Brian Snyder / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally in Mansfield, Ohio September 10, 2012.

Romney camp tries throwing kitchen sink at Obama, which seems to come from a position of weakness rather than strength… But Team Romney insists the race remains focused on the economy… New WaPo/ABC poll, which shows the contest essentially tied among likely voters, couldn’t have come at a better time for Romney… But is it enough to stop the conservative handwringing?... Remembering 9/11 today… And remembering 9/15 later this week… Bill Clinton stumps for Obama in Florida… And comparing the ’12 Nielsen ratings with ’08 and ’04.

*** Throwing the kitchen sink: In boxing, you know one fighter is trailing in points when, in the final rounds, he throws everything he can to land a knockout blow against his opponent. The same is largely true in presidential politics. And so yesterday while campaigning in Ohio, we saw Mitt Romney and his team try to throw the kitchen sink at President Obama. Yes, he did touch on the economy. ("I was surprised in the president’s speech at the Democrat convention he didn’t mention unemployment. He didn’t mention 47 million people on food stamps.”) But what was striking was his focus on issues other than the economy -- such as trying to make hay out of last week’s Democratic platform snafu, although he dropped his coins/currency line. (“If I become president of the United States, I will not take God out of my heart, I will not take God out of the public square, and I will not take it out of the platform of my party.") What’s more, his campaign seized on the teacher strike in Chicago. (“President Obama has chosen his side in this fight, sending his vice president last year to assure the nation’s largest teachers union that ‘you should have no doubt about my affection for you and the president’s commitment to you,’” he said in a statement.) And the campaign used the Woodward book to argue that Obama can’t lead.

*** Romney camp: “Every day and everywhere we go, we talk the economy”: The Romney campaign contends that its main argument is still the economy, pointing to its new round of economic-focused TV ads. “Every day and everywhere we go, we talk the economy,” a Romney official tells First Read. In addition, the campaign explains that Team Obama talks a lot about other issues, too (like abortion, Planned Parenthood, national security). But when you’re behind after the conventions -- as both Gallup and CNN polls find -- the emphasis on other issues (God, the Chicago strike, Woodward) seems to come from a position of weakness rather than strength.

*** New WaPo/ABC poll shows the race essentially tied: That’s why the new Washington Post/ABC poll couldn’t have come at a better time for the Romney campaign, because it counters the emerging C.W. that Obama is beginning to pull away after the conventions. “The survey shows that the race remains close among likely voters, with Obama at 49 percent and Romney at 48 percent, virtually unchanged from a poll taken just before the conventions,” the Washington Post writes. “But among a wider sample of all registered voters, Obama holds an apparent edge, topping Romney at 50 percent to 44 percent, and has clear advantages on important issues in the campaign when compared with his rival.”

*** Is it enough to stop the conservative handwringing? The Washington Post/ABC poll also couldn’t have come soon enough because it might help stop -- for now -- some of the handwringing we’re seeing from prominent conservatives. John Podhoretz writes that the Romney camp is “too intent on winning over the small batch of uncommitted and independent voters by saying absolutely nothing that might possibly offend them. The problem with that strategy is a) it means he doesn’t say much, and b) it does nothing to stimulate the enthusiasm of those already in his corner.” Byron York adds, “Republican nervousness is spreading and threatens to turn into a stampede. For months, GOP strategists have told themselves that no president since World War II has been re-elected with an unemployment rate above 7.2 percent. But some are beginning to wonder: What if Obama can do it?” And here was Laura Ingraham yesterday: "If you can't beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down. Start new, with new people."

*** Cook piles on: But it’s not just conservatives. Check out today’s column from political analyst Charlie Cook. “It is becoming clear that if President Obama is reelected, it will be despite the economy and because of his campaign; if Mitt Romney wins, it will be because of the economy and despite his campaign.” More Cook: “The Romney campaign made the extraordinary decision to not try seriously to connect their candidate with voters on a personal level until their convention. As dubious as that decision was, they were rewarded by having a convention shortened by a day due to a hurricane, then compounded the error of waiting until the convention by putting much of what was most needed to be seen in the 8 and 9 p.m. hours, when the only viewers would be C-SPAN fans. Wow! The biographical film and the testimonials of people whose lives had been touched by Romney were powerful, necessary, and largely unseen.”

*** Remembering 9/11: President Obama (with the first lady) holds a moment of silence at the White House at 8:46 am ET, and then (with Defense Secretary Panetta) delivers remarks at the Pentagon at 9:30 am ET. Later in the day, the president heads to Walter Reed Hospital to visit with wounded soldiers… Vice President Biden is in Shanksville, PA… And Mitt Romney, in Reno, NV, addresses the National Guard Association at 2:15 pm ET. Romney already released this statement: “Today we again extend our most profound gratitude to our brave troops who have gone into battle, some never to return, so that we may live in peace. On this most somber day, those who would attack us should know that we are united, one nation under God, in our determination to stop them and to stand tall for peace and freedom at home and across the world.”

*** And remembering 9/15, too: While we’re focused on today’s remembrance, don’t lose sight of another anniversary this week -- the Sept. 15, 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. It’s worth noting that the retrospectives we might see of that anniversary could further the narrative that the Obama campaign and Democrats want to tell: that the country is better off from four years ago beginning on Sept. 15, 2008. It’s also an opportunity for third-party validators to talk about the deep hole the country was in from 2008 to early 2009. Now conservatives and critics might use the anniversary to examine TARP’s effectiveness and to make the case that Wall Street is better off than Main Street. But overall, 9/15 advances the narrative of the U.S. economy’s dire shape four years ago.

*** Clinton stumps in Florida: While the presidential candidates are taking a day off from the actual campaign trail, Bill Clinton is hitting the stump for President Obama. Fresh off his well-received convention speech -- a Pew poll finds that a plurality thought it was the highlight of entire Dem convention -- Clinton visits Miami at 4:30 pm ET. And tomorrow, he campaigns in Orlando. Given these appearances in the Sunshine State, don’t be surprised if the former president reprises his Medicare arguments from last week. And take it from a pretty source that Clinton’s campaign activity will occur in these four states (all with older whites or working-class whites): Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

*** Comparing the ’12 convention ratings with ’08 and ’04: And speaking of the conventions, here’s a look at the Nielsen ratings. The 36 million and 30 million who tuned in, respectively, for Obama’s and Romney’s acceptance speeches is down from four years ago (Obama got 38 million in 2008 and McCain got 39 million). But they are both up from 2004, which might be the more comparable election (Bush got 28 million and Kerry 24 million).

Kerry in ’04: 24 million
Obama in ’08: 38 million
Obama in ’12: 36 million

Bush in ’04: 28 million
McCain in ’08: 39 million
Romney in ’12: 30 million

Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 22 days
Countdown to VP debate: 30 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 35 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 41 days
Countdown to Election Day: 56 days

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*** Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell will be marking the 11^th anniversary of 9/11 with NBC’s Ron Allen in Lower Manhattan, Jim Miklaszewski at the Pentagon, Atia Abawi in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), NBC Terror Analyst Michael Leiter , Robert Bazell, the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus and Karen Tumulty

*** Tuesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Col. Jack Jacobs, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Robert Fazio (founder of “Hold The Door” after father died on 9/11), the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut, and Dem strategist Keith Boykin.

Obama got a bounce in a new CNN/Opinion Research poll. He’s up 52-46% among likely voters. That’s up from the 48-48% tie in the poll just before the conventions.

But in a new Washington Post-ABC poll, Obama got a bounce with all voters -- but not one with likely voters. Among likely voters, Obama and Romney are essentially tied with Obama edging Romney 49-48%. Among registered voters, though, Obama’s lead has expanded to 50-44%.

“As Americans mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks today, President Obama and Mitt Romney will pause from slinging mud on the airwaves by temporarily pulling their largely negative campaign commercials off TV,” USA Today writes.

Charlie Cook: “It is becoming clear that if President Obama is reelected, it will be despite the economy and because of his campaign; if Mitt Romney wins, it will be because of the economy and despite his campaign.”

And he notes this about the upcoming debates: “As a result of all of this, while voters are quite open to firing Obama, they remain quite reticent about Romney. Debates can and have been critical, but they work better for candidates who need to demonstrate that they are smart and knowledgeable, tests Romney met and passed long ago; debates are tougher venues for demonstrating empathy and developing trust.”

The Boston Globe’s Johnson has a must-read piece on how the Obama campaign views this race at a state-by-state level. It quotes David Simas, Obama’s head of polling and focus groups. He told the Massachusetts delegation at the DNC: “This election is 2004. In 2008, Barack Obama won 365 electoral votes, but I want everyone to remember what percentage of the popular vote he got: Barack Obama received 53 percent of the popular vote. That means 47 percent of Americans voted for someone else,” he added. “Pointing around a hotel function room, Simas urged his listeners to envision it cut in half, and then one table on one side of the room cut in half again. ‘That’s the margin of error,’ he said. ‘That’s what we’re going into.’”

He also said that the bases are locked in for both candidates and that with true independents, Obama leads by 5. “That is our present margin. That is the margin we have had for the past six months. … This is 2004, this is 2000. We all remember Florida in 2000, where 537 votes changed the course of history. We all remember Ohio in 2004, where 100,000 votes changed the course of history.” Growing more passionate, he added: “I don’t want anyone in this room to wake up on the morning after the election and think about ‘what I could have done differently.’ Because this is person to person, neighbor to neighbor, co-worker to co-worker, people you pray with and people you play with. That is what this election is all about. We win this on the ground.”

The Romney and Obama teams sparred over the validity of a study showing seniors costs would go up under a voucher system. 

Politico notes how the Obama campaign has been hitting Romney on national security – hard. “Romney — whose convention speech didn’t include a salute to the troops or a reference to Afghanistan, where about 75,000 Americans are still at war — is getting hit almost daily now by Democratic attacks that he is wobbly and therefore untrustworthy on national security. It’s the same critique Republicans used to undermine Kerry to devastating effect eight years ago — and the Obama campaign plans to use the run-up to the presidential debates to make a major issue of Romney’s surprising convention stumble.”

“Paul Ryan is defending a past vote on something both he and Mitt Romney oppose, the potential for a sequester of defense funds,” USA Today writes. “Romney said this weekend it was a "mistake" for congressional Republicans to agree to the possibility of a series of budget cuts -- including defense cuts -- that kick in early next year if Congress is unable to agree on a debt reduction deal. President Obama campaign officials noted that one of those Republicans was Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan.” 

Ryan praised Rahm Emanuel for his handling of the Chicago teachers’ strike.

Rep. Todd Akin, GOP candidate for the Missouri Senate, recently famous for his "legitimate rape" comments told NBC News that he's "totally in" and has no plans on dropping out of the Missouri Senate race despite many calls from leading Republicans to do so.

A cheerfully upbeat Akin said that internal polls conducted by his campaign showed a close race, one that he was "confident" he could win.

When asked whether the loss of national money from the Republican National Committee and right leaning Super PACs would hurt him, Akin responded, "people don't like the party bosses telling them to put somebody in after they have already elected somebody." He continued, "Everywhere I go, people come up to me and say keep up the fight, so I'm serving them."

Akin then drove his late 90s Ford Explorer off the Capitol grounds, on the rear bumper was a sticker "One Nation Under God" with an American flag.

Mitt Romney led Republicans on Monday in trying to get political traction from the teachers' union strike in Chicago, which forced canceled classes in one of the nation's largest public school districts.

Charles Dharapak / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stands on a table as he addresses an overflow crowd as he campaigns at PR Machine Works in Mansfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 10, 2012.

Romney and running mate Paul Ryan assailed teachers' unions, and sought to tie President Barack Obama to striking educators and divide him from Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"I am disappointed by the decision of the Chicago Teachers Union to turn its back on not only a city negotiating in good faith but also the hundreds of thousands of children relying on the city's public schools to provide them a safe place to receive a strong education," Romney said in a statement Monday morning.

Related: Non-economic issues dominate Romney's pitch to Ohioans

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike in the nation's third-largest school district after negotiations toward a new contract broke down Sunday night. No immediate resolution to the dispute seemed likely as of Monday afternoon.

Republicans quickly attempted to turn the collective bargaining standoff into political fodder for the fall campaign.

"Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest examples yet," Romney added in his statement Monday. "I choose to side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed, and my plan for education reform will do exactly that."

The Republican presidential nominee has been a frequent critic of teachers' unions, casting them as a self-interested impediment to the types of reforms Romney argues are needed in schools.

And as if to prove the maxim that politics makes for strange bedfellows, GOP vice presidential nominee Ryan found himself praising Emanuel, the former hard-charging Obama chief of staff, while campaigning on Monday in Oregon.

"Rahm and I have not agreed on every issue or on a lot of issues, but Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union strike is unnecessary and wrong. We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel," Ryan said at a fundraiser.

The praise for Emanuel might prompt some askew glances considering how Republicans have referred to Chicago as a kind of shorthand for cronyism and strong-armed machine politics of which they accuse Obama. The president hails from the city and headquartered his 2008 and re-election campaigns there.

But Emanuel himself lashed out at Romney during a press availability in Chicago this afternoon, accusing the Republican presidential hopeful of political opportunism.

"While I appreciate Mitt Romney’s statement, on behalf of the kids and the parents of the city of Chicago, if he wants to help, he could then determine that when it comes to his tax cut, he will never cut the Department of Education and the funding that’s necessary and he will make sure that there will never be a cut in any education to pay for his tax cuts for the most fortunate," the first-term mayor said.

"So while I appreciate his lip service, what really counts is what we’re doing here. And I don’t really give two hoots about national comments scoring political points or trying to embarrass -- or whatever -- the president."

And as Romney and Ryan attack unions, other Republicans, ironically, turned up the pressure on Emanuel.

Pat Brady, the chairman of the Illinois GOP, called on Emanuel to abandon his role with Priorities USA Action, a super PAC which supports Obama.

"Chicago families deserve the mayor’s complete attention this week," Brady said on Monday. "Mayor Emanuel should put aside his Obama Super PAC fundraising work and put Chicago issues first."

(POLITICO reported that Emanuel has put his fundraising on hiatus to turn his attention to the ongoing strike.)

Romney himself will be in the Chicago area later Monday to attend a closed-door fundraiser following an afternoon rally in Ohio, and his schedule currently doesn't call for any public availabilities while in the Windy City.

As for the president, White House press secretary Jay Carney suggested that Obama hadn't chosen a "side" in the fight, and instead hoped for a consensus solution to avert further lost days of school for students.

"I can tell you more broadly that our principal concern is for the students, and his principal concern is for the students and families who are affected by the situation," Carney said. "And we hope that both sides are able to come together to solve this quickly and in the best interests of Chicago's students."

Below is a state-by-state breakdown of who is spending where on television and radio ads in this presidential campaign, beginning the week of March 19th, based on a First Read analysis of data provided by ad-tracking firm SMG Delta.

A few takeaways:

Clearly, and not surprisingly, the campaigns see Florida, Ohio, and Virginia as critical. They are far and away Nos. 1, 2, and 3 on the list.

Despite the huge influx of money from outside groups, only in Virginia are Romney and allies out in front. In Florida and Ohio, the Super PACs are chipping in just enough to be on par with Obama.

North Carolina is No. 4 on the list, and Team Romney has spent a lot more than Team Obama there. That’s interesting considering the state should be "Lean Romney." Team Romney has had had to spend a lot of money there, which may have been the Obama campaign's goal at the end of the day.

By contrast, the “expand the map” Romney states -- places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan -- are much further down the list. 

There’s plenty more in here, like where unions like the SEIU are playing (Florida and Nevada) and where Planned Parenthood is (Virginia in particular, and also Florida and Iowa).

But, of course, that spending pales in comparison to what the Crossroads groups, the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, and others, are spending everywhere, especially -- again -- Florida and Virginia.

Ad spending by state:

1. Florida - $117.4 million
2. Ohio - $112.1 million
3. Virginia - $85.7 million
4. North Carolina - $56.5 million
5. Colorado – $54.2 million
6. Iowa - $46.6 million
7. Nevada - $38.2 million
8. New Hampshire – $25.3 million
9. Pennsylvania – $19.3 million
10. Wisconsin - $8.1 million
11. Michigan - $8 million
12. Minnesota - $3.2 million
13. New Mexico - $49,000

Total booked on TV and radio this presidential general election: $575 million

Florida – 117.4 million

Team Obama: $58.9 million
Team Romney: $54.4 million

Romney $14,589,522
Am Crossroads $12,509,348
Crossroads GPS $12,293,037
AFP $9,014,582
Restore $7,819,601
Am Future Fund $1,359,061
Am Energy All $854,325
RNC $6,635
Team Romney $31,340,606

Obama $44,206,441
Priorities $12,713,685
SEIU $1,475,589
Planned Parenthod $447,657
MoveOn $64,359
ACLU $17,060
Team Obama $58,924,791

Ohio – 112.1 million

Team Obama: $60.7 million
Team Romney: $51.4 million

Obama $48,043,082
Priorities $12,651,236
MoveOn $47,775
Team Obama $60,742,093

 Romney $17,487,512
Crossroads GPS $8,811,331
Am Crossroads $8,216,089
AFP $6,758,801
Restore $5,125,570
RNC $3,680,185
Am Future Fund $699,868
Am Energy All $608,900
Team Romney $51,388,256

Virginia

Team Romney: $42.9 million
Team Obama: $42.7 million

Obama $31,856,446
Priorities $6,087,431
Restore $4,057,887
Planned Parenthod $595,680
Numbers USA $115,051
MoveOn $16,225
Team Obama $42,728,720

Romney $14,165,708
Crossroads GPS $11,425,662
Am Crossroads $6,580,648
AFP $4,541,639
RNC $4,291,849
CWA $1,028,274
Am Future Fund $454,460
Am Energy All $453,464
Team Romney $42,941,704

North Carolina – $56.5 million

Team Romney: $34.5 million
Team Obama: $21.9 million

Obama $21,890,681

MoveOn $38,532

ACLU $17,028

Team Obama $21,946,241

Romney $10,292,261
Am Crossroads $5,475,912
Crossroads GPS $5,465,354
Restore $4,886,169
AFP $4,722,727
RNC $3,100,258
Am Future Fund $601,818
Team Romney $34,544,499

Colorado – 54.2 million

Team Obama: $28.3 million
Team Romney: $25.9 million

Obama $19,666,313
Priorities $7,482,876
SEIU $605,671
Priorities/LCV $545,327
Team Obama $28,300,187

Romney $8,359,701
AFP $4,590,360
Am Crossroads $4,165,467
Crossroads GPS $3,114,815
Restore $2,677,105
RNC $2,065,791
Am Future Fund $381,164
Am Energy All $325,569
CWA $202,878
Team Romney $25,882,850

Iowa – $46.6 million

Team Romney: $24.6 million
Team Obama: $22 million

Obama $18,792,982
Priorities $2,882,148
Planned Parenthd $342,595
Team Obama $22,017,725

Romney $7,340,101
Am Crossroads $4,219,934
Crossroads GPS $3,563,096
AFP $3,453,226
Restore $2,897,827
RNC $1,768,698
CWA $1,049,518
Am Future Fund $158,080
Am Energy All $145,320
Team Romney $24,595,800

Nevada – 38.2 million

Team Romney: $20.9 million
Team Obama: $17.3 million

Obama $16,472,435
SEIU $416,053
Priorities/LCV $433,721
Priorities $24,483
Team Obama $17,346,692

Romney $5,534,646
Crossroads GPS $5,493,454
AFP $3,112,935
Am Crossroads $2,999,878
Restore $1,853,666
RNC $1,205,342
Am Future Fund $340,659
Am Energy All $324,335
Team Romney $20,864,915

New Hampshire – 25.3 million

Team Romney: $12.7 million
Team Obama: $12.6 million

Obama $12,629,459
Team Obama $12,629,459

Am Crossroads $3,533,653
Crossroads GPS $3,473,406
RNC $2,233,741
Restore $1,301,190
Romney $1,050,995
AFP $587,252
CWA $472,856
Team Romney $12,653,093

Pennsylvania – 19.3 million

Team Romney: $11.2 million
Team Obama: $8.1 million

Obama $4,902,508
Priorities $3,189,838
Team Obama $8,092,346

Restore $4,907,168
AFP $3,716,972
Crossroads GPS $2,574,630
RNC $1,750
Team Romney $11,200,520

Wisconsin – $8.1 million

Team Obama: $535,000
Team Romney: $7.6 million

Priorities $473,488
Planned Parenthd $61,802
Team Obama $535,290

AFP $3,266,979
Restore $2,777,237
CWA $1,136,676
RNC $369,483
Team Romney $7,550,375

Michigan – $8 million

Team Romney: $8 million
Team Obama: $10,500

Priorities $10,515
Team Obama $10,515

Crossroads GPS $3,276,646
Restore $2,427,777
Am Crossroads $738,765
Am Future Fund $585,798
Am Energy All $489,441
AFP $450,456
Team Romney $7,968,883

Minnesota – $3.2 million

Team Romney: $3.1 million
Team Obama: $0

AFP $2,274,058
Restore $3,351
CWA $872,040
Team Romney $3,149,449

MANSFIELD, OH -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a scattershot attack on President Barack Obama on Monday, emphasizing a series of issues other than the economy.

Romney veered from his laserlike focus on the economy as several polls released in the aftermath of party conventions suggested that the incumbent president emerged with the advantage. But in looking to get his campaign back on track, the GOP nominee decided to discuss military issues and his commitment to keeping God in the public square, making his focus on the economy (an issue on which he enjoys an advantage over Obama) secondary.

Charles Dharapak / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stands on a table as he addresses an overflow crowd as he campaigns at PR Machine Works in Mansfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 10, 2012.

"I will be a president, if elected, that honors that pledge and all the pledges that I make," Romney said at the top of his remarks before a crowd of about 1,200 in swing state Ohio. "That pledge says that we are a nation under God, and if I am president of the United States -- when and if I become president of the United States -- I will not take God out of my heart, I will not take God out of the public square and I will not take it out of the platform of my party."

Romney also served up fresh lines attacking Obama for his handling of last summer's bipartisan deal to raise the debt limit, a deal reached with the approval of both the Republican-controlled house and the president. That deal called for automatic defense cuts to take place in January 2013 if lawmakers couldn't reach some other sort of deal to address the nation's mounting debt. Lawmakers failed to reach a consensus, and the defense cuts loom on the horizon.

In anticipation of the politically difficult defense cuts, Congress earlier this summer passed a law requiring the Obama administration to detail where cuts would fall if they were to reach fruition. But the Obama administration missed the deadline to report back to Congress, giving political fodder to Romney and other Republicans.

"He won't describe all the jobs that are going to be lost -- no, not probably until after the election," Romney said. "It seems we found one secret relating to national security that he's willing to keep."

Here in Ohio, where the unemployment rate is 7.2 percent, nearly a full point better than the national average, a senior Romney campaign adviser insisted voters were still primarily dialed in to economic issues, including debt and the deficit, and that Romney's economic focus could persuade voters who had not made up their minds.

"The number one issue in Ohio is the same as, I think, the number one issue across the country, which is the economy," Romney senior adviser Kevin Madden told reporters after the event here.

To be sure, Romney, as per usual, laid out his five-point plan for the middle class during today's stop, and hit the president for what he claimed was the administration's lack of a job creation plan. But other economic-based elements of the Romney stump speech were absent, including any mention of welfare reform, and the once ubiquitous "You didn't build that" attack.

While campaign advisers downplayed the significance of Romney's time spent on non-economic issues today, at least one supporter told NBC news that kind of talk was exactly what Romney needed to win over undecided voters in the Buckeye State.

John Goodwin, a retired firefighter who shares a mutual Mormon faith with Romney, said before the event that Romney needed to communicate his personal values better to wavering voters who don't yet feel they know and trust the man personally.

"If he can take those values and turn them into the presidency, our country will come back," Goodwin said.

In turn, the Obama campaign accused Romney of the very same secrecy for which he attacked Obama.

“What we saw today from Mitt Romney is more of the same evasiveness that has defined his campaign. He said he would repeal Obamacare, but didn’t offer a solution for the 89 million Americans who could be denied coverage if they have a pre-existing condition. He said he would cut taxes, but didn’t say how he’d pay for $5 trillion in tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires without raising taxes on the middle class. And he said he would put students first, but left out how his deep cuts to education would hurt schools. Mitt Romney knows it’s political suicide to level with the American people about his ‘secret’ agenda, so he’s evading the truth at every turn," said Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the president's re-election campaign.

NBC's Mark Murray discusses where the presidential race stands following the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

Responding to the early polling showing President Obama with a bounce -- and lead -- after the two conventions, Romney pollster Neil Newhouse argues in a memo to reporters that the presidential contest "has not changed significantly."

"Don't get too worked up about the latest polling," Newhouse writes in the memo. "While some voters will feel a bit of a sugar-high from the conventions, the basic structure of the race has not changed significantly. The reality of the Obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate downfall of the Obama presidency, and Mitt Romney will win this race."

Related: First Thoughts: After Tampa and Charlotte

Newhouse adds, "The key numbers in this election are the 43 straight months of 8% or higher unemployment, the 23 million Americans struggling to find work, and the 47 million Americans who are on food stamps."

However, as we wrote in First Thoughts this morning, Obama went into the conventions with the lead, and emerged from those conventions with the lead.

And as Politico reported over the weekend, “The Romney campaign … said the post-convention bounce they hoped for fell well short of expectations and privately lament that state-by-state polling numbers — most glaringly in Ohio — are working in the president’s favor.”

“Their map has many more routes to victory,” a top GOP official admitted to Politico.

The state of the race after Tampa and Charlotte: Obama is still ahead… Romney, once again, is unable to list a specific loophole he’d close to pay for tax plan… Romney on his “Afghanistan” omission and health care… Team Obama tops Team Romney in August fundraising -- barely… Over the weekend, Romney endorsed Steve King and hung out with Pat Robertson… Romney camp goes up on the air in Wisconsin… Woodward’s argument: Obama didn’t lead during debt-ceiling debate… And Romney stumps in Ohio at 3:00 pm ET, while Obama is down.

*** The state of the race after Tampa and Charlotte: President Obama went into the two conventions with the lead over Mitt Romney, and he comes out of them with the lead. (And he may very well have expanded his lead if you believe the Gallup tracking poll and other robo-surveys, about which we ALWAYS preach caution). You can tell from the quotes who's ahead in the race. “The Romney campaign … said the post-convention bounce they hoped for fell well short of expectations and privately lament that state-by-state polling numbers — most glaringly in Ohio — are working in the president’s favor,” Politico reported over the weekend. You can also tell from the body language, as the Romney camp jumped all over Friday's jobs report to try to change the narrative from the two weeks of conventions. And you can tell from the map, too, with the Romney camp now advertising in Wisconsin but not in Michigan or Pennsylvania. Romney’s next chance (and maybe final one) to change the contours of this race will be that first presidential debate on Oct. 3 in Colorado.

*** Where are the specifics? Given that upcoming debate, doesn’t Romney have to come up with some more specifics on his tax plan between now and then? If he doesn’t, the Obama campaign will continue to fill in the blanks and argue that Romney’s plan will raise taxes on the middle class. In his “Meet the Press” interview, Romney was unable -- again -- to give an example of a loophole he’d close to made his tax-cut plan revenue neutral. DAVID GREGORY: “Give me an example of a loophole that you will close.” ROMNEY: “Well, I can tell you that people at the high end, high income taxpayers, are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions.” And on ABC, running mate Paul Ryan said a Romney White House would consult with Congress on which loopholes to close. Campaigning in Florida, per NBC’s Ali Weinberg, Obama pounced. “Gov. Romney and his allies tell us that we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions on new tax breaks for the wealthy. Listen, you’ve got to do the math because when my opponents were asked about it today, they couldn’t. It was like two plus one equals five.”

Terry Renna / AP

President Barack Obama greets supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., during a campaign stop Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012.

*** And where is the distance from Bush? And it’s just not the specifics. Romney has yet to fully make the case how his policies are any different than George W. Bush’s (outside balancing the budget). Compare this to Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, which was ALL ABOUT differentiating himself from Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. If Romney doesn’t fill in the blanks, and try to distance his policies from Bush’s, you can easily see how Obama can fight Romney to a draw in that first debate.

*** Romney on his “Afghanistan” omission: Also on “Meet,” NBC’s Gregory asked Romney why he never said the word “Afghanistan” in his acceptance speech, despite all the U.S. troops who are serving and dying there. Romney responded by downplaying the significance of words in a speech. “I find it interesting that people are curious about mentioning words in a speech as opposed to policy. And so I went to the American Legion the day before I gave that speech … and spoke with our veterans there and described my policy as it relates to Afghanistan and other foreign policy and our military.” When Gregory told him that American Legion speech wasn’t seen by tens of millions of people like the acceptance speech was, Romney replied, “You know, what I've found is that wherever I go I am speaking to tens of millions of people.” Romney’s answer on his failure to mention Afghanistan came after he was asked an identical question on FOX. “When you give a speech you don't go through a laundry list, you talk about the things that you think are important and I described in my speech, my commitment to a strong military unlike the president's decision to cut our military." Romney had two shots at cleaning this up, and he really didn’t take the opportunity.

*** Romney on health care: And Romney continued to have problems talking about health care. After stating that he was going to replace Obamacare, the GOP presidential nominee told Gregory, “I'm not getting rid of all of health-care reform. Of course there are a number of things that I like in health-care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like.” But as we’ve explained before, it’s very hard to see how health insurance companies would provide those benefits – like mandating coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health plans – if the health-care law is repealed and you have a smaller pool of insured Americans.

*** Team Obama tops Team Romney -- barely -- in August fundraising: For the first time since April, Team Obama (the campaign, DNC, victory fund) outraised Team Romney (campaign, RNC, victory fund) in August, $114 million to $111.6 million. These numbers are both monthly highs for each side. The Obama campaign says its August haul came from 1.1 million donors -- representing a third of its 3.1 million donors to date -- which suggests that its grassroots support is beginning to kick into a higher gear. We won't see an actual apples-to-apples breakdown of the August fundraising until the FEC deadline of Sept. 20.

*** Endorsing King and hanging out with Robertson: With less than 60 days before Election Day, why was Romney endorsing conservative Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and hanging out with Pat Robertson? “I’m looking here at Steve King because this man needs to be your congressman again,” Romney said on Friday. “I want him as my partner in Washington, D.C.” Don’t think that Steve King endorsement didn’t show up on Univision or Telemundo… This just seemed like odd primary-style politicking at a time when Romney needs to be wooing more mainstream suburban swing voters.

*** Advertising in Wisconsin: As we mentioned above, the Romney campaign announced this weekend that it’s airing a new TV ad in Wisconsin – its first there in the general election. (We’ve yet to see confirmation how big the actual buy is, however.) What is surprising isn’t that the Romney camp is advertising in Wisconsin. What’s surprising is how long it took them. We all know Wisconsin is a swing state, and we know that the Romney camp has plenty of money. So what took so long?

*** Woodward’s argument: What’s particularly striking about the new Bob Woodward book is that, unlike his past works, he’s making an argument rather than trying to recreate and report on a past event and letting others draw the conclusions. Woodward’s argument here: Obama didn’t lead in the debt-ceiling debate. Woodward told ABC, per Political Wire: "President Clinton, President Reagan. And if you look at them, you can criticize them for lots of things. They by and large worked their will," Woodward said." On this, President Obama did not." He added, "Now, some people are going to say he was fighting a brick wall, the Republicans in the House and the Republicans in Congress. Others will say it's the president's job to figure out how to tear down that brick wall. In this case, he did not." Does the Woodward book on such an ugly inside the Beltway fight have legs in the swing states in these final days? We’ll see.

*** On the trail: Romney has a rally in Mansfield, OH at 3:00 pm ET… Ryan raises money in Portland, OR… And Obama is down today.

*** What to watch the rest of this week: Tuesday is the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Obama, Biden, and Romney all have events tied to this anniversary… Bill Clinton campaigns for Obama in Miami (on Tuesday) and Orlando (on Wednesday)… And Obama stumps in Las Vegas (on Wednesday) and Denver (on Thursday).

Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 23 days
Countdown to VP debate: 31 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 36 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 42 days
Countdown to Election Day: 57 days

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*** Monday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) weigh in on the latest in the Obama-Romney debate… NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell on Congress coming back to work… NBC’s Kevin Tibbles with the latest on the Chicago school teachers strike… NBC terrorism analyst Roger Cressey and The Atlantic’s Steve Clemons on the state of the fight against terrorism on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary and what other foreign threats could shape the presidential debate in the closing weeks… Latest 2012 news and analysis with The Washington Post’s Dan Balz, The Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio and Michelle Bernard of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy.

*** Monday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. John Larson (CT), Romney senior campaign Adviser Tara Wall, The Grio.com’s political editor Perry bacon, CQ Roll Call Daily Briefing Editor David Hawkings, former Obama administration economic adviser Jared Bernstein.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up:  MSNBC’S Craig Melvin, filling in for Thomas Roberts, talks with RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer, the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, Author of “the Swing Vote” Linda Killian, and former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA). Today’s Power Panel: Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, Republican strategist Susan Del Percio, and Democratic strategist Keith Boykin.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, NBC’s Ann Curry (reporting near the Syrian border), Romney surrogate former Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO), and Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Newsweek’s Michael Tomasky, GOP strategist Hogan Gidley, Dem strategist Chris Kofinis, and Evan Kohlman.

USA Today’s Page: “Forget the pundits: Three national surveys released Sunday show President Obama getting a noticeable bounce in the wake of the Republican and Democratic conventions, opening a small lead in a race that has been essentially tied for months.” (Only one, however, Gallup utilizes a methodology that NBC reports on. And that’s the Gallup Daily Tracking poll.)

“President Obama's campaign raised $114 million in August, edging Mitt Romney's haul of $111.6 million and ending the Republican's three month winning streak in the money race,” USA Today notes, adding, “The $114 million in August is a big spike for Obama, who had raised only $75 million in July.”

Not surprisingly, President Obama and Speaker Boehner have very different recollections of how the debt-ceiling showdown went down.

“A new Albuquerque Journal poll in New Mexico finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by five points, 45% to 40%, with Gary Johnson (L) at 7%,” Political Wire writes. 

“For all the talk by the presidential candidates about producing jobs, fixing the economy, and bolstering the country’s middle class, a dispiriting prospect looms ahead of November’s election: The nation’s poverty rate is poised to rise to its highest level since President Lyndon B. Johnson launched his war against it,” the Boston Globe says. “New Census Bureau estimates are expected to be released this week, and even a small two-tenths tick upward would push the 2011 rate to its highest level since 1965. With nearly one in every six Americans now living in poverty, advocates for the poor say little attention is being paid to the issue and express concern over how this fall’s elections could influence government programs meant to aid the poor.”

There are … likely to be disputes over poll station monitoring,” the New York Times says. “True the Vote, a conservative group, says it is training one million citizens as election observers to make up for what it says is a lack of poll workers. Catherine Engelbrecht, the president of True the Vote, said the job of those trained would be to ‘observe, document and report on activities inside the polls that are not in keeping with state law.’” 

“Two groups on the other side of the political spectrum, Demos and Common Cause, are issuing a report on Monday, ‘Bullies at the Ballot Box,’ that warns of ‘a real danger that voters will face overzealous volunteers who take the law into their own hands to target voters they deem suspect.’ The voters that the groups say they are most worried about are members of minority groups. “

“Mitt Romney has called for wholesale repeal of President Obama’s national health care law, but [on Meet the Press] Sunday he said he is ‘not getting rid of all of health care reform,’” the Boston Globe writes.

Except that later, “the Romney campaign later insisted to National Review there had been ‘no change’ his position on health care,” Political Wire notes.

He also said: “Contrary to what the Democrats are saying, I’m not going to increase the tax burden on middle-income families,” Romney said. “It would absolutely be wrong to do that.”

But Romney didn’t offer any specifics on how that would happen considering the Tax Policy Center’s analysis saying his plan would increase taxes in the middle class and disproportionately cut taxes for the rich. As the Globe points out: “But the Republican presidential nominee declined again to offer more details of his tax plan. Asked to name one loophole he would close, Romney answered, ‘Well, I can tell you that people at the high end, high income taxpayers, are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions. Those numbers are going to come down. Otherwise they’d get a tax break. And I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention, I am not reducing taxes on high-income taxpayers.’”

“GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan insists it’s not a ‘secret plan,’” the New York Daily News writes. “But both he and Mitt Romney refused Sunday to identify any of the tax loopholes they would close to help balance the budget.”

“Paul Ryan defended the GOP presidential ticket's lack of foreign policy experience today, saying he has more preparation for the job of vice president than candidate Barack Obama did for the job of president in 2008,” USA Today writes. That point could be argued except that Obama is president now and has dealt with foreign policy for the last three-plus years and Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Not to mention, Obama, as a rookie senator sat on that committee, showing an interest in foreign policy matters.

Charlie Crist’s comeback? “A new St. Pete Polls survey in Florida shows former Gov. Charlie Crist (I) crushing Alex Sink (D) as the choice of likely Democratic voters for governor in two years, 61% to 25%,” Political Wire writes.

“President Obama is taking a few days off from the campaign trail, turning back to his day job at the White House,” USA Today writes. “Obama has closed-door meetings today at the White House, with no public meetings scheduled. Tuesday is a day of remembrance: The 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.”

The Boston Globe points out that despite Biden criticizing the Bain way in his speech, the administration has appointed two former Bain employees. Of course, paying attention to numbers and profits might be important in Offices of Management and Budget and Regulatory Affairs but maybe not as important as president, Biden would argue.

Obama got quite the embrace at a pizza shop in Florida. USA Today: "‘Scott, what's going on, man?’

Obama shouted to Van Duzer as he came through the door, according to pool reporter Reid Epstein. ‘Scott, let me tell you, you are like the biggest pizza shop owner I've ever seen.’ The president then approached Van Duzer, 46, of Port St. Lucie, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 260 pounds. ‘Everybody look at these guns,’ Obama said, pointing to Van Duzer's muscles. ‘If I eat your pizza, will I look like that?’ The two men laughed. They embraced, and Van Duzer lifted Obama about a foot off the ground. ‘Look at that!’ Obama exclaimed, once back on firm ground. ‘Man, are you a power-lifter or what?’”

BOSTON -- Mitt Romney's campaign and its fundraising allies announced Sunday they had brought in $111.6 million dollars last month, making August the most lucrative fundraising month yet for the GOP nominee and the third straight month Team Romney has raised more than $100 million dollars.

In a press release, the campaign said it now has $168.5 million in cash-on-hand between the Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee and the state parties which combine to make up the so-called "Romney Victory" fund. The Obama re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $114 million in August, campaign manager Jim Messina said early Monday morning, Reuters reported. 

 The Romney campaign said 94% of the donations they received in August came from donors who gave less than $250 dollars apiece, for a total of $34.6 million dollars, and that donations came from all 50 states the District of Columbia.

On August 10th, Romney announced the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, and the campaign touted the subsequent spike in online giving for days after the selection as a sign of increased grassroots support for the Republican effort.

A joint statement from Romney national finance chairman Spencer Zwick and RNC chairman Reince Priebus used the fundraising totals to continue to push the campaign's latest motivating question, meant to undermine support for President Obama: Are voters better off today than they were four years ago?

“Americans are not better off than they were four years ago and they are looking for a change of leadership. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems – that is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country," Zwick and Priebus said.

Mitt Romney argued Sunday that voters should have enough of a sense of his principles to have confidence in how he'd handle the nitty-gritty details of taxes, spending and health care as president.

The Republican presidential nominee, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," argued his plan to cut taxes squares with his vow to achieve a balanced budget by the end of a second hypothetical term, even though achieving those two goals would seem difficult, if not incongruent.

"My tax policy is designed to find a way to encourage more hiring in this country. I'm very concerned that we have 23 million people that are out of work or stopped looking for work or under-employed," Romney told moderator David Gregory. "So everything I want to do with regards to taxation follows simple principles, which is bring our rates down to encourage growth, keep revenue up by limiting deductions and exemptions and make sure we don't put any bigger burden on middle income people. In fact, I want to lower the burden on middle income people."

But Romney has been dogged by criticism that his plan lacks specifics, thereby making it difficult to conceive of how he would be able to reasonably achieve his agenda. 

Romney's tax plan calls for making a 20 percent, across-the-board cut to marginal tax rates while keeping most existing taxes on investment the same (and cutting investment taxes altogether for households earning less than $200,000.) The former Massachusetts governor has argued that if "we limit or eliminate some of the loopholes and deductions at the high end," he could maintain current levels of tax revenue while also stimulating growth.

Related: Romney: President & GOP leaders made 'big mistake' on defense cuts

But, pressed for specifics, Romney resisted, and said his "principles" make up the details of his policy.

"The specifics are these, which is those principles I described are the heart of my policy," he said. "And I've indicated as well that — contrary to what the Democrats are saying — I'm not going to increase the tax burden on middle income families.  It would absolutely be wrong to do that."

The opacity of some of Romney's proposals has invited plenty of scrutiny from Democrats, including President Barack Obama, who seized upon Romney's tax proposals in his convention speech on Thursday.

"When Gov. Romney and his friends in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficits by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy, well — what'd Bill Clinton call it? You do the arithmetic. You do the math," the president said in Charlotte.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney talks briefly with reporters after stopping to buy two pizzas at Lui-Lui restaurant in West Lebanon, New Hampshire September 5, 2012.

Romney shot back Sunday: "I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention, I am not reducing taxes on high income taxpayers."

Speaking of those conventions, Romney said he has emerged in a "better spot" for his campaign by spending a week better familiarizing voters with his personality and record. And the GOP nominee pounced on Friday's anemic jobs report as further evidence as to why voters should back him. 

"It is a jobless recovery, if it's a recovery at all," Romney said of the pace of the recovery. "If President Obama is re-elected you're not going to see our unemployment picture change dramatically. You're not going to see us create the jobs we need to create or the rising incomes people need."

The economy joins the issues of taxes and spending as top problems a President Romney would be forced to confront almost immediately upon taking office. Current tax rates will automatically spring upward at the beginning of 2013 absent another extension of the so-called "Bush tax cuts," or some other kind of substitute comprehensive tax reform. And a series of automatic spending cuts stipulated by the 2011 debt ceiling deal will take place in January unless Congress makes steps to undo them.

Those looming issues are linked in large part to partisan discord in Congress, a phenomenon that might not be broken with this year's elections. Internal divisions within the GOP, pitting conservatives who have pushed for deeper cuts against their party's leadership, have additionally complicated dealmaking on Capitol Hill.

As president, Romney said he would seek out compromise, but not in such a way that it would contravene his principles.

"There's nothing wrong with the term compromise, but there is something very wrong with the term abandoning one's principles," he said. "And I'm going to stand by my principles. And those are I am not going to raise taxes on the American people."

Those governing principles extend to health care, a hot-button issue this election which Romney has vowed to tackle if elected.

The GOP nominee has vowed, for instance, to repeal Obama's signature health care law and replace it with his own series of reforms. But that doesn't mean that some of the more popular elements of "Obamacare" would necessarily go away, Romney said.

"I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform that I'm going to put in place," said Romney. "One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company."

Romney also spoke to the issue of foreign policy, a topic on which he scarcely touched at his convention speech in Tampa. Romney said that Obama has "had some successes and he's had some failure," an example of the latter being the president's handling of Iran.

"President Obama had a policy of engagement with Ahmadinejad.  That policy has not worked and we're closer to a nuclear weapon as a result of that," he said.

Romney said he would handle it differently by more aggressively pursuing diplomacy and sanctions, while also maintaining a military option.

"We need to use every resource we have to dissuade them from their nuclear path. But that doesn't mean that we would take off the table our military option. That's something which certainly every American would hope we would never have to use," Romney said. "But we have to maintain it on the table or Iran will, undoubtedly, continue their treacherous course."

Michael O'Brien, NBC News

Mitt Romney said his fellow Republicans were wrong to agree to a deal last summer that included a series of automatic cuts to defense spending in exchange for an agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

The Republican presidential nominee said in an interview airing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that GOP lawmakers made a "big mistake" in signing off on the deal, which prevented a U.S. default on its borrowing obligations.

"I thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it.  I think it was a mistake for Republicans to go along with it," Romney said.

That deal included a series of automatic cuts, including $55 billion in cuts to defense spending, set to take place automatically in January. The automatic cuts, known as the "sequester," were designed to be so politically distasteful so that lawmakers would have an incentive to reach some alternative compromise. But they reached no deal, and the sequester looms just a few months on the horizon.

Congress earlier this summer passed a bill requiring the Obama administration to detail how these defense cuts would be implemented if they do go forth, and the president signed it into law. That deadline passed this week without the required report, and Romney pounced.

"The president was responsible for coming out with specific changes they'd make to the defense budget.  It was supposed to have come out this last week.  He has violated the law that he in fact signed," Romney said. "The American people need to understand how it is that our defense is going to be so badly cut."

As for the GOP presidential nominee, he said he would maintain defense spending at the current gross domestic product (GDP) level.

"Well, I want to maintain defense spending at the current level of the GDP.  I don't want to keep bringing it down as the president's doing," he said. "This sequestration idea of the White House, which is cutting our defense, I think is an extraordinary miscalculation in the wrong direction."

Michael O'Brien, NBC News

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney embraced Bill Clinton's speech this week at the Democratic National Convention, saying the former president's speech — which was full of criticism of Romney — helped "elevate" Democrats' convention.

In his interview airing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Romney praised the Wednesday night speech by the Democratic ex-president, which ridiculed Romney and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on issues ranging from fiscal policy to Medicare.

"He did stand out in contrast with the other speakers; I think he really did elevate the Democrat convention in a lot of ways," Romney said. "And, frankly, the contrast may not have been as attractive as Barack Obama might have preferred if he were choosing who'd go before him and who'd go after."

Clinton's speech was regarded as one of the highlights of the Democratic convention; he formally nominated President Obama for a second term, and his folksy speech built up the current president while simultaneously taking Romney to task. But as Romney suggested, Clinton's speech drew as much interest as Obama's among political observers, and Romney seemed to suggest the former president even overshadowed the current one.

But Clinton's criticism hasn't previously deterred Romney from embracing the former Democratic president. He's praised Clinton on the campaign trail as a centrist, as if to portray Obama as governing well to the left of Clinton.

Romney's tack is an implicit acknowledgement of Clinton's broad popularity, a sentiment the GOP presidential nominee joked would probably propel Clinton to a third term in the White House, if it were legal.

Asked whether Clinton could be elected president today, Romney responded: "If the constitution weren't in his way, yeah.  Perhaps.  But I don't know the answer to that."