Romney aides invited reporters to their campaign headquarters for a background briefing on the Republican presidential candidate's upcoming bus tour which will roll through the battleground states of Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio over the next four days.

"In 2008 these states were all won by Obama but this time around his support has eroded considerably," said Senior Advisor Eric Fehrnstrom. "Even though his team is pouring tons of resources into these states, the bad economy continues to hang over Obama like a dark cloud."

The briefing however quickly turned into an intense assault on what the Romney team sees as distortions coming from President Obama.

"You've all witnessed the Obama campaign's desperate tactics. They've gone from what started as petty distortions and untruths to unbelievable exaggerations that diminish the office of the president and insult the American people," said Fehrnstrom.

By this time in 2007, more than a dozen people had announced a presidential bid. Fast forward four years, and there are more wars than presidential candidates.

The potential Republican field is vast and full of characters, but most candidates in the holding pen seem to be waiting for somebody else to open the latch.

The latest sign that the field is not shaping up as neatly as prognosticators had hoped came Wednesday when The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced the primary debate it had scheduled for May would be moved to September for lack of participants. The debate was to be co-hosted by NBC News and Politico...

Saying he wants to live up to the dreams of a 9-year-old girl who perished in a Tucson parking lot last weekend, President Obama on Wednesday urged Americans to temper the political discourse now polarizing the public square.

In honoring the heroes and victims of a mass shooting that left six dead and 14 injured, including Arizona Rep.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - After years of losing residents to more prosperous states, the nation's Rust Belt now confronts another blow to its economic prospects: losing some of its votes in Congress.

The latest census figures show that states in much of the Midwest and Northeast have been overtaken in population growth by the South and West. So starting in 2013, they will have to make do with smaller delegations in Washington, which means less political clout to attract government money and jobs.

"These states in the industrial heartland and to some extent in the Northeast have seen their impact eroded," said Norman Ornstein, a political scientist with the American Enterprise Institute. "It's not totally devastating. . But numbers do matter"...

Veteran election handicapper Charlie Cook left no doubt Wednesday that he believes a large wave will sweep Republicans into control of the House next week.

The founder of the Cook Political Report said he will be “sacking groceries” if Democrats manage to cling to power in the lower chamber.

Republicans need to net 39 seats to win the majority in the House. Cook, appearing on MSNBC, said 100 seats are in play...

A conservative university professor and political scientist thinks no one should be surprised by the new poll results showing that Americans are less confident in President Obama's leadership than at any point since he took office almost 18 months ago.

The Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found that 62 percent of surveyed adults feel the country is on the wrong track, which is the highest level reported since before the 2008 election. The survey also showed that for the first time, more people disapprove of the president's performance than those who approve. That includes 17 percent of disapproving Democrats, which is also the highest level for Obama's presidency.

Another telling statistic reveals that just 44 percent of those who supported Obama in 2008 now express a high interest in the midterm elections -- a 38-percent drop from two years ago.

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama's political coattails extended across the country. But heading into this year's midterm elections, Democrats face a tricky task of where to deploy their party chief on the campaign trail as they try to hang onto majorities in both houses of Congress.

President Obama's record over the past 17 months has been mixed: His party won a series of special House elections, but he put himself on the line as Democrats lost a pair of high-profile gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia. Then there was the special senatorial election in Massachusetts, where even a personal last-minute pitch by the president couldn't stop Republican Scott Brown from winning the seat long held by liberal lion Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Still, even as poll numbers have dropped from their lofty post-inauguration levels, campaigns have requested varying levels of involvement from Mr.

The phone in Sen. John Thune's office is about to start ringing -- a lot.

The South Dakota Republican -- who also leads the Senate GOP Policy Committee and is widely viewed as a 2012 presidential contender --is up for re-election this year. But no Democrat or Independent filed to run against him, leaving him with plenty of time and money to help Republicans win seats this November as the party seeks to regain a true sense of relevancy on Capitol Hill.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) said Thursday he planned to meet with Thune soon to explore ways the up-and-coming first-term Senator could help the NRSC and GOP candidates from now until Election Day. Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) added that he fully expects Thune to be a strong political asset over the next 135 days...

House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are demanding that the Justice Department turn over documents on the White House's attempts to lure Democratic candidates out of Senate races with job offers.

Republicans filed a resolution of inquiry Thursday night seeking to uncover whether Justice attorneys were consulted about the legality of the White House making offers to Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., and Andrew Romanoff.

Once a resolution of inquiry is introduced, the committee has 14 legislative days to consider it. Democrats on the committee have indicated that they may take it up as early as next Wednesday, a GOP committee aide said...

Senior White House advisers asked former President Bill Clinton to talk to Joe Sestak about whether he was serious about running for Senate, and to feel out whether he'd be open to other alternatives, according to sources familiar with the situation.

But the White House maintains that the Clinton-Sestak discussions were informal, according to the sources. The White House, under pressure to divulge the specifics of its interactions with Sestak, will release a formal statement later today outlining their version of events, including Clinton's involvement.

According to the sources, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel asked Clinton and his longtime adviser, lawyer Doug Band, to talk to Sestak about the race...