President Obama says new savings would come from 'commonsense changes.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Saturday he wants to make additional resources available for overhauling the nation's health care system by dramatically reducing current medical costs to the government.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama proposed $313 billion in cuts and new savings over the next decade. Some of the funds would come from from expected increases in efficiency, reductions in excessive hospital payments and drug cost savings from individuals enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said.

But he did not specify precisely what form much of those cuts might take, saying the new savings would "come from commonsense changes."

"For example – if more Americans are insured, we can cut payments that help hospitals treat patients without health insurance," he said.

"If the drug makers pay their fair share, we can cut government spending on prescription drugs. And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care, we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that drive up costs."

The funds would be in addition to the $635 billion in spending cuts and tax funds Obama has already requested to help ease the transition to a new system that would cover uninsured Americans and do a better job of slowing the surge in medical costs.

Budget chief Peter Orszag told reporters Friday the combined total savings would cover the cost of the process, though outside experts have estimated a price tag that would likely exceed $1 trillion.

"We are making good on this promise to fully finance health care reform over the next decade," Orszag told reporters on a conference call, though he would not dismiss the prospect of additional future costs.

Orszag conceded there might be a need to generate "additional resources that are necessary, and we would work with the Congress to come up with them if they are, but we haven't seen [those costs]," he said. "The committees are still writing the legislation, and the precise cost involved has yet to be determined. What we wanted to do was put enough specificity on the table to get in the range."

The president's latest proposals, like his earlier cost-cutting suggestions, would still need to get a congressional seal of approval - a hurdle that may be tough to clear.

"These savings underscore the fact that securing quality, affordable health care for the American people is tied directly to insisting upon fiscal responsibility," said the president. "And these savings are rooted in the same principle that must guide our broader approach to reform: We will fix what's broken, while building upon what works.

"I know some question whether we can afford to act this year. But the unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act."

The president's comments come amid a fresh administration push on health care. Obama held a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Thursday that focused on the issue.

On Monday, he will address the American Medical Association - a group that has long been skeptical of his health care agenda.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Mitt Romney, disciplined politician, is quick to say he's not a presidential candidate. It's Mitt Romney's schedule that seems to be a bit off-message.

Earlier this year, he got a hero's welcome at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where more than a few attendees attendees insisted his economic credentials might have nabbed him the Oval Office if the economic crisis had hit before the Republican Party had decided on its 2008 standard-bearer.

On Friday, he was the keynote speaker at the Virginia GOP's Commonwealth Gala dinner in Richmond. Yesterday, he weighed in on his party's future on Fox News, Sunday. The former Massachusetts governor's making appearances as a key member of the National Council for a New America - the move, led by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, to re-brand the GOP. Meanwhile, Free and Strong America PAC - Romney's political action committee, dedicated to supporting conservative candidates - is helping him build the national network of party loyalists he'd need to clinch the nomination, if he decides to run again.

And today, nearly two weeks after former vice president Dick Cheney took on President Barack Obama's national security policy before a think-tank crowd in Washington, Romney is scheduled to give his own take - laid out in a speech called "The Care of Freedom" - to a Heritage Foundation audience, assessing the new administration's response on North Korea and other foreign policy challenges.

It's slated to be the latest in a string of tough critiques of President Obama - including a tough take on Supreme Court pick Sonia Sotomayor - that have made him a conservative favorite in the first months of the new administration, even as he carefully avoids the kind of incendiary attacks and media overexposure that could threaten mainstream appeal he'd need to reach the Oval Office.

On Sunday, the 2008 presidential contender denied reports he was planning to move his permanent residence to the Granite State in advance of a repeat run for the nation's top spot. But he was more equivocal on the overall question of a 2012 bid. "I'm not going to close that door" he told Fox - although, he added, "I'm not going to walk through it either."

"[T]he action that I'm going through right now is trying to help people who I think would make a difference for the country and, frankly, also help some people who helped me," he said.

Romney's re-invention hasn't come without a few false steps. Supporters of Newt Gingrich, another Republican leader whose name is regularly mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, complained last month that the former House Speaker was initially prevented from joining the NCNA by the former governor's team - a charge Romney's aides, and Cantor representatives, strongly deny.

And after he weighed in on behalf of New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, supported by the Free and Strong America PAC, primary rival Steve Lonegan fired back with a salvo aimed squarely at Romney's chief vulnerability last cycle: the sense by some movement conservatives that the Massachusetts resident was more moderate than he would like Republicans to believe.

"Mitt Romney was rejected by Republican Primary voters because he was a moderate trying to pass himself off as a conservative just in time to win an election," said Lonegan in a statement released by his campaign.

It's the kind of reaction that helped cost him the nomination last cycle - and the sort of response his team would like to banish long before the next race takes shape. But Romney's not counting on immediate rewards on his long journey back to the campaign trail.

"We have plenty of time to decide what the future holds," he told Fox on Sunday. "It's very early, five months into the president's term. We'll see how he does, and we as a party are going to come back stronger, more vibrant, and more committed to following the principles that have always been at the base of our party."

The Republican National Committee announced its April fundraising figures today.

(CNN) – Some good news for embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele: the national party said Friday it raised more than $5.7 million in April, and had $24.3 million cash-on-hand.

That's more than double the roughly $9.8 million Democrats had on hand in March, the last month for which the party's fundraising figures are available.

Many political observers expected Steele's biggest success would come as party spokesman, not on the fundraising front. Instead, the former Maryland lieutenant governor's public statements have frequently landed him in hot water - but, despite a push within the party to reclaim some control of the purse strings from the GOP leader, the RNC's bottom line remains surprisingly healthy thanks to better-than-expected fundraising success.

The RNC has outpaced its Democratic counterpart on the fundraising front since Steele took the helm, thanks in part to legal restrictions on Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine. The Virginia governor was forbidden by law from raising money for the party while his state's legislature was still in session, and dismissed direct comparisons with the GOP's showing - though he predicted in March that observers should "stay tuned" now that he was free to solicit donations. "I think you're going to see good numbers," he said.

The DNC did outraise the RNC in March, $7.8 million to $6.8 million, but remained $6.6 million in debt. The RNC is currently debt-free.

Democrats have raked in less than $18 million over the first three months of the year, while Republicans have pulled in more than $25 million. The DNC has yet to release its April fundraising figures.

UPDATE: The RNC dismissed the idea that restrictions on Kaine's money-raising ability had contributed to sluggish Democratic fundraising. “To claim that the DNC has been out-raised by the RNC because Mr. Kaine is a part-time governor is laughable," said RNC spokesman Todd Irons.

"The Democrats have control of the White House and Congress, the DNC supposedly has a database of 12 million supporters of Obama's presidential campaign, and the DNC still can't raise any money? Legal restrictions on Gov. Kaine my eye. It has more to do with the fact that the president and Nancy Pelosi have been on a spending spree with the taxpayers’ money and piling-up mountains of debt than any so-called ‘legal restrictions.’”

Palin is taking part in a new organization to rebrand the GOP

(CNN) – A few hours after Rush Limbaugh told listeners GOP leaders launching a Republican re-branding effort hated and feared Sarah Palin, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor announced that the Alaska governor had finally accepted an invitation to join the group.

On a conference call last week for the National Council for a New America, former Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he thought his running mate would probably be part of the effort as well - but there had been no immediate confirmation by her office.

The two groups of key Palin aides - those in the governor's office in Alaska, and at her Virginia-based political action committee SarahPAC - have often given very different messages on her participation in various efforts: Congressional leaders and conservative activists have both announced Palin's planned attendance at major events this year after receiving assurances from one set of advisors, only to learn later from other aides that she hadn't yet made a decision.

The governor's decision to join the NCNA's panel of experts was confirmed Monday by spokeswoman Meg Stapleton.

At the group's kickoff event - a town hall-style gathering at an Arlington, Virginia restaurant - Cantor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney urged the party to re-frame their message. Bush, in particular, expressed admiration for President Obama's political skill, and told the crowd not to get mired in "nostalgia" for past GOP dominance.

He mentioned no names, but Limbaugh interpreted that remark as a knock on Palin and President Ronald Reagan.

"Something else you have to understand is these people hate Palin too," the conservative radio host said Monday. "They despise Sarah Palin, they fear Sarah Palin, they don't like her either. She's, according to them she's embarrassing. McCain said, 'I was there with Ronald Reagan'.... No Reagan voter ever believed McCain was a Reaganite.

"And I think... a lot of this is aimed at Sarah Palin. When you strip all the talk - It's 'the Reagan era is over, stop all this nostalgia and stuff.' Clearly, in last year's campaign, the most prominent, articulate voice for standard, run-of-the-mill, good old-fashioned American conservatism was Sarah Palin. Now, everybody on this [NCNA] Speak to America tour has presidential perspirations [sic]. Mitt Romney there, he wants to be president again. Jeb may someday. Eric Cantor, some of the others, McCain - I don't think he does, but you never know. So this is an early campaign event, 2012 presidential campaign, primary campaign, with everybody there but Sarah Palin."

Limbaugh has not yet responded to the NCNA announcement. Palin joins Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, McCain, Bush and Romney on the NCNA's national panel of experts.

Palin is taking part in a new organization to rebrand the GOP

(CNN) – A few hours after Rush Limbaugh told listeners GOP leaders launching a Republican re-branding effort hated and feared Sarah Palin, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor announced that the Alaska governor had finally accepted an invitation to join the group.

On a conference call last week for the National Council for a New America, former Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he thought his running mate would probably be part of the effort as well - but there had been no immediate confirmation by her office.

The two groups of key Palin aides - those in the governor's office in Alaska, and at her Virginia-based political action committee SarahPAC - have often given very different messages on her participation in various efforts: Congressional leaders and conservative activists have both announced Palin's planned attendance at major events this year after receiving assurances from one set of advisors, only to learn later from other aides that she hadn't yet made a decision.

The governor's decision to join the NCNA's panel of experts was confirmed Monday by spokeswoman Meg Stapleton.

At the group's kickoff event - a town hall-style gathering at an Arlington, Virginia restaurant - Cantor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney urged the party to re-frame their message. Bush, in particular, expressed admiration for President Obama's political skill, and told the crowd not to get mired in "nostalgia" for past GOP dominance.

He mentioned no names, but Limbaugh interpreted that remark as a knock on Palin and President Ronald Reagan.

"Something else you have to understand is these people hate Palin too," the conservative radio host said Monday. "They despise Sarah Palin, they fear Sarah Palin, they don't like her either. She's, according to them she's embarrassing. McCain said, 'I was there with Ronald Reagan'.... No Reagan voter ever believed McCain was a Reaganite.

"And I think... a lot of this is aimed at Sarah Palin. When you strip all the talk - It's 'the Reagan era is over, stop all this nostalgia and stuff.' Clearly, in last year's campaign, the most prominent, articulate voice for standard, run-of-the-mill, good old-fashioned American conservatism was Sarah Palin. Now, everybody on this [NCNA] Speak to America tour has presidential perspirations [sic]. Mitt Romney there, he wants to be president again. Jeb may someday. Eric Cantor, some of the others, McCain - I don't think he does, but you never know. So this is an early campaign event, 2012 presidential campaign, primary campaign, with everybody there but Sarah Palin."

Limbaugh has not yet responded to the NCNA announcement. Palin joins Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, McCain, Bush and Romney on the NCNA's national panel of experts.

Sestak is weighing a 2010 Senate bid.

(CNN) - Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak told CNN Sunday that he wasn't sure Sen. Arlen Specter is really part of the Democratic Party, the latest in a series of tough comments aimed at his potential Senate primary rival.

"I'm not sure he's a Democrat yet," he told John King on State of the Union.

President Obama said earlier in the week that Specter had his support, with one administration official saying it took the president about "seven seconds" to make that decision.

Those remarks don't faze Sestak.

"The president has said he respects Arlen's independence..." he said. "He'll respect mine if that is the case, I know that."

After Specter's announcement last week, Sestak said he was taking a wait-and-see approach on the question of whether to embrace the party's newest senator. Later in the week, he finally confirmed publicly that he's weighing a Senate bid of his own, setting up the prospect of a primary fight between the Democratic congressman and the party's newest senator.

In an effort to give a boost to any potential Democratic primary challenger, Specter's former colleagues in the Senate GOP launched a new campaign last week designed to highlight the consistency of his Republican record and his ties to President Bush and other party leaders.

Sestak is weighing a 2010 Senate bid.

(CNN) - Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak told CNN Sunday that he wasn't sure Sen. Arlen Specter is really part of the Democratic Party, the latest in a series of tough comments aimed at his potential Senate primary rival.

"I'm not sure he's a Democrat yet," he told John King on State of the Union.

President Obama said earlier in the week that Specter had his support, with one administration official saying it took the president about "seven seconds" to make that decision.

Those remarks don't faze Sestak.

"The president has said he respects Arlen's independence..." he said. "He'll respect mine if that is the case, I know that."

After Specter's announcement last week, Sestak said he was taking a wait-and-see approach on the question of whether to embrace the party's newest senator. Later in the week, he finally confirmed publicly that he's weighing a Senate bid of his own, setting up the prospect of a primary fight between the Democratic congressman and the party's newest senator.

In an effort to give a boost to any potential Democratic primary challenger, Specter's former colleagues in the Senate GOP launched a new campaign last week designed to highlight the consistency of his Republican record and his ties to President Bush and other party leaders.

(CNN) – House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in an interview airing on CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning that the GOP wasn't directly responsible for much of the party's electoral misfortune in 2008.

"I frankly believe that much of what happened in the last election revolved around the fact that the economy fell apart at the time we were, if you will, holding the hot potato. Republicans and Democrats have been playing this game, passing the hot the potato, spending money like there was no tomorrow," Romney told John King.

"And the economy came crashing down while our party was holding the hot potato. And people said, hey, it's time for something else but I think if they took a good, hard look at what the - something else is planning on doing with regards to the massive borrowing, they are going to say, that is probably not the right thing for America's future."

Cantor said there was no "single reason" that could explain last year's election results, ticking off a list of factors that included runaway spending in Washington, the collapse of the financial markets, and public weariness with the war in Iraq.

"So there was a lot of fear [over the markets], and a lot of desire to say, hey, we want to put these bad times behind us," he said. "But, ultimately, the future is about trying to be relevant in terms of what we're talking about, the policy prescriptions that we are going to propose to make sure that they make a difference.

And it's not that the Republicans need to change, to become like Democrats."

Both men are involved with the National Council for a New America, an effort to reverse the party's poor showing in recent races. And Cantor said the GOP did need to do a better job of reaching groups that trended strongly Democratic over the past cycle, including educated voters, African-Americans, and voters in cities and in the Northeast.

As speculation over the president's next Supreme Court pick dominated Sunday talk, Romney joined several of his fellow Republicans in suggesting the party was ready to do battle over the next nominee for the Supreme Court.

"And I doubt that Barack Obama is going to put forward the same nominee that either Congressman Cantor or I would put forward, and elections have consequences," he said. "He'll put forward someone different from that. But the key thing and the place where I think we draw the line is, is this an individual who will follow the Constitution and the law, or is this an individual who believes in making the law?

"And if it's the latter, I think we should stand up and scream loud and hard."

(CNN) - Republican Sen. Richard Shelby told CNN Sunday his decision on President Obama's Supreme Court pick would not be affected by "payback" for the former Illinois senator's votes against Bush nominees John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

"I’m not a payback type guy," he told John King on State of the Union. "I think you have to keep moving."

He was also pragmatic about the kind of nominee the Senate could expect to see. "I have no illusions about President Obama appointing a conservative like Alito or Roberts," he said. " But if he will appoint a pragmatist, someone who is not an ideologue, that someone is not just going to light all the lightbulbs in America on the left, I think that would be good for the country. He is very smart. He is very careful. I hope he is going to be careful in this appointment.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman, Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy suggested he knew some of the names on President Obama's Supreme Court shortlist, and planned to meet with the president this week to discuss the issue. He also said he was encouraging Obama to meet soon with leaders of both parties.

(CNN) – Last year - for the first time in U.S. history - black and white voters voted at roughly the same rates, according to a new study.

The overall turnout rate barely budged, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center - and turnout among white voters actually declined - but in another first, participation by black women was the highest of any gender or race. Nearly 69 percent of black women voted in November.

The difference between black and white turnout rates dropped from 7 percent in 2004 to less than 1 percent last year, a statistically insignificant gap.

The report, using Census data and the results of a Tufts University study, also found that roughly one in four voters last cycle were black, Asian or Hispanic - a new high mark for minority turnout, and double the rate 20 years ago.

The Hispanic electorate grew by more than 21 percent from the previous presidential cycle, according to researchers, with the group now accounting for nearly one in ten voters nationwide.

(CNN) – After Arlen Specter bolted the GOP Tuesday, Republicans like party chair Michael Steele attacked him as a "leftist" with a history of "left-wing" stands.

That was yesterday.

Twenty-four hours later, his former colleagues in the Senate GOP are rushing to embrace Specter's past in a new campaign designed to highlight the consistency of his Republican record.

"In light of Senator Specter's changing political party, we felt it was our civic duty to adequately inform Pennsylvania Democrat primary voters about their new Senator's record and his close relationship with our former President George W. Bush," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said in a Wednesday announcement.

The effort includes a Web page featuring YouTube clips of Specter's positive comments about conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santorum, and criticism of Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. It also involves robocalls to Pennsylvania voters to "help you welcome your newest Democrat senator" that use audio from Specter's old campaign ads - audio featuring what the NRSC describes as "glowing support" from former President George W. Bush.

"I'm here to say it as plainly as I can, Arlen Specter is the right man for the United States Senate," says Bush in comments included in the new call. "I can count on this man - see, that's important. He's a firm ally when it matters most. I'm proud to tell you I think he's earned another term as the United States senator."

The remarks were made back in 2004, when the Bush's endorsement was widely credited with helping Specter eke out a narrow primary win over challenger Pat Toomey.

RNC chairman Michael Steele compared Specter's defection to the legendary betrayal of Benedict Arnold.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Over the past 24 hours, angry Republicans have thrown out a flurry of withering descriptions of the decision by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter to renounce his GOP membership Tuesday to become a Democrat. Now Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is comparing the senator's action to one of the most storied betrayals in U.S. history.

"I hope Arlen Specter's party change outrages you. ...He told us all to go jump in the lake today," Steele wrote in a fundraising e-mail sent to Republicans Tuesday.

Facing the prospect of a primary loss because of "his left-wing voting record," said Steele, Specter had "peddled his services–and his vote–to the leftist Obama Democrats who aim to remake America with their leftist plan."

"You and I have a choice. Some will use Specter's defection as an excuse to fold the tent and give up. I believe that you are not one of those people. When Benedict Arnold defected to the British, George Washington didn't fold the tent and give up either.

"He grit his teeth more determined than ever to succeed. That's what I'm asking you to do today."

Steele has had a rocky start since taking the helm at the RNC, including the loss earlier this week of a hotly-contested House race in upstate New York.

Limbaugh did concede the downside of Specter's defection.

(CNN) - Conservative host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday he isn't sorry to see Arlen Specter leave the GOP - and that many Republicans wish the Pennsylvania senator would take a few others with him when he goes.

"A lot of people say, 'Well, Specter, take [Sen. John] McCain with you. And his daughter [Meghan]. Take McCain and his daughter with you if you're gonna..." he told listeners, dissolving in laughter.

".....It's ultimately good. You're weeding out people who aren't really Republicans," he said.

Limbaugh did concede the downside of Specter's defection. "It makes the Senate essentially as big a slam dunk for Obama and the Democrats as the House of Representatives already is," he said.

Earlier this month, Specter said Limbaugh did have a tendency to make "provocative" statements, but told radio host Howard Stern he didn't have a problem with the conservative talker. "Do I like Limbaugh?... yeah, I like him," he said then.

UPDATE: Late Tuesday afternoon, Meghan McCain fired back on Twitter. "RED TIL I'M DEAD BABY!!! I love the republican party enough to give it constructive criticism, I love my party and sure as hell not leavin!"

A new ad tells Americans the British and Canadian health systems are fatally flawed.

(CNN) - A conservative group is out with a million-dollar ad buy attacking President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

The Conservative Patients' Rights Action Fund, one of the earliest opponents of the president's plan, will begin airing the first of the new 60-second spots Tuesday on national cable. The ad features British and Canadian doctors relating horror stories of government-run health care wait lists and restrictions, and accuses Congress of adopting elements of those systems.

“Patients are languishing and suffering on wait lists, our own Supreme Court of Canada has stated that patients are actually dying as they wait for care in Canada,” Canadian privatization proponent Dr. Brian Day says in the spot.

"Tell Congress you won't trade your doctor for a national board of bureaucrats," says the narrator. "Let's put patients first."

The group - one of the earliest opponents to organize against Obama's health care plans - has launched several ads this year attacking the proposal. Last month, they released an spot that linked the administration's request for a set-aside in the federal budget to help fund health care reform with the controversial loophole that allowed executives of bailed-out companies to keep their bonuses.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama's decision to release four Bush-era memos regarding the use of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" was heavily criticized Sunday as a couple of prominent senators told CNN's John King that the decision was a potentially dangerous mistake.

"I think it was a mistake to release the techniques that we're talking about and inform our enemy as to what may come their way," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said on "State of the Union."

Graham, who opposed the use of techniques that many consider to be torture, added that he still believed "there's a way to get good information in an aggressive manner to protect this nation without having to go into the Inquisition era."

Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who also opposed the use of such techniques, said the continued discussion would "make it harder for the president to do some of the big things he wants to do for the country - not just get the economy going, but get some Republican support for health care reform, energy independence and education reform."

"I go back to what the president said at the beginning, it is time to look forward," Lieberman said. "These are top secret documents. These were lawyers, you could disagree with them but in my opinion they were trying to do what they thought would protect our country."

Lieberman also argued that "this whole debate is moot. President Obama has prohibited these tactics from being used in interrogation, so what do we gain... by releasing the memos (and) from indicting lawyers for their opinions?"

Lieberman also said that, in his opinion, having a so-called "Truth Commission" to investigate the Bush record on interrogation would "poison the water here in Washington. It will achieve nothing. ... So let the Intelligence Committee do its work. That should be the end of it."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, however, argued Sunday that the Bush-era interrogation techniques, not the release of their descriptions, were putting American lives at risk.

Gibbs pointed to comments from National Security Adviser and former Marine General Jim Jones that the continued use of the tactics had put U.S. troops at risk, and told NBC's "Meet the Press" that talk of torture had become a "rallying cry for those who wanted to kill us."

"Our country doesn't have to choose between keeping our people safe and the values that make us America," said Gibbs. "There are things this country just simply doesn't do."

And California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee argued that some kind of investigation was necessary.

"[W]e need to find these things out and we need to do it in a way that's calm and deliberative and professional, because I think all of this, on the front burner, before the public, does harm our intelligence gathering, it does harm America's position in the world."

Several Republicans characterized the dispute over the memos as a dangerous game of political gamesmanship.

Missouri GOP Sen. Kit Bond, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," called the release of the Bush memos "a stab in the back." Former presidential nominee John McCain, R-Arizona, said any talk of prosecution was about "settling old political scores."

"It was bad advice," McCain said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"But if you're going to criminalize bad advice on the part of lawyers, how are we going to get people to serve and what kind of precedent does that set for the future?"

Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett tried to play down the significance of the documents, telling CNN there was too much attention being paid to the memos.

"There's nothing in these documents that Americans hadn't seen all over the news," she said, adding that Obama believed it was time to release them and "move forward."

Jarrett appeared, however, to disagree with McCain's contention that former President Gerald Ford's decision to prevent the prosecution of former President Richard Nixon would be a good example to follow.

Obama, she emphasized, is leaving any prosecution decisions up to the attorney general.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told CNN Sunday that President Obama still wants to work with Republicans in a bipartisan way on major policy initiatives like health care reform.

"He has reached out more aggressively I think to the Republican Party than I could ever imagine a president could possibly do," she told John King on State of the Union. "So I think the burden is on him to reach out his hand, and that's what he's done, and that's what he's going to continue to do throughout this administration."

After failing to secure Republican support for most of his economic plan, the president called on the Senate last week to use a parliamentary procedure that would allow legislation - including massive efforts like a health care overhaul - to pass without any GOP votes.

The CIA memos are grabbing headlines – but they’re not news, says Jarrett.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - There’s nothing new in the interrogation memos whose release has stirred controversy, senior White House advisor Valerie Jarrett told CNN Sunday.

The CIA memos described waterboarding and other tough interrogation methods on alleged al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah.

Jarrett said the United States is “a nation of laws,” and the administration had a legal requirement to release the documents.

"The techniques that were being used by the prior administration were well known," she told John King on State of the Union. "When the president came in office, he said we're not going to use those techniques anymore. That's not who we are as a country."

“There’s nothing in these documents that Americans hadn't seen all over the news,” she said, adding that Obama said it was time to release them and “move forward.”

But the president is leaving any prosecution decisions up to the attorney general, she added.

Jarrett is one of the president’s top advisors.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett told CNN Sunday the president takes the swine influenza outbreak "very seriously," as the White House announced an afternoon briefing to provide an update on efforts to keep the disease from spreading to the United States.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser will speak at 12:30. The State Department is also involved in tracking efforts.

This week, isolated cases of the illness were reported in at least three states. The swine flu has stricken more than a thousand and been blamed for more than 80 deaths in Mexico over the past few weeks.

Palin's new legal defense fund was formally unveiled Friday.

(CNN) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, facing a string of costly ethics complaints, formally unveiled a defense fund Friday to help pay her legal fees - now surging past the half-million dollar mark.

"For Alaskans, the time has come to end the siege on our government by political tricksters. Enough is enough. With the help of reform-minded advocates from across our nation, we will stand up for what is right," said a message on the Web site for the Alaska Fund Trust.

"Your maximum contribution of $150.00 will allow the Governor, her family, and her colleagues to retire their legal debt at no cost to Alaskans and reduce the incentive for mischief by her opponents. Together, we can help Governor Palin and future elected officials turn back the tide of overtly partisan and unnecessarily personal political attacks."

Kristan Cole, a Palin ally from Wasilla, will run the fund, which she described as "one of the most restrictive and transparent legal funds in history." The group said it plans to voluntarily release the names of donors and size of their contributions.

"We have created one of the most restrictive and transparent legal funds in history," Cole said. The group has created downloadable comparisons of the group's restrictions in comparisons with other recent political legal defense funds, including those for both Clintons and former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate continues to face a steady stream of new filings - the latest just this week, over whether she used PAC funds to travel to an anti-abortion event in Indiana.

Earlier this month, a Texas businessman launched a Web site to help defray the governor's legal costs, but Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said then that the official legal defense fund could only accept money from her official fund, which had yet to launch, and encouraged Palin's supporters to direct their contributions there.

(CNN) - Liz Cheney, former State Department official and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, defended her father's string of tough comments aimed at President Obama, telling an interviewer that the former VP believes the new president is taking the nation down a "dangerous" path and that he has an "obligation to stand up."

"I think he is concerned that some of the things that we have seen President Obama do, particularly on his overseas trip in terms of not taking the opportunity to stand up and defend America when Daniel Ortega delivers a 50-minute screed against the United States [during the Summit of the Americas]," she told MSNBC in an interview that aired Thursday.

"I think that there's a real concern. I mean, the message that we saw coming out of the last few foreign trips - I mean, forget Republican and Democrat, as an American it concerns me when I have a president that doesn't stand up and say, 'Wait a minute, you know, I'm going to defend the United States of America because we are a beacon of hope for people all around the world,'" she said.

"The vice president thinks it's very important, when you see the country go down paths that are concerning and dangerous, and when you see the current administration making decisions that really do have the potential to make us less safe, in those circumstances I would say the vice president doesn't think there's an obligation to be silent - in fact, I think he believes the opposite, which is there's an obligation to stand up..." she said.

Former President Bush has said publicly that the new president deserves his silence. Cheney said her father had not sought the former president's approval for his recent comments. "He doesn't need permission," she said.

The former vice president has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the new administration, telling CNN in an interview last month that Obama's decisions had put the country at greater risk of a terrorist attack.

McCain's campaign was doomed long before Election Day, his former top strategist said Thursday.

(CNN) - John McCain’s general election campaign began as “the strategic equivalent of throwing a football through a tire at 50 yards” – and was doomed weeks before Election Day, his former chief strategist said Thursday.

“We were running a campaign under extra difficult circumstances - the state of the Republican Party, the president’s unpopularity, the economy - a lot of issues that were not John McCain’s fault, but were John McCain’s problem in this race,” Schmidt told an audience at the University of Delaware, according to Politico. “When Lehman Brothers collapsed in the fall I knew pretty much right away that ... from an electoral strategy perspective, the campaign was finished.”

Schmidt and Obama campaign manager David Plouffe - who both attended, but did not graduate from Delaware - shared the stage and looked back at the 2008 campaign.

Schmidt praised Obama's political skills. “This was, in my view, the unfinished Bobby Kennedy campaign - the idealism, the passion, the inspiration he gave to people, it was organic and it was real and it wasn’t manufactured at a tactical level in the campaign,” he said.

The Republican strategist said Sen. John McCain passed over his first choice for vice president - Democrat-turned-Independent Joe Lieberman - in favor of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to avoid an all-out GOP civil war.

“It was communicated back to us very clearly from within the party that not only was Senator Lieberman not acceptable, but any pro-choice nominee was not acceptable, [and] it would lead to a floor fight at the convention with an alternate nominee for vice president put into play.

“Blowing up the party wasn’t one of the menu items of things that were going to improve our situation,” he said.

Schmidt also criticized his party’s political performance in the early days of the Obama presidency.

“As a matter of reality, in the first 100 days, [the Republican Party] has not done anything to improve its political position with regards to the fact that it has been a shrinking entity,” he said.

Last week, the former McCain aide told a group of gay Republicans it was critical for the party to seriously weigh support for same-sex marriage.

Meghan McCain is no fan of Karl Rove's tweets.

(CNN) – Meghan McCain loves Twitter - except for the "creepy people." Like Karl Rove.

In a blog post for the Daily Beast published Monday, McCain says the social networking site has been a "liberating" experience for her - if only her dispatches weren't being read by the former Bush advisor.

"Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That's creepy," she said. "I joined Twitter a few months ago; so far, it has been a liberating way to transition from political to personal blogging. It's allowed me to share the less serious aspects and humorously uncensored moments of my life. But there's also been a downside: I am now being followed by Karl Rove, and my local sheriff, and God knows how many other political pundits. We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people."

Later, she wrote: "I can't shake the fact that Karl Rove is following me-it can be creepy. So watch out."

The daughter of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain also said she finds Rove's Tweets "boring," and speculated that he had a "ghost Twitterer" or an assistant posting his thoughts.

"On the surface, Karl Rove's Twitter feed intrigues me," she said. Here's a guy who for years has been perceived as some kind of inaccessible man-behind-the-curtain figure. And now he Tweets numerous times a day. I've never met him in person, which only makes our Twitter relationship even weirder. And to be honest, I find Rove's Tweets boring. Sometimes he takes questions; other times he talks about his appearances on cable news and other shows. But he doesn't say anything substantive."

She said that Rove's Tweets "seem to reveal a softer side to him" - but drew her skepticism.

"Call it savvy marketing, but I find it disingenuous," she said. "And it's a bit weird to think his people-not even Rove himself-are following me."

Meghan McCain addressed a group of gay Republicans in Washington Saturday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Meghan McCain warned a group of gay Republicans Saturday that there was "a war brewing in the Republican Party" – a war between the past and the future.

"Most of the old school Republicans are scared s***less of that future," she told a gathering of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay and lesbian party members.

The 24-year-old daughter of former GOP presidential candidate John McCain pushed back against critics upset over her comments to CNN that she wanted President Obama to succeed, and played down her recent headline-grabbing feuds with conservative commentators Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. "I did not expect my frustration with what I perceive to be overly partisan and divisive Republicans to cause a national incident," she said.

"I feel too many Republicans want to cling to past successes...I think we're seeing a war brewing in the Republican Party," she said. "But it is not between us and Democrats. It is not between us and liberals. It is between the future and the past...

"I am concerned about the environment. I love to wear black. I think government is best when it stays out of people's lives and business as much as possible. I love punk rock. I believe in a strong national defense. I have a tattoo. I believe government should always be efficient and accountable. I have lots of gay friends. And yes, I am a Republican," she told a cheering crowd.

Last week, McCain signed a deal with Hyperion to write a book about the future of the Republican Party. She said Saturday that embracing new technology wouldn't solve the party's problems. "Republicans using Twitter and Facebook isn't going to miraculously make people think we're cool again. Breaking free from obsolete positions and providing real solutions that don't divide our nation further will," she said. "That's why some in our party are scared. They sense the world around them is changing, and they are unable to take the risk to jump free of what's keeping our party down."

On Monday, McCain wrote an opinion piece urging the Republican Party to use more gay-friendly language. "Of all the causes I believe in and speak publicly about, this is one of the ones closest to my heart," she wrote in a blog post on the Daily Beast titled 'Memo to the GOP: Go Gay.' " If the Republican Party has any hope of gaining substantial support from a wider, younger base, we need to get past our anti-gay rhetoric."

McCain's father, former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, does not support same-sex marriage but opposed a constitutional amendment five years ago that would have banned the practice, calling the legislation "un-Republican." Speaking to the Log Cabin Republicans Friday, former Bush and McCain senior advisor Steve Schmidt publicly endorsed same-sex marriage.

Palin's office slammed criticism of her travel as politically-motivated.

(CNN) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's office blasted state Democrats late Monday for criticizing her decision to travel to the Midwest for speaking appearances in the closing days of the legislative session.

Her staff sent reporters an angry message with the subject line "Political Adversaries Allow Politics to Cloud Judgment in Final Week."

“It is nothing more than a politically charged shot in the dark,” Palin chief of staff Mike Nizich said in the statement. “We view the legislative session as a very serious state issue. This isn’t politics for us; this is Alaska’s future. I have worked for seven governors. Every governor has traveled during the legislative session. Had this group done its homework, they would have realized that Governor Palin has had numerous meetings with lawmakers this session and has been in constant communication with them.

“During the final week of session, legislators rarely want governors around stirring things up. We did not anticipate that the governor’s political opponents would want their hands held in the final hours of the session.”

The governor - who has opted to skip several major conservative gatherings this year, citing legislative demands - will spend half of the final three days of the session in Indiana, where she will headline a pro-life dinner and speak at an event for parents of children with Down Syndrome.

Earlier Monday, state Democratic Party chair Patti Higgins accused Palin of "putting her national political ambitions ahead of the needs of Alaska."

"Where is Sarah Palin? She is going to be halfway across the country, she’s at a right-to-life fundraiser and another event," Higgins said, according to the Anchorage Daily News. "We need a full-time governor who is thinking about our issues all the time, who is working and negotiating with the legislators and getting the job done we need done."

The governor has also come under fire from members of her own party. "There are some concerns [in the Capitol] about the focus of our chief executive because she's taken a speaking engagement in Indiana for a 36-hour period with only 72 hours left in the legislative session," state Rep. Jay Ramras of Fairbanks told the paper.

Over the weekend, Palin herself pushed back against critics of her decision. "I'll be gone for one day. I already have been on record with lawmakers on this," she told the ADN. "I told lawmakers, you know what, 'Please, don't make me feel that I have to ask you permission, lawmakers, to leave the capital city.' "

As the spring close of the Alaska's legislative session approaches, already-tense relations between the state's Republican governor and Democratic legislators have turned frosty. The governor's controversial pick for attorney general — the outspoken Wayne Anthony Ross — has not yet been confirmed.

Last week, Palin was forced to make another selection for a vacant state senate seat after Democrats rejected her first pick. By law, the governor had been required to choose a Democrat to replace Kim Elton, who's joined the Obama administration - but lawmakers rejected Tim Grussendorf, who had joined the party weeks earlier. (He said that he had been an undeclared voter mistakenly registered as a Republican.)

And Palin has repeatedly clashed with state legislators - including some members of the GOP - over her announcement that she planned to effectively reject about a third of the roughly $931 million in federal stimulus money that had been directed to Alaska, by not requesting the funds. Her office quickly said she was not rejecting the money outright, but looking for a public debate on government spending. Palin, who has made stimulus funding requests, has since said the money is still "on the table," and that she wants to come to an agreement with the legislature.

Rove took aim at Biden over his comments to CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Karl Rove fired the latest volley in the increasingly brutal war of words between Joe Biden and former Bush administration officials, calling the vice president a “serial exaggerator” and a “liar” over recent comments to CNN about former President Bush.

“He’s a serial exaggerator. If I was being unkind I’d say he’s a liar, but it is a habit he ought to drop,” Rove, who also called Biden a “blowhard,” told FOX News Thursday night.

On Tuesday, the vice president criticized his predecessor Dick Cheney's recent comments about some of the Obama administration's foreign policy decisions. He also told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger that former President Bush had described himself as a leader during a private Oval Office meeting, and Biden had replied: “Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.”

Rove said Thursday the incident was fiction, and that Biden and Bush had never been alone together. “You’ll notice every one of these incidents has the same structure,” he said. “Joe Biden courageously raises the impudent question, the president befuddledly answers, and Joe Biden drives home the dramatic response. I mean, it’s his imagination. It’s a made-up, fictional world. He oughta get back to it and get back to reality.”

“…You should not exaggerate and lie like this when you are the Vice President of the United States.”

CNN is awaiting a response from the vice president’s office.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside recent criticism by his predecessor Dick Cheney that moves by the Obama administration had put the United States at risk, telling CNN Tuesday that the former vice president was "dead wrong" and that the Bush White House had left the country in its weakest condition since the Second World War.

"I don't think [Cheney] is out of line, but he is dead wrong," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "This administration - the last administration left us in a weaker posture than we've been any time since World War II: less regarded in the world, stretched more thinly than we ever have been in the past, two wars under way, virtually no respect in entire parts of the world.

Watch the full interview during the 6 pm ET hour of The Situation Room.

"...I guarantee you we are safer today, our interests are more secure today than they were any time during the eight years" of the Bush administration.

In an interview with CNN's John King last month, Cheney said President Obama had been "making some choices that in my mind will raise the risk to the American people of another attack."

Biden said former President Bush had not been fully aware of the country's position in the world. "I remember President Bush saying to me one time in the Oval Office, and he was a great guy, enjoyed being with him. He said to me, he said, 'Well, Joe,' he said, 'I'm a leader.' And I said, 'Mr. President, turn around and look behind you. No one's following.' People are beginning to follow the United States again as a consequence of our administration."

"...I think the biggest thing we're doing is, I'm operating in concert with the president," he said. "There are not – there are – look, everybody talks about how powerful Cheney was. His power weakened America, in my view.”

But he did not deny reports of disagreement within the Obama administration as well, over the president's plan to widen involvement in Afghanistan. A report last week said Biden had warned about the possibility of getting bogged down in quagmire situation, while military advisers pushed for more troops.

"Well, look. Without commenting specifically on who took what position, there was a healthy debate. There is a healthy debate within our administration."

The vice president said he condemned a new Afghan law that would allow men to rape their wives, but that those issues were not the focus of the U.S. presence in that nation: "I am not prepared to send American troops to die for that," he said.

As the president made an unannounced visit to Baghdad Tuesday, Biden said that he had no concerns a recent uptick in violence in Iraq might affect plans to withdraw most U.S. troops from that country by summer of 2010.

"I'm not worried about that at all. We will draw down along the timeline we suggested," said the vice president.

Also not a concern for Biden: an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The vice president said he was not worried that Israel's new government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would order such an attack.

"I don't believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that. And so my level of concern is no different than it was a year ago."

A day after North Korea's rocket test sparked alarm from world leaders, Biden called for a tougher response from Moscow and Beijing. "What I'd like to see is a strong condemnation and a united effort on the part of the Chinese, Russians in the six-party talks to say, enough is enough, there will be greater sanctions, we will squeeze down even harder on North Korea," he said.

He added that China could "do a great deal more," although he was uncertain they would. "I think this puts the onus on China and Russia and South Korea and Japan, et cetera, along with us, to be bolder in our condemnation."

On the domestic front, Biden said the administration's economic plan would prevent up to 4 million jobs from being lost and stabilize the economy, but that "it's going to take - it will take at least another year before you start to see employment" - and in the meantime, jobs will continue to disappear.

"There will be an additional job loss. The idea - you're not going to see reports this calendar year saying there was no job loss this month. That is not going to happen....There will continue to be job losses the remainder of this year. The question is will they continually go down before they begin to rebound, and employment - we go down to zero job loss and back to employment." He said it was "too premature" to begin discussing another stimulus package, though he has not ruled one out.

Watch the vice president's full interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger today on The Situation Room at 6 pm ET.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Wednesday he had cautioned some liberal leaders to ease some of their toughest attacks on moderate Democrats.

"What I've been warning people very clearly is: beware of forming a circular firing squad," Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen told reporters at a Wednesday afternoon briefing. "We believe people should be focusing their efforts on expanding the Democratic majority - and that should be their singular focus."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made similar comments last week, criticizing ads pressuring some Democratic legislators to support President Obama's budget plan.

Van Hollen also predicted that venture capitalist Scott Murphy capture the majority of outstanding military and absentee votes in New York's 20th congressional district race.

The Maryland congressman was reacting to reports that a new party analysis was predicting a Murphy advantage of 210 votes after those votes had been tallied.

That projection assumes that Murphy will draw greater support from absentee and military voters whose ballots have yet to be counted than he did from all other voters on Election Day. Van Hollen said that analysis was ongoing, but that the party remained "bullish" on Murphy's chances.

CNN projects that Murphy currently holds a 25 vote lead among voters whose ballots have already been tallied, 77,217 to 77,192 for Tedisco. A new legal battle is underway in the district, and both parties have asked supporters to send money to fund the fight.

Bachmann has already been assured that the United States will not adopt another currency.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Rep. Michele Bachmann has introduced a bill that would prohibit the president from signing on to a global currency, despite congressional testimony from Obama administration officials that they would reject any proposal to replace the dollar.

In hearings earlier this week, the Republican congresswoman called on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to denounce the idea that the United States might adopt any other currency. Both men did.

Bachmann's bill, introduced Wednesday, proposes a constitutional amendment "to prohibit the President from entering into a treaty or other international agreement that would provide for the United States to adopt as legal tender in the United States a currency issued by an entity other than the United States."

During Tuesday's hearing, Bachmann pointed to recent remarks from Russia and China as part of the basis for her concern - comments suggesting that countries which have used the dollar as their reserve currency might begin to consider other sources. But those decisions, which would be made by foreign governments, would be unaffected by any congressional legislation, and would have no impact on U.S. currency decisions.

Bachmann's bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.

As the furor over AIG bonuses rages on Capitol Hill, a Republican congressman is calling for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to 'resign or be fired.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As the furor over AIG bonuses rages on Capitol Hill, a Republican congressman is calling for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to "resign or be fired."

"Well before Timothy Geithner became Secretary of the Treasury, he was working hand-in-hand with AIG and other financial institutions to provide them hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money as one of the key architects of the financial sector bailout," Florida Rep. Connie Mack said in a statement released Wednesday. "I was outspoken against the bailouts then, and I'm even more outraged now."

"I've had serious concerns about Secretary Geithner from the moment he was nominated. In the months since, he has shown us time and again why he was the wrong choice for this critical post. This week's news on the AIG bonus scandal is but the latest fiasco under his watch and he has lost the confidence of the American people."

"Quite simply, the Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster."

Update: Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also called on Geithner to step down.

"As one of the chief architects of the AIG bailout, Secretary Geithner was in a position to do what any lender of the last resort would do – negotiate concessions from AIG," he said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

"Secretary Geithner either didn't know about the bonuses, and was grossly negligent, or he did know and failed to bring this to the President's attention. Either way, the end result has been a significant waste of taxpayer dollars and he should take immediate responsibility and resign."

Earlier Wednesday, the conservative California congressman called on the White House to send him information before next week revealing "who within the Administration knew what, when" about the AIG bonuses.

Jim Tedisco's a Republican on the ballot, but not on the airwaves.

(CNN) - He's a Republican on the ballot, but not on the airwaves: GOP state assemblymen Jim Tedisco, running for the open seat in New York's 20th congressional district, is quoting President Obama in his latest ad.

"Like the president said, in these difficult times, we're not Republicans or Democrats, we're Americans," he says in the 30-second spot. "And that's the team I'm on."

Tedisco's former double-digit lead over Murphy has shrunk to 4 points in the most recent Siena poll, released last week.

Yesterday, the Republican National Committee sent another $100,000 to the state party as the race enters the home stretch. The special election is set for March 31.

As the race in New York’s 20th congressional district continues to tighten, the Republican National Committee is sending another $100,000 to the state party in New York.

(CNN) - As the race in New York’s 20th congressional district continues to tighten, the Republican National Committee is sending another $100,000 to the state party in New York - the second time in less than a week it’s spent that sum on the special election contest there.

The move comes a day after GOP New York assemblyman Jim Tedisco, running for Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s former congressional seat, told reporters he would have voted against the stimulus bill.

Questions over Tedisco's position - he had earlier suggested he would have supported a modified version of the legislation - had dogged the candidate for days.

Last Thursday, the RNC announced the transfer of $100,000 to the New York State Republican Committee, as fresh numbers showed a vanishing advantage for Tedisco in the March 31 special election.

A Siena poll released the same day suggested his lead over Democratic venture capitalist Scott Murphy had plummeted by two-thirds over the past two weeks, to just 4 points, despite the district's traditionally Republican bent.

Murphy recently won the backing of the Independence Party — the first time a Democrat in that district has won the right to run on that party's line as well — and his surge in the poll came on the strength of a boost in support from independent voters.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele has attached serious symbolic importance the race's result. After traveling to New York to meet with state party officials in January, he called the race a “battle royale” and named it a top priority for the party before the focus turns to this fall’s gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey.

Photo Credit: Josh Rubin/CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN's John King Sunday that he believed President Obama's decision to eliminate the use of many of the most controversial interrogation practices used under the former administration had put the country at risk.

Asked whether he thought those moves had made the United States less safe, Cheney said he did. "I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoy, of being able to collect the intelligence that let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11," he said on State of the Union. "I think it's a great success story. It was done legally, it was done in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles..."

Watch Cheney tout Bush administration accomplishments

Obama campaigned against those practices, said Cheney, "and now he's making some choices that in my mind will raise the risk to the American people of another attack."

RNC chairman Michael Steele is hoping for a win in NY-20.

(CNN) – The Republican National Committee said Thursday it is pumping more cash into the March 31 special election contest in New York’s 20th congressional district, transferring $100,000 to the New York State Republican Committee, as a new poll shows sliding support for the GOP candidate in that race.

“The RNC is proud to make an investment in our state parties and hard working grassroots," RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement. "These funds will be used to show our commitment to re-establishing a strong GOP presence in the Northeast. Our party is devoting the energy and resources necessary to win the special election in New York’s 20th Congressional district.”

The new spending comes as a Siena poll released Thursday suggests GOP New York assemblyman Jim Tedisco's lead over Democratic venture capitalist Scott Murphy has plummeted by two-thirds over the past two weeks, to just 4 points, despite the district's traditionally Republican bent.

The poll of 712 voters, conducted March 9-10, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Murphy recently won the backing of the Independence Party - the first time a Democrat in that district has won the right to run on that party's line as well - and his new gains stem from a surge in support among independent voters. Two weeks ago, Tedisco was leading 45-31 among unaffiliated voters. Now the edge belongs to Murphy, 43-37 percent. Another worrying sign for Tedisco: his rival has the support of 72 percent of the district's Democrats, while he has the backing of just 65 percent of NY-20's Republicans.

The RNC started the national party money chase in NY-20 nearly a month ago with an $80,000 ad buy supporting Jim Tedisco, the New York assemblyman hoping to take back the seat for the GOP after Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the U.S. Senate. Former Republican presidential candidate and New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani also hit the trail with Tedisco in upstate New York.

Steele has attached serious symbolic importance the race's result. After traveling to New York to meet with state party officials in January, he called the race a “battle royale” and named the March 31 special election as a top priority for the party before the focus turns to this fall’s gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has also paid for ads backing Scott Murphy, the venture capitalist fighting Tedisco, though they have not revealed the size oftheir expenditures.

The national parties aren't the only outside groups weighing in on the first congressional race since the inauguration: The conservative Our Country Deserves Better Committee - which released ads last year supporting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and attacking President Obama’s policies - said earlier this month it would be funding hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of television and radio airtime in Albany and in the expensive New York City market in the race's final weeks, attacking Murphy over his support for the president's stimulus plan.

A new panel will plan events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Reagan’s birth.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The House voted Monday night to approve the creation of a panel to plan a celebration of the centennial of Ronald Reagan's birth in February of 2011.

Earmark opponent Jeff Flake and former presidential candidate Ron Paul were the only Republicans who did not vote in favor of the measure, which passed 371-19.

The 11 members of the Reagan Centennial Commission will not be compensated, but the Congressional Budget Office estimated last month that reimbursement for travel expenses and other associated administrative costs would bring the eventual price tag for the project to roughly $1 million.

Update: The estimated $1 million cost of the project will not be covered by federal funds, according to a provision added to the bill before final passage by the House.

Steele's recent interviews have drawn concern from rank-and-file Republicans.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A top adviser to Michael Steele said Monday the Republican National Committee chairman may have "made some missteps in a few media appearances" recently - but accused his GOP rivals of "lying in wait, hoping he would stumble, so they could pounce."

"Over the past week, new RNC Chairman Michael Steele has walked through the fire, or more accurately, through a shooting gallery inside the Beltway," said Curt Anderson in a Politico op-ed. "To be clear, some of this was self-inflicted. As the chairman has said, he made some missteps in a few media appearances. Live and learn. ..."

He said Steele's massive overhaul of RNC operations, which included a standard call for mass resignations, was necessary for a party that has "been out-gunned, out-worked and 'out-technologied.'

"The chairman promised to clean house at the RNC if he won. He did, and he did," said Anderson. "This has led to some serious griping inside the Beltway. Many were lying in wait, hoping he would stumble, so they could pounce. He did, and they did."

Steele's recent interviews - including a headline-grabbing pledge to bring the GOP to "urban and suburban hip-hop settings," and a comment that appeared to criticize conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh - have drawn concern from rank-and-file Republicans. Last week, Ada Fisher - one of the committee's few black members, who supported Steele rival Katon Dawson in the race for chairman - publicly called on the party's new leader to step down.

Anderson defended Steele's strategy, pointing to a recently-completed round of forensic audits of each division of the RNC designed to increase competitiveness heading into the 2010 campaign cycle.

The Steele aide added that "many feel threatened by" the change the party's new chairman represents: "Steele’s election as chairman of the Republican Party was a shock to the system for many of the Republican ruling class, the old guard in Washington," he said. "Over the past week, countless anonymous sources have brought out the long knives. Indeed, over the past week, the empire has struck back."

Obama led the chorus of Happy Birthday at the Kennedy Center last night.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama led a chorus of "Happy Birthday" for Sen. Ted Kennedy on Sunday night at the Kennedy Center, topping off a celebration of the senator's 77th birthday that featured a crowd of celebrities and political heavyweights.

The Massachusetts Democrat, whose birthday was on Feb. 22, received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award during an evening that included performances by Broadway star Bernadette Peters, opera singers Denyce Graves and Frederica von Stade, singer James Taylor, actress Lauren Bacall, comedian Bill Cosby and others. First lady Michelle Obama and the state's other senator, John Kerry, sat with Kennedy and wife, Victoria, in a box overlooking the stage. The president also visited the senator there after his surprise appearance.

Watch: Obama dances for Kennedy

"Happy birthday, Teddy," said niece Caroline Kennedy, who joked: "I never thought I'd be in a room with so many senators." Kennedy's brief stint as a Senate candidate grabbed headlines for several months before she withdrew from consideration earlier this year.

Caroline Kennedy and journalist Al Hunt presented the Profile in Courage Award to the senator, who did not appear onstage. "For you, there is no end to commitment," she said. "Only the next great battle."

Ted Kennedy was the unanimous selection of the committee that decides the award this year, the first he has been eligible, according to the John F. Kennedy Library. He had been nominated in previous years, but could not receive the honor while serving as a member of the selection committee.

Kennedy has been recovering in Florida following treatment for a brain tumor, but returned to the capital last week for the White House health care reform summit.

The Profile in Courage Award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience. Past recipients include Rep. John Lewis, Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Specter may face a tough primary battle.

(CNN) - Club for Growth President Pat Toomey, who has been critical of Sen. Arlen Specter's support for President Obama's stimulus plan, appears to be inching closer to a primary re-match against the Republican incumbent.

"As this disastrous recession worsens, I have become increasingly concerned about the future of our state and national economy," he said in a statement released Monday afternoon. "Unfortunately, the recent extraordinary response of the federal government - more corporate bailouts, unprecedented spending and debt, higher taxes - is likely to make things worse. I think we are on a dangerously wrong path. Pennsylvanians want a US Senator focused on real and sustainable job creation that gets our economy growing again. That is why I am considering becoming a candidate for the US Senate."

In 2004, Specter survived a tough challenge from then-Rep. Toomey, beating him by less than 2 percentage points thanks to support from President Bush and then-Sen. Rick Santorum. Toomey has been hinting at a 2010 Senate bid for months, calling Specter far more vulnerable than he was four years ago, but has not said when he might make an official announcement.

The National Republican Trust PAC has already said it will back primary challengers to any Republican senator who supported the stimulus. Specter was one of three GOP senator's to vote in favor of the proposal - but the only one up for re-election next year.

A survey last month suggested the Pennsylvania senator could be in for a bruising re-election battle. Registered voters in Pennsylvania questioned in a Quinnipiac University poll were split on whether he deserved to be re-elected, with 43 percent saying he did not deserve to hold on to his job to just 40 percent who said he did. And Specter's 55 percent approval rating from members of his own party was 7 points lower than his marks from Pennsylvania Democrats.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele seemed to hint last week that the national party might support primary season challengers if incumbents lacked support from GOP leadership in their own state, though he quickly played down the remarks.

“…It’s just like anything. When the state party says, ‘We’re going to endorse a candidate and support that candidate,’ the RNC is behind them. When the state party says, ‘We have a problem with that candidate,’ so does the RNC,” he said.

In a letter to constituents several weeks ago, Specter acknowledged conservative anger over his stimulus vote.

"My vote was cast recognizing the very substantial political peril that I face," he wrote. "I know that there are many on the Republican political spectrum who do not like the vote. I remember, obviously, the tough primary fight I had in the year 2004. But I felt in the final analysis, given the very severe consequences which might befall the country, that my duty was to look out for the public interest and not my own personal political interest."

Bunning will seek reelection in 2010.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning said Tuesday he's ready to sue Senate Republicans if they back a challenger in next year's GOP primary.

“I would have a suit against the NRSC if they did that,” Bunning told Kentucky reporters on a conference call. “Support of incumbents is the only reason for [the NRSC's] existence. So if they recruited someone and supported them in a primary against me, I would be able to sue them because they’re not following their bylaws.”

His threat follows a report that Kentucky's State Senate president, David Williams, recently met with officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. NRSC Chairman John Cornyn told the Washington Post the meeting was a "courtesy visit" and that the committee fully supports Bunning. Williams has not yet said whether he is planning a Senate bid in 2010.

Bunning dismissed Cornyn's remarks. “I don’t believe anything John Cornyn says," he said Tuesday, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. "I’ve had miscommunications with John Cornyn from I guess the first week of this current session of the Senate. He either doesn’t understand English, or he doesn’t understand direct - ‘I’m going to run’ - which I said to him in the cloakroom of our chamber.”

He expressed similar frustration last month with his fellow Kentuckian, Sen. Mitch McConnell, after the Senate Minority leader said he was unsure whether Bunning would run again.

“[McConnell] either had a lapse of memory or something when speaking to the Press Club last week when he said that he didn't know what my intentions were,” he said then. “He knew very well what my intentions were.”

Bunning - who has roughly $150,000 in his campaign account, according to his most recent FEC filing - is considered one of the Senate's most endangered Republicans heading into the next cycle. He drew unwanted headlines over the weekend with his prediction that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who suffers from cancer, would be dead within the year.

Democratic Kentucky Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo, who nearly unseated Bunning in 2004, has already said he will run again in 2010.

RNC chairman Michael Steele said senators who backed the stimulus shouldn't count on party support.

(CNN) – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Monday that the party could back challengers to the senators who crossed party lines to back President Obama's stimulus package.

“Oh, yeah, I’m always open to everything, baby, absolutely,” he told Fox Monday night, when asked by Fox's Neil Cavuto about his willingness to support primary candidates looking to take "retribution" on the three Republican senators who voted in favor of the plan, including Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

“My retribution is the retribution of the voters in their states. They’re going to have to go through a primary in which they’re going to have to explain to those Republican voters in that primary their vote,” he said. “That is something I’ll talk to the state parties about, and we’ll follow their lead.”

“...It’s just like anything. When the state party says, ‘We’re going to endorse a candidate and support that candidate,’ the RNC is behind them. When the state party says, ‘We have a problem with that candidate,’ so does the RNC,” he added.

In a letter to constituents earlier this month, Specter - who withstood a close challenge from Club for Growth-backed candidate Pat Toomey five years ago - acknowledged the anger over his vote.

"My vote was cast recognizing the very substantial political peril that I face," he wrote. "I know that there are many on the Republican political spectrum who do not like the vote. I remember, obviously, the tough primary fight I had in the year 2004. But I felt in the final analysis, given the very severe consequences which might befall the country, that my duty was to look out for the public interest and not my own personal political interest."

The Pennsylvania senator is the only one of the three up for re-election next year.

McCain pulled out of Michigan.

(CNN) – John McCain’s decision to pull out of Michigan prompted the state Republican Party chairman to issue a desperate plea Friday for donations to help fund political activities the presidential campaign would likely have shouldered.

“I won’t sugar coat it; the McCain Campaign’s decision to pull out of Michigan is a tough blow,” Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, wrote in an email fundraising solicitation to Republicans. “But we cannot let it deter us.”

The latest CNN poll of Michigan voters, released late last month, suggested Obama was holding on to his edge over McCain in the fight for the state’s 17 electoral votes. Among likely voters, Obama held a 5 point lead, 51 percent to 46 percent; among the larger sample of registered voters, the lead was 7 points. Obama had a 4 point advantage in the previous CNN poll in Michigan, conducted at the beginning of September.

Michigan has voted for the Democratic candidate in the last four presidential contests, though John Kerry's winning margin there over President Bush in 2004 was just 3 points.

McCain aides acknowledged Thursday that the campaign was shifting resources and money out of Michigan and directing them to states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maine, among others. Anuzis said that McCain’s decision not to contest the state “leaves a tremendous hole in our ground campaign that we must now fill” in its fight for congressional, judicial, and state-level candidates.

In a note to supporters posted on the state party’s Web site, Anuzis disputed the McCain camp’s assessment of the Republican ticket’s chances in the state. The McCain campaign, he wrote, believes that “Other states ‘today’ offer a better opportunity for the campaign and they decided to shift their strategy. We do NOT agree.

“Michigan Republicans kicked into overdrive last night. We had a series of conference calls and meetings with activists and donors, coming up with our own plan on how to implement a ‘Michigan strategy’ for McCain and the rest of our ticket,” he said. “We will have a revised plan in effect by next week and are NOT conceding an inch to the Obama campaign or any Democrats in Michigan. This is a battleground state, the numbers always tighten up and we will bring the McCain campaign back to Michigan by our own efforts statewide.”

(CNN) - John McCain’s campaign said Tuesday Barack Obama’s reference to “lipstick on a pig” to describe the Republican’s vow to bring change to Washington was offensive language, and a slap at VP nominee Sarah Palin – despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton’s.

Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon. “John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington,’” Obama said.

“That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”

He then praised both McCain’s “compelling story” and Palin’s “interesting story,” and says his “hat goes off” to anyone who’s looking after five kids - “I’ve got two and they tire Michelle and me out,” and says “that’s why John McCain’s campaign manager [Rick Davis] said this campaign isn’t going to be about issues, this campaign is going to be about personalities.” He added a standard stump speech line, that the campaign wasn’t about “me or John McCain or Sarah Palin or Joe Biden…”

Within minutes, the McCain campaign announced a conference call focused on the remark, which they said was a deliberate reference to Sarah Palin’s line: “You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

In Iowa last October, McCain drew comparisons between Hillary Clinton's current healthcare plan and the one she championed in 1993: "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig." He used roughly the same line in May, after effectively claiming the Republican nomination.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told CNN the campaign saw a “big difference” between the two references: “McCain was referring to a policy proposal. Obama was referring to Governor Sarah Palin. It’s obviously disrespectful and offensive….

Who has been talking about lipstick lately? It was obvious. The crowd went crazy because of it.”

Track Palin is supposed to deploy to Iraq on Thursday .

(CNN) - A liberal veterans group called Monday for an official investigation into media discussion of Track Palin’s deployment to Iraq — prompting a Defense Department response that there had been no irregularities involved, and would be no investigation.

“Numerous outlets have reported the date and location of Palin's deployment, which compromises operational security,” said Vote Vets in a statement. “The source of the leaks would be acting in violation of the law, and putting troops at unnecessary risk, and could be prosecuted.”

But the kind of information the group is referring to is typically publicly released by the Defense Department well in advance of a unit’s deployment. And the date of Palin’s upcoming deployment has been referred to numerous times by his mother, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, on the campaign trail.

"There is no violation of operational security,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. “DoD tells the public when we rotate a brigade into Iraq or Afghanistan."

There was no word from the Pentagon on whether there had been any requests for special consideration in Track Palin’s case. Earlier this year, John McCain asked the media not to report the precise date and time his son Jack would be returning from Iraq until he was back in the United States, a request that was honored by all major news organizations.

(CNN)—Barack Obama's campaign responded to John McCain's first positive ad of the past several days– an ad that emphasized his independent reputation –with a new spot Tuesday that looked to tie the Arizona senator to President Bush.

Obama’s 30 second spot called “Original,” uses part of McCain’s ad “broken” also released Tuesday, where the announcer calls McCain “the original maverick,” and then paints the word “really?” across the screen.

The ad flashes to a video clip of McCain in May of 2003 saying he and President Bush are lockstep on most issues.

“The president and I agree on most issues. There was a recent study that showed that I voted with the president over ninety percent of the time…” McCain says in Obama’s ad.

The ad continues on by asking the viewer if McCain is in fact the “original maverick? Or just more of the same?”

Full script after the jump

“Original”

:30 for TV

MCCAIN AD:
He’s the original maverick.

SILENT SUPER:
Really?

MCCAIN:

The president and I agree on most issues. There was a recent study that showed that I voted with the president over ninety percent of the time…

VO:

John McCain supports Bush’s tax cuts for millionaires, but nothing for a hundred million households.

He’s for billions in new oil company giveaways, while gas prices soar.

And for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

The original maverick?

Or just more of the same?

I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.

Nader’s campaign is taking aim at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a new fundraising pitch.

(CNN) – A presidential rival is fundraising off of Barack Obama’s decision to reject public financing for the general election, using the move to fuel allegations the presumptive Democratic nominee is a policy-shifting flip-flopper.

But it isn’t John McCain.

Ralph Nader’s campaign sent an e-mail to supporters Friday that paints Obama as too close to big business and special interests. “Ralph Nader stands for shifting the power from the big corporations back to the people. Period. Full stop. End of story,” writes the Nader campaign. “Contrast that with Senator Obama.”

The message highlights what it says are changes in the Illinois senator’s positions on public spending limits, NAFTA and economic populism, and says that Obama has surrounded himself with “veterans of the military industrial complex status quo.” It does not mention his Republican counterpart, John McCain.

“We're at six percent nationwide in the most recent CNN poll. We're going to be on ten state ballots by the end of June. And we're shooting for 40 by the end of the summer,” writes the Nader campaign. “Together, we are moving forward. And together, we will make a difference in November.”

Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain increased by one point in the most recent CNN national poll when Nader, a perennial presidential contender, was included as one of the options.

McCain visited the flood-stricken town of Columbus Junction, Iowa Thursday.

(CNN) - John McCain's campaign is striking back after a top staffer for Iowa Governor Chet Culver said Thursday that the Democratic governor had unsuccessfully asked the Arizona senator to avoid making a scheduled campaign trip to the flood-ravaged state.

Patrick Dillon, Culver’s chief of staff, said in a statement there had been worries McCain's arrival would put a strain on already-overtaxed area law enforcement. The presumptive Republican nominee visited several hard-hit towns in the state Thursday.

President Bush also visited Iowa Thursday.

A McCain aide said the campaign took steps to avoid burdening any flood recovery efforts. “We worked with the local authorities to make certain we weren’t getting in the way. We’d be happy to put you in touch with the local mayor and sheriff who were part of our tour,” a McCain aide told CNN and pointed to an AP-reported comment from the mayor of the town of Columbus Junction, Iowa that McCain’s Thursday visit had not posed any difficulties.

“The governor never called the campaign to express this concern,” the McCain aide added.

“We understand and share the governor’s concern - that’s why we worked closely with the local officials - and clearly stand ready to do anything to help the governor and the people of Iowa in any way we can.”

This week, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama visited the flood-threatened town of Quincy, Illinois. Iowa Governor Culver endorsed the Illinois senator during the Democratic primary season.

Although the Secret Service provides security for presidents and likely presidential nominees, the trips also call on the resources and manpower of local law enforcement.

Sens. Obama and McCain talked during a Capitol Hill press conference in this 2006 file photo.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – John McCain’s campaign is denying an account by staffers on Barack Obama’s team that the rival campaigns had been involved in discussions over whether or not they would accept public funds.

Obama counsel Bob Bauer said Thursday he had met with Trevor Potter, his counterpart on the McCain team, on June 6 to discuss a possible joint townhall appearance later in the month, and that the two discussed the public funding issue for 45 minutes.

“I asked him to address a [series] of issues of concern to the Obama campaign–the McCain campaign's active raising and spending of private money since February for a general election campaign, including for media, while we were still in the middle of a primary contest,” said Bauer in a statement. “He gave me his perspectives–the best arguments he could offer for an agreement on both sides to accept public financing–and it was clear to me that these offered no basis for any further exchange.”

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker flatly said Thursday that Bauer “never negotiated with Potter about public financing.”

Others in the McCain camp said that Obama’s staffers are “libeling” their attorney, and lying about the discussion – that the two counsels were meeting on a separate topic entirely, and that there were no negotiations on public finance.

(UPDATED with response from the McCain campaign, after the jump)

UPDATE: Trevor Potter disputed the Obama campaign's account, telling CNN Thursday that he had met with Bauer on a completely unrelated subject, and that campaign financing had only been discussed in an abstract way.

"We then spoke in general terms about the public financing system, with Bob outlining reasons it could be considered 'broken' or irrelevant in 2008, and I explaining why Sen. McCain remained committed to it and thought it was good for the country," said Potter.

"Other than this informal discussion, there have been no contacts between the two campaigns on the subject, and this discussion contained no negotiations or even offer to hold negotiations. I cannot begin to explain how the Obama campaign could twist my reiteration of Sen. McCain’s support of the system, and hope the two candidates would participate in it, into what they said today," he added

"...An attempt to imply otherwise by any representative of the Obama campaign (and an attempt to turn an informal conversation between Bob Bauer and me into a discussion of negotiations between the campaigns) is a complete misrepresentation of the facts”

Gore endorsed Obama in Detroit Monday.

TAYLOR, Michigan (CNN) – Could Barack Obama ask a former vice president to reprise his role on the Democratic ticket?

At a Michigan campaign event Tuesday, a student reporter asked the presumptive Democratic nominee if he would consider asking Al Gore to serve as his running mate.

Obama, who has kept mum on his vice presidential plans, sidestepped the question. "I have just started looking through possible candidates. I haven't made any decisions. I'm getting some recommendations,” said the Illinois senator. “Obviously Al Gore is a great public servant, he was a great vice president. He may not want to be vice president again, since he's already done that for eight years, but certainly he's somebody that I'll be getting advice from as we go forward and hopefully he'll help me when I'm president."

The 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, who officially endorsed Obama Monday, said in December that he might jump back into the political fray – but only in a bid for the top spot. A third term as vice president would mean Gore had spent more time in the office than anyone in U.S. history.

Gore endorsed Obama Monday night in Michigan.

DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) – Barack Obama defended Hillary Clinton at a Michigan unity rally Monday night that featured former Vice President Al Gore - and some off-message audience booing at the mention of the New York senator's name.

After joking about the extended Democratic primary season – “I was planning to run for the '08 election, not the 2012 election!" – Obama responded to some vocal Clinton critics in the crowd, who had reacted to praise for the senator from both the presumptive Democratic nominee and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a longtime Clinton supporter.

"I want everybody here to be absolutely clear - I want everybody here to be absolutely clear - Senator Clinton is one of the finest public servants we have in American life today," said Obama, noting her work on behalf of children's rights and universal health care.

"She has been on the right side of just about every battle that we have fought - she has, in her own words, shattered a glass ceiling into 18 million pieces. ….She is worthy of our respect, she is worthy of our honor.

“…And she's tough! That's why this race took so long. She's a fighter and we need fighters in the Democratic Party. Because we've got a lot to fight for. There's a lot worth fighting for.”

Gore, who remained neutral throughout the primary season, made his first campaign appearance for Obama at the Detroit rally. "Take it from me, elections matter," said the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee. "After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter."

He compared Republican criticism that Obama is unexperienced and naïve to Nixon's attacks on John Kennedy in 1960. "I know what [Kennedy's] inspiration meant to my generation, and I feel that same spirit in this auditorium here tonight, building all over this country this year," said Gore.

The primaries may be over, but there are signs the Clinton campaign may keep going.

(CNN) - Democrats, reporters and rival Barack Obama’s campaign have all been scrutinizing Hillary Clinton for signs she may continue her presidential run after the last primary takes place June 3. On Thursday, they got an answer: definitely maybe.

The press corps traveling with the New York senator received an afternoon e-mail asking them whether they wanted to stay on the road with the campaign next week – most of which falls after Tuesday’s votes in Montana and South Dakota, the final contests of the primary season.

Reporters were offered the option of traveling with the campaign on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 4-6.

But the Clinton campaign – which regularly informs journalists of travel plans just hours beforehand – is offering no other details, including possible destinations.

Said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson. "There are a lot of places for us to go between June 4 and November."

Bob Barr has clashed with his former party over policy.

(CNN) - Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr is now the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee - and a potential headache for John McCain, as he reaches out to conservative voters who might otherwise vote for the GOP nominee in November.

The former Georgia congressman - who left the Republican Party two years ago, citing differences over fiscal policy and concerns over civil liberties - was nominated on the sixth ballot at the party’s convention in Denver. The vote on the sixth ballot was 324 for Barr, and 276 for Mary Ruwart, the last remaining candidate out of 14 originally seeking the Libertarian nomination.