.”

The Hispanic oversample of the NBC-Wall Street Journal poll was conducted by Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff from July 18-22. It has a margin of error of +/- 5.7%.

This election is a tug between who Americans like and the economy … The negative campaign takes a toll … who are the undecideds and why isn’t Romney talking to them … NBC/WSJ/Telemundo Hispanic oversample coming at noon ET … NBC’s Brian Williams interviews Romney … Obama responds to “you didn’t build that” … Romney’s hot rhetoric on foreign policy – does it match up with most Americans? … Plus, he shifts on support for timelines … Pro-Obama Super PAC goes very negative against Romney during Olympics.

*** Two opposing forces: Our new NBC/WSJ poll clearly shows that there are two forces at play in this presidential election: the economy (which is a drag on Obama) vs. likeability/values (which is a drag on Romney). Which force is stronger? The answer to that question will likely decide the election. Let's start with the growing economic pessimism in our poll:

*** The economy is Obama’s anchor: Just 27% think the U.S. economy will improve in the next year, which is down eight points from the last month, per the poll. Also, a majority of respondents -- 55% -- say they are less optimistic about the economy after what they've seen, read, and heard in the last few weeks, which is up six points from June. What's more, only 44% approve of Obama's handling of the economy (versus 49% who approve of his overall job performance), and Romney is seen as having better ideas on the economy. But Obama might find some comfort that his economic messaging of “fairness” tests better than Romney's messaging of “freedom,” and that he scores better on looking out for the middle class.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during the 113th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on July 24 in Reno, Nevada.

*** Romney continues to have a likeability and relatability problem: The other force at play, however, is likeability and values/background. A combined 47% say they like Romney personally, including 19% who disapprove of his policies. But that's compared with 67% who say the same about Obama. Another shortcoming for Romney is that voters don't necessarily relate to him. Just 42% say he has a background and set of values that they can identify with, while 50% say that about the president. And there's Romney's upside-down fav/unfav at 35%-40%. Consider this: Since 1996, no other GOP presumptive presidential nominee had a net-negative fav/unfav heading into his convention. In 1996, Bob Dole's score was 39%-36%; in 2000, George W. Bush's was 52%-32%; and in 2008, John McCain's was 42%-30%. Obama's fav/unfav in this current poll is 49%-43%.

*** The Horse Race: Overall, the president continues to lead Romney, 49%-43% in this survey. (By the way, we aren’t saying the president increased his lead, just that he CONTINUES to lead. Why? There’s a difference in Party ID from this month to last. Last month was +4 Democratic, this month it’s +11. If the poll was re-weighted to last month, the president would still lead but by between 2-3 points, according to our pollsters.) A few other nuggets on the horse race: The president leads in the swing states by the same 8-point margin he led by last month (49%-41%) but Romney leads the president among those voters who are the most “interested” in this election (48%-46%). In fact, that’s another takeaway from this poll, two of the president’s strongest demographic groups: Hispanics and voters 18-34, continue to lag behind the rest of the president’s support groups on the question of “interest in the election.” That’s a big potential turnout red flag for Chicago.

*** Negative campaign takes a toll: Yet maybe the biggest headline in our poll is the toll the negative contest has taken on Obama and Romney. Both candidates have seen their "very negative" ratings increase to all-time highs (32% for Obama and 24% for Romney). What's more, pluralities say that what they've seen, heard, and read about the two candidates in recent weeks has given them less favorable impressions of each man. Remember, there’s been an unusually early flurry of campaign ads. Seriously, go back in time and find a July that has seen so many negative TV ads being aired in swing states. It’s unprecedented. This was bound to take a toll, and it explains why the Obama campaign is suddenly putting their guy talking DIRECTLY to camera trying to soften the edges. (Here’s more from last night’s NBC Nightly News.)

*** Obama unlikely to win undecideds: One final very important point about the poll. Our pollsters went back through the last three months and gathered together all of the people who have said they are either “depends,” “neither,” or “not sure” when it comes to Romney vs. Obama to create a comprehensive look at the undecideds. And it’s not good news for the president. About the only thing the “undecided” are undecided on is the horse race. They have “decided” on how they view the president and the country. The “undecideds” are more pessimistic about the direction of the country and the economy and the job the president’s doing overall and on the economy. By any stretch, these should be people willing to fire Obama and vote for Romney – EXCEPT that they don’t like him very much at all. While Obama’s fav/unfav with the group is an abysmal 29%/42%, Romney’s is even WORSE – 16/44. 16!!! These voters, if they vote, won’t likely evenly split. It will be because Romney convinced them they should vote for him. But so far, almost none of his messaging/rhetoric looks like it’s appealing to them – and Obama’s Bain attacks likely are making an impact. As Tom Edsall wrote this week, the cynical hope for Obama here is that they stay home. By the way, these undecideds score low on the “interest”-in-election scale, even lower than Hispanics and young voters.

*** Hispanic oversample coming: Stay tuned for a noon ET release on the latest NBC-WSJ-Telemundo Hispanic oversample from the poll. Were there any changes from last month? What about intensity? Are they any more likely to vote for Obama now that the immigration policy has had a month to set in?

*** The ‘you didn’t build that’ dog barked: The Obama campaign is out with a new ad, responding to the “You didn’t build that” attack line. And it features the president again speaking direct to camera: “Those ads taking my words about small business out of context; they're flat out wrong. Of course Americans build their own business. Everyday hard-working people sacrifice to meet a payroll, create jobs, and make our economy run. And what I said was that we need to stand behind them as America always has. By investing in education, training, roads and bridges, research and technology. I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message because I believe we're all in this together." The Romney campaign responded this morning with a release with this in the subject: “He said it, he meant it.” Mark McKinnon on MSNBC’s Morning Joe asked Obama adviser David Axelrod, “We have a saying, ‘A hit dog barks, and it sounds like you’re barking, so does that mean you’re hit?” It’s a great way to put it, and it’s likely the case. Axelrod tried to downplay they campaigns’ hyper reaction. But it was a hyper reaction. You wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t showing up in some of their data. By the way, there have to be a few in Boston disappointed – strategically – to realize that their most effective hit so far on Obama was starting to stick and now their principal is going away on an overseas trip. Romney’s camp will be holding 24 “We Did Build This” events across the country today – in PA, WI, VA, OH, IA, FL, MO, NC, MI, NH, NM, NV – “to allow small business owners the chance to respond to Pres. Obama’s claims that ‘if you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen’,” the campaign says. But it’s just tougher to do with the candidate away.

*** Did Obama say to ‘stand behind’ businesses? “What I said was, ‘we need to stand behind them.’” Obama never said those exact words in his July 13 Roanoke, VA, speech. He did say: “I want to let every single person refinance their homes and save about $3,000 a year because you’ll spend that $3,000 on some of these stores right here in downtown. You’ll help small businesses and large businesses grow because they’ll have more customers.” And he called for “an economy where everyone, whether you are starting a business or punching a clock, can see your hard work and responsibility rewarded.” He also made a shared responsibility argument. “We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people….” It is notable, however, that in a speech in Virginia Beach later in the day he didn’t use the same “you didn’t build that” language. Clearly, the attacks have gotten to the campaign, and they felt like they needed to respond. Doing so with the candidate is an even further sign that the president and his team feared how damaging this line of attack could have been.

*** Going negative on Romney during Olympics: A new hard-hitting ad from pro-Obama SuperPAC Priorities USA Action pokes fun at Romney's tenure at the helm of the SLC Olympics, NBC’s Carrie Dann notes. Using footage from the 2002 opening ceremonies, the ad shows athletes of various nationalities entering the Olympic stadium, with a commentator pointing out each country's links to Romney's record. For example: "India! Which also gained jobs thanks to Romney, an outsourcing pioneer."  And: "Ya gotta say this about Mitt Romney. He sure knows how to go for the gold...for himself," it concludes. The group claims it will run during the Olympics in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and is part of a larger $20 million TV and online buy, according to staff. But realistically, don’t expect to actually see this ad make it on air. We guarantee you the Olympic Committee will come down hard on them and any affiliate that tries to air it.

*** Romney’s foreign policy shot: Romney assailed President Obama yesterday on foreign policy during his speech before the VFW. It was long on criticism and short on vision. And what part of that speech appealed to independents? (He did tip that he wouldn’t criticize Obama on foreign policy during his trip abroad: “[S]ince I wouldn't venture into another country to question American foreign policy, I will tell you right here - before I leave - what I think of this administration's shabby treatment of one of our finest friends.” A Romney doctrine is not at all clear at this point. There have been no “dumb war” moments for him. Put simply, there wasn’t a lot of meat on the bones. Ex-McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt on MSNBC’s Morning Joe was really tough on the speech, calling it an “unsophisticated” speech, not much more than a “paint-by-numbers Republican critique.” This is the risk for Romney this week – by wide margins, Americans say they prefer President Obama on foreign policy, according to the latest NBC/WSJ poll. They just simply don’t share Romney’s contempt for the president’s policy as it relates to the world. Where Romney has the edge is on the economy, and this week will take him off that message, though he’ll get right back on it next week just in time for the Aug. 3 July jobs report.  By the way, will we hear more specifics on foreign policy, when NBC’s Brian Williams interviews Romney later today? Check out NBC Nightly News for more.

*** Romney’s timeline shift: Also notice this: Romney has been firmly against timelines, but adopted the president’s timeline on Afghanistan yesterday. In April 2010, he criticized Obama for “announcing the day he's pulling out” of Afghanistan. “If I'm Karzai, I say holy cow before the job is done these guys are going to leave. What does that mean about my life and livelihood?” And on NPR in March 2010, he explicitly said: “I would not have announced the date we're going to start pulling people out. I think that makes it more difficult at the time you're just adding troops.”  Yet, here was Romney yesterday at the VFW: “I have been critical of the President’s decision to withdraw the surge troops during the fighting season, against the advice of the commanders on the ground.  President Obama would have you believe that anyone who disagrees with his decisions is arguing for endless war.  But the route to more war – and to potential attacks here at home – is a politically timed retreat. As president, my goal in Afghanistan will be to complete a successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014. I will evaluate conditions on the ground and solicit the best advice of our military commanders.  And I will affirm that my duty is not to my political prospects, but to the security of the nation.”

Countdown to GOP convention: 33 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 40 days
Countdown to Election Day: 104 days

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"When President Obama sat down to record his latest campaign ads, he didn’t have far to go. Two ads released in the last two days were filmed just a few feet from the Oval Office in the West Wing workplace of his chief of staff, an unusual — but not unprecedented — use of the official space of the White House for campaign purposes," The New York Times reports.

"From both the campaign trail and the White House, the Obama administration deployed a strategy to push the president’s middle class tax cut plan while accusing Republicans of holding it “hostage” to cuts for the nation’s highest earners. Speaking at a campaign event in Oregon, Obama previewed a Senate vote Wednesday on whether to move forward his plan to expire the Bush-era tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 a year. “Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote on a bill that says if you earn less than $250,000 a year, your taxes will not go up next year by a single dime. Now, members of both parties say that they agree this should happen,” Obama said. “But of course we are dealing in Washington – the only place we agree on something but still can’t get it done,” he continued," NBC's Ali Weinberg writes.

The Chicago Tribune: "Priorities USA Action, the pro-Obama "super PAC," is bringing its anti-Romney message to the Olympics broadcast, the group announced Wednesday. The latest salvo from the liberal group, run by former Obama White House aides, capitalizes on the global nature of the competition to ding Republican Mitt Romney for some of his more politically perilous international business ties. The spot depicts a faux Olympics opening ceremony, with Romney (in video from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, which Romney ran) seemingly waving at a number of athlete delegations from countries to which Romney has had ties." Watch the ad here. 

"Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he had no active role in Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, after he exited in February 1999 to take over Salt Lake City's Winter Olympics bid. But according to Bain associates and others familiar with Romney's actions at the time, he stayed in regular contact with his partners over the following months, tending to his partnership interests and negotiating his separation from the company," the Associated Press reports.

“As the Republican presidential challenger accused Barack Obama of appeasing America's enemies in his first foreign policy speech of the US general election campaign, advisers told The Daily Telegraph that he would abandon Mr Obama’s “Left-wing” coolness towards London. In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa. ‘We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,’ the adviser said of Mr. Romney, adding: ‘The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.’”

*** UPDATE *** The Romney campaign's Andrea Saul says categorically: “It’s not true. If anyone said that, they weren’t reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign."

The L.A. Times: “Preparing for his first foreign travel as the unofficial Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney used a send-off speech before military veterans Tuesday to deliver a scathing indictment of President Obama's defense and foreign policies.”

More: “The convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars is a virtual command performance for presidential hopefuls; Obama addressed the group in Reno on Monday, winning a warm reception when he touted such achievements as the killing of Osama bin Laden. Another tradition is avoiding harsh partisan rhetoric while on foreign soil, and Romney, who embarks Wednesday on a weeklong swing through England, Israel and Poland, acknowledged as much. But he showed no such restraint Tuesday, scoring Obama repeatedly even as he offered few specifics about what he would do if elected.”

It also points out that despite Romney’s critiques of the president for defense cuts, “Unspoken was the fact that Congress — not Obama — effectively put a gun to its own head on defense spending, adopting the cuts on a bipartisan vote as a way to force a long-term resolution of the nation's debt. So far, that effort has been unavailing.”

The New York Times: "On the eve of a trip abroad intended to burnish his qualifications to be commander in chief, Mitt Romney accused Obama administration officials on Tuesday of betraying the country by leaking national security secrets for their own political gain and failing to stand up to adversaries like China, Russia and Iran. Mr. Romney’s address, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here, was the most expansive foreign policy speech of his candidacy and opened a new and aggressive attack on President Obama on national security."

"A Republican group backed by the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is starting a new effort in battleground states to win over Jewish voters who could be persuaded to turn away from President Obama and support Mitt Romney. The group, the Republican Jewish Coalition, plans to begin a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in the coming weeks called “My Buyer’s Remorse,” targeting voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, aides said. The campaign uses testimonials from people who say they regret supporting Mr. Obama because of his economic policies and his posture toward Israel, in hopes of cutting into the wide advantage Democrats have held over Republicans among Jewish voters," The New York Times reports.

The Los Angeles Times: "Watching attacks that say Mitt Romney killed jobs instead of creating them, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan can’t help but feel ‘a little bit of deja vu.’ The onetime Republican mayor — who supported Barack Obama four years ago but plans to vote for Romney in November — advises the presidential challenger to rise above the fray. “They didn’t do as good a job on me as Obama is doing on Romney,” Riordan said, “but, quite honestly, what my backers told me was, ‘Don’t respond, don’t defend yourself.’ Because if you stay out of it, these become one-day stories.” So Riordan would advise Romney: Don’t play defense. Talk about what you want to talk about."

CHRISTIE: "New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law on Monday a bill that aims to stabilize the largest solar market in the United States, which has suffered from a sharp decline in demand for renewable energy credit and credit prices. The Republican governor signed S-1925, a bipartisan bill that easily passed in both houses of the state legislature," Reuters reports.

PORTMAN: The New Jersey Star Ledger: "Democrats have made no secret of how they would skewer Ohio Sen. Rob Portman if Mitt Romney puts him on the ticket: by tying the former White House budget guru to former President George W. Bush and his controversial economic policies. That’s the broad-brush. But there’s one particularly potent line of attack top Democratic strategists are itching to launch. As Bush’s top trade negotiator in 2005, Portman urged the president not to impose restrictions on cheap Chinese steel imports, causing a drop in sales and job losses for the U.S. steel industry. And that could resonate with voters at a time they’re worried about the economic threat from China and American jobs being shipped overseas."

RUBIO: New York Magazine: "Recently, Republican Senator and future Presidential Timber Marco Rubio compared a speech by President Obama to that of a ‘left-wing 3rd world leader.’ It’s not the first time Rubio has drawn upon the comparison. Last year, he described an Obama speech advocating the cloture of a small number of upper-bracket tax deductions as “the kind of language you’d expect from the leader of a Third World Country.” At other times, he’s called Obama’s arguments “more appropriate for some left-wing strong man than for the president of the United States.” It is no longer terribly newsworthy for even the most respectable Republicans to equate Obama’s policies with dictatorships. But Rubio appears to be fixated on a particular kind of dictator, the Third World strongman. What could explain this odd fixation? Rubio’s parents, of course, emigrated from Cuba. His father first left in the waning days of the Batista regime, but some members of his family returned and then fled when Fidel Castro took power. Rubio inaccurately represented his family as having fled Castro, but in his defense, it seems likely that he grew up believing the rise of Castro precipitated their arrival in America, or at least the revolution loomed large in their story of how they could never return to their homeland."