The Obama re-election team is distancing the president from comments made by a key surrogate on Tuesday.

During a cable television interview Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, said "There's something about raping companies and leaving them in debt and setting up Swiss bank accounts and corporate businesses in the Grand Caymans. I have a serious problem with that."

The Obama campaign's response to Clyburn's comment was terse. "We strongly disagree with Congressman Clyburn's choice of words- they have no place in this conversation," said Obama Campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith.

However the Obama Camp isn't backing off the Bain Capital line of attack. Smith added, "But we do believe that Mitt Romney should come clean about his record as a corporate buyout specialist and how, contrary to his claims of creating jobs, his focus was on reaping quick profits for investors at the expense of workers and middle class families."

Private equity and Mitt Romney's time as the CEO of Bain Capital has been dominating the presidential campaign trail lately. On Monday President Obama defended attacks on Mr. Romney's time at Bain Capital, saying the subject "is not a distraction. This is part of the debate that we're going to be having this election campaign."

President Obama and Former President Bill Clinton will team up next month for yet another joint big dollar fundraiser. But you don't have to be a rich celebrity to attend the New York City event. The campaign is inviting two grassroots supports for as little as 3 dollars!

Similar to the successful fundraiser with George Clooney, every small dollar contribution will be automatically entered to win a seat at the June 4th event with Clinton. The campaign promises to pay for travel for the two winners and their guests. Earlier this month, the Obama campaign raised over $8million from supporters hoping to be invited to Clooney's house.

The former president appeared at a joint fundraiser in April for Mr. Obama, contributing to the $43.6 million raised by the campaign in April alone. Clinton's New York City event in June is the second of three events the former president will hold for the sitting president. (read more)

Both President Obama and Mitt Romney saw their fundraising numbers drop in recently. President Obama's re-election campaign raised $25.7 million in April, almost $10 million less than he raised in March.

Mitt Romney's team raised $11.7 million in April, down from more than $13 million in March.

However, President Obama has a staggering lead when it comes to cash on hand; Mr. Romney has $9.2 million while President Obama has $115 million.

Both of the Super PACs supporting the campaigns also had a lackluster April. Restore Our Future, which supports Mr. Romney raised $4.6 million for the month which is down from $8.7 million in March.

Meanwhile, the pro-Obama political action committee Priorities USA raised only $1.6 million in April.

Federal Election Commission records show that Newt Gingrich ended his presidential campaign with a little more than $800,000 in cash on hand and nearly $4.8 million in debt.

The NAACP endorsed same-sex marriage Monday calling it one of the key civil rights issues of the day.

"Civil marriage like all civil rights provided by the government must be provided equally to all," said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous. "We oppose all efforts by Congress or any president to enshrine discrimination into the laws of our great country."

The press conference held at the organization's Baltimore headquarters explained its board of directors' decision Saturday to release a resolution supporting "marriage equality."

Jealous called it "the responsibility and history of the NAACP to speak up on the civil rights issues of our time" and that using the Constitution to deny same-sex marriage could lead the country in a "dangerous direction."

Jealous also said he didn't want the issue used as a wedge issue in the upcoming election. Many African Americans oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds.

Board Chairman Rosslyn Brock stressed that religion played no role in the decision.

"It is not our role or our intent to express how any place of worship should act in its own house," said Brock. "We have not done so in the past and we will not do so in the future."

Brock added that some of the board of directors members' beliefs were still evolving on the issue, but they all stood behind releasing the resolution.

The 103-year-old organization cited the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment as the basis of its decision. (read more)

CHICAGO -- President Obama arrived in his hometown of Chicago Saturday night looking to collaborate with European allies at the NATO summit on bringing the war in Afghanistan to a close, but the shadow of the Eurozone economic troubles is sure to blanket the talks.

"As all the leaders here today agreed, growth and jobs must be our top priority," the president said as the G-8 summit wrapped up at Camp David. " A stable, growing European economy is in everybody's best interests -- including America's."

Despite the financial focus in Maryland Friday and Saturday, Afghanistan will still have a place at the forefront of the summit that includes not only NATO members but representatives of 61 different nations along with representatives of the European Union, United Nations and World Bank. The president's focus on Afghanistan will be evident from the time he arrives at McCormick Place, the massive convention center situated on the shore of Lake Michigan. The first event on the president's schedule Sunday is a meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. (read more)

This city is on high alert after three terror arrests on the eve of the NATO summit, so average citizens are not supposed to get anywhere close to President Obama and the other visiting world leaders.

  That's why there are a string of humongous dump trucks lined up outside the president's hotel to deter potential suicide bombers, dozens of Chicago police officers stationed on the street to ward off people who are not supposed to be at the downtown Sheraton, and metal detectors in the lobby to check hotel guests who do belong but could be a threat.

  Sometimes, however, even the president simply wants to take an evening stroll -- and sends the Secret Service scrambling for a Plan B.

It was close to midnight on Saturday night when eyewitnesses say Obama simply left his safe and secure room upstairs and hopped on an elevator with his security detail to get a peek at the lobby. 

  Hotel guests and various tourists who were wandering the lobby in the highly unlikely event of bumping into the president let out shrieks and screams as the man himself suddenly walked off the elevator. He started shaking hands all around and even stopped to pose for  cell phone photos, including with one stunned guy who said he was celebrating a big day.

  "Happy Birthday!" called out the president, who was casual in rolled up shirtsleeves. (read more)

President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will remain at Camp David Saturday evening after the G8 Summit ends. While the other leaders will return home or head to Chicago for the NATO Summit, Obama and Merkel will hold a bilateral meeting the White House announced Saturday.

The G8 meeting was originally also scheduled in the president's home town of Chicago, but he moved the summit to the presidential retreat in order to create a more relaxed set of talks. And while many leaders have been taking walks around the camp grounds and having smaller casual discussions on patios, Chancellor Merkel and President Obama have more to discuss.

"Chancellor Merkel was one of the leaders that president Obama was able to talk to last night after the session," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said Saturday, "he's also going to have a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Merkel after the conclusion of the G8. So the president will conclude the G8, he will have a statement to the press, and then he'll have a formal bilateral meeting actually here at Camp David with Chancellor Merkel." (read more)

Twenty-six is a magical number in the debate over health care reform.

Twenty-six is the number of times the House GOP has voted to repeal, raze or strike funding for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which became law in 2010.

Twenty-six million is the number of people who will still find themselves without health insurance under the ACA.

In other words, despite all of the commotion from House Republicans that they would annul President Obama's health care law, they've been unsuccessful. So far. To be fair, that's mostly because such a plan doesn't stand a chance of making it through the Democratically-controlled Senate. Plus, there is virtually no chance that Mr. Obama would sign any such repeal.

On top of that, Democrats still fall short in their effort to provide "universal" health care coverage for all Americans. The structure of the new health law basically helps provide coverage for about half of those who lack insurance.

And you can bet that the numbers 26 and 26 million will emerge as key figures batted around if the Supreme Court decimates the ACA with its decision on the constitutionality of the law in late June.

Health care reform was a crystallizing event in the 2010 midterm elections. It's what melded traditional Republicans with those aligned with the tea party movement. They viewed the effort as a gross overreach of government. And Congressional Republicans are prepping to make this year's elections about health care reform, too. Many Republicans are already jockeying for position if the High Court takes a blow torch to the law. Republicans believe they can exhibit such an opinion as concrete evidence that the president and Congressional Democrats wantonly abandoned the Constitution when crafting the 2010 statute. With a favorable ruling, they'll assert that their efforts to defeat the law are now fully vindicated.

But this outcome creates special issues for both parties.

In their first working dinner of the two day talks, the G-8 leaders spent more than two hours discussing a broad range of security issues. But the majority of their first meeting as a group focused on Iran and Syria.

The summit at Camp David is just days ahead of the international P5+1 talks in Baghdad over concerns with the Iranian nuclear program.

"The G-8 affirmed the importance of having a unified effort in approaching this Baghdad talks next week and continued to underscore a commitment to a dual track process in which we seek a diplomatic resolution to the situation in Iran," a Senior White House official told reporters at Camp David.

The leaders also discussed additional pressure on Iran through sanctions. "The leaders noted the urgency for Iran to take concrete steps to assure the international community of its peaceful purpose of its program and those types of steps will be discussed at the upcoming talks in Baghdad," said the White House official. (read more)

When world leaders arrive at Camp David Friday evening to begin the G8 summit, they will add a new chapter to the history of the rural retreat that is an iconic part of the presidential past. The hideaway tucked into the Catoctin Mountains in western Maryland has never hosted a meeting of this magnitude.

"[T]he G8 meeting will be the largest gathering of leaders ever to stay at Camp David," National Security Director Tom Donilon said Thursday. "In fact, this is the first time that there will be more than two heads of state at Camp David."

The White House wants to make the gathering of leaders of some of the world's biggest economies an intimate affair. The leaders will meet around a dinner table in one of the camp's cabins and each will be provided accommodations for themselves and one aide.

Being the first to host the leaders in this type of setting is an idea the president liked as the decision was made to move the gathering from Chicago where some of the leaders will head Saturday night for a NATO summit. (read more)