President Obama reads mean tweets

Obama to propose free community college

George Walker IV

President Obama will propose two years of free community college for American workers Friday, part of what the White House says is an effort to make community college as universal as high school is today.

Obama teased his community college proposal in a video uploaded to Facebook on Thursday and will deliver a speech Friday in Tennessee.

"Put simply, what I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for anybody who's willing to work for it," he said aboard Air Force One amid a three-state tour to preview his State of the Union Address. "It's something we can accomplish, and it's something that will train our workforce so that we can compete with anyone in the world."

The program would require action from a Republican-dominated Congress. "With no details or information on the cost, this seems more like a talking point than a plan," said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The White House said details on the cost and funding would come in the State of the Union Address on Jan. 20 and the president's budget request Feb. 2. But the White House expects 9 million students to participate and save up to $3,800 a year for two years. That would place the cost at nearly $70 billion, though there are questions about building capacity at the nation's 1,100 community colleges.

The federal government would pay three quarters of the cost, at least initially.

In some ways, the community college plan is a bookend to Obama's 2013 proposal to pay for universal pre-Kindergarten through a state and federal partnership. That $75 billion proposal, which relied on dwindling tobacco tax money to provide federal matching funds, never got traction in Congress.

But Cecilia Munoz, Obama's domestic policy adviser, said Obama's pre-K proposal spurred state and local governments to increase the number and quality of preschool offerings, and hopes the college proposal will do the same. "We don't expect the country to be transformed overnight, but we do expect the conversation to begin tomorrow," she said.

Obama, joined by Vice President Biden, will announce the plan at Pellissippi Community College in Knoxville, Tenn. Obama's plan is modeled after the Tennessee Promise -- a state-level free-college plan starting this fall, paid for with Tennessee Lottery proceeds.

That plan, Munoz noted, has support from Republican lawmakers in Tennessee.

Munoz said the college plan would require the cooperation of states, community colleges and students. States would have to pick up a quarter of the cost -- more or less depending on how much they currently fund community colleges.

"Community colleges have to raise their game by establishing standards to allow students to transfer those credits to a four-year degree," she said. "And students must take responsibility for their education, earn good grades and stay on track to graduate in order to earn free tuition."

The America's College Promise program would be available to traditional and non-traditional college students, she said, and would support those seeking the first two years of a bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or even just job training.

Obama said a world-class education starts with children, but that adults need training, too. "It's not just for kids, we also have to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to constantly train themselves for better jobs, better wages, better benefits."

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Hillary Clinton's epic answer to abortion question

Shutdown may be over but politicians are not celebrating

Following the anti-climactic conclusion to the 16-day saga that left tens of thousands of government employees out of work, at least one United States senator isn't breaking out the party hats just yet.

After Congress passed a bill late Wednesday to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent an email to supporters saying that although she was pleased that the bill addressing two disasters had passed, she feels the damage to the economy has already been done.

"According to the S&P index, the government shutdown had delivered a powerful blow to the U.S. economy. By their estimates, $24 billion has been flushed down the drain for a completely unnecessary political stunt," Warren wrote in the email. "$24 billion dollars. How many children could have been back in Head Start classes? How many seniors could have had a hot lunch through Meals on Wheels? How many scientists could have gotten their research funded? How many bridges could have been repaired and trains upgraded?"

Warren, along with Democrats in the Senate, have continually blamed the shutdown on House Republicans who put forth legislation to continue funding the government only if implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as its become known, was delayed for a year. When that condition became the crux of all spending proposals to clear the GOP-led House, the Democrat-led Senate refused to consider such actions, shutting down non-essential facets of the federal government on Oct. 1, causing thousands of employees to be furloughed across the country.

At the same time, many Republicans have blamed the shutdown on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats for being unwilling to consider negotiating on the health care overhaul. But in the end, Republicans conceded defeat as the bipartisan legislation stopping the shutdown and raising the nation's debt limit passed without any stipulation addressing the Affordable Care Act, which was passed in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

“The House has fought with everything it has to convince President Barack Obama to engage in bipartisan negotiations aimed at addressing our country's debt and providing fairness for the American people under ObamaCare. That fight will continue," said Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement. "Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue. We will rely on aggressive oversight that highlights the law's massive flaws and smart, targeted strikes that split the legislative coalition the president has relied upon to force his health care law on the American people."

In her dispatch, Warren reiterated her disdain for the so-called sequester, which took effect mandating layoffs and furloughs when Congress failed to pass a budget in December. As she has said since being elected in November, Warren places the blame for a failure to compromise in that regard squarely on the GOP.

"The Republicans keep saying, 'Leave the sequester in place and cut all those budgets.' They keep trying to cut funding for the things that would help us build a future. But they are ready to flush away $24 billion on a political stunt," Warren wrote. "So I'm relieved, but I'm also pretty angry. We have serious problems that need to be fixed, and we have hard choices to make about taxes and spending. I hope we never see our country flush money away like this again. Not ever."


The junior senator from Massachusetts, Democrat Ed Markey, also released a statement taking aim at the Republicans; specifically the Tea Party caucus, for making the already-settled health care overhaul a part of their bargaining posture.

“The inflexible, ideology-driven extreme Tea Party faction of the Republican Party shut down most of the federal government and held the entire U.S. economy hostage, and for what? To take away health insurance benefits from millions of Americans. It is time for the Republican Party to reject the obstructionism of its Tea Party faction," Markey said in the statement. "It is time to accept the fact that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land."

Congressman Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., took a less partisan tone than the commonwealth's two senators following the compromise bill. In a statement, Kennedy instead focused on the fact that the legislation was approved by the Senate, 81-18, and in the House, 285-144, to make its way to Obama, who had previously pledged to sign it.

"The legislation passed this evening reopens our government and avoids a disastrous financial default. Congress now has the opportunity, and the responsibility, to move beyond this manufactured crisis and return to serving the American people," said Kennedy, who is serving his first term in Congress. "Although I am grateful that we have reached this agreement, I am troubled by the path we took to get there. We cannot repeat this debacle in three months as we approach a new round of fiscal deadlines. I hope that we can build on the momentum of this evening to reach a long term bipartisan agreement that will allow for the economic recovery of our country to continue."

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Wendy Davis announces plan to run for governor

Months after an epic fight over abortion rights made her a rising star in the Democratic Party, Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis on Thursday announced her bid for the Texas governor's office.

"We're here, of course, because we care about Texas," Davis said to a cheering crowd at Wiley G. Thomas Coliseum in Haltom City, Texas. "We're here because we care about Texans, and we're here because we believe it's time to give all Texans a voice in their future and a place in Texas' future."

The state lawmaker made the announcement at the Wiley G. Thomas Coliseum in Haltom City, Texas, where she received her high school diploma 32 years ago. Education is expected to be a major issue in her campaign. Davis reminded voters of the campaign she launched two years ago against $5 billion in cuts to education spending, helping to restore more than $3 billion of that funding.

"We love Texas not only for how good it is, but for how great we know it can be," she said. "We want every child, no matter where they start in Texas, to receive a world class education, an education that can take them anywhere they want to go."

While she's focusing largely on education, what really catapulted Davis into the spotlight this year was her 13-hour filibuster in June against a controversial abortion bill in the state legislature. While she managed to help bring down the legislation in that session, Texas lawmakers reintroduced the bill, and Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, signed it into law in July.

Davis managed to turn her moment in the spotlight into a fundraising boon, but the governor's mansion will still be an uphill climb for her: Texas last elected a Democrat to statewide office in 1994. Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, isn't seeking re-election, but Davis will nevertheless face a tough race against Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who announced his candidacy in July.

To explain why Democrats haven't won statewide office, Davis said in August, "First of all, people have to run."

Additionally, Davis said, gerrymandering has shifted the political dialogue in Texas to the far right. She also pointed to the low voter participation rate in the state, charging that Abbott "has done everything he can, actually, to suppress that as much as possible."

Democrats have long talked about turning Texas from a red state to a purple state, pointing to its growing Hispanic population. However, CBS News elections direct Anthony Salvanto points out, "What makes Texas harder today for Democrats than some other high-growth, demographically changing states in the west and south is that Democrats in Texas get such a very, very low shares of the white vote - so low, that minority voters and Hispanic voters cannot yet make up the difference."

Davis' supporters are nevertheless rolling out an enthusiastic campaign. The progressive group Democracy for America and former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt., jointly announced Thursday that they are endorsing Davis, in their first endorsement of the 2014 cycle. The group sent a fundraising appeal on Davis' behalf to their 1 million members nationwide, including more than 36,000 people in Texas.

"A true progressive hero is standing up and taking the lead position in the fight to turn Texas blue -- and DFA members will be with her every step of the way," the email said, asking supporters to chip in $5 to help her campaign.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, told CBS News' Major Garrett on Thursday that he's not worried about the Texas race.

"I think she'll get a lot of national headlines and a lot of national money, a lot of special interest groups from ...outside of Texas," Jindal told Garrett. "I think inside Texas, Greg's going to do just fine."

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Donate to her campaign here.

Why you shouldn't underestimate Elizabeth Warren

When we first put freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren on our rankings of the 10 Democrats most likely to wind up as the party’s presidential nominee in 2016, many people scoffed.

She just got elected! She’s not interested in running! It’s too damn early! Get off my lawn! (All but that last one is true.)


But, a new Quinnipiac poll proves why Warren would be formidable in 2016 if she decided to run. Using a feeling thermometer — 0 meaning you feel totally cold about a politician, 100 meaning you feel warmly (aka) strong favorably toward a pol — Quinnipiac tested the majority of major national figures.

Warren finished third — behind only New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (53.1 degrees) and Hillary Clinton (52.1 degrees). She finished ahead of, among others, President Obama, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Vice President Joe Biden.

Here’s why the thermometer matters — and matters for Warren in particular. It’s a measure of passion, which is, of course, the sine qua non of politics. While passion isn’t everything — fundraising matters, organization matters — it’s hard to get elected to anything without passionate supporters.

And, Warren quite clearly evokes that passion. Need examples beyond the poll? Warren collected more than $42 million for her 2012 Senate campaign, a massive sum that is indicative of the passion — and national following — that Warren evokes. Then there is the speech she gave at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which, if you forgot, was among the best received addresses of the gathering.

All of the above is not to say Warren is running for president. She has avoided most national press – and the press more generally — since coming to Washington and her political team insist that she is genuinely un-intrigued by a run for president.

We buy that. But, we have watched campaigns long enough to understand that the ability to evoke genuine, organic passion in potential voters is the rarest and most critical of all candidate characteristics. Warren has that ability, whether or not she wants to use it in 2016 — or beyond.

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Bill Clinton sings "Blurred Lines"

Senator Warren schools CNBC interviewer

Nancy Pelosi's reaction to Michele Bachmann's comment about DOMA decision

It took Nancy Pelosi just two words on Wednesday to take Michele Bachmann down a notch.

The House minority leader was asked during a press conference what she thought of Bachmann's intense denunciation earlier in the day of the Supreme Court's historic rulings in favor of gay marriage. She replied with a shrug:

"Who cares?"

Bachmann, whose staunch opposition to gay marriage is long and storied, had insisted in a written statement Wednesday morning that, "Marriage was created by the hand of God. No man, not even a Supreme Court, can undo what a holy God has instituted." She would resume that line of attack later during a press conference, calling the Court's decisions an affront to the Constitution, and to "the foundational unit of our society, which is marriage."

Pelosi's economical dismissal was received with laughs from her Democratic colleagues. It doubtless was not received so well by Bachmann, whose star has dimmed considerably of late: two summers ago, the Minnesota congresswoman was in the thick of the Republican Party's presidential primary, but now she finds herself serving out the remainder of her final term in Congress.

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Kid President and Obama finally meet

President Barack Obama finally met with Kid President, the "self-appointed voice of a generation."

A video posted to YouTube on Thursday shows the real president showing Kid President around the Oval Office.

"I think you should try to sit behind the desk, so you look a little more efficient," Obama said, guiding Kid President toward the Resolute desk.

The two discussed how kids and grown-ups can work together for change.

2013 inauguration bad lip reading

I can't get enough of these...

Joe Biden's cameo on "Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego?"

Obama tears up as he thanks his staff

What an amazing, sincere President. I don't think I've ever seen a more "human" person in politics before.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2012 election campaign

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fact-checking the final debate

Fact-checking has become such an integral part of the 2012 presidential race that President Obama, in his final debate against GOP challenger Mitt Romney, actually gave a shout-out to the growing crop of truth-seekers. After Romney trotted out his well-worn line about Obama's 2009 "apology tour," Obama shot back that "every fact-checker and every reporter who's looked at it, governor, has said this is not true." But Obama had his own moments of truth-stretching in the debate. Here's a scorecard of some of the biggest points of contention in the final act of the 2012 debates:

Obama: Romney was "very clear that [he] would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy. You said that they could get it in the private marketplace. That wasn't true."
The verdict: Partly trueObama overreached here, say NPR's Mark Memmott, Scott Montgomery, and Mark Stencel. In a famous November 2008 New York Times op-ed, Romney said if the government bailed out GM and Chrysler, "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye," but he did propose a "managed bankruptcy" in which the federal government provides "guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing." The problem is, according to auto executives and outside experts, there would have been no post-bankrupt GM or Chrysler to help, says Jeremy W. Peters at The New York Times. In late 2008, credit markets were frozen and no private firms — not even Romney's own Bain Capital — were "looking to invest to the tune of the $80 billion the car companies needed at the time." That means "the only path through bankruptcy would have been Chapter 7 liquidation, not the more orderly Chapter 11 reorganization that the company ultimately followed" under Obama. "In the tangled debate over whether the auto industry would have survived under Romney's bankruptcy plan, Obama has the edge on the argument," says Glenn Kessler at The Washington Post.

Romney: Upon taking office, Obama "said by now we'd be at 5.4 percent unemployment." The verdict: Mostly false
This claim stems from an economic projection two Obama economists laid out before he took office, to predict the effects of a $775 billion economic stimulus bill. The economists, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, added "numerous caveats and warnings" to their analysis, says Kessler, "because, after all, it was merely a projection," based on an unwritten bill. But yes, a chart on Page 4 of the report did foresee unemployment dropping to 5.4 percent by mid-2012. "The chart is now infamous, but it was never pitched as a promise," says PolitiFact. And the caveats were there for good reason: "The economy was, in fact, much worse than economists knew."

Obama: Romney "said that we should still have troops in Iraq to this day."The verdict: Half trueRomney didn't really contest Obama's narrow point, that he thinks we should still have combat troops in Iraq, says Kessler. But ultimately, "Romney has the better part of this argument," because as he points out, Obama tried to keep troops there, too. The Obama administration attempted to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement that would keep roughly 5,000 troops in Iraq, but the talks fell apart when Iraq declined to put the agreement to a parliamentary vote and the Obama administration decided that would expose U.S. troops to Iraqi prosecution. The upshot is that Obama now "stresses the fact that he has removed all troops from Iraq, while knocking Romney for supporting what he originally had hoped to achieve."

Romney: "Our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917.... Our Air Force is older and smaller than at any time since it was founded in 1947."
The verdict: Pants on fire
"Judging by the numbers alone, Romney was close to accurate," saysPolitiFact: In 1916, the Navy had 245 active ships, higher than the numbers before Obama took office but lower than the 285 active ships in 2009 onward; with the Air Force, the total 2009 fleet of 5,988 aircraft is smaller than in any year since 1950. But "this is a great example of a politician using more or less accurate statistics to make a meaningless claim." The ships and aircraft we have now are hugely more powerful, and unlike 50 years ago, U.S. military power is now unequaled. As University of Georgia historianWilliam W. Stueck tells PolitiFact, Romney's comparison "doesn't pass 'the giggle test.'"

Obama: Romney called Russia "the biggest geopolitical threat facing America."The verdict: True
In a March 26 interview on CNN, Romney said that Russia "is without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe." In both that interview and a July follow-up on CNN in which he doubled down on Russia being "the No. 1 adversary" in terms of geopolitics — "I'm talking about votes at the United Nations and actions of a geopolitical nature" — Romney added that the biggest national security threat is a nuclear Iran, not Russia.

Romney: Obama began his term with "an apology tour, of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America."
The verdict: Pants on fireIn the debate, Obama called the "apology tour" line "probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campaign," and the fact-checkers agree. The idea that Obama traveled abroad and apologized for America "is a persistent and false Republican talking point that we have debunked a number of times," says PolitiFact. It stems from a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Karl Rove, says David Sessions at The Daily Beast, and "almost instantly, the right-wing blogosphere began savaging the president's attempt at diplomacy, taking up Rove's 'apology tour' moniker" to try and paint Obama as "weak and confused, reminiscent of Jimmy Carter." That it's patently false should be obvious, but "the president's actual record is what makes the 'apology tour' rhetoric most absurd." You can say a lot about Obama's legally questionable tactics to decimate al Qaeda's leadership ranks, for example, "but you can't say they were the work of an apologizer."

Obama: "Veterans' unemployment is actually now lower than [in the] general population. It was higher when I came into office."
The verdict: Half true
"Whichever measure you use, Obama's formulation was half-right" — and half-wrong, says PolitiFact. If you count all veterans, unemployment was lower (7.4 percent) than the general population (7.8 percent) when Obama took office, and is even lower (6.7 percent) now. If you look just at veterans who served post-9/11, the jobless rate was higher (8.9 percent) when Obama took office and is higher (9.7 percent) still today.

Romney: In terms of balancing budgets, "I went to the Olympics that was out of balance, and we got it on balance."
The verdict: Mostly true
"It's important to understand that there is not one budget for the Olympic Games — there are two," says PolitiFact. In terms of the private organization, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, which ran the games, Romney did turn the finances around, not just balancing the budget but also leaving a $100 million surplus. But there's also the second budget, comprising federal dollars mostly for security and transportation upgrades. Estimates for how much the government chipped in range from $400 million to $1.5 billion, and Romney, by his own account, was aggressive in seeking federal funds for the games. "Romney is right on a technicality that misses the major issue about financing any Olympics," Stanford economist Roger G. Noll tells PolitiFact.

Obama: "With respect to what we've done with China already, U.S. exports have doubled since I came into office."
The verdict: False
According to the U.S. China Business Council, U.S. exports to China hit a record $103.9 billion in 2011, from $69.5 billion in 2009. Ten states have doubled their exports to China in that period, but the U.S. as a whole has not.

Romney: Syria is Iran's "route to the sea."The verdict: False
This one might fit better in the gaffe column, say NPR's Memmott, Montgomery, and Stencel. Iran, "of course, has an extensive coastline along both the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea."

Final score: There was a lot of cherry-picking numbers and stomping on nuance by both candidates, but by choosing to repeat the "pants on fire," "four Pinocchios" claim about Obama's "apology tour," Romney wins the dubious distinction of telling the night's biggest whopper.

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Fact-checking last night's debate

Fans of political drama got a real treat in Tuesday night's town-hall rumble between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The sparks flew as the candidates traded jabs, but the facts and figures did, too. And as in their last face-off, not all those numbers and assertions proved to be true — as the growing chorus of fact-checkers were quick to point out. Here, a survey of some of the biggest disagreements, and which candidate hewed closer to the truth:

Romney: U.S. "oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land"The verdict: Half True
Romney's claim is technically true — in 2011, oil production on federal land was down 13.8 percent — but cherry-picked, says Callum Borchers at The Boston Globe. "Overall, oil production on federal land under Obama is up from 566 million barrels in 2008 to 626 million barrels in 2011, a 10.6 percent increase." And "the big story of the one-year drop-off in public production is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010," says PolitiFact. After the disaster, Obama declared a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil exploration.

Obama: I immediately labeled the deadly attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi an "act of terror"The verdict: Half True
As debate moderator Candy Crowley noted, Obama did use that phrase in his Rose Garden statement hours after the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other U.S. diplomatic personnel. His phrasing was somewhat ambiguous — "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation" — but given the context of the remarks, "it seems a fair conclusion that he was including the attack in the 'acts of terror,'" saysPolitiFact. A week after the attack, Obama also said on David Letterman's late-night show that "terrorists and extremists" were responsible for the Libya attack. "But others in his administration repeated for several days its belief that the violence stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam," says the AP's Calvin Woodward. "And Romney is right in arguing that the administration has yet to explain why it took so long [to acknowledge that the protests didn't happen] or how it came to believe that the attack evolved from an angry demonstration."

Romney: Obama began his presidency "with an apology tour"The verdict: Pants On Fire
Romney has used this line before, but "the notion that President Barack Obama started his presidency with an 'apology tour' is a persistent and false Republican talking point that we have debunked a number of times," saysPolitiFact. Early in his tenure, Obama did go abroad and "criticized past U.S. actions, such as torture practices at Guantanamo, [but] he did not offer one apology." To characterize that as an apology tour is ridiculous.

Obama: Romney's Bain Capital was a "pioneer of outsourcing"The verdict: Half True
Bain, the company Romney founded and led, bought shares in companies that sent back-office, service, and other types of jobs overseas. But "to call these companies pioneers is a stretch," says PolitiFact. That term comes from a Washington Post story from June that said: "During the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain... it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components." It is reasonable to call those companies Romney's, but "outsourcing was well established by the time Bain began buying shares in the companies" in question.

Romney: It's "already illegal in this country to have automatic weapons"The verdict: False
The federal ban on manufacturing some semi-automatic assault weapons that President Clinton signed in 1994 expired in 2004, and wasn't renewed. There are other regulations and restrictions still in place — the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the Hughes Amendment in 1986, says Brian Bennett at the Los Angeles Times. But "fully automatic weapons — guns that fire continuously when the trigger is held down — are legal to possess in the United States."

Obama: Romney called Arizona's immigration law "a model for the nation"The verdict: False
Romney did call Arizona's plan to fight illegal immigration a "model" — as in, "You know, I think you see a model here in Arizona" — in a February GOP primary debate in Phoenix. "But the president took Romney's words out of context," says The Boston Globe's Borchers. Romney "was speaking specifically about the E-Verify employment screening system" in an older state law — not the controversial "show your papers" part of Arizona's 2010 law, as Obama suggested.

Romney: As governor, "I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women"The verdict: False
It's worse than just awkward phrasing — this is "not a true story," says David Bernstein at The Boston Phoenix. In 2002, before Romney was elected, a bipartisan group of women, calling themselves MassGAP, put together a long list of women qualified to fill every cabinet position and lead each state agency, commission, and authority, then presented it to Romney after he was elected. His claim in the debate, "that he asked for such a study, is false."

Obama: As governor, Romney "stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, 'This plant kills'"
The verdict: True
In February 2003, Gov. Romney stood in front of the controversial, coal-burning Salem Harbor Power Station and said, "I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people, and that plant — that plant kills people." He was backed up by Harvard public health and environmental researchers who estimated that Salem Harbor, one of the "Filthy Five" plants, was responsible for 53 deaths, 570 emergency room visits, and tens of thousands of respiratory problems each year. "Where the president was mistaken," says Caitlin Dickson at The Daily Beast, "was when he said Mitt 'took great pride' in closing the plant, since it's still open."

Romney: My plan will create 12 million jobs in four yearsThe verdict: Four Pinocchios
Romney's repeated claim "that his economic plan would produce 12 million jobs" sure "sounds like a pretty bold statement," since only two presidents — Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan — have accomplished that feat, says The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler. But his plan — mostly just "a collection of policy assertions, such as reducing debt, overhauling the tax code, fostering free trade, and so forth"— is "even less impressive than it sounds" when you realize that Moody's Analytics and Macroeconomic Advisors both estimate that the U.S. economy will create at least 12 million new jobs no matter who is in the White House. In other words, says USA Today, "it is accurate that the U.S. economy is expected to gain 12 million jobs in the first term of the next president, but Romney's job plan is not the reason."

Obama: "What I've also said is, for (those earning) above $250,000, we can go back to the tax rates we had when Bill Clinton was president"The verdict: False
Obama's statement is true "only for federal income tax rates," saysFactCheck.org. Obama has proposed raising the income tax ceiling for the wealthiest households to the Clinton-era 39.6 percent, from George W. Bush's 35 percent. But Obama failed to mention that he "already has enacted new taxes that also will fall on those same taxpayers" — a 0.9 percent Medicare payroll tax surcharge on wages above $250,000 per household and a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for the wealthy. "As a result many, if not most, high-income persons will pay more in federal taxes under Obama's proposed rates than they did under Clinton."

Final score: "Both candidates repeated false or misleading claims they have made, and we have rebutted, many times before," says FactCheck.org. (Read the fact-check of the first Obama-Romney debate here for some of them.) So neither can really claim the high road. But Romney seems to have told the more egregious whoppers — and, in the case of his instantly fact-checked overreach on Benghazi, perhaps the only one that will make any difference.

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Debate highlights songified

Bad lip reading: Presidential Debate

Romney goes on the offense, pays for it in the first round of fact checks

In their first of three debates, President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney "traded barbs" and stretched some facts, say the nonpartisan watchdogs at PolitiFact.com.

Similarly, the researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org found examples of truth-stretching by both men.

Overall, it was a debate packed with facts, a wonk's delight. From the very first remarks, with President Obama saying 5 million jobs have been created in the private sector over the last 30 months, the debate was very number focused. So there were some things to check. And because Romney made more factual assertions, he's getting dinged more — at least in the early hours after the debate — by the fact checkers.

Here is a sample of what's being reported about the truthiness of what Obama and Romney had to say Wednesday night on stage at the University of Denver:

— One of the biggest disputes was over tax cuts. Obama argued that Romney's plan to stimulate the economy includes a tax cut totaling $5 trillion that, Obama said, isn't possible because the Republican nominee is also promising to spend money in other places.

Romney flatly disputed that number. "First of all, I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut," he said.

Who's right? The Washington Post's Fact Checker says the facts on this one are on Obama's side. The New York Times notes that Romney "has proposed cutting all marginal tax rates by 20 percent — which would in and of itself cut tax revenue by $5 trillion."

FactCheck.org has weighed in too, tweeting during the debate that "Romney says he will pay for $5T tax cut without raising deficit or raising taxes on middle class. Experts say that's not possible."

PolitiFact has given a "mostly true" rating to the charge that "Romney is proposing a tax plan "that would give millionaires another tax break and raise taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year."

— Has the president put in place a plan that would cut Medicare benefits by $716 billion? Romney says yes. The president says no. According to PolitiFact, Romney's charge is "half true."

"That amount — $716 billion — refers to Obamacare's reductions in Medicare spending over 10 years, primarily paid to insurers and hospitals," says PolitiFact. So there is a basis for the number. But, it adds, "the statement gives the impression that the law takes money already allocated to Medicare away from current recipients," which is why it gets only a "half true" rating.

The New York Times writes that Obama "did not cut benefits by $716 billion over 10 years as part of his 2010 health care law; rather, he reduced Medicare reimbursements to health care providers, chiefly insurance companies and drug manufacturers. And the law gave Medicare recipients more generous benefits for prescription drugs and free preventive care like mammograms."

Still, as NPR's Julie Rovner has reported, "some of the money does indeed reduce future Medical spending, and the fact is, you can't reduce health care spending and preserve Medicare for 78 million baby boomers without slowing its growth."

— In listing his objections to the Affordable Care Act, Romney said it "puts in place an unelected board that's going to tell people, ultimately, what kind of treatments they can have. I don't like that idea."

But the Times and National Journal have reported that the board in question wouldn't make treatment decisions, a point Obama made during the debate. National Journal called Romney's characterization of what this board would do "one of the biggest whoppers of the night." PolitiFact gave Romney's claim a "mostly false" rating.

Under the law, the board's job would be to keep Medicare spending within a particular target (not a dollar figure, but as a factor of GDP) but the board is prohibited from choosing the benefits to be restricted to achieve savings, so it cannot make treatment decisions.

FactCheck.org, which has likened the charge about this panel to the earlier claim from Republicans that Obama would create "death panels," writes that "the board, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, cannot, by law, 'ration' care or determine which treatments Medicare covers. In fact, the IPAB is limited in what it can do to curb the growth of Medicare spending."

— On cutting the federal deficit, PolitiFact writes, "Romney claimed that Obama had said he would 'cut the deficit in half.' That's the case. ... Obama said he put forward 'a specific $4 trillion deficit reduction plan.' That's true if you combine the 10-year impact of his budget with the 10-year impact of cuts already approved. (For that reason, we've previously found his claim that his budget plan would 'cut our deficits by $4 trillion' Half True.)"

— As for Obama's claim that under his watch the economy has created 5 million jobs in the past 30 months, NPR's John Ydstie says that's true. But it also ignores an inconvenient truth (for the president), that about the same number of jobs were lost during Obama's first year in office.

— And on a lighter note, the debate opened with a tender moment and a fact that soon was disputed on Twitter. In acknowledging his wedding anniversary, Obama said that "20 years ago I became the luckiest man on Earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me." An astute tweeter noted that 20 years ago, the first lady's last name was Robinson.

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Obama responds to Akin's rape comment

In a surprise news conference Monday, President Barack Obama addressed the controversy surrounding a remark by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) that women who suffer "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant.

"The views expressed were offensive," said Obama. "Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."

The comments are the most high profile in a series of rebukes from both Democrats and Republicans. Earlier in the day, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney also condemned Akin, who is running to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Obama did not call on Akin to leave the race, as some Republicans have done. "He was nominated by the Republicans in Missouri," he said, "I will let them sort that out." He did, however, use the opportunity to contrast his approach toward women's health care with that of the GOP.

"Although these particular comments have led Governor Romney and other Republicans to distance themselves, I think the underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions, or qualifying forcible rape versus non-forcible rape, I think those are broader issues," Obama said. "And that is a significant difference in approach between me and the other party."

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