Obama Campaigns on Rick Perry’s Home Turf

File photo. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama will spend Tuesday promoting his jobs bill and raising campaign cash in Texas, the home state of GOP presidential candidate and the Lone Star state's Gov. Rick Perry.

The president will fly to Dallas where he will deliver remarks at two campaign events before heading to Mesquite, Texas, to pitch his $447 billion jobs bill at a local school.

The president is expected to again claim his American Jobs Act would prevent teacher layoffs and modernize school buildings and campuses across the country, and again urge Congress to pass the bill.

It’s then off to St. Louis, where the president will attend two more campaign fundraisers before returning to Washington late in the evening.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Ahead of Florida Swing, Romney Hits Perry on Social Security

Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Ahead of a two-day swing through the battleground state of Florida, the Mitt Romney campaign released a new web video Tuesday morning highlighting how Gov. Rick Perry’s Social Security plan could impact the lives of senior citizens in the Sunshine State.

The video, titled “Two Different Plans,” begins by stating Romney’s plan for Social Security, vowing to “reform and strengthen” the program and Perry’s plan as working to end the program and send it to the states.

Using Florida as an example, the video claims that under Perry’s plan the annual shortfall of $16 billion per year could cause “one in four seniors to lose benefits” or result in every Florida senior’s benefits getting cut by more than $4,000 a year.

The video ends by encouraging viewers to go to Perry’s book, Fed Up, for more information.

Perry’s own assertion about his book closes the video.

“I haven’t backed off anything in my book,” says Perry.  “So read the book again.”

According to the U.S. Census, individuals ages 65 and above make up about 17 percent of Florida’s population.

Later Tuesday afternoon,  Romney will hold a town hall at The Villages, a retirement community that boasts more than 8,000 residents.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Poll: Obama Seen as Underdog, But Against Who?

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Americans broadly expect Barack Obama to be a one-term president, even as the Republican contest to challenge him churns wildly.

Rick Perry, slammed by poor debate performances after a soaring start, has lost ground badly -- hemorrhaging support from older Americans and very conservative Republicans, and relinquishing the overall advantage in his party’s contest to Mitt Romney.  Instead, it’s Herman Cain’s turn to surge: He’s suddenly running evenly with Perry in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, when added to the mix, debuts with 11 percent support in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates.  While that means nine in 10 don’t side with the Garden State governor, 42 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents also said they’d like him to run -- more than say that about the other major figure still in the wings, Sarah Palin.

These results signal the unsettled nature of the Republican contest.  Among announced candidates, Romney has 25 percent support, unchanged from last month; Perry has 16 percent, down by a steep 13 points; Cain, with 16 percent, is up sharply from 4 percent a month ago.

Best for Cain and Christie alike is the way in which potential Republican voters are warming to them.  Forty-seven percent say the more they hear about Cain the more they like him versus 18 percent who like him less.  It’s a similar 43 to 23 percent positive for Christie.

Perry is heading in the opposite direction, with more negative reviews than positive ones.  Forty-four percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning-independents now say the more they hear about Perry, the less they like him, outnumbering the 30 percent who like him more.

Romney gets an even split on this score -- like his overall support numbers, he appears to be neither gaining ground nor losing it, which for a frontrunner could be worse.  

Obama, for his part, presiding over the longest and deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, is down to 42 percent approval for his job performance -- numerically a new low, and not the kind of number that lends itself to re-election.

Fifty-four percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s performance.  That includes 40 percent who disapprove strongly, outnumbering strong approvers by 2 to 1.

While the intensity of his critics is trouble for Obama, so are expectations that he won’t be re-elected; Americans by 55-37 percent expect the eventual Republican nominee to win.  Such views can inform voter enthusiasm -- precisely the ingredient that led the GOP to its broad success in the 2010 midterms.

General-election matchups remain quite close, with support for Obama’s challengers below his disapproval rating, indicating that discontent with the president hasn’t yet coalesced into full-throated support for the other side.

Obama has 47 percent support versus 46 percent against Romney; this flips to 46 to 48 among registered voters.  It’s 46 to 44 percent among all adults for Obama-Christie and 49 to 44 percent pitting Obama against Perry.  The differences are not statistically significant.

By another measure, 46 percent of Americans said they definitely would not support Obama for re-election -- about where it’s been since spring -- leaving him fairly little margin for error in his 2012 campaign.  Notably, though, nearly as many -- 44 percent -- flatly rule out Perry; fewer, 37 percent, reject Romney out of hand.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Singer Hank Williams Jr. Compares Obama to Hitler

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- “Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood,” singer Hank Williams Jr. said in a statement issued Monday evening.

Williams was responding to ESPN pulling his song “All My Rowdy Friends,” from the Monday Night Football broadcast, featuring the Indianapolis Colts facing off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in response to some rather pointed language about President Obama that Williams used earlier in the day.

On Fox & Friends, Williams expressed chagrin that Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, played golf with President Obama, which he compared to “Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu … In the shape this country is in?”

One of the anchors, Brian Kilmeade, responded that he didn’t understand the analogy.

“I’m glad you don’t, brother, because a lot of people do,” Williams said.  “They’re the enemy.”

When asked who the enemy was, Williams said, "Obama.  And Biden.  Are you kidding?  The Three Stooges.”

Williams went on to bemoan how “polarized” the country is.  On that note, anchor Gretchen Carlson pointed out that he had just compared the president to Hitler.

“Well that’s true.  But I’m telling you like it is,” Williams said.

In a statement, ESPN -- a sister organization of ABC -- said: “While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football.  We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”

“All My Rowdy Friends” has been the theme for Monday Night Football since 1991.

Williams said in his statement Monday evening: “My analogy was extreme -- but it was to make a point.  I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me -- how ludicrous that pairing was.  They’re polar opposites and it made no sense.  They don’t see eye-to-eye and never will.  I have always respected the office of the President."

“Every time the media brings up the tea party it’s painted as racist and extremists -- but there’s never a backlash -- no outrage to those comparisons,” Williams said.  “Working class people are hurting -- and it doesn’t seem like anybody cares.  When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job -- it makes a whole lot of us angry.  Something has to change.  The policies have to change.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Mitt Romney Support Doesn't Budge in Latest 2012 Poll

James Devaney/WireImage(NEW YORK) -- Candidates come and go, but Mitt Romney stays…at 25 percent.

The good news for Romney in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is that he is back on top of the Republican field, earning the support of 25 percent of leaned Republicans.  The bad news for Romney is that is smack dab where he was one month ago -- at 25 percent.  He doesn’t budge.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry lost 13 percent from his September numbers and now stands in a second place tie with Herman Cain, who jumped 12 percent.

One way to read Perry dropping 13 percent and Romney not moving at all is that some Republican voters might have decided they don’t like Perry, but those voters didn’t exactly flock to Romney.

Still Romney advisers are upbeat, saying “this is all good for Romney.”  One adviser stated while it is clear voters are looking around, “all of this is people who will come to Mitt.”

There are signs in the poll that Republicans find Romney a tolerable, if not exciting candidate.  In one measurement, 38 percent of voters say the more they hear about him the more they like him, compared to 35 percent who like him less.

That measurement was not as good for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has a 43-23 positive split on this question.  For Perry, a whopping 44 percent say the more they hear about him the less they like him, compared to 30 percent who like him more.

Another sign that Romney is at least acceptable to a broad range of GOP voters?  He is the leading second choice for voters who say their first choice is Sarah Palin, and also the leading second choice for voters who say Christie is their first choice.  So Romney is the runner-up for both Palin and Christie voters, which is pretty good for him.

While Romney might not be lighting anyone on fire, one of his aides says that “it takes somebody to beat somebody.”  And lucky for him, nobody yet seems to be the “somebody” who is a breakout choice.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Rick Perry Accused of Running ‘Race-Baiting’ Ads in 1990

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has rebutted criticism for leasing hunting grounds that once featured a stone marker bearing a racist name for the property, but this is not the first time he has been the subject of questions about racial issues.

During his 1990 campaign for agriculture commissioner, which he won, Perry ran ads against his opponent, Democrat Jim Hightower, which critics described as “race baiting,” according to news reports from the time.

A 1990 Fort Worth Star Telegram article detailed several African-American elected officials’ expressing concern that the ads were along the same line as the Willie Horton ads Republicans used in the 1988 campaign against Michael Dukakis.  Those ads were critical of Massachusetts’ weekend furlough program.  They depicted Horton, who is black, as a menacing-looking convicted murderer who was furloughed under the program and then committed additional crimes.

The two Perry ads included footage of Hightower’s appearances with Jesse Jackson, whom Hightower endorsed in the 1988 presidential election.  One ad featured a voiceover while the photos of Jackson and Hightower were shown, asking “Does Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower share your values?” and the second ad asked “Do Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower’s scandals bother you?” while also highlighting some of Hightower’s questionable acts.

In a 1990 letter written to Perry, provided by the Democratic group American Bridge, a leader of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus warned that Perry’s ads were along the lines of “race-baiting” and requested he stop running the ads.

“Given the foregoing, and in the spirit of genuine racial harmony and cooperation, please refrain from campaign tactics which appeal to the worse in us all,” Larry Evans, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, wrote.  “My request is based upon my knowledge of you as an honorable and racially sensitive man.”

A spokesman for Perry’s presidential campaign said the ads were simply intended to highlight Hightower’s ties to one of the most liberal politicians in the Democratic Party.

“Rev. Jackson led the most liberal wing of the Democratic Party in his 1988 presidential campaign and Jim Hightower endorsed and worked on his behalf,” Ray Sullivan, communications director for Perry, told ABC News.  “The 1990 TV ad truthfully highlighted Mr. Hightower’s role in the ’88 presidential campaign and truthfully demonstrated his very liberal politics to Texas general election voters."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Chris Christie Schedules Press Conference; 2012 Decision Coming?

Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Chris Christie will not run for president, according to an ABC News source with direct knowledge of the New Jersey governor’s thinking.

Christie, a Republican, has long said he’s not ready to run, but had reconsidered in recent weeks and there was speculation he could make a late entrance into the race.

[Click here for more updates...]

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(TRENTON, N.J.) -- Chris Christie’s office has announced that the New Jersey governor will hold an afternoon news conference Tuesday, amid speculation that his decision on a presidential run is imminent.

The press conference, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET at the governor’s office in Trenton, was added to Christie’s schedule just before 9:30 a.m.

Developing story...

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Activists Protest Relationship Between Lobbyist, Obama Administration

American actress Daryl Hannah sits in front of the White House in Washington, DC, Aug. 30, 2011, during a protest against the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Hannah was among dozens of protestors arrested in a demonstration against the oil pipeline which, if constructed, would run from Canada to Texas. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Opponents of a proposed $7 billion Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline say emails between an oil company lobbyist and the Obama administration reveal a pattern of “deeply disturbing” bias and corruption that undermines an impartial government assessment of the deal.

Friends of the Earth, an environmental group that obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request, has been publishing the documents online in an effort to ratchet up pressure on the State Department, which is considering approval of the so-called Keystone XL project by the end of the year.

The emails show frequent, friendly and collaborative interactions between Paul Elliott, a lobbyist for TransCanada, the pipeline’s owner, and State Department staffers in Washington and Ottawa. Elliott is a former campaign aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Activists say the “most disturbing document” is an exchange between Elliott and Maria Verloop, a State Department energy and environmental issues counselor, in which Verloop cheers Elliott’s success in winning support from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., for the pipeline.

“Go Paul! Baucus support holds clout,” she wrote in a Sept. 10, 2010, email.

Elliott responded to Verloop later that day, saying lobbying “is a grind but when the grind pays off with support it makes it worthwhile.”

In a December 2010 email, Verloop told Elliott that “it’s precisely because you have connections that you’re sought after and hired.”

Critics say the exchanges and dozens more like them depict inappropriately “cozy” relations between Elliott and the department, even if there is no sign of illegality.

“If President Obama remains true to his campaign promise that his election would mean an end to the days of lobbyists setting the agenda in Washington, he has no choice but to rescind the executive order delegating to the State Department the authority to sign a presidential permit for this pipeline,” Friends of the Earth said in a statement on its website.

“If the pipeline decision is made in the White House, rather than at the biased State Department, and if President Obama undertakes a fair and impartial analysis of the evidence, we believe he will reject this pipeline,” the group said.

Neither Clinton nor Obama have signaled their views on the pipeline, and administration officials insist the independent vetting process remains underway. Clinton is the final arbiter of the deal, which she is expected to rule on by the end of the year.

Nuland said the documents depict only one side of multi-lateral consultations surrounding the pipeline. She also said no contact has occurred between Elliott and any administration staffers with direct influence on the final approval process.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

South Carolina Moves Presidential Primary Up

Comstock Images/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Just days after Florida moved its presidential primary up to Jan. 31, South Carolina announced plans to move its primary to Jan. 21.

Iowa and New Hampshire officials have insisted they will maintain their first-in-the-nation positions. That could lead to Iowa's caucuses moving to early January with New Hampshire's first primary a week later.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Senate Will Take Up Obama's Jobs Bill 'This Month'

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV., announced Monday that the Senate will take up President Obama’s jobs bill this month.

“We'll do that this month,” Reid said from the Senate floor. “I'm happy to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to improve this bill. But I hope the obstructionism Republicans employed the last nine months won't continue.”

The reality is Republicans aren't the only ones opposed to the bill. Reid also faces an uphill climb in getting Democratic support for the bill.  Many Democratic senators have expressed skepticism about the plan and suggested that perhaps the best way to take up the legislation is by breaking up the bill and passing parts.

Since last month when Obama released the American Jobs Act, Reid has been noncommittal when asked when he would take up the president’s legislation, despite President Obama’s insistence that the bill be passed immediately.

“The floor's pretty well jammed now,” Reid said two weeks ago, explaining why he hadn’t moved on the president’s bill.  

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio