




President Barack Obama gets a hug from Tracy Cacho of Washington, after he spoke about the importance of the payroll-tax cut extension, Feb. 21, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building






President Barack Obama gets a hug from Tracy Cacho of Washington, after he spoke about the importance of the payroll-tax cut extension, Feb. 21, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building



Secretary of Defense Leo Panetta, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at an event to announce a new report outlining opportunities and best practices for states to better support military spouses serving in professions with state licensure requirements at the Pentagon in Washington
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Nate Silver: The last time I considered Barack Obama’s re-election chances in this magazine, in mid-November, things were looking pretty bleak for the president. The statistical model I used measured three key factors — a president’s approval rating, economic growth and the ideological orientation of his opponent — and taken together, they showed that Obama had become a slight underdog to win re-election.
Three months later, his position is much stronger……
Full article here
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PPP: Michigan is looking more and more like it won’t be in the swing state column this fall. PPP’s newest poll there finds Barack Obama leading the entire Republican field by double digits.
The biggest surprise in the numbers might be how badly Obama is beating Mitt Romney- he leads him by 16 points at 54-38. That’s a major departure from PPP’s previous 3 Michigan President polls, which found Obama ahead by only 4-7 points. Romney’s seen a major decline in his personal favorability in the state over the last 6 months from 39/43 to now 29/58. His numbers have dropped across the board but the most striking shift is with independents. He’s gone from a +14 spread with them at 48/34 to a -20 one at 32/52.
More here
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Link – thanks Rikyrah
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USA Today: President Obama has outraised the top Republican presidential fundraiser in two-thirds of the country, including battleground states such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina considered crucial to his re-election prospects, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
In 19 states, Obama collected more than his four major GOP rivals combined… Obama also has a fundraising edge over Romney in all but two of a dozen swing states – Florida and Michigan, where Romney was born and his father served as governor in the 1960s.
More here
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Today:

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Thursday: PBO will attend campaign events in Corona del Mar, California before traveling to San Francisco, California to attend campaign events. He will spend the night in San Francisco.
Friday: PBO will travel to the Seattle where he will continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last. He will also attend campaign events in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. later in the evening.
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BMG: The next big prize in the GOP primaries is Michigan, one of Mitt Romney’s five home states. He’s released an ad showing him driving around in a fancy Chrysler while he talks about how much he loves Michigan, and all…..
And here’s the problem: that Chrysler that he’s driving is a 300 model, and the 300 is made in Canada…..
More here
Thanks Loriah
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President Barack Obama greets people as he arrives at Los Angeles International Airport
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PBO’s interview with WFLA, Tampa here and with KLAS, Las Vegas here
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CNN: Mitt Romney’s overall favorable ratings have dropped, while Rick Santorum’s standing has jumped among Republicans, according to a new national survey.
…. In the new survey, 54% of Republicans said they hold a favorable opinion of Romney, while 67% said the same in January. Among all Americans, 34% described the candidate as likable, down from 41% last month.
…. only one presidential candidate in the race has a national favorable rating above the 50% mark: President Barack Obama.
Among all Americans, Obama received positive reviews from 53%, with the poll suggesting he may have grown more popular in recent months.
More here
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Bob Cesca: Regular people are donating to the president’s re-election campaign in record numbers:
According to an analysis by The Huffington Post, the Obama reelection campaign committee, Obama for America, pulled in at least 45 percent of its contributions from donors giving less than $200 during each of the fundraising quarters it was active in 2011…..
This is another strong indicator that the anti-Obama smearfest on the left is out of touch with the rest of the American left…..
More here
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Wednesday: PBO will travel to Master Lock in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last based on American manufacturing and the importance of companies insourcing and investing in America. He will then travel to Los Angeles, California where he will attend campaign events. He will spend the night in Los Angeles.
Thursday: PBO will attend campaign events in Corona del Mar, California before traveling to San Francisco, California to attend campaign events. He will spend the night in San Francisco.
Friday: PBO will travel to the Seattle where he will continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last. He will also attend campaign events in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. later in the evening.
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From left, Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke confer as President Barack Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China in the Oval Office, Feb. 14, 2012. Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics; and Lael Brainard, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, are also pictured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Don’t miss Liberal Librarian’s new post at The People’s View
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ABC: For Jenna Lyons, Michelle Obama has been the best endorsement J. Crew has ever received …. (her) penchant for J. Crew clothing has been “the most incredible gift that keeps on giving.” Not only did the company see a “huge lift” in business, Lyons credited Obama, 48, with creating a special bond with customers.
…. When Obama appeared on “The Tonight Show” in 2008 and told Jay Leno that her yellow sweater, skirt and blouse were a “J.Crew ensemble,” the company’s stock went up 8.2 percent. In 2011, Business Insider credited her with contributing to one of the most successful re-branding campaigns ever…
More here
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President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with former Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, after the President signed H.R. 3801, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012, in the Oval Office, Feb. 10, 2012. This bill is the last piece of legislation that Giffords sponsored and voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Steve Benen: If the right was outraged by the patriotic message in Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler ad, conservatives will be looking for the fainting couch after seeing Bruce Springsteen’s new video.
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“Is it patriotic to stash your money in the Cayman Islands?”
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First lady Michelle Obama joins experts from WebMD for a town hall on healthy families at the Homestead YMCA Family Center, Florida

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More Let’s Move photos here
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More clips here
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