Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul continue to stoke speculation about a possible run for president in 2016 during a Monday evening speech in New Hampshire, where he said the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS was "un-American."

Paul spoke on Monday in the state which hosts the nation's first presidential primary every four years, 10 days after delivering a highly-touted speech in Iowa, the only state whose nominating contest precedes New Hampshire's in each presidential election cycle.

In the week and a half since then, Republicans have been politically invigorated by a new report condemning IRS officials' actions to single out conservative and Tea Party groups for more scrutiny in applying for tax-exempt status.

"Anybody who would use the power or abuse the power of government to go after their political opponents," Paul said Monday, seizing on the controversy, "to take that brute force, that bullying force of government, and use it against your opponents, there is something distinctly and profoundly un-American about that."

The freshman Kentucky senator joked that the IRS controversy — combined with fresh outrage at President Barack Obama's handling of last year's response to an attack in Benghazi, Libya and revelations that the Department of Justice had monitored journalists' phones and emails as part of a leak investigation — reminded him of "Old MacDonald," the childhood song: "here a scandal, there a scandal, everywhere a scandal."

On Benghazi, Paul repeated his criticism of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of the matter, faulting her and State Department officials for failing to provide adequate security for the U.S. diplomatic compound that fell under attack last September.

"Benghazi should've be treated, and still to this day should be treated, like Baghdad," he said of the security that should be provided for the facility. "It should be under military control, not State Department control."

But for all of Paul's strident criticism of the Obama administration, he did seem to break from some fellow Republicans on libertarian grounds, over the prosecution of the suspect in this year's Boston Marathon terrorist attack. Though many GOP heavyweights have argued that Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the alleged bomber, should have been held for longer without criminal justice rights. Paul paraphrased a conversation of a first responder in Boston to illustrate his point.

"He said, 'What separates us from them is that when we did finally capture him … we sent the suspect to a hospital. He's going to be tried in a court of law, he's going to have an attorney,'" Paul recounted. "If this had been their country, he would have been dragged through the streets if he were an American … and beaten to death with a tire iron. We are different than they are."

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 9:06 PM EDT

Frank Thorp / NBC News

Erica Lafferty, daughter of Sandyh Hook Elementary School victim Dawn Hochsprung, attends a town hall meeting with Senator Kelly Ayotte in Warren, N.H., on Tuesday.

WARREN, N.H. – Bringing the national gun debate to a tiny New England town on Tuesday, the daughter of the slain principal of Sandy Hook Elementary confronted Sen. Kelly Ayotte at the lawmaker’s first town hall meeting since she voted against expanded background checks on all commercial gun sales.

Erica Lafferty, who first met with the Republican senator in Washington earlier this month after she opposed the compromise negotiated by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., was visibly angry as she spoke into the microphone at the meeting, which drew more than 100 people who came to condemn or support Ayotte’s vote.

"You had mentioned that day the burden on owners of gun stores that the expanded background checks would harm. I am just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn't more important than that," said Lafferty, whose mother Dawn Hochsprung was gunned down by Newtown shooter Adam Lanza.

Ayotte responded at the Warren, N.H., meeting: "Erica, I, certainly let me just say -- I'm obviously so sorry."

"And, um, I think that ultimately when we look at what happened in Sandy Hook, I understand that's what drove this whole discussion -- all of us want to make sure that doesn't happen again," Ayotte said.

More tension followed at a larger event in Tilton, N.H., later in the day.

"Let the senator finish please!" said the moderator at the Tilton event as gun control advocates shouted from the crowd and waved signs which said "demand action to end gun violence," from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control advocacy group.

Ayotte is one of a handful of senators -- others include Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Dean Heller, R-Nev., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Max Baucus, D-Mont. -- who are facing withering criticism from both sides of the debate.

Gun control proponents want the Senate to reconsider new gun laws, and pro-gun rights groups want the issue kept off the table. And they’re using ads, lobbying, and organizing at events like Ayotte’s town halls to get their points across.

Keeping center stage are the Newtown families, many of whom were on Capitol Hill for the failed gun vote, who have pledged to continue the fight for new regulations on firearms.

The senator's staff were prepared for the onslaught. Ayotte defended her vote at the top of her remarks in both towns, pointing to her background as a prosecutor. “Where we are right now, my focus has been on wanting to improve our current background check system,” she said. “Frankly, we have fallen down on actually prosecuting gun crimes and violations of our current background check system.”

She said that addressing mental health and keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill were important going forward.

Outside groups are focusing on Ayotte and others from swing states where polls show background checks are popular. From the TV and radio ads to these small events, both sides are mobilizing like it's a political campaign --  Bloomberg's group circulated printed signs reading "#ShameOnYou" at both town meetings, while Ayotte supporters held the kind of mass-hand-drawn signs often spotted at presidential events.

Poll data is also a focus -- and a point of contention. Some automated polls, which NBC News does not rely on, have shown surveys claiming dropping numbers for people who voted against expanding background checks.

But in the Granite State, Ayotte's supporters are pointing to a recent survey from the University of New Hampshire that shows just the opposite: high approval ratings in the wake of the vote.

Some Republican defenders in the state say that the controversy isn't real and say it won't matter in 2016, when Ayotte is up for reelection to the Senate.

"To the extent it's a controversial issue it's a manufactured one," said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the state Republican Party.

There's evidence to support the claim that some groups are using the issue to raise their profiles. In a yard nearby the Warren event, a local resident had placed a large, staked lawn sign with the handwritten message, "Thank You Senator Ayotte." Atop one corner was the Tea Party's preferred flag, the yellow snake with the words "Don't Tread On Me."

But others say it was a difficult decision that could have repercussions down the road.

"I think it was a tough vote. And it was a principled vote," said Jim Merrill, a longtime New Hampshire Republican strategist who worked on Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. "And I think she understood that there would be some blowback for it. Let's just remember it wasn't just Republicans who voted against it."

Ayotte is clearly feeling the pressure, refusing to answer questions from national reporters at the meetings. Aides working on the gun issue on Capitol Hill say she's made it clear that she doesn't want to vote on it again any time soon.

And the atmosphere back home was a big change from Ayotte's typical town meetings -- generally staid affairs that begin with a PowerPoint presentation on the budget. (She does a lot of them, as she's pledged to hold a town hall in each New Hampshire county.)

She stuck with the PowerPoint at Tuesday's meetings, but this time, the opening slides had statistics defending her gun vote.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America enter the office of Sen. Kelly Ayotte on April 17 in Washington, D.C.

At town halls, Ayotte typically receives notecards with the name of each questioner and their pre-submitted topic of interest. A selected moderator chooses and reads them. This time, though, that caused a stir. Right before Erica Lafferty spoke in Warren, Eric Knuffke, of Wentworth, N.H., stood and demanded to be allowed a question.

"You can't deny people the right to speak because they haven't filled out a card. I have a question," Knuffke shouted. Supporters of Ayotte shouted back at him.

As Knuffke yelled, Lafferty was sitting in the front row with her hand raised.

"Let Erica speak," said one attendee. "There's a Sandy Hook survivor here," said another.

She had submitted a question in the pile, and Ayotte made sure to let her speak. Lafferty thanked Ayotte for meeting with her the day after senators took the vote on the Manchin-Toomey before challenging her for her vote. After her exchange with Ayotte, Lafferty stood and stormed out of the town hall.

Asked afterward why she had done so, Lafferty said: "I had had enough." 

 NBC's Frank Thorp contributed to this report. 

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:05 PM EDT

CONCORD, N.H. – Riding Saturday night’s momentum from their first appearance at a rally together, President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton took to the small Granite State capital to make their case for the former’s second term.

Introducing the president, Clinton reminded the crowd how good New Hampshire had been to him when he first ran for president, leaving unsaid that the state also voted for his wife Hillary in the 2008 Democratic primary.

“Twenty years and nine months ago, New Hampshire began the chance for me to become president,” Clinton told the 14,000 people gathered in a park near the statehouse here.

But, he added, he was much more enthusiastic about campaigning for Obama now than he was for himself.

“Maybe because I have done this work. Maybe because I know how hard it is,” he said.

And Clinton also played the role of aggressive surrogate for the more reserved president, reviving the “Romnesia” attack line that Obama had deployed in the weeks leading up to the tone-changing Hurricane Sandy.

“As President Obama has told us there’s this great public health epidemic, this virus, sweeping across America causing a condition known as Romnesia,” Clinton said, “and the virus is so rampant that anybody’s vulnerable to gettin’ a little of it.”

For his part, Obama sought to draw a parallel between Clinton’s economic policies, popular around the country in retrospect, and his own.

“Just as we did when Bill Clinton was president, we gotta ask the wealthiest to pay a little bit more so we can reduce the deficit and still invest in the things we need to grow,” he said.

And Obama also gave an unusually detailed plug for some of the state’s down-ballot candidates, a nod to the Democrats’ fight to regain the House, as well as add more governors to the party roster.

“If you want to break the gridlock in Congress, you’ll vote for leaders who feel the same way whether they’re Democrats or Republicans or independents – folks like John Lynch, folks like Jeanne Shaheen, you’ll vote for candidates like Annie Custer, Carol Shea-Porter. You’ll make Maggie Hassan the next governor of New Hampshire,” he said.

Amanda Henneberg, spokeswoman for GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign, responded to Obama in a written statement: "With no rationale for re-election, President Obama has resorted to false, discredited attacks and a cynical closing message urging voters to choose ‘revenge.’ The people of New Hampshire, along with the rest of America, will choose Governor Romney’s optimistic vision for our country’s future and will vote for real change so he can get our country back on the right track."

The president continued his frenetic campaign pace, hopping on a plane to Florida after his New Hampshire stop.

NEWINGTON, NH — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney struck an upbeat note as he opened the final weekend of his campaign in the state where he launched his campaign more than 16 months ago.

"I've got a clear and unequivocal message for you: America is about to come roaring back," Romney told a chilly crowd of more than 1,000 supporters gathered to see him off for a busy Saturday of campaigning.

Romney also thanked the Granite State for its support in the Republican primary, and said they would be key to his presidential aspirations on Tuesday. The latest NBC/WSJ/Marist poll, released this week, shows Romney locked in a statistical dead heat here against President Barack Obama; the president leads 49 to 47 percent among likely voters, within the poll's margin of error.

"New Hampshire got me the Republican nomination and New Hampshire is going to get me the White House," Romney said to cheers.

From here, Romney campaigns across Iowa and Colorado on Saturday, with a packed Sunday schedule to follow that also takes him to four battleground states. Romney will next return to New Hampshire on Monday, but left behind today a team of top surrogates to barnstorm the state in his absence: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who joined New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte in introducing Romney here this morning.

Romney shortened his typical stump speech this morning, but left room for a critique of Obama, telling his audience here that "talk is cheap," and that the president "wants to convince you to settle."

"Americans don’t settle – we dream, we aspire, we reach for greater things," Romney said. "And we will achieve greater things with new leadership. "

The economy remains the top issue for voters, and a new set of data released Friday paints a picture of an uneven economic recovery in a series of battleground states.

Of the nine states categorized as "battleground states" by NBC News, five had state unemployment rates below the national unemployment rate of 7.8 percent in September, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The other four states suffered from a higher-than-average jobless rates, the highest of which was in Nevada; the BLS said that 11.8 percent of Nevadans were unemployed through September, the highest unemployment rate of all 50 states. (One U.S. territory, Puerto Rico, had a higher jobless rate.)

Friday's news is the last series of state-level unemployement data voters will receive before Election Day. One last national jobs report is due Nov. 2, the Friday before voters head to the polls.

President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney have each made jobs the centerpiece of their respective campaigns. The president got a boost earlier this month when the BLS report showed the unemployment rate dropping below 8 percent for the first time in years, disarming Romney of one of his most potent cudgels versus the president.

But as each Obama and Romney travel the country over the next 18 days looking to secure the 270 electoral votes they need to win the White House, economic optimism might be brighter in some states and still dim in others.

The five states with unemployment rates below 7.8 percent included Iowa (5.2 percent), New Hampshire (5.7 percent), Ohio (7.0 percent), Virginia (5.9 percent) and Wisconsin (7.3 percent).

The four battleground states with unemployment rates above the national average are Colorado (8.0 percent), Florida (8.7 percent), Nevada and North Carolina (9.6 percent).

If, for purposes of speculation, Obama were to win the battleground states with jobless rates beneath 7.8 percent along with all of the other states considered more safely in his column, he would win the Electoral College, 288-250.

But politics, of course, are not that simple. For instance, the number of employees on nonfarm payrolls in Ohio actually decreased between August and September, though the unemployment rate dropped from 7.2 percent to 7 percent over the same period.

But as Obama argues that the economy is moving forward and Romney asserts that the recovery has not been sufficiently robust, it's helpful to remember how those arguments might sound different to voters in differing states.

HANOVER, NH -- Vice President Joe Biden on Friday called Mitt Romney's characterization of the American electorate during a spring fundraiser "profoundly wrong" and declared "this is not a country of victims."

Listing off a series of typical Americans who benefit from government aid -- an elderly widow on Social Security, a veteran now in college because of GI Bill, or a working couple who receive a child care credit -- Biden accused Romney of labeling hard-working Americans as "dependent."

"He thinks all these folks, he thinks these folks believe they’re entitled.  That they’ve become dependent, they see themselves as victims who wont take responsibility for their own lives," Biden said, raising his voice before a crowd of 1,300 at Dartmouth College. "How could he be so profoundly wrong about America.  How is that possible? Not in my neighborhood. Not where I grew up.  Not the people I know."

Quoting his father, Biden won cheers for professing that the majority of Americans agree with the sentiment that "I don’t expect the government to solve my problems, but at least it’s got to understand my problems."

On Monday, Mother Jones published the secretly recorded video of a May fundraiser at which Romney lamented the "47 percent" of Americans who support Obama because they "who are dependent upon government."

Earlier this week in Iowa, Biden declined to answer reporters' questions about the controversial video at least three times, saying only that he would "let his words speak for themselves." But the vice president did not hold his fire Friday as he kicked off a two day tour of New Hampshire, telling college students that "this is not a country of victims." 

Ryan Williams, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, responded in a statement: "Mitt Romney will be a president for 100 percent of Americans, with a plan for a stronger middle class that adds millions of jobs, get our economy growing, and results in more upward mobility, not government dependence."

On Friday, Biden also hit his GOP counterparts on education, saying that the budget backed by Romney running mate Paul Ryan would "eviscerate" education programs. 

"It will literally mortgage the future of this great country at this moment of incredible international competition," he said. 

Biden's pitch for Democrats' education initiatives wasn't the only instance of the collegiate atmosphere at the outdoor rally on Dartmouth's campus, which sparkled under a picture-pefect autumn afternoon.

At the beginning of the rally, Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, earnestly professed to the crowd in her introduction of her husband that she has "seen Joe up close."

That comment - interpreted as a double entendre by the young crowd, fostered an eruption of giggles that crescendoed as she continued on to praise his "big strong heart."

"It's in my remarks, really!" she added laughingly as her husband beamed.

"I want you all to know that the only reason I hang around is so she can see me up close," Biden joked as he took the podium, resulting in a fresh wave of snickers. "You can tell you're on a college campus, man."

DOVER, NH -- Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan spoke of the need to encourage "self-sufficiency" amid an uproar over Mitt Romney's recently-surfaced comments about voters' dependency on government.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan answers a question at a campaign stop in Dover, New Hampshire September 18, 2012.

Ryan, campaigning Tuesday in New Hampshire, made an oblique reference to the controversial video publicized by the liberal magazine Mother Jones but no explicit mention of the video or its contents.

Related: Leaked video is the latest hit for Romney

The Wisconsin congressman, instead, launched into a more detailed defense of the social safety net and how he and Romney think it is important to move voters off of those programs, and guard against dependence on the government.

“By promoting more dependency, by not having jobs and economic growth, people miss their potential,” Ryan said inside the McConnell Community Center. “We should not be measuring the progress of our social programs – programs like food stamps – based upon how many people receive them. We should be measuring the progress of our social programs by how many people we transition off of them into lives of self-sufficiency and jobs and upward mobility.”

Recommended: How the Romney video leaked: For Carters, it was personal

The congressman continued: “We believe in a safety net. We believe in a safety net that is there for people who truly cannot help themselves so they can live a life of dignity but we also believe in a safety net that is there for people who are down on their luck so that they can get back on their feet. We don’t want a safety net that encourages more dependency because there is no economic growth behind it because what that ends up doing is it drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives, to tap their potential, to get on their path to prosperity. That is what unfortunately is what we are seeing in the Obama economy.”

Romney himself is still wrestling with the fallout from the video, having hastily arranged a press conference last night to explain that his words caught on tape were "not elegantly stated." The former Massachusetts governor had been set to spend the day in fundraisers, but added a late afternoon interview on Fox News to his schedule today.

Ryan, at his first of two public events today, stood by his running mate -- making the case for how the GOP ticket would reduce the number of Americans who fall dependent on the government.

Recommended: Conservatives reaction mixed to Romney 47 percent video

“Our goal, our mission is to address the root causes of poverty instead of simply treating the symptoms of poverty.  That's very critical,” Ryan said. “You see, by going after the root causes of poverty and trying to break the cycle of poverty, you need economic growth, you need job creation, you need higher take-home pay.”

WEST LEBANON, NH -- Mitt Romney emerged from debate rehearsals in Vermont today to pick up some pizzas, and to deliver his own analysis of the first night of the Democratic National Convention, which he said could not make the claim Americans were better off after President Obama's first term.

"You've heard no one stand up and say that people are better off than they were four years ago," Romney told reporters traveling with him as he picked up several extra large pies at a pizza joint here. "They really can't say that. They can't say it in all honesty. Particularly with the news that has come out this week."

"That news: The national debt tripping $16 trillion dollars for the first time, and the number of Americans receiving food stamps topping 47 million, up 15 million from when President Obama took office," Romney said.

Recommended: Ryan tries to draw wedge between Clinton, Obama

"The American people are not doing better and this president understands that and I think that's why people are reluctant to even talk about it because they know the American people know better," Romney said, echoing his campaign's latest line of attack against the Obama administration, after several top Obama advisers fumbled the "are we better off" question on last Sunday's talk-show circuit.

The comments to reporters marked Romney's emergence from a day of strenuous debate preparation at the secluded Vermont estate of his former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey. Romney and a small coterie of aides gathered at the house yesterday morning for a series of mock debates with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who is playing the role of President Obama for Romney.

"I'm just glad I won't be debating ... Rob Portman in the final debates," Romney said. "He's good."

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Here in the mountains, with limited cell phone and Internet service, Romney said he did not watch Michelle Obama's address to the Democratic convention in Charlotte last night, and that regardless he only had praise for the first lady.

"I didn't see her speech, but I certainly respect the first lady and think she's, she's done a fine job as our first lady," Romney said. "Lovely person and I respect her."

The Justice Department approved New Hampshire's new voter ID, a version that is stricter than existing rules in the Granite State, but not as restrictive as other voters ID laws that the DOJ has rejected.'

Recommended: Democrats see complacency and 'crap' as barriers to repeat Florida win

Under New Hampshire's previous rules, no ID was required as a condition of voting. Ballot clerks checked the names that voters announced at the polls, read back the addresses for verification, and handed over a ballot.

Under the state's new law, voters must present a photo ID -- a driver's license, a voter ID card, a military ID card, a US passport, a student ID card, a photo ID issued by any level of government, and any other photo ID deemed legitimate by supervisors at the polls.

A year from now, the list of acceptable ID's will be narrowed to a driver's license, a non-driver ID card, military ID, or passport.  But voters unable to produce the required identification can sign an affidavit, attesting to their identity, and cast a regular ballot. Beginning next year, any voter doing so will also be photographed.

New Hampshire's list of acceptable IDs as of 2013 is actually more restrictive than the set of IDs Texas would have accepted under that state's voter ID law, which a federal court blocked last week.

So why the difference? It seems New Hampshire's decision to also make it possible for voters without the proper ID to cast a regular ballot, provided they sign an affidavit and have their picture taken, allowed enough leeway.

The Voting Rights Act requires federal approval for election law changes in states with a history of discrimination against minority voters.  Most of the states subject to the law are in the South.  New Hampshire's change required approval because 10 townships in the state are covered by the act, even though the entire state is not.

Winslow Townson / AP

President Barack Obama shakes hands with supporters during a campaign stop in Windham, N.H., Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Jim Cole / AP

President Barack Obama waves as he leaves a campaign stop Saturday, in Rochester, N.H.

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- On the same day Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan defended his Medicare plan in front of a crowd of senior citizens in Florida, President Barack Obama blasted the GOP ticket for proposing to raise costs for the elderly while slashing taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

"Their plan makes seniors pay more so that they can give another tax cut to rich folks who don't need a tax cut," the president said of Republicans on Saturday in front of a crowd of more than 3,500 supporters here.

Since Ryan was tapped as Mitt Romney's running mate Aug. 10, Medicare has become one of the most contentious issues of the election because of the controversial Ryan budget that proposed dramatic changes to the government program.

Obama blasted Republicans for wanting to turn Medicare into a voucher system.

"Meanwhile Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan want to give seniors a voucher to buy insurance on their own," the president said, citing an analysis that found the plan could cost seniors $6,400 extra each year.

"How many people think that's a good deal?  That doesn’t strengthen Medicare, it undoes the very guarantee of Medicare," he said.  "But that's the core of the plan written by Congressman Ryan and endorsed by Gov. Romney."

The president's remarks in New Hampshire were largely a response to earlier attacks from the presumptive GOP nominee in his first installment of what will become a weekly podcast.

"I think it’s outrageous that the president took $716 billion out of the Medicare trust fund to pay for Obamacare," Romney said.

And shortly after the podcast was released, Romney quickly got some backup from his newest teammate.  Ryan was joined by his 78-year-old mother at a rally in The Villages, Fla., the world's largest senior citizens community. “Here is what the president won’t tell you about his Medicare plan—about Obamacare," Ryan told the crowd. "The president raids $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for the Obamacare program.”

And while the president was on the defensive regarding Medicare, he also continued to focus attention on tax rates. Throughout his stops in New Hampshire, he asserted that under Ryan's budget, Romney would pay less than 1 percent in taxes. 

"That's a pretty good deal, just paying 1 precent in taxes -- you're making millions of dollars. Here's the kicker, they expect you to pick up the tab," he told the crowd here.

This week Obama campaign manager Jim Messina sent a letter to his counterpart in the Romney campaign, stating Democrats would drop their calls for the former Massachusetts governor to release more tax returns if he made the past five years public.  Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades quickly responded, calling the letter another attempt for the Obama campaign to distract from a failed economic record.

The Romney campaign was again quick to respond to the president's attacks Saturday, calling them false and another way for the campaign to avoid talking about the president's record. Romney spokesman Ryan Williams blasted out a response: "Following news that 44 out of 50 states saw their unemployment rates rise, it is not surprising the president is launching yet another false attack."

The Granite State will have more action to look forward to on Monday, when Romney and Ryan will appear together in Manchester for a town hall.