First Lady Michelle Obama greets Anne-Mette Rasmussen, wife of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during a NATO leaders’ spouses event at the Gary Comer Youth Center in Chicago
… with Sanja Music Milanovic, the wife of Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic
…. with Liri Berisha, the wife of Albania President Sali Berisha
…. with Ingrid Schulerud, the wife of Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg
…. with Valerie Trierweiler, partner of French President Francois Hollande
…. with Hayrunnisa Gul, the wife of Turkish President Abdullah Gul
First Lady Michelle Obama jokes about her footwear as she visits a dance class with NATO leaders’ spouses at the Gary Comer Youth Center
First Lady Michelle Obama tries some food as she speaks with students in an educational kitchen during a NATO leaders’ spouses event at the Gary Comer Youth Center
President Obama, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev listen to Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel during the start of the first working session of the G8 Summit at Camp David
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First Lady Michelle Obama gives a tour of the White House to (from left) Laureen Harper (wife of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen), Elsa Monti (wife of Italian PM Mario), Valerie Trierweiler (partner of French President Francois Hollande), Geertrui Windels (wife of European Union President Herman Van Rompuy) and Hitomi Noda (wife of Japanese PM Yoshihiko)
From right: First Lady Michelle Obama, Hitomi Noda, wife of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, and Valerie Trierweiler, partner of French President Francois Hollande, listen to the White House curator
Valerie Trierweiler (R), companion of France’s President Francois Hollande
From left: The White House curator, Valerie Trierweiler and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s wife Hitomi
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
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……
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.
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.
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.
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…..
Tim Mathieson, partner of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, shows the First Lady his cowboy boots. The First Lady is hosting a luncheon, serving all organic food from MA’O organic farm, for spouses of the APEC leaders at Kualoa Ranch, Hawaii
…. greeting Vietnam’s First Lady Mai Thi Hanh
…. greeting Indonesia’s first lady Kristiani Herawati
…. greeting Korean first lady Kim Yoon-ok
…. with Laureen Harper, spouse of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
First Lady Michelle Obama with the Honolulu Boys Choir
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper walks with President Obama following the first plenary session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Kapolei, Hawaii
First lady Michelle Obama meets with military spouses from all five branches of the armed services on behalf of the Democratic Party at the Army National Guard facility in Cranston, R.I.
First lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden at a Mother’s Day event for military-connected mothers, grandmothers, spouses and other special guests, as a part of Military Spouses Appreciation Day in the East Room of the White House, May 6
