white house correspondent kristen welker joins us tonight from the white house. good evening, kristen. >> reporter: good evening to you, kate. president obama is hosting military members and their families at the white house this evening. mitt romney marked the day in new hampshire where he is also vacationing. like independence day in past election years, both candidates kept an eye trained on november. >> for just as we remain a nation of laws, we have to remain a nation of immigrants. >> reporter: it didn't take long for patriotism to give way to politics during this morning's naturalization ceremony. >> i hereby declare on oath. >> reporter: twenty-five active members of the military were sworn in as u.s. citizens. >> congratulations. >> reporter: the president took full advantage of his bully pulpit, touting his recent decision to block the deportation of some illegal immigrants and calling for even broader measures. >> that's why we still need a dream act, why america's success demands comprehensive immigration reform. >> reporter: as the president was reach

white house correspondent kristen welker with us tonight traveling with the president, cedar rapids, iowa. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. states like iowa and colorado will make all the difference in november. in the meantime, the candidates continue to spar over who's best equipped to fix the economy. in ames, iowa, republican william buttermoore says he wants a change. >> it's a very, very slow recovery, if there's a recovery at all. >> reporter: so he's going to vote for mitt romney. but less than five miles away, mike wright a democrat says he's worried romney would mishandle the fragile economy. >> i plan to attend a democratic local party meeting. >> reporter: president obama stumped in iowa today, while mitt romney took his campaign to colorado. >> this was a state that gave me a chance when nobody else would. >> are we going to win here in november? >> reporter: trying to recapture that momentum of 2008, mr. obama visited jason and ally mcglocklin, whose support has never wavered. >> and we couldn't be more proud to stand by our president once

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president in parma, ohio. >> reporter: president obama began today's campaign in the vote rich swing state of ohio courting among others white working class voters who can make the difference in who wins and loses elections in the industrial heartland. >> hello, ohio. >> reporter: first stop? the manufacturing town of maumee where the president touted the bailout of the auto industry, which employs one of every eight ohioans. >> governor romney said we should just let detroit go bankrupt. i refuse to turn my back on communities like this. i was betting on the american worker. >> reporter: less than two miles away romney's surrogates and potential vice presidential candidates tim pawlenty and bobby jindal hammered away at the incumbent president's message. >> we know we aren't better off than we were four years ago. we know we can't afford another four years of this president. >> reporter: intent on disrupting president obama's carefully choreographed trip. >> this group looks like they might get into some trouble

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us from the white house.about to witness. >> reporter: good afternoon to you. president obama sort of reigniting an old debate here about those bush era tax cuts that you just mentioned. in just a few moments, he is going to be speaking from the east room, pressing congress to extend the bush era tax cuts for one year for families making less than $250,000. this event really allows him to pivot away from last week's disappointing jobs report. also allows him to draw stark contrast with his republican challenger, mitt romney, who has said he wants to see the bush era tax cuts extended for all americans. he says that if you raise them on folks making more than $250,000, that you're essentially raising taxes on small businesses and that will hurt the economy. that is, of course, what we have heard republican leaders in congress say as well. they have already come out this morning and said that they are opposed to what the president is supporting. it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of support for this, espe

>> kristen welker still with us. kristen, if you've been to any one of these ceremonies before, share so emotional. they are an absolute event to be at and to experience. it is an american moment. and as you watch that there, close to the white house, close to that room right now, as i was saying earlier, this is something that the president has done on previous july 4ths. >> absolutely, certainly a patriotic way to start the fourth, richard. this is the third naturalization ceremony at the white house. what's interesting about this event, it highlights the built-in benefits of being president in an election year. you get to have some of these moments that are filled with so many symbolism, patriotism, and that really speaks to key voters at the same time. as we mentioned, this ceremony coming just a few weeks after the president announced that his administration would block the deportation of some immigrants who were brought here illegally as children. that is something that played very well with the number of latino

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker put on her weather hat and reports. >> frustrated,ustrated, highly frustrated. >> reporter: david retland is still living without power in his washington, d.c., home after a powerful storm hit the mid-atlantic and midwest regions on friday, knocking down power lines and trees and wreaking havoc just days before the fourth of july holiday. >> most of the stuff will probably be discarded. most of my neighbors have packed up and left somewhere. >> reporter: rutland one of the millions still without power, a big cleanup job from ohio to new jersey and hard-hit maryland. >> this storm had all of the impact of a hurricane without the warning. >> reporter: these maryland crews are working 16-hour days in triple-digit heat to get the power back on, but officials say it could take up to a weekç untl everybody is restored. is this one of the worst storms that you've ever dealt with? >> this is the worst storm under the worst conditions. we worked in blizzards in the snow, but when you deal with the heat, it's an entirely different dynamic, much

white house correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president in ohio. what are we expecting the president to say? >> reporter: we expect the president to try to put a positive spin on another disappointing jobs report as he has in past months. he will likely argue that the economy is improving, but not quickly enough. you will also hear him tout his biggest accomplishments on the icon me, namely the auto bailout. that resonates with voters here in ohio. one out of five ohio residents works in the auto industry. just this morning president obama had breakfast with tire worker who is work at a good year plant in akron, ohio. this is something the community cares about. i sbrud a woman yesterday who said her daughter's job was saved and her house was saved thanks to the auto bailout. those are the stories that president obama wants to tell in the face of these disappointing jobs reports out today. president obama won this county and state back in 2008. he is back here trying to rally his supporters and trying to get the working class voters on board. the v

kristen welker, thank you so much. we'll see the president later this hour, around 11:50 a.m. eastern time, with that statement. we'll have it for you live. stick with us for that. let's bring in our monday power panel. aaron mcpike a reporter with real clear, and hoggan gidly with national communications director for santorum campaign. good morning to all of you. richard, straight to the tax cuts and debate about that, but as we were discussing, those new fund-raising numbers. what's your thought on that? >> you know, i think this may be a blessing in disguise for the obama campaign. it's clearly the case that romney's been kind of vacuuming up money sitting on the sidelines during the primaries. good for him. and anybody who thought that somehow or other obama was going to outraise romney in the super pacs over the course of this campaign was diluting themselves. that's a fiction put out by republicans but i don't think people following this believe that. the good news is, this is a message to all the mega donors on the sideline on the democratic side. the hollywood folks an

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us from the white house. tell us about the event we are about to witness. >> reporter: good afternoon to you. president obama sort of reigniting an old debate here about those bush era tax cuts that you just mentioned. in just a few moments, he is going to be speaking from the east room, pressing congress to extend the bush era tax cuts for one year for families making less than $250,000. this event really allows him to pivot away from last week's disappointing jobs report. also allows him to draw stark contrast with his republican challenger, mitt romney, who has said he wants to see the bush era tax cuts extended for all americans. he says that if you raise them on folks making more than $250,000, that you're essentially raising taxes on small businesses and that will hurt the economy. that is, of course, what we have heard republican leaders in congress say as well. they have already come out this morning and said that they are opposed to what the president is supporting. it doesn't look like there's a who

to kristen welker.he president on his own and first lady has made this strong pitch to the nation's veterans this year. the polling is mixed when we look at the success of that pitch. one gallop survey showed romney with a lead. another found the president out in front. how do the campaigns digest this to see things? >> you're absolutely right, thomas, these polls show conflicting information. if you talk to campaign officials, they will tell you they try for the to make too much of any given poll. president obama, it's no secret his campaign knows they will have to fight hard when it comes to veteran voters. president obama lost the veteran vote back to john mccain in 2008, 54-44%. so you have seen him making a pitch to veteran voters, not just on days like today when he's speaking to the dfw but when he's traveled to key battleground states like virginia, like north carolina. his strategy seems to be to tout what he sees to be some of his strengths, including creating tax credits for companies that hi

on the road with the president nbc's kristen welker. sten. >> hi, richard. >> yesterday the president accused mitt romney of taking his comments about valuing small business out of context, as we look forward can we expect him to toin push -- to push back. >> i think you can expect president obama to push back against those comments. case in point, the obama campaign released an ad who slams romney taking the president's words out of context. the romney campaign says they will release a similar ad tomorrow that will air in six battleground states. in that ad the president himself will be featured. i think you're going to continue to see the obama campaign push back against this. romney is showing no signs of letting up. just yesterday he was speaking to business leaders in california. he again slammed the president for making that you didn't build that comment, essentially saying it proves the president is anti-business. of course that is something the obama campaign is pushing back against pretty hard. as long as romney continues, the p

kristen welker is with us. kristen, i hear it's a little bit noisy. warner speaking right now. >> reporter: it is, mark warner, you're slightly right. we expect the president to take the podium shortly, martin. tim kaine is going to talk and introduce the president. this is the president's second stop today here in this key battleground state of virginia. and we expect him to talk about one of the key issues he's been touting over the last two weeks, mainly pushing congress to extend the bush era tax cuts. he will also likely tailor some of his comments, martin, to the military community here. there is a large community in virginia. it is key to winning this state. an estimated 800,000 veterans live here. so they'll talk about the importance of putting veterans back to work and also taking care of the military community. i should tell you, martin, there's a little bit of a counter campaign going on here. earlier today, governor bob mcdonnell and scott walker held an event in which they essentially criticized president obama for the sequester set to go

we want to get to our nbc's kristen welker traveling with the president in ft. myers, florida. kristen, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, matt and savannah. president obama was notified earlier this morning, 5:26 a.m., by his homeland security adviser john brennan according to white house press secretary jay carney. the president has just put out a statement. i'm going to read it to you. president obama put out the statement that says, michelle and i are shocked and saddened by the horrific shooting in colorado. federal and local law enforcement are still responding and my administration will do everything that we can to support the people of aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time. we are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice ensuring the safety of our people and caring for those who have been wounded. as we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge we must now come together as one american family. all of us must have the people of aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors

correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president. she joins us live this afternoon from pittsburgh. we didn't hear the president talk about the jobs report until about ten minutes in this morning, kristen. it will be very interesting to see how long he waits to talk about those numbers in pittsburgh. >> reporter: yeah, it's a good point, craig. and we expect him to continue to try to put a positive spin on what is really a disappointing jobs report, when he takes the podium here in pittsburgh at carnegie mellon university. we expect him to tout what he sees as his accomplishments in the economy, including the auto bailout. that's something that really resonates with voters in nortrn ohio, which is where he was earlier today and yesterday. and of course, here in western pennsylvania. he'll also probably reiterate that statistic, that 4.4 million jobs were added in the private sector over the past 28 months. but, craig, it is really a tough sell, because in addition to the numbers that you talked about, if you look at the breakdown, and

kristen welker, we know he's surrounded by folks who will be affected by the possible increase in the tax rate for those making less than $250,000. >> reporter: that's right. the optics of this are going to be key, are going to be a key part of the president's message, and alex, it's interesting, it's sort of a reminder of the built-in strength that the president has in an election year. he can use his bully pulpit for events like this to reach out to certain voters, to make his argument that essentially he is fighting for tax fairness for the middle class. that of course is something mitt romney doesn't have. so president obama using the full power of his bully pulpit to do this and the optics of that are going to be key. he will be surrounded by families who he will argue will benefit if this tax break is extended for folks making less than $250,000. by the way, we should also say that later on this afternoon, the president will be speaking to reporters, local reporters from key battleground states. and then his campaign, all throughout this week, will be heading to key battleground

late tonight my colleague white house correspondent kristen welker traveling with the president in virginia got this response from the obama campaign. they write, the obama campaign is not satisfied with romney's answer. they still want to see romney's tax returns as well as minutes from bain meetings. they conclude by saying they expect the american people would want to see more information. we still have three and a half months to go. >> peter alexander in new hampshire with the candidate tonight. thanks. for more on this let's join david gregory moderator of "meet the press" with us from our washington newsroom tonight. so, david, give us a viewer's guide to what we're seeing here. >> this is really an attempt by the obama campaign to talk about what it wants to talk about, and that is mitt romney's time as head of bain capital. why? because they would not like to talk about the jobs report right now and the tough economy. they want to talk about mitt romney as a very wealthy person who ran a venture capital firm and put the onus on him to explain whether he was involved in outsourcing o

. >> kristen welker on the road with the president tonight. thank you. >>> when news broke last night that illinois congressman jesse jackson jr. had been on a previously undisclosed leave of absence for two weeks his office said he was being treated for exhaustion. well, today a new statement says the congressman was grappling with, quote, physical and emotional ailments and will need extended in-patient treatment. jackson's public image has taken a hit recently after revelations of an extra marital affair. he is also the subject of a house ethics committee investigation over whether he broke any rules while pursuing the senate seat that became available when barack obama was elected president. jackson denies any wrongdoing in that matter. >>> in florida, george zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed trayvon martin, could be free from jail while he awaits his trial on second-degree murder charges. the judge set bail today at $1 million. a lot more than it was back in april, because the judge said zimmerman was deceiving

kristen welker at the white house.o much. >>> now joined by minneapolis mayor and vice chair of the dnc, r.t. requi r.t.ryeback. happy fourth. >> to you as well. >> kristen was mentioning that key jobs report that comes out on friday. what does the campaign expect to hear? >> well, i think, you know, we always are looking at that jobs report, but we're happy that over these past couple of years, month after month we've had the president continuing to help lead us through a recovery. remember what that jobs report was like before the president came into office. the month before he was sworn in 750,000 jobs a month were being lost. the president made key decisions, one which was highly political unpopular. he saved the american auto industry, the one that mitt romney would have outsourced to china. that's a key we can kwe that i think a voter has to have in a place like ohio or pennsylvania. >> we were just looking at the numbers over the course of the administration of president obama, and as you are familiar with, when

kristen welker is traveling with the president and joins us from pittsburgh.he president is wrapping up his bus tour today an given the less than brilliant job numbers, has this dampened his spirits or do you detect an even greater determination? >> reporter: well, certainly there is a determination. campaign officials will tell you that the president is realistic about these things. he knows that the recovery is going to take a long time. having said that, it's hard to imagine there is not some disappointment. what better way to have wrapped up his first official campaign bus tour than with a robust jobs report. that didn't happen, so it put him on the defensive when he spoke to people today. having said that, he got a really warm reception here in these two key battleground states. these two states he carried in 2008 and which he's hoping to hold on to. he's stuin these reliablely blu areas and he's here to really rally their support to make sure they turn out at the polls in big numbers so he can hold on to areas like pittsburgh, which will be key to holdin

kristen welker joins us from the white house. the president was clear that extending these tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 means that 98% of citizens and 97% of small business owners would quality. so does this mean that a bill is likely to be brought before the senate or house in the near future? >> reporter: i just spoke with an aide on the hill who says they anticipate majority leader reid will bring this bill forward. when you speak to republicans in the house, they say they are not going to bring to bill to the floor. they cite those numbers. the 97% of businesses that would be impacted by this and say they agree with that number. however, they say 940,000 small businesses would still see an increase in their taxes, so they are painting this as an increase on small businesses. they say the bill they will bring to the house floor will extend the bush era tax cuts for all americans. jay carney was asked about this today. he was firm about the fact that the president would veto such a bill, so this is gearing up to

kristen welker is live at the white house with a preview.xt few days. >> reporter: absolutely and the president continues to call on congress to extend the bush era tax cuts for those making less than $250,000, essentially meaning letting the bush era tax cuts expire for the folks making more than $250,000. a big issue when debating that fiscal cliff, that democrats said yesterday they were willing to dig their heels in on that issue. but you're right, president obama heading to the lone star state, not exactly a big democrat area, in fact it hasn't voted for a democrat since 1976, but the president is heading there to rake in big sums of cash, hoping to bring in as much as $5 million, he'll be holding events in san antonio as well as austin. one of the event also include eva longoria keep of -- this comes against the backdrop of this campaign which seems to be getting increasingly negative, as you know, president obama yesterday when he was stumping in ohio criticized romney for criticizing a tax plan who he said will create jobs overseas,

. >> nbc's kristen welker joins us live from the white house. resident is out on the stump, mitt romney is attending yet another secret fund-raiser. this one with bobby jindal in mississippi. is this the kind of optics the white house was hoping for? >> good afternoon to you, michael. i think the obama campaign is happy with the optics of the day, but the romney campaign also keenly aware of their optics. they launched a bit of a counteroffensive today in ohio. rob portman out talking to voters there. sort of bracketing the president's trip. while you had the president hammering mitt romney for his tax proposal, you have portman really slamming the president for the high unemployment rate and making the case that the president has run a lot of negative attack ads lately. so i think both campaigns are keenly aware of the optics. we have a little bit more than three months to go until election day, so i think both campaigns are going to be carefully calculating the optics. >> speaking of you know, how long it is until election day, the president ha

kristen welker is there ahead of the president and she joins us now. en, the president has remarked on how hot it is out there, but his rhetoric has been pretty fiery as well. >> reporter: it has been. the entire theme of this trip is is betting on america. a lot of fiery rhetoric as the president sort of touts his key accomplishments, including the auto bailout, including the fact he got health care passed. but what's interesting, some of that fire and rhetoric being ususe ed against him. mitt romney is waging a wit of a shadow campaign. he's dispatched tim pawlenty and bob bobby jindal, who are here speaking in some of the same places, saying we're not going to double down on president obama because he essentially hasn't done enough to fix the economy. so a war of words going on here in this battleground state of ohio. we should also say as is typical of some of these trips, the president is also engaging in retail politics. he's getting up close and personal a lot of these voters. in the past hour, he has made twoç unscheduled stops along t way to s

let's get the latest from kristen welker.ternoon and the president is starting his first bus tour of the 2012 campaign i believe on thursday. the next day, the labor department releases unemployment report for june. is there a strategy going on here with putting the president out in the road when this eme e emerg emerges. >> reporter: they say there's no specific strategy. right now, everything is being carefully choreographed and it's not unusual for the president to be on the road when the jobs report comes out. it allows him to get out of the bubble of d.c. it allows him to actually take his message to real people and in instance, he's going to be in pennsylvania and ohio. two key battleground states and he's going to be talking about the strengths of the american worker. the fact that he was able to in his words, revive or help revive the auto industry. certainly seems to resognate with voters there in the rust belt. we spent so much time talking about the impact of last week, those two huge decisions that came down from

let's go to kristen welker. always pleasant and yet poignant reporter.r joining us. the president is in texas with donors and it sounds like he struck a gusher. tell us what's going on. >> he certainly has. he could net as much $4 million. the mayor of san antonio has told reporters that would be a new record for a democratic president. so, certainly netting a lot of cash there. he had some high powered help. eva longoria was with him at one of those events. today, the president attends an event hosted by the lgbt counsel. also performing, jeff walker. texas is really a state that has great fund raising potential for both candidates. of course, it is traditionally a republican state. romney has net about $7 million there. president obama more than $4 million to date. so this is a state that both candidates like in terms of fund raising and it really rates right up there with new york and california, so expect to see these candidates return there. >> that's big news and some more big news. of course the president may when he suggested texas, typically red

. >> kristen welker, thanks so much, kristen. he's getting company from two governors.e in maumee, ohio, today moments before the president's arrival. the romney surrogates are shadowing the president's bus tour right through ohio. >> his presidency has been a losing hand for ohio and for america. and when he stands before the people of this country in this electi election, we should all recall the promises he made last time and the promises that are left unfulfill and broken. there's boston. of them. let me go through a few of them. i think we should dub husband tour the broken promises for the american middle class. >> he's been bad for america, bad for ohio. 40,000 fewer jobs than when he took office. average income has gone down $3,000. the list goes on and on and on. the bottom line is this. we've had enough of broken promises. if you want good paying jobs, growing economy in america, you need to elect mitt romney. >> tomorrow the two will be in pittsburgh along with president obama. well, 200,000 peóp midwest are still without power today, day after the detroit ar

nbc's senior political editor, mark murray, is here with me and nbc white correspondent kristen welker joins us from virginia beach. kristen, since you're down there, this crowd obviously waiting for the president, it's a democratic proud, military area of the tidewater. at the same time, this is such a critical state and it is very close. virginia has been getting more and more conservative in recent years. >> reporter: absolutely. and the importance of virginia really can't be overstated, andrea. the obama campaign thinks it's crucial to winning in 2012 so when president obama takes the podium here, he will, as he has in days past, call on congress to extend the bush era tax cuts for folks making less than $250,000, but he will also tell or some of his comments we are expecting to the military community here. there are about 800,000 veterans who live in virginia. they are a crucial part of winning virginia. the president in past speeches when he has been targeting the military community has talked about the fact that he's called on congress to provide tax breaks for companies who hir

we have ideas from kristen welker and the auto industry and unfair trade with china. is he going to continue the attack with bain and romney's attachment to the firm? >> he will connect his jobs plan in contrast to mitt romney's. the white house knows and the campaign knows that the health care ruling was helpful, but this is about the economy. everything will be talking about the auto bailout and the president on his job creation plan. the campaign is focused on making the jobs case and making jobs the biggest priority for the voters and establishing that they have the best job creation. >>> we now moving off of health care? is it clearly right in front of us. we will get back to the issue of the economy and the jobs report is coming out tomorrow? >> i agree with perry. the economy is the underlying issue of the campaign. had the health care decision gone the other way, we would probably be sitting here talking about president obama's defeat on health care. that say huge victory, but i think romney wants the election to be about jobs and president obama knows the ele