Gallup has released its list of "Most Admired Woman and Most Admired Man" living anywhere in the world, and for the 11th year in a row, Hillary Clinton tops the list of women, while Barack Obama is the most admired man for the fifth year in a row. 

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a speech "Frontlines and Frontiers: Making Human Rights a Human Reality" at Dublin City University in Ireland in this file photo from Dec. 6, 2012.

First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Condoleezza Rice are next behind Clinton.

Behind Obama are Nelson Mandela, Mitt Romney, Billy Graham, George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI. 

The "Most Admired Man" poll began in 1946 and was expanded to include "Most Admired Woman" in 1948.  

Clinton has topped the list 17 times in the last 20 years, starting in 1993. Eleanor Roosevelt comes in second as the most "Most Admired Woman," a designation she gained 13 times. 

Dwight Eisenhower was the "Most Admired Man" 12 times, the most for any man, followed by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who each had eight first-place finishes.

The results are based on a Gallup poll taken from Dec 19 to 22nd.

Updated 2:20 p.m. -- Saying that his new pick for the nation's top diplomatic job is "not going to need a lot of on-the-job training," President Barack Obama announced Friday his nomination of Senate Foreign Relations Committee head and onetime Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry as the next Secretary of State.

"I think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry," Obama said at the announcement at the White House as Kerry stood at his side. "And this makes him a perfect choice to guide American diplomacy in the years ahead."

Kerry, who has been considered the overwhelming frontrunner for the job since U.N. ambassador Susan Rice withdrew herself from consideration, is likely to face few hurdles during his Senate confirmation.

First elected in 1984, Kerry served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy and became a famed demonstrator against the Vietnam War. Since his failed presidential bid in 2004, he has risen to prominence as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, going on high-profile visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and helping to negotiate an arms treaty with Russia.

"Having served with valor in Vietnam, he understands that we have a responsibility to use American power wisely, especially our military power," Obama said of Kerry. "And he knows from personal experience that when we send our troops into harm's way, we must give them a sound strategy, clear mission, and the resources that they need to get the job done."

The former presidential nominee also served as Obama's stand-in for Mitt Romney for debate preparation during the 2012 campaign, a role Obama referenced in announcing Kerry's new assignment.

"John, I'm looking forward to working with you instead of debating you," he joked.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., leads a hearing Dec. 20 on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Rice, the president's reported original pick for the job, faced vehement opposition from some Senate Republicans who questioned information she presented in the immediate wake of the Benghazi consulate attacks in September. Faced with a bruising potential confirmation battle, she withdrew herself from the running for the Secretary of State post on December 13.

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who had been fierce critics of Rice’s potential nomination reacted warmly to the choice of Kerry Friday.  McCain said he has “confidence in his ability to carry out" the job while Graham called Kerry "a solid choice."

If confirmed, Kerry will replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has indicated she will step down from the post early next year.

Clinton was unable to attend the White House announcement, said the president, who noted that she is still recuperating from a reported illness but that she "could not be more excited" about Kerry getting the nod.

In a lengthy written statement, Clinton called Kerry "an excellent choice."

"President Obama and I have often asked Senator Kerry to undertake delicate diplomatic missions and to deliver difficult messages," she said in praising his past diplomatic and political experience. "He has forged strong relationships with leaders around the world.  As I have learned, being able to talk candidly as someone who has won elections and also lost them is an enormous asset when engaging with emerging or fragile democracies."

Assuming Kerry is confirmed and therefore resigns from the United States Senate, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will appoint a temporary replacement for Kerry's seat before a special election held between 145 and 160 days from his resignation date.

Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who was defeated in November by Elizabeth Warren, is possible candidate in that special election, while several Massachusetts House members are also eying a run on the Democratic side.

Hillary Clinton’s possible 2016 bid for the presidency won one high-profile supporter Tuesday in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pelosi said during an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell that she hoped Clinton – who will retire soon from her job as secretary of state – would make another bid for the presidency in four years.

“Wouldn’t that be exiting?” Pelosi said. “I hope she goes – why wouldn’t she?”

“She could be president of the United States, and she would be great,” added Pelosi, who was speaker of the House and stayed neutral during the 2008 primary between Clinton and Barack Obama. “And if she decided to run, I think she would win. She would go into the White House as well prepared, or better prepared, than almost anybody who has served in that office in a very long time.”

"Booming," "sky-high," and "formidable" are just a sampling of the adjectives often used to describe Hillary Clinton's popularity, as DC pundits speculate about her perceived ambitions for 2016.

Pool / Getty Images

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton attend a dinner for Kennedy honorees on Dec. 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C.

It's correct that Clinton (bested only by her husband Bill) enjoys the second highest approval rating of the public figures we asked about in our most recent NBC/WSJ poll. With a 58% positive / 28% negative split overall (and 100 percent name recognition), she has the kind of numbers that most political figures experience only in daydreams.

And it's also worth noting that neither she nor her husband are strangers to the political doldrums. In April 2008, as her prospects for a primary comeback waned, she had a net negative overall approval rating. When Bill Clinton left the presidency, after his controversial pardon of Marc Rich, just 34 percent of Americans viewed him positively. 

But as both have seen their numbers rebound to their current highs, are the Clintons' stores of political goodwill  -- built up by a couple that has largely stayed above the political fray since the end of the 2008 election -- resilient enough to bolster another run for the presidency by Hillary? 

Here's a look at where both Clintons stand right now with some of the groups that make up a campaign-building coalition.

(As with all deep dives into cross-tabs, insert caveat here that the margin of error for these subgroups is by definition higher than the poll's overall MOE of +/- 3.10%.) 

Hillary Clinton enjoys a 70 percent approval rating among women. Almost seven-in-ten Hispanic respondents and and 87 percent of African-Americans also said they view her positively.

While she is hardly beloved by the party she once derided for its penchant for "right wing conspiracy," her marks with Republicans are better than the current president's. A quarter of Republicans in the NBC/WSJ survey gave her positive ratings, while 52 percent of independents said the same. (Compare that to 10 percent of GOP respondents and 45 percent of indies for Obama.) 

Other than being slightly underwater among white men, she has net positive ratings among almost every key constituency, with notable strength among suburban women (+44 points), blue collar workers (+24 points) and retirees (+18 points). 

And then there's Bill. 

The former president, who once stood at the brink of impeachment, has nearly regained the popularity he enjoyed at his first inauguration in 1993. Just a quarter of the poll's respondents said they view Bill Clinton negatively. His numbers with Republicans and independents are comparable to his wife's, but his overall popularity is buoyed by strength among white men, who view him positively by a margin of more than 30 points. 

Both Clintons are also unsurprisingly strong with the Democratic base -- a data point that's notable only in light of the blistering attacks both launched on Barack Obama during the 2007-2008 primary battle. Disapproval for either barely registers among respondents who classified themselves as liberals or core Democrats. 

None of this is to say that the daily volleys of a possible campaign wouldn't create some cracks in the Clintonian armor; Hillary Clinton's approval rating dropped by 10 points in the two bruising months after the Iowa caucuses in 2008, for example. 

What goes up, both pols know, can come down. 

But for now, speculators, "formidable" is fine. 

Newt Gingrich said on Meet the Press he thinks Hillary Clinton would be tough to beat for the GOP: “[I]f their [the GOP’s] competitor in ‘16 is going to be Hillary Clinton, supported by Bill Clinton and presumably a still relatively popular president Barack Obama, trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl. And the Republican Party today is incapable of competing at that level. And it’s part of this cultural thing with our consultants. I mean, if you start out thinking giving away 47 percent of the country, by the way, which included retirees, it included veterans. You know, it was an absurdity. And-- and I think this is-- this is much more than Mitt Romney. We didn’t blow it because of Mitt Romney. We blew it because of a party which has refused to engage the reality of American life and refused to take-- to think through what the average American needs for a better future.”

Cory Booker’s still thinking about running for governor, or maybe Senate? "I am absolutely considering running for governor, as well as giving other options some consideration."

BUSH: “The top spot belonged first to a Bush and then to a Clinton. Now, in a familiar American formula, the National Constitution Center is turning again to a Bush,” the Philadelphia Inquirer writes.

CHRISTIE: “When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie swept through Washington, D.C., on Thursday to lobby for funds to rebuild his state after Hurricane Sandy, he brought along public approval ratings higher than any of the elected officials he met with, including his storm buddy President Obama,” USA Todaywrites, adding, “Recovery from the storm will be the central theme of next year's governor's race, says Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin. Christie has estimated costs of the storm at close to $40 billion just in New Jersey.”

Christie rejected setting up a state-run health-care exchange. Ironically, he was in DC trying to get money for Sandy relief efforts.

VIRGINIA: NBC’s Richmond affiliate reports: “Yesterday we outlined at length Terry McAuliffe's explanation as to why he chose to open a manufacturing plant for his Green Car company in Mississippi instead of here in Virginia. The plant opened to great fanfare in July and was helping to establish McAuliffe's credentials as a businessman willing to invest in green technology as a long term economic solution. But for McAuliffe, who purchased the Chinese company shortly after losing the democratic primary for governor in 2009, the fact that the plant and it's potential one thousand jobs ended up in Mississippi was a mystery. Especially because McAuliffe never really stopped running for governor. He touted this week that he has attended some 2,400 political events in Virginia over the past four years.”

1. Hillary Clinton to Middle East. The big news today is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to the Middle East to try and help broker a peace in the ongoing fighting in Gaza.

Usually, someone as high level as Clinton isn’t dispatched in this sort of delicate situation unless a deal is imminent. If that’s the case, it would certainly be a feather in Clinton’s cap in her last overseas trip. And it could be a strong credential if she runs for president in, dare we say, 2016.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives for the 4th ASEAN-U.S. leaders' meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh Nov. 19, 2012.

2. Race cited as opposition to Rice. As NBC’s Frank Thorp and Luke Russert reported yesterday nearly 100 House Republicans wrote a letter to President Obama, saying they would strongly oppose a Susan Rice nomination for secretary of State.

Of course, this has no teeth. Presidential appointments that need congressional approval have to be approved by the Senate. The House doesn’t even get a vote. But it is indicative of how deep the opposition is among hard-right conservatives.

But now Rep. Jim Clyburn, echoing the feelings of many on the left, said on CNN this morning that race appears to be a factor in the criticism of Rice.

“During this recent campaign,” Clyburn said, “we heard [Gov.] Sununu calling our president lazy, incompetent. These kinds of terms that - those of us, especially those of us born and raised in the South, we've been hearing these little words and phrases all of our lives, and we get insulted by them. Susan rice is as competent as anybody you will find. … Say that she was wrong for doing it, but don't call her incompetent.”

Democrats point to the harshest criticism from the right of Obama’s cabinet has been aimed at minorities and women – Attorney General Eric Holder, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, and Rice, who are all black, as well as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who are women.

Republicans would say they have just been involved in some of the more controversial decisions made by the administration, from regulating energy to the implementation of the health-care law to trying to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

3. Labor pushes back. Labor groups -- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, and the National Education Association, NEA -- are going up with ads pressuring Democrats to hold the line on domestic spending, the Washington Post reports. The TV ads will run in “Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, along with radio ads in Pennsylvania, Alaska and Missouri.”

From an ad running in Virginia, entitled, “Jobs not cuts”: “How do we move our country forward and reduce the deficit? By creating jobs and growing our economy, not by cutting programs that families rely on most. We need Senators Warner and Webb to continue to stand up for us by investing in job creation, extending the middle-class tax cuts, and protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and education from cuts.”

The key to getting a deal done on the “fiscal cliff” is for both parties to first, get their own houses in order. House Speaker John Boehner certainly has a difficult task ahead of him to marshal his conservative House conference. But the president also has challenges in getting the left on board and finding 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a Mitch McConnell-led filibuster, if there is one.

4. Rubio flirting with running for president. In Iowa, yes Iowa, the FLORIDA senator joked about running for president:

“Let's just address right up front the elephant in the room, because anytime anyone makes a trip to Iowa, people start speculating about what you're going to do in the future, so let me just be blunt: I am not now nor will I ever be a candidate for offensive coordinator of Iowa.”

Rubio played college football, and that got laughs. But he’s done nothing to tamp down that he’s seriously considering running in 2016. Of course, the opposition vetting process is what a lot of Republicans worry about with Rubio.

5. GOP not thrilled with Christie. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is the ostensible reason Rubio was in Iowa – for a birthday fundraiser – took a swipe at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his praise for President Obama during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

"There are some people that think maybe he could have handled it - been a little less gushing,” Branstad said. “But that's his personality. He has got that New Jersey edge to him, you know, for good or bad."

And Matt Drudge, a big Romney fan, headlines: “Christie Clowns on SNL as Residents Suffer."

But Christie is getting the thumbs up from New York City residents. Asked who did the best job handling Sandy, respondents to a Quinnipiac poll said Christie.

Christie  36%
Obama  22%
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo  15%
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg 12%

Those wanting to take shots at Christie probably have little connection to the New York/New Jersey area. Christie saw the places he grew up devastated by the storm. And the furthest thing from someone’s mind who has to govern during a time when your residents are dying and houses are being destroyed should be politics.

6. Ron Paul endorsed secession. Retiring Rep. Ron Paul isn’t going out quietly. He endorsed secession, calling it a “deeply American principle.”

"Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession....In fact, the recent election only further entrenched the status quo. If the possibility of secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties and no recourse for those who are sick and tired of it."

7. Dems draw from NY, CA. The GOP has taken a lot of criticism as a regional party with its members and power center rooted in the South. Well, almost 30% of Democrats in the House now are from just New York and California, the highest percentage ever, according to the University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics blog. http://bit.ly/QrZqJW

8. A brief history of turkey pardons. As we make our way closer to Thanksgiving, there’s an annual presidential tradition that Obama will take part in once again tomorrow – pardoning a turkey. The quaint exercise, however, does not date as far back as some might think. And even presidents have wrongly cited the first to do so. We break it down.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The political world is firmly focused on this year’s elections, but several of President Barack Obama's would-be successors may well find their launching pad here at the Democratic National Convention, using high-profile speaking slots and delegate buzz to boost their fortunes for the 2016 campaign.

Win or lose in November, the president has long said that 2012 will be his last run for elective office, meaning that Democrats likely will have a wide-open playing field to battle for the nomination in four years – depending on the intentions of two party heavyweights, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Related -- First Thoughts: Checking all the boxes

For now, some dark-horse candidates are looking to use their convention appearances as a platform to raise their profile for consideration four years from now. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley had a speech in prime time on Tuesday evening, and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, whom Democrats also suggest has potential interest in a 2016 bid, speaks Thursday evening (though before broadcast networks break into their coverage).

Those two would-be candidates, among others, have also laid the groundwork for a future run with their work this week away from the cameras.

“I think the trick is to not come off as too unseemly. A potential candidate wants to network as much as possible, but they don't want to step into the current candidate's spotlight, either,” said Phil Singer, the deputy communications director on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Mario Anzuoni / REUTERS

In this file photo, Brian Schweitzer, Governor of the State of Montana, takes part in a panel titled

For lesser-known candidates like O’Malley and Schweitzer, the convention is an opportunity to build relationships with key state activists and potential donors who might assist their fledgling candidacies in a few years.

Both O'Malley, who is more widely perceived to have further national ambition, and Schweitzer, are doing little to tamp down that speculation with their schedules this week. Speaking engagements with Iowa delegates (their state holds the first nominating contest each cycle) are on both agendas, and Schweitzer is also meeting with delegates from New Hampshire, the site of the nation’s first 2016 primary and the second overall nominating contest.

“I'm really not thinking about anything but helping the president get re-elected. And that's what I'm focused on entirely,” O’Malley said at the Iowa breakfast this morning in reference to his recently-formed PAC, a step usually seen as a precursor to running for president.

But O'Malley and Schweitzer are mostly the exception this year than the rule. Many of the potential 2016 candidates are keeping a low profile, gladly taking a back seat to the fanfare on Obama's behalf this week, although Newark Mayor Cory Booker has also been busy making the rounds, whether aspiring for a state-wide race in New Jersey or perhaps something bigger.

Arguably the most formidable potential candidate in 2016, whose foray into the race would threaten to overshadow any other Democrat, is nowhere to be found this week in Charlotte. Instead, that potential candidate – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – is literally halfway around the world on official business in Southeast Asia.

“If she wanted to do it, I think she'd have a very strong argument to make for why she should be the nominee and go onto the White House,” said Singer. “She's been pretty unequivocal in saying she doesn't want to run, so you have to take her at her word at this point.”

Delegates from Florida, a state in which Clinton beat Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary, gushed over the prospect of a second bid by the former first lady in 2016.

Recommended: Obama acceptance speech moved indoors

“Who would I want to run in 2016? Hillary Clinton. That’s who I think would be great, if she wants to. I think she loves our country so much and she has so much experience and she would be a great president," said Elena McCullough, retired 24-year veteran of the Coast Guard from Wesley Chapel, Fla.

"Hillary has done such a fabulous job (as secretary of state); she is the best ever," added Beryle Buchman, a retired middle school public school English teacher from Plant City, Fla. "I think the fact that Obama appointed her shows that the party not only healed, but it’s stronger."

Pool / REUTERS

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shake hands at the Ziguangge Pavilion in the Zhongnanhai leaders' compound in Beijing September 5, 2012.

Of course, Mrs. Clinton's most prominent advocate – her husband, former President Bill Clinton – will speak during Wednesday evening's prime-time session. But that speech is extremely unlikely to be used as a platform to pump up Hillary Clinton's 2016 credentials, especially since that speech will be the one to formally nominate the president for re-election.

Likewise, another high-profile potential candidate – Vice President Joe Biden – will largely use his high-profile speaking slot on Thursday night to serve as a “character witness” for Obama, according to senior campaign officials. But Biden will nonetheless enjoy a large spotlight that evening, broadcasting his brand of folksiness before a national audience of potential voters.

The vice president has strikingly refused to rule out his own run for president in 2016, though he told New York Magazine in a profile piece published this week that he doesn't know if he'll run in 2016, even if he could guarantee he'd be elected.

"I don’t know what the hell four years from now, three years from now, is gonna be like," said Biden, who would be 73-years-old by the time of the 2016 election. But he noted in the same interview that he has "no intention" of drifting easily into retirement if he feels as good as he does now.

Both Clinton (2008) and Biden (1988 and 2008) have previously sought the presidency, Biden with more mixed results than Clinton.

But there are other candidates with scant national experience whose names are lumped in with the crowd of potential 2016 candidates who are doing very little to further their prospects in Charlotte.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for instance, will not deliver a speech at the convention, and is only set to make a brief daytrip to Charlotte. Other up-and-coming stars, like Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who delivered an impassioned speech on Tuesday, and Bay State Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren could also harbor higher aspirations.

NBC's Tom Curry and Andrew Rafferty contributed to this report.

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

David Goldman / AP

Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

President Barack Obama said he would have to rethink his current opposition to U.S. military engagement in Syria if the regime there were to use or move its chemical and biological weapons.

The president told NBC's Chuck Todd that he couldn't be "absolutely confident" that the stockpiles of weapons possessed by Bashar al-Assad's regime were completely secure.

"What I'm saying is we're monitoring that situation very carefully," Obama said in a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room.

But if the Assad regime were to use its weapons stockpiles, or alternatively, move it around, Obama suggested military action could be on the table.

"We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized," the president said. "That would change my calculus. That would change my equation."

Earlier this month, when asked about contingency planning for the Syrian conflict, Secretary Hillary Clinton drew the "red line" at only the use of chemical weapons.

"Both the minister [Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu] and I saw eye to eye on the many tasks that are ahead of us, and the kinds of contingencies that we have to plan for, including the one you mentioned in the horrible event that chemical weapons were used. And everyone has made it clear to the Syrian regime that is a red line for the world," Clinton said at the time.

But today, he made sure to emphasize that all major players in the region have been informed of where his line falls.

"We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that's a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons," he said. "That would change my calculations significantly."

Obama also made a point of saying that the issue of chemical weapons doesn’t just concern Syria and the United States, but also allies in the region including Israel.

While the international community would still like to see a political solution to the violence in Syria, Obama said, “at this point the likelihood of a soft landing seems pretty distant."

The U.S. will most likely provide even more monetary humanitarian assistance to help those fleeing the Syrian conflict on top of the $82 million the government has already given. According to USAID, the United Nations “estimates that approximately 2 million people in Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance, approximately 1 million people are internally displaced, and more than 140,000 people have fled to the neighboring countries of Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) offered a personal and passionate defense of top State Department aide Huma Abedin in the face of conservative allegations that she is using her position in "unduly influencing" foreign policy in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood.

McCain called allegations that Abedin has ties through her family to the Muslim Brotherhood "sinister" in a rare speech on the Senate floor taking fellow Republicans to task.

"Rarely do I come to the floor of this institution to discuss particular individuals. But I understand how painful and injurious it is when a person's character, reputation, and patriotism are attacked without concern for fact or fairness," McCain opened.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (R), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, led four other Republican lawmakers in writing a letter last month requesting that the State Department investigate whether Abedin, who is Muslim, has any ties through her family to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group that found success in recent Egyptian elections.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Bachmann has expressed concerns about how Abedin, who is married to former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), was able to obtain a security clearance.

McCain condemned these accusations as unsubstantiated.

"These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma's family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way," he said. "These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now."

McCain called Abedin a "friend" who is an "intelligent, upstanding, hard-working and long servant of our country and our government."

"Put simply, Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully," he added.

McCain picked apart the rationale of Bachmann and her colleagues, who wrote their June letter based on a report "The Muslim Brotherhood in America," produced by the Center for Security Policy.

"The letter alleges that three members of Huma's family are 'connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.' Never mind that one of those individuals, Huma's father, passed away two decades ago. The letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision, or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government."

McCain has spent time traveling with Abedin while she served as a personal aide to Hillary Clinton during Clinton's time as a senator from New York.

He ended his floor speech with a strong show of support. "I have every confidence in Huma's loyalty to our country, and everyone else should as well."

Republicans moved quickly on Thursday in hopes of distancing themselves from a strategy being weighed by a GOP-oriented super PAC, which threatened to inject racial politics into the 2012 presidential campaign.

Mitt Romney’s campaign, joined by a slew of other GOP heavyweights, sought to disavow a strategy that was presented to Joe Ricketts -- the owner of the Chicago Cubs -- that would call for using a super PAC to launch aggressive attack ads against President Barack Obama. The plan, first reported by the New York Times, called for explicitly linking Obama to a former spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose occasionally angry sermons touched on themes of race.

Mary Altaffer / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to reporters while boarding a charter flight May 17 in Miami, Fla.

"I repudiate the effort by that PAC to promote an ad strategy of the nature they've described," Romney told the conservative blog Townhall.

An earlier statement by Matt Rhoades, Romney’s campaign manager, said the campaign would repudiate strategies that rely on personal attacks, though Rhoades made no specific reference toward Ricketts. During a gaggle this morning aboard his campaign plane, Romney told reporters that he hadn't seen the story.

Also to Townhall, Romney expressed frustration that no attention is being paid to what he considers a negative campaign by Team Obama.

"It's interesting that we're talking about some Republican PAC that wants to go after the president [on Wright]," he said. "I hope people also are looking at what he's doing, and saying 'why is he running an attack campaign?  Why isn't he talking about his record?'"

First Thoughts: When Willie Horton meets Jeremiah Wright

Romney has only one public campaign appearance today, where he could further address the controversy, but faced immediate blowback from the Obama campaign.

Jim Messina, the manager of the Obama re-election effort, said the report "reflects how far the party has drifted in four short years since John McCain rejected these very tactics," referring to the decision made in the 2008 Republican nominee's high command against attacking Obama along those lines.

"Once again, Gov. Romney has fallen short of the standard that John McCain set, reacting tepidly in a moment that required moral leadership in standing up to the very extreme wing of his own party,” Messina said.

Steve Schmidt, a top aide to McCain’s presidential campaign, said that he was never prouder than when his candidate rejected the tactic. Invoking Wright wasn’t just the wrong thing to do, Schmidt said; it was the wrong strategy.

"Putting aside that this is the totally wrong thing to do for the country, using race as a political wedge releases a poison into the body politic, and it's totally unpredictable how it plays out," he said.

Mark McKinnon, a former aide to President George W. Bush, added of the proposed strategy: "Exhibit A of what is wrong with our politics today."

Romney campaign repudiates -- but punches back, too

The McCain campaign faced pressure to invoke Wright from some of Obama's most vociferous opponents on the right. Reports at the time indicated that, in particular, then-vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was particularly interested in linking Wright to Obama, who had been forced to address his ties to the controversial pastor during his primary fight against Hillary Clinton.

A spokesman for McCain said Thursday in a statement that the senator stands by his decision at that time.

"Senator McCain is very proud of the campaign he ran in 2008," said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the Arizona senator. "He stands by the decisions he made during that race and would make them again today if he had it to do over."

Beyond the McCain campaign's judgment that making such an attack -- which would necessarily invoke race into the campaign against America's first black president -- it was judged to be bad politics.

"Would this have been a politically expedient thing for John McCain? No! Everybody knew who Jeremiah Wright was, and people who were deeply troubled by it were not Barack Obama voters," Schmidt said. "It would have been an utterly ineffective political attack."

The quick Republican backlash, though, reflects the extent to which the Obama campaign might gain traction from even the trial balloon associated with the rumored attack. It might mobilize voters, especially African-Americans, who Obama needs to help fuel his re-election, and could boost fundraising from angry supporters.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., even expressed a degree of amusement at the reported attack emanating from Ricketts, who most recently made a splash in politics by spending late in a Nebraska Senate primary on behalf of Deb Fischer, who eventually won.

"I hope they're as successful with this campaign as the Cubs are in baseball," Pelosi said on Capitol Hill, referring to the team's abysmal record.

Her counterpart, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, opted against condemning or even acknowledging the line of attack during his press conference, telling NBC News that "this election is going to be about the economy."

More broadly, the firestorm that erupted Thursday served as a testament to the outsize importance of super PACs in the 2012 campaign.

The Romney campaign had hoped to push a message about its relative fundraising prowess in April after releasing its figures to reporters early this morning. A new poll yesterday had also showed the former Massachusetts governor in a tie against Obama in Wisconsin, suggesting a narrowing battle for the White House.

"This is a function of the brokenness of the campaign finance system," Schmidt said. "One person's bad judgment -- Ricketts' -- has the potential to consume the dialog in the presidential campaign."

NBC’s Chuck Todd, Peter Alexander and Garrett Haake contributed to this report.

If there's been one familiar refrain among Republicans during this presidential primary, it's been that the hard-fought battle between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and other contenders hasn't hurt the party – arguably, it's even strengthened it.

"Don't always assume that a primary fight is a bad thing," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Mar. 7 on CNN. "In fact, I think it's the opposite. I think it's going to be great for our party."

And frequently, as a point of reference, Republicans point to the long – and, at times, bitter – intra-party battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008 as evidence that an extended race to the nomination isn’t necessarily a hindrance to winning the White House.

But there are important differences between the two cycles. Some of them might serve as a warning sign for the GOP, such as less money and a more damaged brand. And some might give the party encouragement, like more enthusiasm among Republicans. 

Of course, an important caveat: In some ways, it’s difficult to compare 2008 (a race without an incumbent and with two history-making primary candidates) with 2012 (when there’s a sitting president in the Oval Office).

Bank accounts
At this point in the Democratic primary in 2008, Obama and Clinton had each heavily outraised Republicans’ fundraising haul through the first couple of months of 2012.

In February of 2008, just as the Democratic campaign had appeared to shift into a two-person race, the Obama campaign raised $55 million for the month, and had $39 million in the bank going into March. Clinton raised $35 million over the same time period, and had $29 million in cash on hand. (It’s worth noting, though, that much of Clinton’s money was reserved for the general election, and she couldn’t use in the primary season.)

Compare that to the money raised by Santorum and Romney over February, according to their own campaigns’ estimates (official numbers have not yet been filed with the Federal Election Commission). Romney raised $11.5 million in February and Santorum raised about $9 million. Romney had just $7.3 million in the bank at the end of the month, though, suggesting that his campaign is spending at a rate that could threaten to bleed him dry by November, especially if the primary continues for a while.

A discrepancy would suggest some diminished enthusiasm for the Republican candidates this cycle, at least at first glance.

But there are some important things to keep in mind: First, overall fundraising is down in 2012 versus 2008, in part due to the impact of a deep recession that onset after the 2008 primary.

More Republican money has also flowed to super PACs that support the various GOP candidates. These groups didn’t exist in the last Democratic primary, and one Romney super PAC alone, Restore Our Future, has already spent over $30 million this primary season.

The brand
Perhaps the most illuminating figures on the impact of the Republican primary campaign comes from a series of national NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls and the exit polling conducted of voters in key battleground state primaries.

By March of 2008, both Obama and Clinton enjoyed net-positive favorability ratings among the public at large (Obama: 51 positive, 28 negative; Clinton: 45 positive, 43 negative according to the March 2008 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll).

Romney and Santorum haven’t fared as well with the general public, according to this month’s numbers, also taken from the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Romney has a 28 percent positive rating among U.S. adults, and a 39 percent negative rating. Santorum has a 26 percent positive rating, and a 39 percent negative rating. They each perform much better with Republican primary voters.

And in terms of the impact on each party’s brand, the Democratic Party had a 45 percent positive rating among registered voters in March of 2008, and a 35 percent negative rating. Four years later, the Republican Party has a 32 percent positive rating, and a 43 percent negative rating.

But the GOP’s ratings represent a recovery of sorts from the party’s depths in mid-2010, when the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll from that year had the Republican Party with just a 24 percent positive rating, and a 46 percent negative rating.

Republicans are also still dealing with the fallout from an unpopular two-term president in George W. Bush, who preceded Obama. The wars Bush had started are still winding down, and Obama still warns of a return to the policies of the years that preceded him, attacking Bush by implication.

The Bush years also left Republicans with a more fractious coalition with emerging fault lines of social issues and foreign and economic policy. Given those divisions, it might be tougher for any of these candidates to capture a broader swath of the electorate.

Enthusiasm, curbed
The figures from both primaries suggest that Democrats were happier with their choice of candidates than Republicans have been this cycle.

Fifty-seven percent of Republicans who voted in the Mar. 6 Ohio primary said in exit polls that they would be satisfied with Romney as the eventual nominee.

By comparison, 73 percent of Democrats who voted in the Ohio primary four years ago said they would be satisfied if Clinton won the nomination, and 66 percent of Democrats said the same of Obama that same cycle.

Nationally, 45 percent of Republican primary voters said in the March NBC/WSJ poll that they would support Romney with enthusiasm, and 42 percent said they would support Santorum with enthusiasm.

Four years ago, in the same national poll, 60 percent of Democrats said they would vote for Clinton with enthusiasm, and 52 percent expressed enthusiastic support for Obama.

But in 2008, Democrats weren’t being measured against an incumbent president like Republicans are this cycle. The differences between the candidates were also more stylistic in 2008 than ideological, especially compared to the 2012 race in which Republicans do battle over the extent of their conservatism.

But the Democratic primary four years ago also featured two political heavyweights in Obama and Clinton, each of whom were poised to make history simply by virtue of their nomination. Obama would become the first African-American presidential nominee, and later, the nation’s first black president. Clinton would have been the first woman to top a ticket, and the first woman president if she were elected.

And Republicans can take solace in the fact that Obama is now their greatest unifier. While there might not be tremendous enthusiasm for either of the two major remaining Republican candidates, there’s a great deal of interest within the GOP about beating Obama.

A mid-February Gallup poll found that Republicans, by an 8-point margin, were more likely to say that they were enthusiastic about voting this fall compared to Democrats. And among certain key portions of Obama’s 2008 coalition, especially younger and nonwhite voters, enthusiasm was down.

But a mid-March poll, also by Gallup, found that enthusiasm for Romney and Santorum within the GOP is down from 2008; Republicans are motivated this time by voting against Obama.

And the numbers in the January NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll suggest that while Santorum and Romney might not generate tremendous enthusiasm, they’re at least acceptable. Seventy-five percent of Republican primary voters said they would be “comfortable” with Romney as the nominee, and 65 percent said the same for Santorum.