Obama cracks Romney dog-on-car-roof joke
(CBS News) During a speech on wind energy in Iowa on Tuesday, President Obama made a thinly-veiled joke mocking opponent Mitt Romney for once transporting his family dog on the roof of his car.
"Gov. Romney even explained his energy policy this way, I'm quoting here, you can't drive a car with a windmill on it," Mr. Obama said.
"I don't know if he's actually tried that. I know he's had other things on his car," he went on, to the Oskaloosa crowd's applause and laughter.
Mr. Obama's reference is to a family story Romney that has drawn criticism. In 1983, the Romneys traveled from Boston to Ontario, a 12-hour drive, with the family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, in a kennel strapped to the roof.
The president's joke was not included in prepared remarks released to the press and did not go over well with Republican leaders.
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First Lady tells Kiss Cam story
Michelle Obama got personal with late night host Jay Leno on Monday, explaining why she and the president didn't initially partake in the Kiss Cam tradition at a sporting event a few weeks ago.
"I didn't know we were supposed to kiss!" she said in a taping of the "Tonight Show" to air Monday night.
(Leno asks Obama what she's most proud of in first term.)
The First Lady revealed it was Malia Obama who orchestrated her parents' second Kiss Cam appearance.
"After the second half, she said, I've arranged for you to get another chance on the kiss cam."
The Obamas were booed for not smooching the first time their faces popped up on the jumbotron.
"I'm still a little embarrassed," she shared.
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Obama blames Ryan for blocking farm bill
In Iowa Monday, President Obama criticized Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for being one of the "leaders of Congress" blocking a farm bill to help rural America from becoming law.
"I am told that Gov. Romney's new running mate, Paul Ryan, might be around Iowa the next few days. He is one of the leaders of Congress standing in the way," Mr. Obama said at a campaign rally in Council Bluffs.
"So, if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities," Mr. Obama said. "We've got to put politics aside when it comes to doing the right thing for rural America."
Mr. Obama called the bill the "best way" to respond to natural disasters and give farmers and ranchers "some long-term certainty." The Midwest is currently suffering a historic drought.
Just days after Mitt Romney's ticket announcement, Ryan is also campaigning in Iowa, attending the State Fair on Monday.
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Obama welcomes "decent," "ideological" Ryan to race
In his first public remarks since Mitt Romney's vice president announcement, President Obama welcomed Paul Ryan to the race, calling the Republican Congressman a "decent man" he "fundamentally" disagrees with.
"I want to congratulate Congressman Ryan," Mr. Obama said at a fundraiser on Sunday in his hometown of Chicago. The crowd of supporters expressed dissatisfaction at the mention of Ryan, but the president quieted the boos, calling Ryan a "family man."
"I know him. I welcome him to the race."
Mr. Obama characterized Ryan, best known on Capitol Hill for his budget plan, as "the ideological leader of Republicans in Congress."
"This kind of top down economics is central to Gov. Romney and is central to his running mate," the president said. "He is an articulate spokesman for Romney's vision, but it's a vision that I fundamentally disagree with."
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Romney flubs VP intro, exactly like Obama in 2008
When Mitt Romney called his new running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, "the next president of the United States" on Saturday, he wasn't the first presidential candidate to flub that important introduction.
Flashback to August 2008: then-candidate Barack Obama, when announcing Joe Biden as his running mate, said, "So let me introduce to you the next president- the next vice president of the United States of America."
Romney was also quick to correct himself, telling the Norfolk, Va., crowd, "Every now and then I'm known to make a mistake."
"I did not make a mistake with this guy. I can tell you this - he's going to be the next vice president of the United States."
And in 2008, not to be left out of a good gaffe, Biden went on to call mistakenly Obama "Barack America" at the same rally where he was mistakenly announced as "the next president."
Report: White House approached Schwarzenegger for cabinet post
President Obama greets California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during a press conference at the White House May 19, 2009.
/ Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesCould Arnold Schwarzenegger have taken a starring role in President Obama's cabinet?
Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, was reportedly approached by administration officials about a cabinet position in January 2011, following his second term as governor of California, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper attributes the information to "people familiar with the matter."
The conversation between the White House and Schwarzenegger happened before he admitted to having an extramarital affair in May 2011.
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Facebook photo of Romney causes violent domestic dispute
/ AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
A photo of Mitt Romney on Facebook is at the center of a recent domestic abuse case in Tennessee.
Lowell Turpin, 40, accused his live-in girlfriend of having an affair with a man he did not recognize in a photo on her Facebook page. A police report posted on The Smoking Gun indicates it was a picture of the Republican presidential candidate.
It reads: "Mr. Turpin saw a picture of an unknown (to him) male on Ms. Gray's Facebook page, and angrily demanded to know who the male was. Crystal Gray relied that it was a picture of Mitt Romney. Ms. Gray described that Lowell Turpin became upset..."
According to Anderson County Sheriff Department investigators, Turpin, who reportedly weighs 310 lbs., injured his girlfriend's hand, punched Gray in the face and smashed the laptop involved against a wall.
He was charged with domestic assault on July 22 and is still in jail, in lieu of bond, according to The Smoking Gun.
Presidential debate formats announced
Barack Obama and John McCain participate in a presidential debate at Hofstra University on October 15, 2008 in Hempstead, New York.
/ GARY HERSHORN/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Commission on Presidential Debates announced the formats of this fall's presidential and vice presidential debates.
The first presidential debate, on Oct. 3 at the University of Denver, will focus solely on domestic issues. The debate will consist of six 15-minute segments with questions selected by the moderator. Each candidate will get two minutes to respond to each question and the remainder of each segment will be a discussion of a specific issue. The third and final presidential debate will take place Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., and will focus on foreign policy. The format will be identical to the first domestic policy debate.
The second presidential debate on Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., will be a town meeting-style format in which undecided voters, selected by the Gallup Organization, will ask the candidates questions.
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Romney on Olympics uniforms made in China: No comment
In an interview with CBS News, Mitt Romney wouldn't comment on whether or not the U.S. Olympics team uniforms should be made in America, though a number of prominent politicians from both parties have criticized the fact that they're manufactured in China.
"I don't know the particulars of the circumstance so I really can't comment on that," Romney, who was the president and CEO of the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, told CBS News' Jan Crawford on Friday.
The uniforms were designed by U.S.-based Ralph Lauren, but manufactured in China, despite a struggling textile industry and low job numbers domestically.
"I presume they have sponsors who are associated with uniforms and matters of that nature so I'm not going to weigh in to the decision," added Romney.
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Romney, RNC react to Obama's comments on his biggest mistake
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Mitt Romney and Republicans were quick to react to comments President Obama made Thursday in an interview with CBS News' Charlie Rose.
Reflecting on his first years in office, Mr. Obama said that his biggest mistake has been putting policy over storytelling.
"When I ran everybody asked, well he can give a good speech, but can he actually manage the job? And in my first two years, I think the notion was, he's been juggling and managing a lot of stuff, but where's the story that tells us where he's going?" he said.
Watch an excerpt of Rose's interview with the Obamas in the video to the left.
"I think that was a legitimate criticism."
In response, Romney criticized the president's leadership.
"President Obama believes that millions of Americans have lost their homes, their jobs and their livelihood because he failed to tell a good story. Being president is not about telling stories. Being president is about leading, and President Obama has failed to lead. No wonder Americans are losing faith in his presidency," he said in a statement.
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Obama calls Lincoln his "homeboy"
To use President Obama's words, Abraham Lincoln was "in the house" at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Tuesday.
Mr. Obama singled out an audience member dressed as Lincoln as "my homeboy from Illinois." He also called the former president's stand-in, "an outstanding Republican endorsee."
The two shook hands on a ropeline afterwards.
In the same speech, Mr. Obama said 2012 will be his last political campaign, "no matter what."
"I've got nothing else to run for," he told supporters.
Boehner: Rip health care out by roots
House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that Congress needs to "rip" President Obama's health care law "out by its roots."
Republicans approve of some of the provisions in the law, but Boehner says he wants to repeal the entire bill and restart a "commonsense debate."
"We need to start over, one step at a time," Boehner said in an interview with CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell to air this Sunday on "Face the Nation."
"This is government taking over the entire health insurance industry," he added. "The American people do not want to go down this path. They do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy, and how much they have to pay for it, and if you don't like it we're going to take you."
In his first interview since the Supreme Court upheld the controversial individual mandate in President Obama's Affordable Care Act, Boehner called on Congress to "start over."
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Obama saw incorrect report of Supreme Court decision on TV
President Obama had a brief scare this morning.
When he first heard the Supreme Court's decision on Thursday, he thought his landmark health care legislation had been struck down.
Watching cable news coverage just outside the Oval Office, advisors said he had a quizzical look on his face reading TV captions that said the individual mandate had been invalidated.
Mr. Obama quickly got the correct report on the 5-4 ruling to uphold the mandate from his White House Counsel. Kathy Ruemmler gave the president two thumbs up and told him- that despite cable news reports- his landmark legislation had been upheld.
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Hillary Clinton most-traveled secretary of state in U.S. history
(AP Photo / Haraz N. Ghanbari Pool)
(CBS News) Thursday, Hillary Clinton visits Latvia, her 100th nation as secretary of state, and is the most traveled secretary of state in U.S. history.
She breaks the record of 96 trips, previously held by her husband's secretary of state from 1997 to 2001, Madeleine Albright, one of only two women to hold the position before Clinton. Condoleezza Rice visited 85 countries in four years as the head of George W. Bush's State Department.
Though appointed by her 2008 Democratic primary opponent to a position she had once said to staff she wouldn't consider, "not in a million years," Clinton has embraced the role of secretary of state.
"She did it very early on," said former CBS News State Department reporter Charlie Wolfson.
Clinton's first international trip as secretary was less than a month after President Obama took office, when she went to Asia in February 2009. She went on to visit 42 other countries that year.
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Romney campaign buys "superfan" new truck
(CBS News / Sarah Boxer)
A Republican from Virginia, Jim Wilson, 70, has been following Mitt Romney around the country in a pickup truck bedecked with campaign signage-- that is, until the car caught on fire last week in Pennsylvania.
The campaign announced Wednesday that it'd be footing the cost of Wilson's new wheels, ensuring he'll continue with them on the trail. Romney will present Wilson with a $13,900 2003 Chevy Silverado at an event in Sterling, Va. Wednesday evening.
"Jim Wilson is not only a dedicated supporter, but a friend of the governor and the entire campaign staff," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement on Wednesday.
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