AP Photo

(CBS News) There are certain places that consistently get a lot more attention from politicians running for president than others. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida to name a few.

But this year, the list looks a little bit different. Missouri isn't on it, while Michigan and Iowa are.

Florida Governor Rick Scott and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney

/ CBS/AP/Getty Images

(CBS News) Representatives for Mitt Romney and Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday shot down a report that aides to the presumptive presidential nominee have asked the fellow Republican to stop talking about economic successes in the Sunshine state while the former Massachusetts governor campaigns for the White House by hitting President Obama's stewardship of the economy.

Citing "two people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg News reported Thursday that aides to Romney asked Scott to say that unemployment would fall faster if the former Bain Capital executive were in power.

"Many governors have brought new ideas and fresh approaches to their states, and Gov. Romney frequently praises them for their ability to overcome the job-stifling policies of the Obama administration. Any statement to the contrary is not in line with Gov. Romney's thoughts or his message," Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, told CBS News in a prepared statement responding to a request for comment.

And a spokeswoman for Scott, Jackie Schutz told CBS News that "no Romney official has asked Governor Scott or staff to change our message."

"It's nice to have even Democrats and President Obama's campaign pushing a story acknowledging the good job Gov. Scott is doing in Florida," she said, adding the caveat that "we know we have a long way to go to reach Gov. Scott's goal of 700,000 jobs in seven years."

Scott has been publicly trumpeting recent declines in the state's unemployment rate, falling 2 percentage points in twelve months to 8.6 percent in May. That is still above the 8.2 percent national rate.

The declining unemployment rate in Florida and other key swing states presents a problem for Romney's campaign, which has made the lackluster recovery a centerpiece of its campaign.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, made an appearance with Romney last month and touted the 80,000 job openings in the state as Romney sat quietly listening.

President Obama and John Bryson at the May 31, 2011 announcement naming the former utility executive to be Commerce Secretary.

/ SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

UPDATED 12:11 p.m. ET

(CBS News) Commerce Secretary John Bryson resigned his post Wednesday, less than two weeks after his involvement in three traffic accidents in southern California that he said stemmed from a seizure.

In a June 20 letter to President Obama, Bryson said his seizure could be a distraction from his performance as a member of the cabinet.

"I have concluded that the seizure I suffered on June 9th could be a distraction from my performance as secretary and that our country would be better served by a change in leadership of the department," he wrote in the letter, released Thursday.

The department announced June 11 that Bryson would take a medical leave of absence in the wake of news that he suffered a seizure and hit two different cars in three different incidents that took place within minutes of each other while driving his personal vehicle near Los Angeles.

Bryson hit a car stopped for a train and hit it again as he was driving away after talking to the driver about the first accident. He then hit a second car in a nearby town shortly thereafter. He was found unconscious in his car and cited with felony hit-and run, though he was not charged. An investigation is ongoing.

Getty Images

(CBS News) President Obama's campaign has two new television ads hitting presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney for outsourcing jobs overseas and cutting taxes for the wealthy while increasing fees on middle income earners as governor of Massahusetts.

One 30-second spot opens with a narrator reminding voters that Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 as a job creator, showing a clip of the candidate saying "I know how jobs are created."

"But as a corporate raider he shipped jobs to China and Mexico," the narrator intones, citing a filing with Securities and Exchange Commission and an article in the Los Angeles Times.

The ad notes that Romney then outsourced Massachusetts states jobs to India and is now running for president with the same claim that he understands "why jobs come and why they go."

"Outsourcing jobs. Romney economics: It didn't work then and it won't work now," the narrator says.

This artist rendering shows Attorney Paul Clement speaking before the Supreme Court on March 28, 2012, during arguments on the constitutionality of the health care law.

/ AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren

(CBS News) A pair of top senators asked the Supreme Court to break precedent and allow television cameras to broadcast the announcement of the upcoming decision surrounding the constitutionality of President Obama's signature health care law.

The nation's highest court is expected to make its decision public later this month in a written opinion.

"We believe that the issues in the case are as important and consequential as any in recent Court history," Sen. Pat Leahy and Sen. Charles Grassley, respectively the Democratic chairman and top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote in a June 18 letter to John Roberts, chief justice of the United States.

"Given the fundamental constitutional questions raised and the effects the decision will have, the Court should be aware of the great interest Americans have in the outcome of this case," the Vermont Democrat and Iowa Republican wrote.

The two senators argued that modern technology makes it logistically feasible to place cameras in the courtroom without disrupting the proceedings.

(CBS News) Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says the United States is in the midst of a "spiritual crisis" and "we need a reawakening."

"I think our problems, though, are worse and deeper and more profound than just political leaders can correct. I think we really are in a spiritual crisis as a country. And we need a reawakening. We need a revival," Paul said in a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington.

The libertarian lawmaker said the United States is at "a crossroads."

UPDATED 12:07 p.m. ET

(CBS News) Mitt Romney unveiled his first negative television attack ad of the general election against President Obama on Thursday, using the president's own words and line of attack against him.

The 30-second ad opens with the screen showing a slew of statistics about the current state of the U.S. economy: 23.2 million Americans "in need of work," 40 straight months of unemployment above 8 percent and millions of homeowners "underwater on mortgages."

(CBS News) The bank bailout of 2008 may be in the rearview mirror, but the anger about it was front and center on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Even before JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was able to say one word of his much anticipated testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, a Code Pink activist in a brown suit called him a "crook" and a "predator" who "needs to go to jail."

The activist said JPMorgan Chase took trillions of dollars in U.S. funds during the 2007-2009 financial crisis that stemmed from banks making too many risky loans without properly assessing if they would be paid back.

"These guys are not the job creators, they're the job destroyers," he shouted.

President Obama and John Bryson

/ SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

(CBS News) President Obama encouraged Commerce Secretary John Bryson to focus on his recovery in a Tuesday telephone call as the low-profile cabinet member begins a medical leave of absence following multiple car accidents in Southern California over the weekend.

The department announced late Monday that Bryson would take a medical leave of absence in the wake of news that he suffered a seizure and hit two different cars in three different incidents that took place within minutes of each other.

Mr. Obama told Bryson to "focus his thoughts on his own health, on his own family," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with the president for a campaign event outside of Baltimore.

Attorney General Eric Holder

/ File,AP Photo/Danny Johnston

UPDATED 2:51 p.m. ET

(CBS News) Republican lawmakers on Tuesday stepped up their attacks of Attorney General Eric Holder, with one senator calling for the controversial cabinet member to step down.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn called on Holder to step down at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Holder was there to answer questions about the Obama administration's response to a report in the New York Times about U.S. efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear program.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the United States is using computer warfare to attack Iran's nuclear program.

"You leave me no alternative but to join those that call upon you to resign your office. Americans deserve an attorney general who will be honest with them," Cornyn told Holder, citing the intelligence leaks to the New York Times and other issues including the scandal surrounding the department's controversial "Fast and Furious" program that allowed thousands of guns to get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Cornyn was one of only two senators on the panel who voted against Holder's initial confirmation to the post in 2009.

(CBS News) President Obama is not letting up on his attacks against Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts, unveiling on Tuesday a television ad noting the Bay state's debt under Romney was the highest per capita in the nation.

"At the same time, Massachusetts fell to 47th in job creation, one of the worst economic records in the country. First in debt. Forty-seventh in job creation. That's Romney Economics. It didn't work then. It won't work now," the narrator intones.

The Obama campaign, which called its purchases of advertising time "significant," said the television ad would run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

A war of words over the economy between Mitt Romney and President Obama began when the president said "the private sector is doing fine."

(CBS News) President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are continuing to try to define each other on their own terms, with each side pushing a narrative of the other that they hope voters will understand and internalize.

On Monday, Romney continued to hit Mr. Obama for telling reporters Friday that "the private sector is doing fine," unveiling yet another web video to keep the controversy going.

The one-minute web video hits the president with television news clips from June 1, the day the Labor Department reported just 69,000 jobs were added in May.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report said the economy added 82,000 private sector jobs and lost 13,000 public sector jobs for net job creation of just 69,000 new jobs. Economists say the economy needs to add somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 jobs per month to keep up with population growth. In addition to the lackluster May report, the department revised its estimate for job growth in March and April downward, leaving the average job growth for those three months at just 96,000.

President Barack Obama talks about the economy, Friday, June 8, 2012, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington.

/ AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

UPDATED 1:56 p.m. ET

(CBS News) President Obama urged Congress to take steps to boost the economy and called on Republican lawmakers to explain why they are not taking action if they don't, while rival Mitt Romney pounced on the president's assessment that the private sector is "doing fine."

"Right now people in this town should be focused on doing everything we can to keep our recovery going and keeping our country strong," Mr. Obama said one week after the Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose a tick in May to 8.2 percent. That is the first upward tick since June 2011.

The U.S. unemployment rate has been over 8 percent since February 2009, the longest stretch since government records began in 1948, though it has been on a downward trend since it peaked at 10.0 percent in October 2009.

Susan Walsh

(CBS News) Lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday bashed the Transportation Security Administration chief for being slow to respond to both the changing threats to the air travel system and the changing needs of travelers increasingly frustrated by inconsistent experiences with airport screeners.

"It's palpable. The American people are just really disgusted and outraged with the department that they see as bloated and inefficient," said Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security.

"Progress at TSA has come at a snail's pace and in some ways has gone backwards," Rogers said, adding "the American people need to see immediate changes that impact them."

TSA Administrator John Pistole shot back.

"Chairman Rogers, I would respectfully disagree with your assessment," he said, noting that the agency has made significant progress becoming more efficient and more effective over the last two years.

Pistole noted last month's disruption of an al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S. bound airliner "highlights the challenges that the men and women of TSA face every day, to keep safe the 1.7 million or so travelers who fly within the US and from the US from the 450 airports, while we strive to provide the most effective security in the most efficient way and we are taking a number of steps to achieve those goals."