As Republicans continue trying to cash in on the out-of-context “you didn’t build that” attack on President Obama, the Obama campaign is assembling an army of small business owners who say that …

Obama Camp Objects To ‘Hypocritical And False’ Welfare Attack

The Obama camp is pushing back against Mitt Romney’s charge that the White House is “taking the work requirement out of welfare,” accusing Romney of distorting a bipartisan policy that he supported as governor.

Obama’s deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter called Romney’s attacks “hypocritical and false,” noting that Republican governors in Utah and Nevada requested the waiver in question to grant them more flexibility in finding employment for welfare recipients. She noted that the Department of Health and Human Services specifically warned it would axe any requests that “weaken or undercut welfare reform or try to avoid time limits on assistance.”

Romney Puts False Welfare Attack At Center Of Campaign

Mitt Romney loves the ’90s, apparently — he is making President Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform bill the centerpiece of his campaign this week. But his accusations that President Obama is trying to “gut” the program by waiving its work requirements don’t jibe with the administration’s actual work guidelines. They also sidestep the fact that Romney himself supported such changes — he was just one of the Republicans who lent similar requests bipartisan support.

In a speech in Illinois Tuesday, Romney praised Clinton and Republicans for saying “they did not want a culture of dependency to grow in our country, but instead wanted people to have the blessings of work.” By contrast, he said, “President Obama, in just the last few days, has tried to reverse that accomplishment, by taking the work requirement out of welfare. That is wrong, if I’m president I’ll put work back in welfare.”

His speech came on the heels of a new campaign ad asserting that “Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job — they just send you your welfare check.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney called Romney’s charges “categorically false” and “blatantly dishonest” in his Tuesday briefing.

RNC Brushes Off Sandra Fluke’s Emergence Onto The Campaign Trail

On Wednesday, Sandra Fluke will introduce President Obama on the trail in Colorado, part of the campaign’s renewed focus on women’s issues.

On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was unmoved by Fluke’s return to the political spotlight.

PPP: Obama Leads In Colorado, But Romney Gains In Favorability

Although his job approval rating is down and Mitt Romney’s favorability rating is ticking up, President Barack Obama still leads in Colorado, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows the president leading Romney among likely Colorado voters, 49 percent to 43 percent. In a three-way match-up between Obama, Romney and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, the president’s lead over Romney shrinks to 4 points, 46 percent to 42 percent. Johnson picks up 6 percent support, much stronger than he has performed in other polls and perhaps an indication that the former Republican New Mexico governor poses a greater threat to Obama than Romney in Colorado.

Poll: Obama Boosts North Carolina Lead, Romney Image Slipping

President Obama has a 3-point lead in North Carolina, where Mitt Romney’s appeal is slipping among voters, according to a new poll.

The poll from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling shows Obama leading Romney 49 percent to 46 percent. In its July poll of North Carolina, Obama held a 1-point lead, 47 percent to 46 percent.

“Independent voters have warmed up to the President considerably over the past month, turning towards Obama by 12 points, though still favoring Romney by a 48% to 44% mark,” PPP pollsters wrote. “Obama’s approval rating has also improved among this key demographic, from a scathing -25 in July to -13 today.”

Romney Ad Attacks Obama On Welfare Flexibility Romney Championed

A new ad by Mitt Romney attacks President Obama’s directive to let states test new ways to implement welfare reform. But as governor of Massachusetts, Romney himself pushed the federal government for a similar policy.

“On July 12th, President Obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements,” a narrator in the Romney ad says.

In 2005, Romney and 28 other Republican governors wrote a letter to Congress requesting even more flexibility than Obama has offered, for the purpose of “[e]mpowering states to seek new and innovative solutions to help welfare recipients achieve independence.”

“Increased waiver authority, allowable work activities, availability of partial work credit and the ability to coordinate state programs are all important aspects of moving recipients from welfare to work,” read the letter, which was co-signed by prominent GOP governors like Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry, Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee and Jon Huntsman.

Pro-Obama Super PAC Launches Toughest Bain Ad Yet

The super PAC backing President Obama on Tuesday released its harshest ad yet. A twist on previous Bain layoff ads, the latest Priorities USA Action ad features a laid-off steelworker discussing the death of his wife.

In the ad, Joe Soptic, who formerly appeared an Obama campaign ad in May, says losing his health insurance along with his job after Bain Capital closed the Kansas City GST Steel mill where he worked may have contributed to his wife’s death.

Romney Ad Attacks Obama On Welfare: ‘You Wouldn’t Have To Work’

Rather than trying to shift the election narrative back to the economy, the Romney campaign is out with a new attack on President Obama. Riding a wave of conservative outrage against a little-noticed Department of Health and Human Services memo last month, the Romney campaign is attacking Obama for ending “welfare as we know it.”

The new argument allows Romney to paint Obama as a big-government liberal while shifting the narrative away from specifics of his tax plan and own tax returns.

Missouri GOP Senate Hopefuls Agree On Ousting McCaskill — And Everything Else

Missouri Republicans on Tuesday will choose between a trio of Senate hopefuls who have been locked in a tight contest in which all three have jockeyed to present themselves as the most conservative in the bunch. The winner will face Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, considered to be one of the most vulnerable 2012 incumbents.

Businessman John Brunner, Rep. Todd Akin and former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman are all vying to take on McCaskill. Brunner led the field in a poll released over the weekend with 35 percent; Akin had 30 percent and Steelman had 25 percent.

“It’s very difficult to predict the race at this point,” a Republican source in Missouri told TPM. “I think for the first time in a very long time, at least in Missouri, we are heading into an Election Day where all three of the candidates really all do have a path to victory.”