WASHINGTON (AP) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is endorsing President Barack Obama for re-election, citing his leadership on climate change.

Bloomberg says in an online opinion piec… Click to Read More and see additional updates

WASHINGTON (AP) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is endorsing President Barack Obama for re-election, citing his leadership on climate change.

Bloomberg says in an online opinion piece that Hurricane Sandy made the stakes of Tuesday's presidential election even clearer. He says the climate is changing and that Obama has taken major steps in the right direction.

An independent and former Republican, Bloomberg says GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has reversed course on a number of positions.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - A look at where Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney stand on a selection of issues:

ABORTION and BIRTH CONTROL:

Obama: Supports access to abortion. Health care law requires contraceptives to be available for free for women enrolled in workplace health plans, including access to morning-after pill, which does not terminate a pregnancy but is considered tantamount to an abortion pill by some religious conservatives. Supported requiring girls 16 and under to get a prescription for the morning-after pill, available without a prescription for older women.

Romney: Opposes access to abortion except in cases of rape, incest or risk to the woman's life. Previously supported access. Says state law should guide abortion rights, and Roe v. Wade should be reversed by a future Supreme Court ruling. But says Roe v. Wade is law of the land until that happens and should not be challenged by federal legislation seeking to overturn abortion rights affirmed by that court decision. "So I would live within the law, within the Constitution as I understand it, without creating a constitutional crisis. But I do believe Roe v. Wade should be reversed to allow states to make that decision." Said he would eliminate federal aid to Planned Parenthood.

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DEBT:

Obama: Failed in pledge to cut the deficit "we inherited" by half by the end of his first term. The deficit when he took office was $1.2 trillion, and the $800 billion stimulus bill Obama signed soon afterward increased the shortfall to more than $1.4 trillion. The deficit for the recently completed 2012 budget year registered at $1.2 trillion, marking the fourth consecutive year of trillion-dollar-plus red ink. Now promises to cut projected deficits by $4 trillion over 10 years, a goal that will require Congress to raise the capital gains tax, boost taxes on households earning more than $250,000 a year and impose a minimum 30 percent tax on incomes above $1 million. The target also assumes a reduction in the amount of interest the government must pay on its debt and incorporates $1 trillion in cuts already signed into law. Nation's debt surpassed $16 trillion this year. Federal spending is estimated at 23.5 percent of gross domestic product this year, up from about 20 percent in the previous administration, and is forecast to decline to 21.8 percent by 2016.

Romney: Promises to cut $500 billion per year from the federal budget by 2016 to bring spending below 20 percent of the U.S. economy and to balance it by 2020, but vital specifics are lacking. At the same time would increase military spending, reverse $716 billion in Medicare cuts and cut taxes. Defended 2008 bailout of financial institutions as a necessary step to avoid the system's collapse, opposed the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler. Stayed silent on the debt-ceiling deal during its negotiation, only announcing his opposition to the final agreement shortly before lawmakers voted on it. Instead, endorsed GOP "cut, cap and balance" bill that had no chance of enactment. Favors constitutional balanced budget amendment. Proposes 10 percent cut in federal workforce, elimination of $1.6 billion in Amtrak subsidies and cuts of $600 million in support for the arts and broadcasting.

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ECONOMY:

Obama: Term marked by high unemployment, a deep recession that began in previous administration and officially ended within six months, and gradual recovery. Persistently high jobless rates of over 8 percent until the rate dropped to 7.8 in September, the same as it was in February 2009, Obama's first full month in office. The rate hit a high of 10 percent in October 2009. Businesses have added jobs for more than two years straight while public sector jobs have lagged. Obama responded to the recession with a roughly $800 billion stimulus plan that nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated cut the unemployment rate by up to 1.8 percentage points. Continued implementation of Wall Street and auto industry bailouts begun under George W. Bush. Proposes tax breaks for U.S. manufacturers producing domestically or repatriating jobs from abroad and tax penalties for U.S. companies outsourcing jobs. Won approval of South Korea, Panama and Colombia free-trade pacts begun under previous administration, completing the biggest round of trade liberalization since the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts went into effect in the 1990s.

Romney: Favors lower taxes, less regulation, balanced budget, more trade deals to spur growth. Would replace jobless benefits with unemployment savings accounts. Proposes replacing certain provisions of the law toughening financial industry regulations after the meltdown in that sector. Proposes changing the law tightening accounting corporate regulations to ease requirements for mid-sized companies. "We don't want to tell the world that Republicans are against all regulation. No, regulation is necessary to make a free market work. But it has to be updated and modern."

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EDUCATION:

Obama: Has approved waivers freeing states from the most onerous requirements of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law with their agreement to improve how they prepare and evaluate students. "Race to the Top" grant competition has rewarded winning states with billions of dollars for pursuing education policies Obama supports. Won approval for a college tuition tax credit worth up to $10,000 over four years and more money for Pell Grants for low-income college students. Wants Congress to agree to reduce federal aid to colleges that go too far in raising tuition. Average tuition at four-year public colleges surged 26 percent in his term, by $1,800 to $8,655, as states cut aid, but federal grants and tax credits sheltered students from most of the increase, leaving them paying only $570 more.

Romney: Supported the federal accountability standards of No Child Left Behind law. In 2007, said he was wrong earlier in career when he wanted the Education Department shut because he came to see the value of the federal government in "holding down the interests of the teachers' unions" and putting kids and parents first. Has said the student testing, charter-school incentives and teacher evaluation standards of Obama's "Race to the Top" competition "make sense" although the federal government should have less control of education. Says increases in federal student aid encourage tuition to go up, too. Wants to see private lenders return to the federal student loan program.

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ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT:

Obama: Ordered temporary moratorium on deep-water drilling after the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but U.S. produced more oil in 2010 than it has since 2003 and all forms of energy production have increased under Obama. Approved drilling plan in Arctic Ocean opposed by environmentalists. Proposes Congress give oil market regulators more power to control price manipulation by speculators and stiffer fines for doing so. Sets goal of cutting oil imports by half by 2020.

Achieved historic increases in fuel economy standards for automobiles that will save money at the pump while raising the cost of new vehicles. Achieved first-ever regulations on heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming and on toxic mercury pollution from power plants. The rules on mercury could force dozens of older coal-fired plants to shut or spend billions to upgrade. Spent heavily on green energy and has embraced nuclear power as a clean source.

Failed to persuade a Democratic Congress to pass limits he promised on carbon emissions. Shelved plan to toughen health standards on lung-damaging smog. Rejected Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada but supports fast-track approval of a segment of it. Proposes ending subsidies to oil industry but has failed to persuade Congress to do so.

Romney: Pledges U.S. will become independent of energy sources outside of North America by 2020, through more aggressive exploitation of domestic oil, gas, coal and other resources and quick approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Supports opening the Atlantic and Pacific outer continental shelves to drilling, as well as Western lands, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore Alaska. He also has proposed reducing obstacles to coal, natural gas and nuclear energy development. Proposes accelerating drilling permits in areas where exploration has already been approved for developers with good safety records.

Says green power has yet to become viable and the causes of climate change are unknown. Proposes to remove carbon dioxide from list of pollutants controlled by Clean Air Act and amend clean water and air laws to ensure the cost of complying with regulations is balanced against environmental benefit. Says cap and trade would "rocket energy prices."

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FOREIGN POLICY:

Obama: Opposes a near-term military strike on Iran, either by the U.S. or by Israel, to sabotage nuclear facilities that could be misused to produce a nuclear weapon. Says the U.S. will never tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran but negotiation and pressure through sanctions are the right way to prevent that outcome. Reserves the right to one day conclude that only a military strike can stop Iran from getting the bomb. Declined to repeat the Libya air power commitment for Syrian opposition, instead seeks to build international consensus toward the goal of persuading President Bashar Assad to leave and to press Russia and China to stop shielding his government from international sanctions. Chastised Israel for continuing to build housing settlements in disputed areas and has pressed both sides to begin a new round of peace talks based on the land borders established after the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict. Signed law to expand military and civilian cooperation with Israel. The law affirms U.S. support for negotiating the establishment of a Palestinian state, reflecting a U.S. bipartisan consensus. Opposes citing China as a currency manipulator, which could lead to broad trade sanctions, instead pressing the matter through diplomacy and aggressively bringing unfair-trade cases against China to the World Trade Organization.

Romney: Appears to present a clearer U.S. military threat to Iran and has spoken in more permissive terms about Israel's right to act against Iran's nuclear facilities without explicitly approving of such a step and while describing a U.S. attack against Iran as a last resort. "Of course you take military action" if sanctions and internal opposition fail to dissuade Tehran from making a nuclear weapon, he has said. Would identify those in Syrian opposition who share U.S. values, then work with U.S. allies to "ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat" Syrian government. But has not proposed direct U.S. arms supplies to rebels and opposes U.S. military intervention for now. Associates himself more closely with hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pledges more military assistance to Israel and agreed with Israel's position that Jerusalem is the capital, disregarding the Palestinians' claim to the eastern sector annexed by Israel in 1967 in a move that is not internationally recognized. Has branded Russia the "No. 1 geopolitical foe" of the U.S. and threatened to label China a currency manipulator in a move that could lead to broad trade sanctions and a trade war.

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GAY RIGHTS:

Obama: Supports legal recognition of same-sex marriage, a matter decided by states. Opposed that recognition in 2008 presidential campaign - and in 2004 Senate campaign - while supporting the extension of legal rights and benefits to same-sex couples in civil unions. Achieved repeal of the military ban on openly gay service members. Has not achieved repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages and affirms the right of states to refuse to recognize such marriages. Administration has ceased defending the law in court, but it remains on the books. Directed government to require all hospitals that get Medicare and Medicaid financing to grant visitation privileges to gay and lesbian partners of patients. But has declined to issue an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees, holding out instead for congressional action to extend such protection to workers in all sectors. In 1996 Illinois state Senate campaign, stated: "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages," a position he later abandoned at the federal level and now embraces again. "I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," he said.

Romney: Opposes legal recognition of same-sex marriage and says it should be banned with a constitutional amendment, not left to states. "Marriage is not an activity that goes on within the walls of a state." Also opposes civil unions "if they are identical to marriage other than by name," but says states should be left to decide what rights and benefits should be allowed under those unions. Says certain domestic partnership benefits - largely unspecified - as well as hospital visitation rights are appropriate but "others are not." Says he would not seek to restore the ban on openly gay military members. Asserted in 2002 campaign for Massachusetts governor that "all citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of sexual preference," in tune with statements years earlier as a Senate candidate that equality for gays and lesbians should be a "mainstream concern." But did not explicitly support marriage recognition and, as governor, opposed same-sex marriage when courts legalized it in Massachusetts. "My view is that marriage itself is between a man and a woman."

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GUNS:

Obama: Has not pushed for gun control measures as president. Signed laws letting people carry concealed weapons in national parks and in checked bags on Amtrak trains. Favors "robust steps, within existing law" to address gun issues, White House says. Voices support for renewed ban on assault-type weapons but has not tried to get that done. Has not swung behind longshot Democratic bill, introduced after the Colorado movie theater shooting in July, to let only licensed dealers sell ammunition, require police to be notified after any sale of more than 1,000 rounds to an unlicensed person and require buyers who aren't licensed dealers to show a photo ID. Backed tougher gun control as Illinois and U.S. senator, including proposals to renew the assault-weapons ban and require background checks for buyers at gun shows.

Romney: Opposes stricter gun control laws. Suggested after the Colorado shooting that he favors tougher enforcement of existing gun laws, although the theater attack was carried out with legally obtained weapons. As Massachusetts governor, vowed in 2002 to protect the state's "tough gun laws," and in 2004 signed a Massachusetts ban on assault weapons. Quadrupled state's gun-licensing fee but loosened rules on the licenses and extended their duration. In 2008 primary campaign, said he would have signed the federal assault weapons ban if it had come to him as president, but he opposed any new gun legislation.

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HEALTH CARE:

Obama: Achieved landmark overhaul putting U.S. on path to universal coverage now that Supreme Court has upheld the law's mandate for almost everyone to obtain insurance. Under the law, insurers will be banned from denying coverage to people with pre-existing illness, tax credits for middle-income people will subsidize premiums, people without work-based insurance will have access to new markets and small business gets help for offering insurance. Millions of low-income uninsured are to be reached through expansion of Medicaid with hefty subsidies to states, but Supreme Court limited federal power to penalize states that want to opt out of the expansion. Law's biggest changes start in 2014. "Nobody is going to go broke just because they get sick. And Americans will no longer be denied or dropped by their insurance companies just when they need care the most. That's what change is."

Health care law improves Medicare benefits, adding better coverage for seniors with high prescription costs as well as removing co-pays for a set of preventive benefits. It also cuts Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers by more than $700 billion over a decade. Those cuts are being used to provide health insurance to more working-age Americans, and the government also counts them as extending the life of the Medicare trust fund. Any future deficit-reduction deal, though, is likely to increase costs for middle-class and upper-income Medicare recipients, and Obama has indicated a willingness to consider increasing the eligibility from 65 to 67.

Romney: Promises to repeal Obama's health care law modeled largely after his universal health care achievement in Massachusetts because he says states, not Washington, should drive policy on the uninsured. Would expand individual tax-advantaged medical savings accounts and let the savings be used for insurance premiums as well as personal medical costs. Would let insurance be sold across state lines to expand options, and restrict malpractice awards to restrain health care costs. Says he would protect people with pre-existing conditions, though his plan only does so for those who maintain continuous coverage, not a major change from federal protections in effect before Obama's health care overhaul.

On Medicare, would introduce "generous" but undetermined subsidies to help future retirees buy private insurance or join a government plan modeled on traditional Medicare. Gradually increase the eligibility age to 67. Repealing Obama's health care law would roll back improved benefits for seniors unless Congress acts to protect them. It also would reverse Obama's Medicare cuts to hospitals and other providers. This would have the unintended consequence of hastening the insolvency of Medicare's trust fund. Would turn Medicaid program over to the states as a block grant.

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IMMIGRATION:

Obama: Issued directive in June that immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children be exempted from deportation and granted work permits if they apply, a step that could benefit 800,000 to 1.4 million. "It's a temporary measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while offering some justice to these young people." Took the step after failing to deliver on a promised immigration overhaul, with the defeat of legislation that would have created a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants enrolled in college or enlisted in the armed forces. Says he is still committed to it. Government has deported a record number of illegal immigrants under Obama, nearly 400,000 in each of the last three years.

Romney: Favors U.S.-Mexico border fence, opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants. Opposes offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college but would do so for those who serve in the armed forces. Would establish a national immigration-status verification system for employers and punish them if they hire noncitizens who do not prove their authorized status. The government's existing E-Verify system is voluntary. Proposes more visas for holders of advanced degrees in math, science and engineering who have U.S. job offers and would award permanent residency to foreign students who graduate from U.S. schools with a degree in those fields. Would end caps on visas for spouses and minor children of legal immigrants. Would honor work permits granted to illegal immigrants under Obama's policy of protecting those who came as children, but not accept new applicants. Promises to put a comprehensive immigration plan into place before those permits expire.

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SOCIAL SECURITY:

Obama: Has not proposed a comprehensive plan to address Social Security's long-term financial problems. During budget negotiations in 2011, proposed adopting a new measurement of inflation that would reduce annual increases in Social Security benefits. The proposal would reduce the long-term financing shortfall by about 25 percent, according to the Social Security actuaries.

Romney: Protect the status quo for people 55 and over but, for the next generation of retirees, raise the retirement age for full benefits by one or two years and reduce inflation increases in benefits for wealthier recipients.

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TAXES:

Obama: Wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and ensure they pay 30 percent of their income at minimum. Supports extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone making under $200,000, or $250,000 for couples. But in 2010, agreed to a two-year extension of the lower rates for all. Wants to let the top two tax rates go back up 3 to 4 percentage points to 39.6 percent and 36 percent, and raise rates on capital gains and dividends for the wealthy. Health care law provides for tax on highest-value health insurance plans. Together with Congress, built a first-term record of significant tax cuts for families and business, some temporary.

Romney: Keep Bush-era tax cuts for all incomes and drop all tax rates further, by 20 percent, bringing the top rate, for example, down to 28 percent from 35 percent and the lowest rate to 8 percent instead of 10 percent. Curtail deductions, credits and exemptions for the wealthiest. End Alternative Minimum Tax for individuals, eliminate capital gains tax for families making below $200,000 and cut corporate tax to 25 percent from 35 percent. Does not specify which tax breaks or programs he would curtail to help cover costs.

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TERRORISM:

Obama: Approved the raid that found and killed Osama bin Laden, set policy that U.S. would no longer use harsh interrogation techniques, a practice that had essentially ended late in George W. Bush's presidency. Largely carried forward Bush's key anti-terrorism policies, including detention of suspects at Guantanamo Bay despite promise to close the prison. Also has continued with military commissions instead of civilian courts for detainees and invocation of state secrets privilege in court. Expanded use of unmanned drone strikes against terrorist targets in Pakistan and Yemen. The deadly attack by militants on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September raised questions that persist about the quality of U.S. intelligence and about why requests for added security there were denied before the assault.

Romney: No constitutional rights for foreign terrorism suspects. In 2007, refused to rule out use of waterboarding to interrogate terrorist suspects. In 2011, his campaign said he does not consider waterboarding to be torture.

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WAR:

Obama: Ended the Iraq war he had opposed and inherited, increased the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan then began drawing down the force with a plan to have all out by the end of 2014. Approved use of U.S. air power in NATO-led campaign that helped Libyan opposition topple Moammar Gadhafi's government. Major reductions coming in the size of the Army and Marine Corps as part of agreement with congressional Republicans to cut $487 billion in military spending over a decade.

Romney: Proposes increase in military spending. Now fully endorses Obama's plan to end U.S. combat in Afghanistan in 2014. Would increase strength of armed forces, including number of troops and warships, adding almost $100 billion to the Pentagon budget in 2016. In addition, criticized congressional Republicans for negotiating a deficit-cutting deal with the White House that will mean automatic and massive cuts in Pentagon spending next year if federal budget deal is not reached in time.

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Associated Press writers Ben Feller, Matt Apuzzo, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Stephen Ohlemacher, Alan Fram, Dina Cappiello, Ken Thomas, Jim Kuhnhenn and Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney told a cheering crowd of about 2,000 in Reno they will play a big role in deciding who's the next president.

President Obama carried the key battleground state of Nevada last time around partly because he became the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to win the Republican-leaning Washoe County.

But Romney said during a lunch-hour speech in downtown Reno on Wednesday he's confident Nevada will help send him to the White House in November. The former Massachusetts governor appealed to everyone in the crowd to go out and find one person who voted for Obama last time and persuade them to "come out and vote for us this time."

Romney also campaigned Tuesday in Las Vegas and President Obama planned at speech there Wednesday night.

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BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney says he praises rival President Barack Obama for ordering the raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but adds that the United States "can't kill our way out of this mess" of religious extremism.

Romney opened Monday's third and final presidential debate by criticizing Obama's policies toward Islamic extremism. He says that Obama missed an opportunity during the Arab Spring and says that Obama has not done enough to block Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

Obama says Romney has not been in a position to execute foreign policy, but adds that his positions to this point have "been all over the map." Romney says his strategy "is pretty straight forward: go after the bad guys."

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RENO, Nev. (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is coming back to Reno.

Romney will campaign at the Reno Events Center on Wednesday, a day after he stumps in Las Vegas with his vice presidential running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan.

The program is scheduled to begin around 11:45 a.m.

The event is open to the public but tickets are required and can be picked up at 3702 South Virginia Street or 6300 Mae Anne Ave.

They are also available online through the campaign's website.

Romney and President Barack Obama are in a tight race for the presidency, and the outcome of the election could come down to Nevada's six electoral votes.

Obama plans to campaign Wednesday in Las Vegas, and first lady Michelle Obama will be in southern Nevada on Friday.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

NEW YORK (AP) - President Barack Obama's newest campaign ad shows challenger Mitt Romney saying he'd "be delighted" to sign a bill banning abortion.

But the 30-second spot takes Romney out of context. Romney did say during a debate in 2007 that he'd sign such a bill. But what he said afterward - that a federal abortion ban is "not where America is today" - was left out of the ad.

The ad will air in the battleground state of Virginia.

The spot seeks to push back on a Romney campaign ad released earlier this week that says the Republican hopeful, who broadly opposes abortion, believes it should be an option in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is at stake.

Both campaigns are making a hard play for female voters.

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DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Republican Paul Ryan is slamming the Obama administration in the vice presidential debate for failing to call the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya a terrorist attack.

Vice President Joe Biden is criticizing Ryan and Mitt Romney for launching political attacks before they knew the facts on the ground.

Ryan says the U.S. is witnessing the unraveling of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. He says the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens shows the U.S. is projecting weakness abroad.

Biden says that's, quote, "a bunch of malarkey." He says the U.S. will bring those responsible to justice and ensure any mistakes aren't repeated.

The vice president says Obama has led with a steady hand and clear vision, and that Romney would do the opposite.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A federal appeals court has reinstated in-person early voting in battleground Ohio on the final three days before Election Day, returning discretion to local boards of elections.

A panel of the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Friday in a case targeting a state law that ends early voting for most residents on the Friday evening before a Tuesday election.

The law exempts military personnel and Ohio voters living overseas.

President Barack Obama's campaign and Democrats sued the state's elections chief and attorney general over the legality of the law. They argued that everyone should have a chance to vote on those days.

The state contended that many laws grant special voting accommodations for military members, and officials need time to prepare for elections.

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DENVER (AP) - President Barack Obama says the United States is making progress in repairing the struggling economy he inherited when he took office while his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, says the Democratic incumbent favors a "trickle-down government, if you will."

Obama and Romney opened their first of three presidential debates Wednesday with disagreements on how the government could help add jobs.

Obama pointed to progress made in saving Detroit's auto industry and rebuilding the housing market. Romney, meanwhile, says he would take a different path that gets government out of the way for American businesses.

Obama says Romney's plan would cut taxes for high-income workers. Romney says that is incorrect and that wealthy Americans will do just fine regardless whether he or Obama is in the White House.

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DENVER (AP) - President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are sparring in the first presidential debate over their differing approaches to growing the economy.

Obama says that Romney's tax agenda would not reduce the deficit. He says it would include a massive tax cut for the wealthy and more military spending.

The president is citing former President Bill Clinton, suggesting the nation should return to the Clinton-era tax rates he says would lead to economic growth.

Obama says simple "math" and "common sense" show Romney's approach is not a recipe for job growth.

Romney says virtually everything Obama says about his tax plan is inaccurate. Romney says his plan will cut taxes, reduce spending and grow the economy.

Romney says, quote, "I will lower taxes on middle income families."

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (AP) - President Barack Obama says the United States is making progress in repairing the struggling economy he inherited when he took office while his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, says the Democratic incumbent favors a "trickle-down government, if you will."

Obama and Romney opened their first of three presidential debates Wednesday with disagreements on how the government could help add jobs.

Obama pointed to progress made in saving Detroit's auto industry and rebuilding the housing market. Romney, meanwhile, says he would take a different path that gets government out of the way for American businesses.

Obama says Romney's plan would cut taxes for high-income workers. Romney says that is incorrect and that wealthy Americans will do just fine regardless whether he or Obama is in the White House.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (AP) - President Barack Obama says at the start of the first presidential debate that 20 years ago he "became the luckiest man on earth" when married his wife, first lady Michelle Obama.

Republican rival Mitt Romney congratulated the Obamas at the start of the debate, joking that, quote, "I'm sure it's the most romantic place you can imagine, here with me."

The Obamas are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary at the Denver debate. The first lady is in attendance.

Obama called the first lady "sweetie" and wished her a happy anniversary from the debate podium.

He says, a year from now, quote, "we will not be celebrating it in front of 40 million people."

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DENVER (AP) - A senior adviser to Mitt Romney says viewers of tonight's debate will see that Romney "really cares about putting Americans back to work."

An Obama campaign adviser, meanwhile, says the president plans to "have a conversation with the American people about where we've been over the past four years."

Those previews, on CBS this morning, come in advance of the first of three planned debates between the two candidates. The first one focuses on domestic policy.

The debate comes as Romney trails in the polls in a number of key states. He's looking for a breakout performances in the three debates over the next three weeks.

Republicans have tried to frame the economic debate in their terms by pointing to yesterday's comments by Vice President Joe Biden in North Carolina -- where Biden said the middle class had been "buried the last four years." The Republicans say that's an acknowledgement that Obama's policies have failed.

Obama's camp responds that the policies of Obama's Republican predecessors had caused the damage.

NEW YORK (AP) - An independent group supporting Republican Mitt Romney is launching an $11 million advertising push in general election swing states criticizing President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan.

American Crossroads announced Tuesday it would run the ad in eight states - Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia. Polls show Obama leading Romney in nearly all those states.

The $757 billion stimulus plan was enacted in 2009 with almost no Republican support. The ad points out that the nation's unemployment rate went up after the plan was enacted, not down as Obama promised.

A companion group, Crossroads GPS, launched a $4 million ad campaign supporting Republican Senate candidates. The groups are tied to President George W. Bush longtime political director Karl Rove.

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ELMHURST, Ill. (AP) - Remember "Obamamania?"

In 2008, college campuses were filled with campaign posters and political rallies - and frenzy.

This year, it's hard to find a college student truly excited about the presidential race.

Take Abraham Mulberry, a freshman at Elmhurst College in suburban Chicago. Mulberry says politics again has become "that thing you don't want to bring up." Mulberry is trying to start a club for young Democrats at his school.

Last election, the Elmhurst campus had an active Students for Obama chapter that organized well before the election. But this time, there's nary a campaign placard, for either President Barack Obama or Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

A disappointed Mulberry says the Nov. 6 election isn't the No. 1 hot-button issue at school.

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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - The White House says President Barack Obama believes that a disputed end to the Green Bay Packers-Seattle Seahawks football game means it is time to resolve a labor dispute and get regular referees back to officiating NFL games.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president, an avid sports fan, watched the game and "thinks there was a real problem with that call." Green Bay is in politically important Wisconsin, adding significance to Obama's stance.

The Seahawks won 14-12 after referees ruled a Seattle receiver caught the ball amid a pile of bodies in the end zone in the game's last play. The NFL conceded the bad call Tuesday, but upheld the Seattle victory.

Carney called the play "very distressing for every American football fan."

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NEW YORK (AP) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says the attack on the American consulate in Libya was an act of terrorism and says the United States must use foreign aid to bring about lasting change in such places.

In a speech Tuesday, Romney said foreign aid cannot sustain a developing country on a permanent basis and that U.S. policies should promote work, not reliance. The former Massachusetts governor also says aid should give people dignity and change attitudes toward the West.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Barack Obama's top spokesman each have said the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Obama himself has not used that language.

Romney spoke in New York at an annual global development conference sponsored by former President Bill Clinton.

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NEW YORK (AP) - President Barack Obama will step before the world and declare that anti-American rage and riots among Muslims abroad will never force the United States to backtrack on diplomacy.

In his final international address before the November election, Obama today has a United Nations stage afforded to presidents, not presidential challengers. He will use it to try to boost his political standing without mentioning his opponent.

Obama's comments to the General Assembly will be scrutinized around the globe and by the gathering of presidents and prime ministers in the famed United Nations hall given the tumult, terrorism, nuclear threats and poverty that bind so many nations.

Yet there is no doubt that the U.S. presidential campaign hangs heavy over Obama's speech.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The plane carrying the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is making an emergency landing.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Ann Romney's plane made an unexpected landing on Friday afternoon in Colorado after it filled with smoke. Saul says no one was injured in the incident.

Mitt Romney was in Nevada, appearing at a fundraiser and rally on Friday. He was heading to California this weekend to raise money.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney is releasing his 2011 tax returns.

Romney aides on Friday said the Republican presidential nominee would give the public a look at his finished tax forms. Ahead of their release, expected at 3 p.m., aides said Romney earned almost $13.7 million last year and paid more than $1.9 million in taxes - an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent.

Romney's campaign earlier estimated that Romney would pay about $3.2 million in taxes.

Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010 - or 13.9 percent.

Critics, including President Barack Obama, have urged Romney to release more than just the two years of returns and follow his father's model. When George Romney ran for president, he released 12 years of tax returns.

The younger Romney is refusing.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama will travel to Los Angeles and San Francisco next month for fundraising events.

Obama's reelection campaign says the president will be in Los Angeles on Oct. 7 and San Francisco on Oct. 8. The California trip comes a few days after the first presidential debate between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, set for Oct. 3 in Denver.

Obama and Romney are also scheduled to debate Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y., and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fl.

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says there's a "great divide" in the country between those who want to take wealth and pass it around and those who want to earn money for themselves.

In an interview Tuesday with Fox News Channel, Romney said redistributing wealth is "an entirely foreign concept."

Romney is trying to quiet criticism after a secretly recorded video captured him saying almost half of Americans don't pay income taxes.

He says Americans want the privilege of having good jobs and solid incomes.

Romney says people who receive government benefits are likely to back President Barack Obama's re-election because Romney's message of lower taxes won't matter to those who don't pay income taxes.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama campaign is hinting that it may have a new star for ads attacking their rival: Mitt Romney himself.

The magazine Mother Jones has released a video in which Romney tells wealthy donors that almost half of all Americans "believe they are victims" entitled to extensive government support. The GOP White House hopeful said his job "is not to worry about those people."

Romney went on to say that the group doesn't pay any federal income taxes and that he "could never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

The Obama campaign called the comments shocking.

The Romney campaign doesn't dispute the authenticity of the video and released a statement saying Romney wants to "help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy."

President Barack Obama faced a similar moment in the 2008 campaign, when he told donors that many Americans who are angry about their struggles "cling to their guns or religion." Romney's running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, made reference to that remark today. Ryan called the comment weird and asked a crowd in Iowa, "Who would say anything like that?"

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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney is making a fresh appeal to Latino voters and trying to cut into President Barack Obama's advantage with a key portion of the electorate.

Romney, in Los Angeles to address the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, says he'll work with both parties to address immigration and push economic policies to help small-business owners. He accused Obama of "playing politics" by pursuing a temporary measure to exempt from deportation immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Romney says he will pursue "permanent immigration reform."

In a video address, Obama got applause when he talked about the temporary measure for young immigrants. He said he pursued it because Republicans blocked legislation giving a pathway to citizenship to the young immigrants.

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RENO, Nev. (AP) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says Sept. 11 is a time to renew the resolve of protecting Americans against "evil" attacks.

Romney spoke in Reno, Nev., to a gathering of the National Guard on a day when both presidential campaigns halted, however briefly, their overt politics in deference to one of the most harrowing and unifying days in U.S. history.

Romney said the events of that day are seared in the memory of Americans. He said the families of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, are remembered and held up in prayer.

Back in Washington, President Barack Obama marked the day by participating in solemn ceremonies at the White House and the Pentagon.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) - On the same night Democrats conclude their national convention, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has released plans to launch a television advertising campaign across eight swing states.

Officials who track such spending report that Romney has purchased about $4.5 million in new advertising for the next several days.

Romney announced the new ad campaign Thursday night shortly after President Barack Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina.

The commercials suggest that Americans are not better off after nearly four years of Obama's leadership. They link Obama to high foreclosure rates, defense cuts, government regulations and the national deficit.

Romney's campaign says it will run 15 separate ads spread across Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has arrived in Louisiana to survey damage from the storm Isaac.

Friday's trip was his first stop after closing the Republican National Convention in Florida a night earlier.

The former Massachusetts governor was expected to visit an emergency command center in Lafitte, near New Orleans, where emergency crews were assisting victims of Hurricane Isaac.

The storm brought severe flooding to the area this week before it was downgraded to a tropical storm.

Romney was joining Gov. Bobby Jindal on a scheduled tour of storm damage.

The White House announced Friday that Obama would follow with his own visit to Louisiana on Monday.

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - This is the night Mitt Romney takes center stage at the Republican National Convention, and there are already some hints as to what he'll say when he accepts the party's nomination.

With millions watching, Romney intends to use his speech to introduce himself to a large portion of voters and claw for advantage in a race that could scarcely be any closer.

Hinting at the themes in a morning fundraising appeal emailed to supporters, Romney says, "we believe in America, even though the last four years have been full of difficulties and disappointments, doubt and despair."

Romney adds, "we believe in America, even though President Obama's failed policies have left us with record high unemployment, lower take-home pay, and the weakest economy since the Great Depression."

Romney also appears prepared to discuss his Mormon faith in more direct terms than usual.

Republican officials say tonight's speakers will include members of the Mormon church, some of Romney's former business associates, including Staples president Tom Stemberg, and past Olympic athletes.

(AP) - A study finds that news coverage of both major presidential candidates has been more negative this year than in almost any other recent election.

The report is by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. It finds that President Barack Obama is usually cast as failing to lift the nation's limping economy, while and his rival, Republican Mitt Romney, is usually framed as a plutocrat and corporate raider.

The report, released Thursday, examines coverage by 50 major media outlets over a 10-week period, from the end of May to early August.

It found that "master narratives" about both Obama and Romney have been equally unfavorable, with some 72 percent of stories about Obama being negative along with 71 percent of stories about Romney.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Mitt Romney is making a brief stop in Oregon.

The presumptive Republican nominee for president will hold a fundraiser at a hotel in Downtown Portland on Monday. He has no public appearances on his schedule.

Democrats criticized Romney's record as Massachusetts governor in a morning news conference. There was a heavy police presence in front of the Governor Hotel as Romney critics promised a demonstration.

Monday's fundraiser will be Romney's third in Portland since last year.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - A new financial report from GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney shows that his wealth remains near $250 million, about the same as last year.

Romney's campaign said his assets ranged between $190 million and $250 million, and a tally by The Associated Press confirmed this. The new financial report from Romney describes sales of a large amount of stocks managed through his blind trust. Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul stressed that the trust manages investments for Romney and his wife, Ann.

The new report shows that Romney still made millions of dollars over the past year in lucrative bank notes and investment funds, including nearly 40 different funds associated with his former company, Bain Capital.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney is aggressively defending his work at the private equity firm he co-founded and insists it makes him qualified to be president.

Romney told Time magazine on Wednesday that "someone who spent their career in the economy" is better qualified to fix the economy than someone who spent their life in politics and as a community organizer. President Barack Obama was a community organizer in Chicago before he entered politics.

Romney's response follows Obama's sharp criticism this week of Romney's record as head of Bain Capital.

Obama said making money for investors isn't what being president is all about. He said a president's job is to worry about everybody, not just some.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is mingling with donors at two high-dollar fundraising events, aiming to raise about $2 million toward his re-election effort.

The Obama campaign says the president will be meeting with about 25 supporters at each of the fundraisers. The intimate events are being held at an upscale hotel near the White House.

Tickets for both events cost $40,000 per person. The money is split between Obama's re-election campaign, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

The campaign says the fundraisers are closed to the press because Obama is not making formal remarks.

Obama is attending the fundraisers just hours after returning to Washington from a surprise trip to Afghanistan, where he signed a strategic partnership agreement outlining a long-term U.S. commitment to Afghanistan.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Newt Gingrich can now call himself a former presidential candidate.

As expected, the former House speaker has bowed out of the Republican presidential contest just short of a year after he got into the race. He says it was "an amazing year" for him, his wife, Callista, and his entire family.

After losing contests in five states last week, Gingrich said it was clear that Romney would be the nominee and he signaled that his topsy-turvy campaign had reached its end.

Gingrich now has the added challenges of rebuilding his image as a one-man GOP idea machine and paying off at least $4.5 million in campaign debt.

Joined by his wife, he made the announcement at an Arlington, Va., hotel, across the river from Washington.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - As Newt Gingrich prepared to abandon his presidential bid, President Barack Obama saw it as an opportunity to swipe at Mitt Romney.

Obama's re-election campaign on Wednesday released an 80-second web video of clips from the Republican primaries in which Gingrich criticizes Romney - Obama's likely Republican opponent - on issues from immigration to his tenure as a venture capitalist.

"Newt Gingrich: Frankly, not Mitt Romney's biggest supporter," says the ad's tagline.

Gingrich planned to formally announce Wednesday afternoon that he is suspending his campaign.

The former House speaker won primaries in just two states - South Carolina and Georgia, which he represented in Congress for 20 years.

His campaign also has reported more than $4 million in debt.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two advisers to Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich say he will formally end is campaign next Tuesday and will likely to endorse Mitt Romney.

Gingrich had pinned his hopes on a surprise showing in Delaware but fell short.

He had been hinting in recent days that his campaign was nearing an end. His decision to officially shut down the effort comes as Romney has a lock on the GOP nomination.

Gingrich's advisers spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) - Ann Romney says parents never stop parenting or worrying about their children. She says mothers and fathers deserve respect whether they work outside the home or not.

The wife of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney briefly addressed the NRA convention Friday in St. Louis before her husband spoke.

A Democratic activist set off a tempest Wednesday by saying Ann Romney has "never worked a day in her life."

Ann Romney stayed home to raise the couple's five sons.

She gave a "shout-out" Friday to all working moms and dads, and said she loves them all.

Mitt Romney used the NRA gathering to make his first public comments on the issue. He said he believes all moms are working moms and called his wife a hero.

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BOSTON (AP) - The Republican National Committee says it raised $13.7 million in March, its best fundraising month this election cycle.

Committee officials on Friday said the RNC had $32.7 million in cash at the end of the month, with $9.9 million in debt. The committee has already started raising money jointly with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, but the March numbers don't include any joint funds.

The Democratic National Committee raised $15.4 million in February, leaving it with about $21.2 million in the bank at the beginning of March. The DNC has about $5.8 million in debt.

The RNC has had to dig itself out of a deep financial hole. It had more than $23 million in debt last spring.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - A new Pew Research Center poll finds a sizable share of Americans are unsure how Democrats and Republicans line up on some of the country's most divisive issues, suggesting that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney may have considerable leeway in shaping public perceptions of their parties.

Although 71 percent knew the Republican Party was generally more conservative than the Democrats, fewer were able to connect each party with its position on specific issues. Less than 7 in 10 in the poll knew which party favored expanding gay rights, restricting abortion or establishing a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants.

About half identified the Republican Party as advocating a slimmed-down federal government. More said Democrats wanted to raise taxes on higher income people, a frequent topic of Obama's recent public appearances.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney is congratulating Rick Santorum on his presidential campaign -- after Santorum's announcement today that he's suspending that campaign.

Romney called Santorum "an able and worthy competitor."

In a statement, Romney said Santorum has "proven himself to be an important voice" in the Republican Party and in the nation.

Santorum, during his announcement in Pennsylvania today, made no mention or endorsement of Romney. He has described the former Massachusetts governor as an unworthy standard-bearer for the GOP.

But he said he will "continue to go out and fight and defeat President Barack Obama."

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Rick Santorum is suspending his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, clearing a path for Mitt Romney to become the nominee.

A campaign spokesman says the former Pennsylvania senator was to make the announcement Tuesday in his home state of Pennsylvania, two weeks before the GOP presidential primary there. Santorum faced a tough fight in his home state against Romney.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - After a three-month struggle, Mitt Romney is edging into the mop-up phase of the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney has been buoyed by Newt Gingrich's decision to scale back his campaign to the vanishing point and Rick Santorum's statement that he would take the No. 2 spot on the party ticket in the fall.

Romney on Wednesday campaigned by phone for support in next week's Wisconsin primary while he shuttled from California to Texas on a fundraising trip.

Romney aides are spreading the word that former President George H.W. Bush will bestow a formal endorsement on Romney on Thursday. They've declined to say whether former President George W. Bush has been asked for a public show of support.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is using privileged access to one of America's greatest landmarks to reward his most generous financial supporters.

A review by The Associated Press finds that more than 60 of Obama's biggest campaign donors have visited the White House more than once for meetings with top advisers, holiday parties or state dinners.

The invitations to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which are a legal and established practice from incumbent presidents, come despite Obama's past criticisms of Washington's pay-for-access privileges.

The AP's review compared more than 470 of Obama's most important financial supporters against logs of 2 million White House visitors since mid-2009. It found that at least 250 major fundraisers and donors visited the White House at least once.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Mitt Romney is trumpeting new backing from conservative Republicans as he looks to wrap up the GOP presidential nomination.

Romney announced support Monday from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, an early tea party supporter who ousted a longtime incumbent Republican. The GOP presidential front-runner also earned backing from California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the third highest-ranking House Republican, and from Al Cardenas, head of the American Conservative Union.

The endorsements add to a growing chorus of Republican stalwarts and conservative leaders who are calling on the party to unite behind Romney so the GOP can begin to focus on the general election.

Separately, Romney also criticized President Barack Obama for telling Russian leaders he would have more "flexibility" to work on missile defense after the November election.

Romney was campaigning in California.

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BOSTON (AP) - After a bruising Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney's campaign is arguing that he's the only candidate who will be left standing by the time of the Republican National Convention in late summer.

In a memo to reporters Wednesday, Romney's political director says wins in six states increased Romney's lead in the race for convention delegates much more than the popular vote totals indicate.

An Associated Press count shows Romney currently with 415 delegates, versus Santorum's 176.

Romney's campaign says Tuesday's voting was the last chance his rivals had to surpass him in the delegate race.

Of the 10 states that voted, Romney won in six of them, including Ohio by a narrow margin. Santorum won in three states and Newt Gingrich won one.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Rick Santorum has won the Republican presidential primary in Oklahoma.

He's also won Tennessee and is locked in a tight battle with Mitt Romney in Ohio. Romney earlier won primaries in Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia as voters went to the polls in 10 states.

Newt Gingrich has won in his home state of Georgia.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Rick Santorum has won the Republican presidential primary in Tennessee.

Mitt Romney earlier won primaries in Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia. Newt Gingrich has won in his home state of Georgia.

Voters across 10 states are choosing among the Republican candidates on Super Tuesday. Romney and Rick Santorum are in a close contest in Ohio as early returns come in.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney has won the Republican presidential primaries in Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia. Newt Gingrich has won in his home state of Georgia.

Voters across 10 states are choosing among the Republican candidates on Super Tuesday. Romney and Rick Santorum are in a close contest in Ohio as early returns come in.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney has won Virginia and Newt Gingrich has won his home state of Georgia as voters across 10 states choose a GOP candidate on Super Tuesday.

Romney and Rick Santorum were also waging a fierce battle for Ohio.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

CINCINNATI (AP) - Some voters in Ohio today are making it clear that all of the Republican candidates still have some convincing to do.

Polling officials near Cincinnati say many people are asking only for ballots on the issues, and they're skipping the presidential voting altogether. One voter says he doesn't like the way "Republicans have gone after each other" -- and he adds, "the Democrats aren't any better."

Rick Santorum got the vote of contractor Matt Howells in suburban Cleveland, but Howells said he really doesn't see a Republican winning in November.

Ohio is the biggest prize at stake in today's 10 Super Tuesday contests. Polls suggest the Ohio primary will be a tight race between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. After falling behind Santorum in Ohio last month, Romney has closed the gap in recent days, with polls showing the race a dead heat.

With 419 delegates at stake around the country today, the voting represents a sizeable slice of the 1,144 needed to nail down the GOP nomination.

In Edmond, Okla., Newt Gingrich got a reluctant vote from Tricia Tetrault, who said she voted for him because "Ronald Reagan wasn't available anymore."

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is accusing President Barack Obama of actively seeking ways to allow Iran to gain a nuclear weapon.

In a speech Thursday in Oklahoma City, Santorum drew connections between the administration's opposition to the Keystone pipeline project, which would bring oil from Canada to U.S. refineries, and American dependency on foreign oil and U.S.-Israel relations.

Santorum says the U.S. will say it doesn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon but will give in on the matter for the oil.

The U.S. doesn't purchase oil from Iran, but its allies do. Pulling Iranian oil from the world market would wreak havoc on oil prices.

The Obama campaign says that the president has been leading the international effort to sanction Iran.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - After losing Saturday's Nevada caucus race, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich sought solace in what he called an encouraging statistic: that his supporters were turning out to vote more enthusiastically than those of his chief rival, Mitt Romney.

Gingrich told reporters that every county he carried in Florida experienced higher turnout while every county Romney won had lower turnout. Gingrich said that should "sober every Republican in the country."

His numbers were off, however.

While Gingrich carried 34 counties in Florida's Jan. 31 primary, 13 of those recorded turnout lower than in 2008.

And while 32 of the 33 counties Romney carried in winning the state did see declines, it wasn't as absolute as Gingrich put it. One - Sumter County - showed a nearly 20 percent increase in turnout.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney has added to his lead in the race for delegates now that Republican officials in Nevada are done counting the votes from Saturday's presidential caucuses.

Romney won the GOP caucuses with 50 percent of the vote, giving him 14 delegates. Newt Gingrich won six delegates, Ron Paul won five and Rick Santorum got three.

Nevada awarded its 28 delegates in proportion to the statewide vote.

Romney has a total of 101 delegates to the party's national convention, including endorsements from Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the convention and can support any candidate they choose.

Gingrich has a total of 32, Santorum has 17 and Paul has nine. It will take 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters.

As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt.

It's a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that.

"Our commitment is to seek to find a series of victories which would end at the Texas primary, which will leave us about at parity with Gov. Romney," Gingrich said at a press conference in Las Vegas following caucus results which showed him placing a distant second behind Mitt Romney.

It won't be easy. Coming off sizable wins in Florida and Nevada, Romney is again the undisputed frontrunner in the Republican race, having brushed aside the threat posed by Gingrich when he won South Carolina on Jan. 21. Romney has momentum, money and a healthy lead in pledged delegates.

And before the 10-state battle on March 6 known as Super Tuesday, the Republican race will move through several more states seen as favorable to Romney, such as his old home state of Michigan.

Still, those who've followed Gingrich's career know he's at his strongest as an insurgent - which is precisely where he now finds himself.

In Las Vegas, Gingrich has been making the case to donors that he can come back yet again. He's been cloistered with top advisers, including his pollster, in a campaign war room to map out the coming months. The mandate is to keep the delegate count close in states with the kind of working class voter they are targeting.

For now, Gingrich is giving a brief nod to states holding votes this month while looking forward to Super Tuesday states and beyond.

Gingrich will touch down briefly in Colorado and Minnesota - which both hold contests on Tuesday - before heading to a state that holds more promise for the former House speaker: Ohio. Gingrich is hopeful his populist attacks on Romney will resonate with the Rust Belt's blue collar voters. Mindful that he was pummeled in Florida, where he arrived after a significant amount of early voting had taken place, Gingrich is launching a two-day bus tour in Ohio on Tuesday and Wednesday hoping to grab headlines as early voters make up their minds.

Gingrich aides also believe Arizona, where voters will cast ballots Feb. 28, could be fertile ground for Gingrich who has appeal with Hispanic voters due to an immigration policy that seeks to straddle the line between tough and compassionate. Gingrich wants to control the border but he's also said that the millions of illegal immigrants in the country for decades should not automatically be deported and instead be provided a path to stay.

Still, even as the former Georgia congressman casts himself as a national candidate, noting that he'll head to California next week, it is the South - with its evangelicals and social conservatives - that could prove pivotal.

"We want to get to Georgia, to Alabama, to Tennessee. We want to get to Texas," Gingrich said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He failed to mention Virginia, the state he now calls home, and where he failed to qualify to get on the ballot. The error is costly. It means he won't be eligible for any of the state's 46 delegates.

Gingrich is expected to fare well in Georgia, the state he represented in Congress for two decades and where he's credited with building the Republican party from the ground up.

And he plans to compete hard in Texas, with its coveted 155 delegates. He'll likely have help from his onetime rival Rick Perry, the Texas governor who dropped out of the race last month and threw his support behind Gingrich calling him a conservative visionary.

Moving forward, Gingrich said he will continue to pound away at the "big contrasts" with Romney.

"I am pretty comfortable that when you come down to it and go state to state to state, a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, George Soros-approved candidate of the establishment probably is not going to do very well," he said.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Ron Paul says he favors a compassionate immigration policy that doesn't rely on "barbed wire fences and guns on the border."

Paul discussed immigration Wednesday at a Hispanic event in Las Vegas. The Texas congressman plans several days of campaigning in Nevada before the state's GOP caucuses on Saturday.

Paul said immigrants have been unfairly blamed for the bad economy. He said even during a recession, the U.S. needs immigrant labor.

Paul said he doesn't favor illegal immigration but opposes any effort to round people up and ship them away.

He's also against laws that require immigrants to carry proof of legal status. He says he doesn't want to live in a country where people are required to carry identity papers.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Texas Congressman Ron Paul is bringing his presidential campaign to Nevada.

Paul is set to land in the Las Vegas valley Tuesday to watch the Florida election results and organize his campaign ahead of Saturday's Republican caucuses.

Paul has several events scheduled Wednesday, including a Hispanic Republican round table at the Four Seasons hotel on the Las Vegas Strip and a press conference on Nevada's hard-hit economy at the Mandalay Bay casino.

He and his wife will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary that night before flying to northeastern Nevada for a Thursday afternoon rally in Elko.

He'll then hold a rally in Reno Thursday night.

On Friday, Paul will visit Pahrump and hold an event with gun owners in Las Vegas.

Paul came in second in Nevada's 2008 caucuses.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A number of GOP officials and conservative commentators are suddenly bashing Newt Gingrich. The attacks underscore the Republican establishment's fear that the quirky and bombastic presidential candidate could lead the party to disaster this fall.

The criticisms are especially sharp for a former House speaker and leader of the 1994 election rout that put Republicans in charge of the House for the first time in decades. The chief beneficiary of the attacks on Gingrich is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The anti-Gingrich statements have come from conservative columnists, talk-show hosts including Ann Coulter, former Reagan administration officials and others. One of the harshest critiques came from former Sen. Bob Dole, the party's 1996 presidential nominee.

Dole said Gingrich must be stopped "before it is too late."

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DORAL, Fla. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is suggesting that the news media is responsible for tarnishing his party's reputation among immigrants.

Addressing a Hispanic leadership conference near Miami, Romney said Republicans aren't against immigrants or immigration. He said a Romney presidency would expand legal immigration and bring a commitment and conviction that the mainstream media would not be allowed to confuse.

Romney also said that in his first 100 days in office he would name a Latin American envoy to measure and improve relations with those countries. He also wants to create a hemispheric task force to focus on drugs and other threats from Latin America.

He said America needs to work harder at selling democracy in the region.

Newt Gingrich addressed the conference earlier Friday. Florida's presidential primary is Tuesday.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney's newly released tax returns represent an extraordinary accounting of the household finances and far-reaching corporate investments of one of the richest U.S. presidential candidates in generations, with an annual income that tops $20 million.

How the details of Romney's extensive wealth will play among Republican taxpayers, rival campaigns, the media and the American public only started to emerge Tuesday, as more than 500 pages from a 2010 tax return and a 2011 estimate spilled out both significant and minor revelations about Romney's scattered holdings, tax strategies and charitable donations.

The returns outline both the dimensions of Romney's finances and the complexity of the tactics used to reduce his effective tax rate close to the low 15 percent paid by many middle-class Americans. Among the new details contained in the documents are Romney's continuing profits from the private equity firm he founded but no longer runs, a Swiss bank account closed just as Romney launched his White House run and new listings of investment funds that were set up in offshore locations from the Caribbean to Ireland and Luxembourg.

Romney's advisers stressed that he met all his federal tax obligations, provided maximum transparency and did not take advantage of "aggressive" strategies often used by the ultra-rich. Still, for millions of American taxpayers who are just beginning to grapple with their latest returns as tax season looms, Romney's multimillion-dollar returns provide a window into an unfamiliar world.

Tax law experts familiar with the formidable financial portfolios of investment fund managers said Romney's returns would at the very least reinforce the rising public issue of income inequity.

"The average American has a hard time understanding their own two-page tax return let alone Gov. Romney's 200-page return," said Joseph Bankman, a Stanford University professor of business and law who has testified to Congress on tax issues. "What would jump out at anyone is the sheer amount of money and low tax rate he pays, as well as the enormous complexity of his financial transactions."

Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010, having earned more than seven times that from his investments. That income, $21.7 million, put him among the wealthiest of American taxpayers. Romney's campaign said Tuesday he followed all tax laws.

At the same time, Romney gave nearly $3 million to charity - about half of that amount to the Mormon Church - which helped lower his effective tax rate to a modest 14 percent, according to records his campaign released Tuesday.

Romney's income puts him in the top 0.006 percent of Americans, based on the most recent Internal Revenue Service data, from 2009. That year, only 8,274 filers reported income above $10 million.

He could be worth up to $250 million, based on previously released financial information.

The documents were released as President Barack Obama prepared to deliver his State of the Union message, in which he is expected to talk about economic fairness.

Asked during a round of TV interviews Tuesday about Romney's tax rate, given that he's a multimillionaire, White House adviser David Plouffe said: "We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share."

Other Democratic Party voices were less restrained. "He used every loophole in the book available to the wealthy and corporations to avoid paying his fair share," said Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard.

Romney's GOP rivals had no immediate comment. But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, defended the Romney's tax rate as being close to what most Americans pay on long-term capital gains from the sale of investments.

"We all know that there's a reason we have low rates on capital gains," Boehner told reporters "That is because it spurs new investment in our economy and allows capital to move more quickly."

Romney had long refused to disclose any federal tax returns, then hinted he would only offer a single year's return in April. But mounting criticism from his rivals and a hard loss in last week's South Carolina primary forced his hand.

For 2011, Romney will pay about $3.2 million with an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, the campaign said. Those returns haven't yet been filed yet.

In total, he would pay more than $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income in the past two years, his campaign said.

"Gov. Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes," said Benjamin Ginsberg, the Romney campaign's legal counsel. Ginsberg and other advisers insisted Romney did not use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.

The advisers acknowledged that Romney continues to earn money from investments from Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm the candidate founded and managed between 1984 and early 1999. Under an agreement with the firm when he left, Romney continued to earn "carried interest" on new Bain investments as a former partner in the firm even though he no longer ran the operation.

Romney earned $7.5 million in Bain earnings in 2010 and expects to make $5.5 million in 2010, Ginsberg said.

The former Massachusetts governor had been cast by his GOP opponents as a wealthy businessman who earned lucrative payouts from his investments while Bain slashed jobs in the private sector. Rival Newt Gingrich released his 2010 returns last Thursday showing he paid almost $1 million in income taxes, a tax rate of about 31 percent.

Romney's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that Romney and his wife, Ann, had a bank account in Switzerland as part of her trust. The account was worth $3 million and was held in the United Bank of Switzerland, said R. Bradford Malt, a Boston lawyer who makes investments for the Romneys and oversees their blind trust, which was set up to avoid any conflicts of interest in investments during his run for the presidency.

In 2009, UBS admitted assisting U.S. citizens in evading taxes, and agreed to pay a $780 billion penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.

Malt said he closed the account in early 2010 for "diversification" and because it "just wasn't worth it." He sidestepped a question about whether he did so because the account could have been a political liability, saying it "might or might not be inconsistent with Gov. Romney's political views." Malt has sold off other accounts in recent years - including investments in firms that did business with Iran and China - because of possible political inconsistency or embarrassment with Romney's political positions.

Malt also confirmed that some of Romney's investments are routed through affiliate funds set up in the Cayman Islands. He insisted there were no actual offshore accounts, and added that Romney paid the same amount of U.S. taxes using the Cayman affiliates as he would have if the investment funds were set up in the U.S.

Romney's 2010 tax return also shows a number of foreign investments, including funds based in Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. The documents also detailed another investment fund routed through a Bain Capital affiliate set up in Bermuda.

The returns showed about $4.5 million in itemized deductions, including $1.5 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Romney's charitable giving is above average, even for someone at his income level. In 2009, more than 37 million filers claimed charitable deductions averaging more than $4,000. Among those making more than $10 million, the average charitable deduction was about $1.7 million, according to the IRS.

Before the tax records were released, Romney's old investments in two government-backed housing lenders stirred up new questions at the same time his campaign targeted Gingrich for his work for Freddie Mac.

Gingrich earned $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac. Romney has as much as $500,000 invested in the U.S.-backed lender and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

The fight over releasing the tax information highlighted an argument that Democrats are already starting to use against Romney - that he is out-of-touch with normal Americans. And it probably hurt him in the South Carolina primary, where he lost by 12 percentage points to Gingrich after spending several days resisting calls to release the returns.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt reported from Tampa and Stephen Ohlemacher from Washington.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Newt Gingrich is leaning into his argument that President Barack Obama is a "food stamp president" and that poor people should want paychecks, not handouts.

The pitch earned him a standing ovation in South Carolina during a presidential debate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Gingrich has turned the moment into a TV ad as he works to claw his way to the top of the leader board in the closing days of the campaign for South Carolina's primary on Saturday.

But that type of rhetoric is stoking concerns among some blacks that the political discourse is rewinding to the days of "Southern strategy" campaigning, when blacks were used as scapegoats to attract white votes.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - The Republican presidential contenders are campaigning their way into the first of two debates before a decisive weekend vote in South Carolina.

Hours before the candidates were to gather Monday night in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the Fox News Channel-sponsored forum, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman announced he was withdrawing from the race and endorsing front-runner Mitt Romney.

Huntsman said Romney, despite their differences, is the candidate "best equipped" to defeat President Barack Obama in the fall.

Romney savored the endorsement while his four pursuers struggled to emerge as the leading conservative candidate alternative to him. That dynamic was likely to play out on the debate stage, as well.

A second debate is scheduled for Thursday in Charleston, S.C.

South Carolina holds its Republican presidential primary on Saturday.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Although Mitt Romney's Republican rivals are laying off him today when it comes to his remark yesterday that he likes to "fire people," that doesn't mean he's not still hearing about it.

As he reached out to hold a supporter's baby daughter this morning, someone yelled, "Are you going to fire the baby?"

Romney has been campaigning in New Hampshire today as voters go to the polls for the first primary of the season. He's believed to be virtually assured of a victory, and his rivals are hoping only to limit the margin.

Romney points out that his comment yesterday was about replacing insurance companies -- something he says everyone would like to do. His rivals yesterday tried to make the most of his remarks, but today they are holding back -- with Rick Santorum saying he's not playing "gotcha politics," and Newt Gingrich saying it's "totally unfair" to take the Romney remark out of context.

Romney's campaign is also defending him from the continued attacks from his Republican rivals on his business record at a venture capital investment company.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Mitt Romney is accepting an endorsement from Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee.

Romney flew to New Hampshire Wednesday after his narrow Iowa caucus win to begin campaigning for next week's primary in the New England state.

He was joined on stage by McCain. Romney said McCain, a Vietnam veteran, is one of America's heroes and a great friend.

Romney was governor of neighboring Massachusetts and holds a strong lead in polls in New Hampshire. McCain remains popular in the state, having won the primary in 2000 and again in 2008.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - She'd been among the candidates trying to establish themselves as the true conservative in the race -- and now that Michele Bachmann is ending her campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, her supporters are up for grabs.

Those who could benefit include Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry. Her campaign manager says she doesn't have an endorsement in mind, and that there's no time frame for her to make one.

Bachmann announced today that she's "decided to stand aside," a day after a distant sixth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

She said she has no regrets about running, and that she will continue to fight for the causes she emphasized during the campaign. The Minnesota congresswoman repeated referred to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, and said Republicans can't miss a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to repeal it, along with the financial regulatory overhaul known as Dodd-Frank.

Bachmann, who was born in Iowa, enjoyed a high point in her campaign when she won a Republican straw poll in Ames, Iowa in August. But her campaign steadily lost support since then.

PITTSFIELD, N.H. (AP) - Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman says "nobody cares" about Sen. John McCain's decision to back rival Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race.

Huntsman had campaigned for McCain in New Hampshire in 2007 but now says McCain's expected endorsement of Romney is just another example of the establishment piling on. Huntsman says none of Romney's endorsements has meant anything. Yet Huntsman touts his own endorsement by former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Ridge and Huntsman toured a New Hampshire company that makes firefighting suits on Wednesday as the GOP candidates head here to campaign for the state's Jan. 10 primary.

Huntsman skipped Tuesday's Iowa caucuses and says the close vote there bodes well for other candidates still in the race.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's campaign intends to highlight the president's record with military veterans next year. Republicans are vowing to change high unemployment among veterans in their pitches to military voters.

Next year's presidential contest could involve two major party nominees without any military service for the first time in nearly 70 years, adding a new dimension to the push for support for veterans and military families.

Obama did not serve in the military nor did leading Republican contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Several states that will be heavily contested next year have a significant military presence, including Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.

TILTON, N.H. (AP) - It's an opening salvo of the presidential campaign, minus actual presidential candidates.
Vice President Joe Biden unleashed a biting critique of Mitt Romney's policies Friday and the Republican came swiftly back at him - a full-contact preview of what the general election might look like should Romney win the GOP nomination to challenge President Barack Obama.
All this, before a vote is cast in the Republican race, The Iowa caucuses, looming Jan. 3, are the first step in the voting to pick a Republican nominee.
In an opinion piece published in The Des Moines Register, Biden portrayed the Republican frontrunner as the purveyor of failed, retreaded economic ideas. Romney shot back that Biden and Obama live an economic "fantasyland" out of touch with the real world.
Biden's jabs mark a major escalation in Obama's re-election campaign and refocus his political team on Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whom Obama advisers have long considered his most likely opponent. And it switches Obama away from his just-concluded tax cut victory over House Republicans to the GOP presidential field just 12 days before the Iowa caucuses.
"Romney appears satisfied to settle for an economy in which fewer people succeed, while the majority of Americans are left to tread water or fall behind," Biden wrote.
Biden's words summed up a running story line about Romney that Obama's campaign and the Democratic Party have been refining for months. The piece also was a direct rebuttal to Romney's recent claim he wants "an opportunity society" versus what he called Obama's "entitlement society."
Biden reiterated a major theme of Obama's re-election effort, one the president spelled out in a recent speech in Kansas where he declared that the middle class was at a make-or-break moment. In taking on Romney, Biden defined "opportunity" in his own terms.
"We believe deeply in opportunity - that if you work hard and play by the rules, no opportunity should be out of reach," he wrote. "This is a fundamentally different vision than what the other side has proposed."
Romney, speaking at the Tilt'n Diner, quickly countered that it was Obama who is hurting the country and expressed astonishment that Biden would have the "chutzpah ... the delusion" to write such a piece.
"This president and his policies have made it harder on the American people and on the middle class," he said. "And I don't think they get it. I don't think they understand from fantasyland what's happening in real America. They need to get out to diners like this."
The timing, placement and direct response to Romney represented a remarkable early volley from the Obama camp, using the most potent voice next to the president himself to set a new signpost on the re-election season. And it signaled an aggressive strategy to challenge his GOP opposition and engage even though the Republican nomination could remain unsettled for months.
In the opinion piece, Biden said Romney's proposals for the economy "would actually double down on the policies that caused the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression and accelerated a decades-long assault on the middle class."
"Romney also misleadingly suggests that the president and I are creating an `Entitlement Society,' whereby government provides everything for its people without regard to merit, as opposed to what he calls an Opportunity Society,' where everything is merit-based and every man is left to fend for himself," Biden wrote.
In essentially placing its bets on Romney, the Obama camp elevated his stature in the race, particularly in Iowa where he is running neck-and-neck with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas congressman Ron Paul.
Romney was clearly ready - and eager - to engage with the White House. While he generally has to be asked, or even pressed, to criticize Gingrich, he hit back at Biden at the first opportunity.
"I think they realize what's coming," he said. "I hope they're right. I hope I'm the nominee."
Romney aides said campaign days like this help him against his GOP rivals, positioning him as the candidate best able to take on Obama in the fall and addressing a top Republican goal: selecting a nominee that is electable against the president.
The Obama campaign also chose Iowa to deliver the Biden message because it is an epicenter of national politics and where it was sure to get intense attention.
Moreover, Iowa is a general election swing state that Democrat Al Gore won in 2000 but President George W. Bush won in 2004. Obama beat Republican John McCain in the state in 2008 by 8 percentage points. Biden's message clearly aimed for the state's general election voters as well.
Earlier this week, Romney accused Obama of deepening the economic crisis and backing policies that would redistribute wealth instead of creating equal opportunity for people to do well.
Romney said his policies would turn the U.S. into an "opportunity society" while Obama's vision for an "entitlement society" would make more people dependent on government welfare.
"The only entitlement we believe in is an America where if you work hard, you can get ahead," Biden wrote in the op-ed.
Biden's piece hinted at another line of attack on Romney - that the former governor is a man of wealth and privilege. Biden, in his piece, stressed his own family's working class roots and how his father's pride was "put to the test when he found himself struggling to make ends meet."
Romney, by contrast, is the son of former American Motors Corp. chairman and Michigan Gov. George Romney. Romney also made his own fortune as a venture capitalist, a point Obama's Democratic surrogates have used to portray Romney as out of touch and elitist.

BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama is pushing to make the United States more like Europe.
That's the argument the former Massachusetts governor is taking to voters before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary in just a few weeks.
In a speech Tuesday in New Hampshire, Romney is expected to say that Obama sees the U.S. as an "entitlement society" while he sees the country as an "opportunity society." He'll argue that Obama's policies will lead to more people being dependent on government welfare.
Romney is using the speech to open four straight days of campaigning in New Hampshire, where he must win if he hopes to capture the nomination. Romney laid out his ideas in an opinion piece published Tuesday in USA Today.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Massachusetts will make available to the public hundreds of boxes of documents from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's term as governor that have long been locked away, the state said Tuesday. The same agency that is opening the files said it would not pursue an inquiry into the purge of electronic records at the end of Romney's term.
The moves come after disclosures that Romney had authorized the purging of emails and other closely-held electronic records at the end of administration.
The decision by the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth will ultimately make available more than 460 boxes of documents stored since 2006 in the state archives in south Boston. They were closed to public inspection because of legal uncertainty over the impact of a court ruling that said Massachusetts governor's records were not subject to disclosure.
Romney's presidential campaign aides recently cited that decision to justify the deletion of files from Massachusetts email servers at the end of his governor's term in 2007. Romney also allowed aides to buy and remove their government hard drives and authorized the replacement of leased computers in his executive offices.
A commonwealth spokesman, Brian McNiff, said agency officials decided last week to open up the archived records after a legal review that began last spring, as media and political groups have been pressing for access to the records.
"The decision was made that all of Gov. Romney's records would be made available," McNiff said.
McNiff also said Tuesday that the commonwealth would not pursue an inquiry into the purge of electronic records even though Massachusetts officials have concluded that state law required Romney's aides to have maintained the records.
Both Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin and his top legal counsel, Laurie Flynn, said recently that governor's records must be preserved under state schedules even if they do not have to be disclosed. But McNiff said there would be no examination of the circumstances surrounding the electronics records purge, which was first reported last month by the Boston Globe. McNiff would not elaborate on that decision.
Romney recently acknowledged that he approved the electronics records purge at end of his term because of concerns that the records might include confidential materials. Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior campaign adviser, said that the GOP presidential contender submitted more than 630 boxes of paper files to the state archives in late 2006 in what he said was the interest of transparency.
McNiff said that the newly released boxes of documents could be viewed only five boxes at a time, and any request to review the new material would require what he described as a short delay while archives officials reviewed the files and censored confidential material.
The documents will be reviewed in light of the 1997 Massachusetts high court ruling that exempted governor's records from state public disclosure laws. McNiff said that Romney's representatives would not be consulted during the redaction process. "They're not involved," he said.
A Romney campaign spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, noted that Romney had sent the materials to the state archives with the intent of making them available to the public.
An Associated Press examination of much of the available Romney archives holdings earlier this year suggested the material available then was far from comprehensive. More than 75 cartons reviewed by the AP included staff and legislative documents but no internal records written to or from Romney himself - except for ceremonial bill-signing and official letters.
News organizations have pressed to view the archived Romney files. Also, the Democratic National Committee recently submitted three open-records requests to current Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, seeking to learn more background about the Romney administration's purge of emails and other electronic records.
Romney's campaign, meanwhile, has asked Patrick's office for any evidence of collusions between his staff and Obama re-election officials.

NEW YORK (AP) - Mitt Romney will be interviewed Dec. 18 on Fox News Sunday, the first time the Republican presidential hopeful has appeared on a Sunday talk show since March 2010.
Fox announced Romney's pending appearance on Tuesday. He will be interviewed in South Carolina by moderator Chris Wallace.
The appearance comes as rival Newt Gingrich appears to be surging in polls nationally and in Iowa, which holds kickoff caucuses Jan. 3.
Romney has limited his press exposure during this campaign. He sat for an interview last week with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, where he appeared angry and uncomfortable when questioned about his changing views on abortion and other issues. The interview was widely panned, and the Democratic National Committee used excerpts in a video attacking Romney.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Secret Service says Herman Cain is becoming the first Republican presidential contender to receive its protection.

The Georgia businessman requested the detail. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and congressional leaders agreed Thursday to provide the elite protection to Cain's campaign.

Cain has risen in the polls despite being dogged by allegations of past sexual harassment.

He is the first Republican candidate to receive Secret Service protection.

Then-candidate President Barack Obama received an early Secret Service detail, in May of 2007.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain struggled to overcome a storm of controversy stemming from sexual harassment accusations on Thursday as the threat of a damaging written statement by one of his accusers and shifting explanations by a top aide left his efforts and even his candidacy in doubt.

"This will not deter me" in the race for the White House, Cain declared as he made a series of appearances on conservative media outlets. He repeatedly denied the accusations and blamed an inside-the-Washington Beltway culture he described as "guilty until proven innocent" for the intense scrutiny.

At the same time, he tried to demonstrate a campaign returning to normalcy. He discussed foreign policy with Henry Kissinger, for example, and held other meetings in New York.

Since the allegations surfaced late last weekend, Cain has said consistently he never sexually harassed anyone, but his answers to other pertinent questions have changed repeatedly. In one instance, he first denied knowing of any financial settlements, then said he recalled one, explaining he had been aware of an "agreement" but not a "settlement."

On Wednesday, Cain said he believed a political consultant for rival Rick Perry had leaked the information. The consultant, Curt Anderson, denied it.

In a television interview on Thursday with Fox News Channel, Mark Block, Cain's chief of staff, first stood by the accusation, then reversed course. "Until we get all the facts, I'm just going to say we accept what Mr. Anderson said."

It was unclear when all the facts might emerge.

Joel Bennett, an attorney for one of the women alleging sexual harassment, said he was seeking permission from the National Restaurant Association to release a statement on her behalf. Under an agreement reached in 1999, the woman agreed not to speak publicly about the episode she said occurred when she worked for the trade group and Cain was its president.

Cain has not said whether he wants his former employer to grant the woman's request. Sue Hensley, a spokeswoman for the restaurant group, said its lawyers were reviewing the draft statement and would respond on Friday.

For the most part, Cain's presidential rivals steered clear of the controversy, preferring to let it play out.

Cain, in an interview with the conservative Daily Caller, said it can be disorienting campaigning in the nation's capital.

"The way questions are asked, when I'm speaking to a group here in D.C. is coming from a totally different perspective than when I'm being asked questions from the real people. The real people come at it, here's the problem, what do you think the solution is?

"Inside D.C., inside the bubble as you call it, they're coming at the perspective of skepticism. ... You can't get it done. You're going to get knocked down. And you can just feel it in the way they ask the question and the way they respond."

Apart from seeking to burnish his credentials as a political outsider, Cain and his allies have also claimed that as a black conservative, he is subject to harshness because of his race.

Whatever the outcome, Cain's spokesman, J.D. Gordon, said the campaign had raised $1.2 million since news of the allegations first surfaced.

The controversy erupted at a time when Cain had vaulted to the top of public opinion polls as a leading conservative challenger to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The flat tax is making a comeback among Republican presidential candidates, but it would face tough opposition in Congress. It tends to favor the rich at the expense of the rest of taxpayers, renewing an old debate about "trickle-down economics."

Most of the top GOP contenders - Mitt Romney's an exception - offer a variation of the tax plan in which everyone pays the same rate. Businessman Herman Cain has his 9-9-9 tax proposal, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled a 20 percent flat tax on income this week.

The idea of a flat tax has long been championed by conservative politicians as being simple and fair. Liberals and many moderates contend a flat tax is a giveaway to the rich.

DENVER (AP) - President Barack Obama says executive steps he's taking to help economically struggling Americans isn't the kind of bold action needed from Congress, but he says what he's doing can help the economy.

Obama returned to Denver, where he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, to announce steps to help graduates to repay student loans. Earlier this week in hard-hit Las Vegas, he announced help for people who owe more on their homes than their houses are worth.

With his $447 billion jobs bill blocked by Senate Republicans, Obama is looking for things he can do on his own to prime the economy. He said he has asked his advisers to keep looking for more steps he can take. Denver was the final stop on Obama's three-day West Coast swing.

GRAY COURT, S.C. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is proposing a sweeping economic plan that includes a flat tax proposal, private retirement accounts for Social Security, a lower corporate tax rate and reforms aimed at keeping Medicare solvent.

The Texas governor on Tuesday outlined a proposal he calls "Cut, Balance and Grow" that he says is bolder and more
aggressive than what President Barack Obama or his other Republican rivals would do.

Perry said his plan "doesn't trim around the edges, and it doesn't bow down to the establishment."

Perry's plan sets a flat 20 percent income tax rate, but also gives taxpayers the option of sticking with their current rate. He wants to raise the retirement age in Social Security and set Medicare benefits based on income levels. Perry says he would end corporate loopholes and lower the corporate tax rate to 20 percent.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) - Mitt Romney's campaign says New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is endorsing him for the GOP presidential nomination.

Romney and Christie will hold an event Tuesday in New Hampshire ahead of the presidential debate set at Dartmouth, N.H., where Christie will announce his support, the campaign said.

Christie had been considering a presidential run in 2012. He decided last week not to mount a campaign.

Christie's financial supporters had been waiting for him to decide before backing a different candidate. The New Jersey governor's endorsement will send much of that cash to Romney. Romney also stands to benefit from the budget-cutting Christie's ties to the tea party, a group of voters that Romney has struggled to win over.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican White House contender Mitt Romney says "poisonous language has never advanced our cause" and is urging social conservatives to pick a presidential nominee who has the best record on the economy.

Romney on Saturday said the country should welcome faith into the public debate. Romney's comments come a day after a backer of rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry suggested Romney's Mormon faith was cult-like at the same meeting.

Romney is urging participants at the annual Values Voters Summit to not let divisions over religion divide conservatives.

Perry plans a day of campaigning in conservative northwest Iowa and is distancing himself from comments by Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, who told reporters that Mormonism is a "cult" and that Romney is "a good moral person, but he's not a Christian."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she will not run for president. Her announcement Wednesday left little doubt that the eventual Republican nominee will come from the current field of contenders.

Palin said in a statement that she and her husband Todd "devote ourselves to God, family and country." She said her decision maintains that order.

Palin was the 2008 GOP nominee for vice president. She often hinted that she might run for president in 2012 but never committed herself.

Her announcement came one day after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he would not run. Republican insiders say the field is set. It includes former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he will not seek the White House in 2012 and says "now is not my time."

Christie said Tuesday he felt an obligation to reconsider his repeated statements he would not make a White House run. Party leaders in recent weeks have lobbied him to re-evaluate that position and he spent the weekend considering a late entry into the field.

He says he wants to remain governor of New Jersey - but isn't ruling out a future White House run.

If he had run, he would have faced a challenge to quickly assemble a campaign just three months before voting begins.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A person close to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he is not running for president, despite pressure from donors and others in the Republican Party establishment.

The person, with direct knowledge of the decision, spoke on grounds of anonymity Tuesday to avoid pre-empting the governor's early afternoon announcement.

Christie had spent the past week reconsidering his long-time refusal to run for the White House as GOP leaders clamored for another option in the search for a Republican to take on President Barack Obama next fall.

The 49-year-old former U.S. attorney for New Jersey has become a darling of conservatives for his blunt talk and his accomplishments in public life. He got elected in a Democratic state, cut the budget, capped property tax hikes and has taken on public employee unions.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - It was four years ago that Texas Gov. Rick Perry put aside his social conservative bona fides and signed an order requiring Texas girls to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus.

He says he was trying to curb cancer. But it didn't take long for angry conservatives in the Legislature to override a measure they thought tacitly approved premarital sex - and for critics to accuse Perry of cronyism.

Today, Perry's again taking heat on the issue as he runs for president. He's seeking the nomination of a GOP heavily influenced by conservatives who are sour on the government dictating health care requirements.

He's both defending himself and calling his action a mistake - illustrating the delicate politics at play.

NEW YORK (AP) - It's official: Michele Bachmann has a book deal.

Sentinel, a conservative imprint of Penguin Group (USA), announced Monday that the Republican presidential candidate's memoir will arrive in November. The book, reports of which first circulated in June, is currently untitled. As a member of the House of Representatives, Bachmann is not permitted to receive an advance against royalties.

Bachmann, from Minnesota, is a tea party favorite and recently won the straw poll in Iowa, an early test for presidential candidates.

PLYMOUTH, N.H. (AP) - Mitt Romney wants President Barack Obama to call on Congress to return from its summer break to deal with the nation's economic woes.

The former Massachusetts governor made the comment while campaigning in New Hampshire at the Common Man restaurant. Romney noted that the president is in the midst of a three-state bus tour. And Romney said Obama is more concerned about keeping his own job for another four years than putting Americans back to work.

Obama has spent much of the summer in Washington, tied up with Congress in rancorous negotiations on the debt crisis.

Romney criticized the president for planning a vacation in Martha's Vineyard. He said he wished Obama would stay in Washington instead and call Congress back into session.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LITCHFIELD, N.H. (AP) - Mitt Romney says his business experience makes him more qualified to be president than Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The former Massachusetts governor mentioned his 25 years in the private sector when asked Monday about Perry's weekend entrance into the Republican race. Addressing reporters inside Litchfield Technology, Romney said that working in the "real economy," as he had, is an essential qualification for the next president.

Romney did not mention Perry by name, but said that among his rivals, only he and Herman Cain have significant business experience. The bulk of Perry's experience is in government.

Romney said he would not change his campaign strategy following Perry's entrance. He focused largely on President Barack Obama and said the president is spending too much time campaigning.

AMES, Iowa (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Michele
Bachmann has won the Iowa Straw Poll.
It's the first indication of what Iowans think of the GOP presidential field and which candidate has the best
get-out-the-vote organization.
The result comes five months before Iowa holds the caucuses that kick off the Republican nomination season.
Nine candidates were on the ballot. But not all competed.
Mitt Romney, the GOP front-runner in national polls, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman sat it out. And supporters to Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waged write-in campaigns.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry is running for president.

That's the word from Perry spokesman Mark Miner. Miner is telling The Associated Press that Perry will announce his intentions to run for the GOP nomination on Saturday as he visits early primary states of South Carolina and New Hampshire.

Perry's candidacy is likely to shake the GOP field. The governor's announcement that he's entering the race will come two days after a debate in Iowa and on the same day that his rivals participate in a test vote in the leadoff caucus state.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann says she's not a politician but a real person.

The Minnesota congresswoman is telling Iowans at a business in Urbandale that she doesn't need to be president. She says she's running only because she understands what needs to be done to fix the nation's problems.

When Bachmann was asked Wednesday what sets her apart from other candidates, she said that it's her track record of doing what she says she's going to do after winning election.

Bachmann says she's been willing to buck her own party because her principles are more important than party labels. She says what's missing in Washington is leadership that's willing to take tough but necessary action, a quality she says she has.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry - two potential rivals in the 2012 presidential contest - will be in California on Wednesday.

The Republican front-runner Romney will be at a shopping center in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, where he plans to talk about the economy.

Perry - who is considering joining the wide-open GOP field - is holding private meetings in the state with potential supporters and fundraisers.

It will be Perry's third trip to the nation's most populous state since June 12.

Perry told reporters in Texas on Monday that he's going through "a thoughtful, steady process of making a decision."

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Watch live: Rep. Michelle Bachmann announces presidential bid

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) - Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is
officially plowing into the presidential race with a conservative and often freewheeling message honed to the Republican base.

The congresswoman with deep tea party appeal has returned to her native Iowa for Monday's campaign kickoff. A new poll predicts she'll be a 2012 force in the state that holds the leadoff caucuses.

Bachmann starts her campaign with many wondering if the edgy side that turned her into a conservative star will be the one she shows on the presidential campaign trail. Her say-anything-and-everything approach has earned her a loyal following but also plenty of guff from detractors.

After the Iowa event, Bachmann planned stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina - states that will help winnow the field with early primaries next year.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top elected Mormon in the Democratic Party says the country is not ready for fellow Mormon Mitt Romney as the Republicans' presidential nominee.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters on Tuesday that Romney "doesn't know who he is."

As one example, Reid said Romney supported gay marriage when he was governor of Massachusetts but now opposes it. In fact, Romney did not support gay marriage but did say during his 1994 Senate race that he would be stronger on gay rights than his opponent, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Reid says that if someone isn't confident in his beliefs, he shouldn't be running for president.

A Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, says in response that the campaign isn't seeking Reid's backing and wouldn't accept it if it were offered.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mitt Romney has kicked off a fundraising swing through California, looking to cash in on his provisional front-runner status in the unsettled Republican presidential field.

The former Massachusetts governor has five closed-door events over three days that start Tuesday in Sacramento and will include stops in Beverly Hills, the San Francisco Bay area and Orange County.

His campaign says there are no public appearances on his schedule.

California has long served as a deep reservoir of campaign cash for national candidates. In his 2008 run for the White House, Romney raised more than $8 million in California, by far his largest haul from any state.

Romney trip started on the same day that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman formally joined the field of Republican candidates who want to oust President Barack Obama.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Who says Iowa is irrelevant in the GOP presidential nomination fight?

Rep. Michele Bachmann's entry in the 2012 race ensures that the spotlight will shine bright on the leadoff caucus state. Bachmann will go head-to-head with another Minnesotan, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who calls Iowa a state he must win or at least do very well in.

Iowa also is fertile ground for the latest Republican to say he's considering running - Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a tax-cutting social conservative also liked by the tea party.

Iowa's prominence was in doubt just a week ago.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Utah's former governor, Jon Huntsman, are downplaying Iowa. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's once-promising Iowa presence turned doubtful after his Iowa campaign staff quit.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says she decided to jump into the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes at this time because she believed it was "the right thing to do."

The tea party favorite from Minnesota used her appearance in Monday night's GOP candidate debate in New Hampshire to reveal that she had filed the necessary papers to be a candidate, expanding the current field of hopefuls to seven.

Asked how she would feel about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin getting into the race, Bachmann says, "I have great respect and admiration for the governor." Bachmann tells CBS's "The Early Show" that she believes the Republicans have a strong field and "I think we have room for more if the governor chooses to get in." She says she'll make her formal announcement soon.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Mitt Romney is opening his first formal day as a 2012 Republican presidential contender with a direct challenge to the man he wants to replace.

He says, "Barack Obama has failed America."

In excerpts of his announcement speech, scheduled for noon Thursday, Romney makes the case that he is positioned to defeat the incumbent Democratic president and turn around the country. The former Massachusetts governor and business executive says the United States took a chance on Obama in 2008 and instead got only
promises and slogans.

Romney, who ran for the GOP nomination four years ago and came up short, is set to enter the race at a barbecue on a farm in Stratham, N.H.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Romney announces presidential bid, says it's time to restore America greatness.