• Rand Paul challenges Hillary Clinton in key Iowa speech

    During a speech at the Iowa GOP's annual Lincoln Dinner, Sen. Rand Paul challenged possible 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on her record as secretary of state during the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, saying it showed a "dereliction of duty and should preclude her from holding higher office."

    By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

     

    CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Presidential elections start in Iowa. 

    On Friday, Sen. Rand Paul put his stake in the ground for a possible run in 2016 by mocking the Obama administration and delivering a blistering critique of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The administration has been criticized for failing to provide security during the attack and for its characterization of the incident afterward.

    Speaking at the Iowa GOP’s annual Lincoln Dinner, Paul questioned the initial response to the attacks and asked, "First question to Hillary Clinton: Where in the hell were the Marines?"

    Matthew Holst / AP

    Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has his photo taken with Linda Stikle of Anamosa, Iowa, after he spoke at the Iowa GOP Lincoln Dinner on Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

    "It was inexcusable, it was a dereliction of duty, and it should preclude her from holding higher office," the Kentucky Republican added to loud applause.

    Republicans' search for a candidate to deliver their first victory in a presidential election since 2004 began as Paul used the plum speaking slot to plant the seeds for his own possible bid. And he won his biggest applause by taking on Clinton, who's seen as the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Barack Obama.

    Paul was just elected to the Senate in 2010 and is perhaps best known as the son of the former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, whose two campaigns for president attracted a fervent, grassroots following that might translate to his son.

    But the Kentucky senator has been far from shy about stoking speculation about his own play for the Republican nomination in 2016. He told reporters earlier Friday that he had not made up his mind and would not decide until 2014.

    The fundraiser on Friday had unmistakable overtones of a presidential campaign, though the last one ended just six months ago. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, captured that sentiment best in his speech preceding Paul's: "The process of selecting the next leader of the free world begins in Iowa, and it's already begun."

    Paul's speech doubled at times as a comedy scene, as he seemed at ease before the crowd, stepping away from the podium, microphone in hand, to project a casual demeanor. He rattled off jokes about absurd pork-barrel projects, recalling the campaign style of Arizona Sen. John McCain as he ran for president in 2008.

    But Paul also used his closely watched speech to offer his own prescriptions about the path forward for the Republican Party, which has been suffering from somewhat of an identity crisis since Mitt Romney lost to Obama in last fall's election.

    On no issue is that crisis more clear than immigration. A bipartisan bill has advanced in the Senate to allow undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship, but King and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, both railed against the proposal in their speeches before Paul's.

    Paul has spoken in favor of some kind of immigration reform, a dicey topic before this Republican crowd, and he acknowledged those disagreements. But he also tried to align himself with King and Grassley — two of the most stalwart opponents of immigration reform.

    "I'm also with Sen. Grassley and Congressman King on the fact that I think we were hoodwinked in 1968," he said, referencing the last time Congress passed a major immigration overhaul. "We were promised security, and it never came."

    But Paul also said there's a "chance [he] could vote for the bill" if he can add amendments strengthening its border security measures.

    Paul also spoke about broadening the party's appeal, namely to Latinos, African Americans and young voters.

    "We're an increasingly diverse nation, and I think we do need to reach out to other people that aren't like us, don't look like us, don't wear the same clothes, that aren't exactly who we are," he said. "We're going to have to do something."

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  • Like fiscal cliff, POTUS urges swift resolution to NHL lockout

    By NBC’s Ali Weinberg

    Negotiations are stalled, neither party wants to budge, and President Barack Obama said he’s had enough.

    This wasn’t about the fiscal cliff, though – it was about ice hockey.

    In an interview with a Minnesota TV reporter, Obama urged the National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association, who left their second day of federal mediation Thursday without a deal, to get it together.

    “The president of the United States shouldn’t have to get involved in a sports lockout,” he told WCCO’s Frank Vascellaro. “And I shouldn’t have to be involved in a dispute between really wealthy players and even wealthier owners. They should be able to settle this themselves. And remember who it is that’s putting all that money in their pockets.”

    The NHL season isn’t officially cancelled yet, but commissioner Gary Bettman  has suggested a “drop-dead” date sometime in mid-January – not long after the painful mix of tax hikes and spending increases would go into effect if Congress doesn’t reach a deal.

    Obama was asked to “pull some strings” to end the lockout back in October, when he appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

    But so far, he’s had as much success avoiding the “hockey cliff” as he has the fiscal one.

     

  • Obama pushes back on 'you didn't build that' attack

    By NBC's Kristen Welker and Ali Weinberg

    Susan Walsh / AP

    A marquee announces a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, Calif., Monday, July 23. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

     

     

    SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- President Obama -- who had temporarily suspended his campaign in the wake of the Aurora, Colo. massacre -- came out swinging Monday night.

    Speaking to a crowd of 2,000 supporters in Oakland, Calif., the president slammed his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, accusing him of “knowingly twisting my words around to suggest that I don’t value small business.”
     
    “When folks just like, omit entire sentences of what you said, they start kind of slicing and dicing… he may have gone a little over the edge there,” Obama said to the crowd at the Fox Theater in Oakland.

    Although the president didn't say it directly -- his comments were a clear jab at Romney who recently accused the president of denigrating business owners for saying "you didn't build that" while speaking to a crowd in Roanoke, Va. on July 13th.

    Romney has been criticizing the statement for at least a week, saying the statement is an indication that the president is anti-business and out of touch.

    In a roundtable with business leaders earlier today, Romney called the remark “extraordinarily revealing,” adding that “it's an ideology that somehow says it’s the collective and government that we need to celebrate.”

    Underlining the Romney campaign’s commitment to this line of attack, supporters outside the Romney event Monday brandished signs reading, “we DID build it.”

    The Obama campaign has accused Romney of taking the president's words out of context, running ads that show the president's remarks in their entirety. The president's original statement:

    "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."

    Both camps put their spin on the “you didn’t build that” remark for the first time since last week’s tragic events in Aurora – a sign that the campaigns have restarted in earnest.

  • Gingrich: I'm the $2.50 gas president -- Obama is the $10 gas guy

    By From NBC’s Alex Moe

     

     

    BURLINGAME, Calif. – Flanked by $2.50 gas price campaign signs, Newt Gingrich on Saturday laid out his vision for energy production in America and picked apart the speech President Barack Obama gave on the subject earlier this week.

     "We have more than enough energy in the United States that we do not have to rely on foreign countries, but we have an anti-American energy government, an anti-American energy bureaucracy, anti-American energy regulations,” Gingrich told the 500-person crowd at the California Republican Party Convention’s luncheon.

    “The long-term answer is Americans producing their own energy,” he said. “We can be the largest oil producer in the world by the end of this decade.”

     This could happen to no thanks of Obama, the former House speaker said, calling Obama’s speech at the University of Miami "factually false, intellectually incoherent, deeply conflicted on policy and in some places just strange.”

     Gingrich, who uncharacteristically read from prepared remarks a lot, went back and forth quoting lines from the president’s speech Thursday and then explaining how he, “a historian,” believes Obama is inaccurate.

    Gingrich chose to deliver this speech on energy in the state that has the highest gas prices in the country – the average for regular unleaded on Saturday was about $4.25 per gallon, according to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

     Approving the Keystone Pipeline, which Obama vetoed last month, approving a return to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and approving drilling in areas of Alaska, Gingrich says, would provide “2.3 million barrels a day of additional energy.”

     Never mentioning GOP rivals Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum by name, Gingrich said the choice between himself and Obama is simple.

     “If you would like to have a national American energy policy, never again bow to a Saudi king and pay $2.50 a gallon, Newt Gingrich will be your candidate,” he said to cheers. “If you want $10 a gallon gasoline, an anti-energy secretary, and in weakness requiring us to depend on foreigners for our energy, Barack Obama should be your candidate.”

     Herman Cain and Michael Reagan spoke before Gingrich at the luncheon, each laying out why they are supporting the former speaker in his run for president. The two men, along with Callista Gingrich, held their hands together high in the air after Gingrich concluded his almost hour-long speech.

     Gingrich will now carry his new campaign focus on gas prices and energy to Georgia, where he will start campaigning Sunday. He assured Californians he would be back to campaign in their state.

  • Gary Johnson to run as Libertarian

    Jim Cole / AP, file

    Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson in Concord, New Hampshire, in October.

    By NBC's Jo Ling Kent

    EXETER, N.H. -- Former two-term New Mexico governor and GOP hopeful Gary Johnson is dropping out of the Republican nomination race to run as a Libertarian candidate, NBC News has confirmed.

    Johnson's campaign spokesman Joe Hunter cited Johnson's lack of exposure within the Republican party as a main reason for his decision to seek the Libertarian nomination.

    Johnson appeared in only two of more than a dozen nationally televised debates and had trouble getting his shoestring campaign off the ground in early states. He will make an official announcement next Wednesday at a press conference in Santa Fe.

    "His exclusion from the debates and lack of acknowledgement from the Republican establishment has been very frustrating," Hunter told NBC News. "His commitment since day one to get his message out."

    Johnson's decision has been anticipated since he paused his New Hampshire-centric campaign several weeks ago.

    His strategy shift notably began when Johnson nearly missed the registration deadline for New Hampshire's primary in October.

    Johnson completed the filing with just hours to spare after a campaign staff mistake and a last-minute red-eye flight from Arizona to Manchester.

    Several staff members left the campaign shortly afterward and Johnson quickly stopped canvassing in New Hampshire thereafter.

    Johnson is known for his support for legalizing marijuana. He also supports abortion rights.

    As New Mexico governor, he often worked with the Libertarian party to advance his agenda so this move is not entirely out of his comfort zone.

    "Going back to his governor days, he has been comfortable with the Libertarian label," Hunter said.

    The Libertarian party national convention will be held in Las Vegas next spring.

  • Bill Clinton: Obama faces 'same old debate' about government's role

    By NBC's Andrew Rafferty

    Brian Chilson / AP

    Former President Bill Clinton is greeted by well wishers Saturday as he arrives at a Little Rock, Ark., celebration of the 20th anniversary of his announcement that he would run for president of the United States.

    LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Bill and Hillary Clinton emerged from the doors of the Old State House here this afternoon to greet thousands of their oldest supporters at the site where almost 20 years earlier the governor of Arkansas announced he would run for president.

    Clinton said the challenges the current administration is dealing with are the same he faced when he moved into the White House.  But the economic climate now is worse than at any time he was president.

    "Now the big challenge to our perfect union once again is a terrible economic crisis, more different, and deeper and more difficult than the one I faced," Clinton said. "Another young president is facing similar challenges ... underlying those challenges is the same old debate about whether government is the problem or we need smart government and a changing economy working together to create the opportunities of tomorrow."

    Clinton advisers and staff descended on Little Rock this weekend to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of his decision to seek the White House.  On Friday, a panel of Clinton's top campaign advisers, including campaign manager James Carville, discussed their tumultuous road to the White House. Saturday night, many of the former staffer and supporters gathered for a reception on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Library.

    "I got my start in national politics with President Clinton," said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who worked his way to become Clinton's political director.  "I wouldn't be the mayor of the city of Chicago, I wouldn't be a congressman, I wouldn't have been chief of staff for President Obama if it wasn't for the journey I joined."

    The scene today mimicked campaign rallies Clinton held while seeking the presidency.  Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” – the theme song of his run in 1992 – played while he took the podium.  He shook hands and greeted supporters on the rope line for more than an hour after the event.

    While the former president critiqued the “anti-government strategy” from Republicans and offered ideas for improving the nation’s struggling economy, he remained largely reflective and thankful to his wife and the people in Arkansas who helped him win the White House.

    "I've had a great time these last 10 years being a has-been and watching Hillary be a senator, run for president, be Secretary of State,” Clinton said.  “When we met many, many years ago - 40 plus to be exact - I thought she was the most gifted person of my generation.  I still feel that way.”

    Many in the crowd sported signs from the Clinton-Gore ticket of the early 1990s. 

    Harvey Joe Sanner of Des Arc, Ark., could point to the exact spot he shook then candidate Clinton’s hand after his announcement on Oct. 3, 1991.

    “He had such a great message,” Sanner remembers.  “We’ve lost a lot of ground in this country.”

  • Poll: JFK tops presidential approval poll, Carter slips 9 points

    John F. Kennedy remains the most popular modern U.S. president, according to a new Gallup poll of the nine most recent presidents, while Jimmy Carter’s approval rating has dropped 9 percentage points since 2006.

    Since Gallup began its retrospective job approval poll in 1990, Kennedy has consistently topped the list of most popular presidents, while Richard Nixon has received the lowest approval rating in every poll except the one conducted in 1993. Lyndon Johnson, who now has a 47 percent rating, was ranked last that year.

    Kennedy got a thumbs up from 85 percent of respondents.

    Carter has a 52 percent rating this year, down from 61 when the last poll was conducted in 2006. That puts him sixth on the list (above Johnson, George W. Bush and Nixon). Carter’s approval reached its peak in 1999, according to Gallup, but has consistently dropped since then due to a loss in support from Republicans and independents in recent years.

    “These changes may reflect Carter’s outspoken criticism of then-President George W. Bush over the Iraq war, at one time calling Bush’s presidency ‘the worst in history’ on international matters,” Gallup said in a press release. “Whatever the reason for the decline, Carter remains better regarded today, overall, than he was in the early ’90s.”

    New to the list this year: George W. Bush who ranks eighth with 47 percent approval – up 13 points from when he left office in 2009. (It’s also one percent higher than President Barack Obama’s current rating, as POLITICO points out.)

    After staying out of the spotlight, Bush has hit the road in recent weeks to promote his new book, “Decision Points,” which was released Nov. 9 – one possible explanation for the bonhomie respondents of the latest Gallup poll seem to be sending his way.

    Gallup also noted that Johnson, Nixon and Clinton have maintained job approval ratings that approximate how they were viewed at the end of their terms.

    The poll was conducted between Nov. 19-21 on a sample of 1,037 adults using landline telephones and cellular phones.

    You can find the complete results of the poll here.