Romney adviser: Romney is an "economic savior"
(CBS News) Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to Mitt Romney, said voters are most concerned about the economy, and he believes voters may see the presumptive GOP nominee as an "economic savior."
Fehrnstrom also predicts younger voters will support Mitt Romney because of his economic policies.
"I think they are going to see Mitt Romney as an economic savior of sorts," Fehrnstrom said in an interview with Hotsheet. "They are going to vote their interest, and there's no greater interest of a recent college graduate than getting employed and being employed in your chosen profession."
That was the second time Saturday morning Fehrnstrom referred to Romney as an economic savior. The first was during an event hosted by The Washington Post where Fehrnstrom told the gathering that Romney's economic credentials are the reason he came back to win the Florida primary after a loss to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina.
Continue »Romney Aide: Obama slow jam was "off key"
(L-R) Romney advisers Stuart Stevens, Eric Fehrnstrom, Brett O'Donnell
(Credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)(CBS News) Will we ever see presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney follow in President Obama's footsteps and slow jam the news?
Maybe, Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said on Saturday, but not at the risk of making light of the struggles of youth voters - a bloc with which the Romney campaign is trying to make inroads.
Mr. Obama amused some and irked others when he appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Tuesday night and talked about keeping student loan rates low, over a beat laid down by The Roots.
The Romney campaign didn't seem to find it funny.
"I do think there was something a little bit off-key about the president slow jamming and appearing to make light of the fact that students are struggling," Fehrnstrom said Saturday at an event put on by The Washington Post. "I don't think it's something to slow jam about or to make light of it."
Continue »Obama promotes action to protect veterans
(CBS News) In his weekly address, President Obama highlighted a new executive order that protects service members and veterans from predatory educational institutions, including for-profit schools.
The president said his new directive will protect service members from "bad actors" looking to profit from service members' financial benefits.
"The sad truth is that there are people out there who are less interested in helping our men and women in uniform get ahead and more interested in making a buck," Mr. Obama said. "They bombard potential students with emails and pressure them into making a quick decision. Some of them steer recruits towards high-interest loans and mislead them about credit transfers and job placement programs. "
Continue »Romney begins to tell the story of Romney
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with students at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, April 27, 2012.
(Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)(CBS News) WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday began the process of introducing himself to a general election audience by peppering his stump speech with personal anecdotes aimed at helping the wealthy former venture capitalist connect with every day people.
Speaking to students and staff at Otterbein University in central Ohio, Romney described his career as the head of Bain Capital, a private equity firm that he said provided the impetus for a number of successful start-ups, including the Staples office supply chain.
Continue »Romney advice to students: Take a risk
Updated 8:15 p.m. ET
WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney offered a group of college students this advice on Friday: If you want to start a business, borrow money from your parents.
Romney, a wealthy former investment banker who has struggled to soften his image as a member of America's super elite, was discussing ways of achieving the American dream at Otterbein University. He said, "We've always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it. Take a risk. Get the education. Borrow money if you have to from your parents. Start a business."
Continue »Romney on Obama: Appearances aren't reality
(CBS News) In the wake of an outreach to young voters by President Obama, Mitt Romney on Friday advised young voters at Otterbein University to separate "appearance" from "reality" this election season.
"Appearances do not always equal reality," the presumptive Republican nominee said. "Facts are more important than words."
Romney told the students at the Westerville, Ohio liberal arts school to be leery of smooth rhetoric, alluding to Mr. Obama's likeability and ability to deliver energetic speeches.
"You're going to hear a lot of words, but you will also have an opportunity to look at the facts," Romney said.
President Obama won voters aged 18-29 by 34 percent in the 2008 election, and he is working to maintain that margin this election season. During recent visits to college campuses in three battleground states - North Carolina, Ohio and Colorado - the president highlighted the issue of of expiring student loan subsidies.
Continue »McCain: Obama "politicizing" death of bin Laden
Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, released a statement Friday attacking President Obama for what was described in a press release as the president's "decision to play politics with the one year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death."
"Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad," McCain said. "This is the same President who once criticized Hillary Clinton for invoking bin Laden 'to score political points.'"
The ad McCain is referencing is a video from the Obama campaign in which former President Bill Clinton credits Mr. Obama for making a hard choice to go after the terrorist leader. The ad suggests presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would not have approved the risky mission.
"This is the same President who said, after bin Laden was dead, that we shouldn't 'spike the ball' after the touchdown," McCain said in the statement. "And now Barack Obama is not only trying to score political points by invoking Osama bin Laden, he is doing a shameless end-zone dance to help himself get reelected. No one disputes that the President deserves credit for ordering the raid, but to politicize it in this way is the height of hypocrisy."
The criticism doesn't end there. Read McCain's full statement below.
Continue »Amid GOP attacks, Obama touts bin Laden mission
Updated: 12:50 p.m. ET
(CBS News) Amid attacks from presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on President Obama's "failed record," the Obama campaign is spotlighting what may represent the most clear-cut victory of the president's tenure in office so far: The killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Obama campaign released a video Friday in which former President Bill Clinton touts the president's leadership in proceeding with a raid on bin Laden's Pakistan compound last year - a risky mission that resulted in the al Qaeda leader's death.
"He knew what would happen. Suppose the Navy Seals had gone in there and it hadn't been bin Laden," Mr. Clinton says in the minute-and-thirty-second spot. "Suppose they'd been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible for him. But he reasoned, I cannot in good conscience do nothing. He took the harder and the more honorable path and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result."
Ahead of the raid on bin Laden's Abbottobad complex in May 2011, the Obama administration was divided over whether and in what form to launch the mission, according to the New York Times. Ultimately, Mr. Obama opted to send in Navy Seals rather than bombing the compound -- an option which would have been less risky but which would have provided less certainty as to whether or not bin Laden had been killed in it.
"Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?" the ad asks, presenting the question via subtitles.
Continue »The donors bankrolling the 2012 super PACs
Super PAC donors Sheldon Adelson, Peter Thiel, Foster Friess and Jeffrey Katzenberg
(Credit: CBS/Getty Images)(CBS News) With the latest numbers on political fundraising, super PACs, the independent groups which are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash, once again played a major role. CBS News tabulated who the biggest donors are and to which groups they gave.
Top Dozen Super PAC Donors (2011-March 2012)
Adelson is CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Most of his family's donations, $21.5 million, have gone to the pro-Newt Gingrich Winning Our Future. Sheldon and his wife, Miriam, also gave $5 million in March 2012 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which supports Republican candidates for the House of Representatives.
Simmons is CEO of Dallas-based holding company Contran Corp. and publicly traded Valhi.
Simmons and his wife and his company have given $12 million to the pro-Republican American Crossroads; $1.2 million to the pro-Rick Santorum Red White and Blue Fund; $1.1 million each the pro-Gingrich Winning Our Future and to Super PACs supporting Rick Perry; and $800,000 to the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future. Continue »
Can Mitt Romney make boring sexy?
News Analysis
(CBS News) Mitt Romney isn't cool. You probably don't need much evidence to back up that point, but here are a few exhibits: Romney singing "America the Beautiful." Romney posing for a photograph with money spilling out of his suit. A 23-year-old Romney, looking and sounding like Opie Taylor, speaking earnestly about his mom's Senate run.
President Obama, even his detractors admit, is cool. He can talk knowledgeably about college basketball, chat it up with the ladies of "The View" and "slow jam the news" with Jimmy Fallon. The coolness gap is reflected in the polls: Americans see Mr. Obama as more likeable and more relatable than his almost-certain general election challenger.
In 2008, John McCain's campaign tried to use Mr. Obama's coolness to portray him as a lightweight celebrity who lacked the gravitas for the presidency. The criticism didn't really take hold, however, in part because McCain fumbled the response to the economic crisis, while Mr. Obama did not.