(Photo: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

It felt like old times earlier today when I spent close to an hour stalking former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis while he participated in a Google meet-up here at the Republican National Convention.

Aside from a friendly hello, Davis wasn’t talking and his handlers were fiercely protective of both the new Republican and the speech he would deliver later.

The waiting is over and there’s no turning back for Davis.

I knew that his speech would target Democrats and independents, who like him, are disappointed in President Obama’s record. What I didn’t expect, however, were the snarky references to what he described as Obama’s celebrity.

“What a difference four years makes,” Davis said. “The Democrats’ ads convince me that Gov. Romney can’t sing, but his record convinces me he knows how to lead, and I think you know which skill we need more.”

Citing the 2008 Democratic National Convention, he said that some people may have mistaken the glare of the lights as Obama spoke for a halo.

Seriously?

I have no problem with Davis’ switch in party affiliation. In fact, it spices things up a bit and lends not just another African-American voice on that ideological side of the aisle but also a smart one. But weren’t he and Obama kind of friends or at least friendly? If some people, including Davis, it seems, mistook the man for a messiah back then, shame on them.

And shame on Davis for repeating his new party’s false claim that the president is gutting the welfare to work requirement. Less than an hour after he made it, Politifact tweeted: “Again: Not true.”

(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Just last week Mitt Romney was simply aghast by what he called the negative tone of the presidential campaign and accused President Obama of taking things to a new low.

“Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago,” he said at a campaign event in Ohio.

And then what does he turn around and do this week? Makes a birth certificate joke on Friday while campaigning in Michigan, the state where he grew up and hopes to put in play in November.

“Now I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born,” Romney said. “Ann was born in Henry Ford Hospital. I was born in Harper Hospital. No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.”

The remark sounded an awful lot like it came straight out of the playbook of so-called birthers who’ve insisted that the president wasn’t born in the United States even after he publicly released  copies of his birth certificate. Romney’s campaign hastened to say that he believes Obama is an American citizen and it was just his way of expressing hometown pride.

But to some people it will seem more like his way of speaking in code to appeal to certain members of the GOP’s far-right base. The Obama campaign definitely sees it that way.

“Throughout this campaign, Gov. Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them. It’s one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio and Kris Kobach. But Gov. Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America,” said Obama for America national spokesman Ben LaBolt.

As if to underscore LaBolt’s point, radio host Rush Limbaugh applauded  the incident on his program, proclaiming Romney’s remarks “right on, right on, right on.”

Hmmmm …

(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Remember when the Drudge Report was the first thing that the people who live and breathe politics turned to in the morning for the latest scoop? Now, it seems, not so much. At his daily briefing with reporters on Aug. 7, White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed a report on the web site that President Obama had told a supporter that Central Intelligence Agency chief Gen. David Petraeus will be rival Mitt Romney’s vice presidential choice.

“I can say with absolute confidence that such an assertion has never been uttered by the president,” Carney said, adding this warning to his questioner: “Be mindful of your sources.”

Carney, who frequently punts campaign-related questions to the campaign, also denounced a new Romney campaign ad that accuses the president of trying to “gut welfare reform” implemented by Bill Clinton that requires recipients to conduct serious job searches in exchange for benefits.

“This advertisement is categorically false, and it is blatantly dishonest,” Carney said.

But Carney was not so adamant when asked about a new television ad produced the Priorities USA super PAC that suggests Romney was responsible for the death of the wife of Joe Soptic, who lost his job and benefits after the steel mill he worked at was acquired and sold by Bain Capital.

“You know, I have not seen the ad, and I would refer you to the campaign or to the organization,” Carney said. “I can’t comment on an ad I haven’t seen.”

He may not like what he sees, however. A fact check has found that Soptic’s wife was employed and had access to health care coverage through her job when her husband lost his and she actually died in 2006, as Romney was nearing the end of his term as Massachusetts governor.

President Obama’s re-election campaign released an ad over the weekend that featured Republican rival Mitt Romney singing “America the Beautiful” and a series of headlines that say Romney as governor of Massachusetts outsourced jobs and that he offshores his millions in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. In retaliation, and to steer attention from calls for Romney to disclose multiple tax returns and more details about his tenure at Bain Capital, his campaign on Monday released an online video with President Obama crooning the opening lyrics of the Al Green classic “Let’s Stay Together” and headlines that accuse the president of political cronyism.

By Monday afternoon, BMG Rights Management, which owns the rights to the Al Green song said, “Let’s not stay together” and claiming copyright infringement, forced the campaign to remove the video (“America the Beautiful” is in the public domain).

When will Team Romney learn?

The Republican, who was still in the midst of his primary battle, broke into song at a campaign event after Obama pretty much wowed the world with his singing ability during a January fundraiser at the Apollo Theater. It was like Romney’s competitive nature got the best of him and the result was not pretty. Instead of coming off as cheeky and charming like Obama, his performance was kind of embarrassing to watch. Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul accused the president of mocking “America the Beautiful,” which this politi-chick finds laughably tone deaf.

At any rate, the Romney team has denied copyright infringement and has vowed to get its video back up.

“Our use was 100 percent proper, under fair use, and we plan to defend ourselves,” a campaign official said.

But they’ve got bigger fish to fry. People on both sides of the ideological aisle are still clamoring to know what’s in those tax returns and the exact nature of Romney’s role at Bain during his “retroactive retirement.”

(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

When you spend your workdays surrounded by hundreds of the nation’s most powerful men and women, it’s easy to grow a little jaded. You lose appreciation for the richly patterned tile floors as you breeze past the bronze and marble statues, sculptures and frescoed murals in the U.S. Capital–until a visitor reminds you that such beauty shouldn’t be taken for granted.

That same ennui happens when you’ve been to the White House more times than you can count. The first few times are a thrill but you quickly get over it.

But today as I embarked on my maiden voyage on the presidential campaign trail, I felt that thrill again, especially as I watched the reactions of the people who had stood in line for hours to hear President Obama speak, that ranged from glee to absolute rapture. One woman was so overcome with emotion that she required medical assistance.

Minnae Chabwera, 20, is a Hampton University student majoring physics. She will participate in her first presidential election this November and cannot wait.

“I wanted to see him and support my president because I’m going to vote for him [for the first time] in November, and I’m going to volunteer,” she said at a campaign rally in Hampton, Virginia.

Minnae, who dreams of being an astronaut and has interned at NASA, was just 17 when Obama was first elected, but she volunteered for his campaign. She and some friends skipped school and braved Washington’s scary-cold weather on Inauguration Day to witness him taking the oath of office. Minnae has since voted in congressional races, which she also believes is important.

“People don’t go out and vote every two years like they’re supposed to and then get upset when things don’t go their way,” she said.

Casting that first presidential ballot, however, will be very special. Minnae says it means she’s “finally grown up enough to make a difference in the world.”

When asked if she’s noticed a lower level of enthusiasm for Obama among college students, she said that’s definitely not the case on her campus, where the president delivered a commencement speech a couple of years ago. Upperclassmen are fired up and ready to make sure the incoming freshman class members register to vote, Minnae explained, and the school holds registration drives every year. Students also are checking out Virginia’s new voter ID law and will vote absentee in their home states if it turns out to be an obstacle.

The most moving encounter, however, was with a woman in Norfolk, Virginia, whom  I wrote about earlier, who was recently diagnosed with myeloma. Sandra Brooks Green is the kind of brave woman with a heartbreaking tale that the president sometimes talks about during his stump speeches. I saw her as Obama made his way through the crowd in Norfolk, and wished she could have gotten a hug.

But just being in the same him was enough.

“I feel more empowered than I did before. It’s clear we need him for another four years to make a change,” said Green, who was seeing the president in person for the first time. “I feel humbled and honored to be here.”

Many of the people I will meet along the campaign trail between now and November, like Green, will be poignant reminders to never take anything for granted.

(Photo: Courtesy Sandra Brooks Green)

Like the hundreds of other supporters and volunteers who lined up today to hear President Obama speak at Green Run High School in Norfolk, Virginia, Sandra Brooks Green is feeling lucky in what has been the unluckiest of weeks. Just two days ago, she explained as tears rolled down her face, Green was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. But despite feeling overwhelmed by her diagnosis and trying to understand her treatment options, it was important for her to be there to show her support for a president whom she feels has supported her by pushing so hard to pass the Affordable Care Act.

“I came here primarily to support him and hope we’ll have him for another term,” said Green, who owns a hair salon and is earning an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland-University College.

Before Republicans came into power, Green says, her business thrived. But as is the case with many entrepreneurs, as her clients have suffered, she has experienced a trickle-down effect. But she is particularly bothered by the GOP’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, particularly Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who once considered health care reform in Massachusetts one of his signature achievements.

“The other party has put out negative information and that leads everyone to think it won’t work, it will cost more, they’ll run out of money,” she said. “It needs to be explained in layman’s terms” in digestible pieces.

Green believes the public’s divided views on the issue can be attributed to the fact that they simply don’t understand it. And they believe that having insurance coverage shouldn’t be mandated — until they are suddenly struck by illness, she said.

“That’s when it hits you,” Green added. “If I didn’t have insurance, I probably would never have been diagnosed.”

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  (Photo: Face the Nation)

President Obama on Friday craftily announced a major shift on immigration policy, just a few hours after Republican rival Mitt Romney hit the road on his “Every Town Counts” bus tour. Former Republican National Committee chairman and BET.com commentator Michael Steele called it a “gotcha” move and his fellow GOPers complained over the weekend that it was purely “politics.” Maybe so, but as they well know, in an election this tight, every vote counts and both Obama and Romney will need every Latino one that they can get in November.

As Romney’s caravan rolled from state to state, he hoped to turn the media’s attention to his criticisms of Obama’s handling of the economy. Instead, they wanted to know if he would repeal the president’s executive order that prevents an estimated 800,000 young Latinos from being deported if they meet certain criteria and also enables them to work legally in the U.S.

So, where does he stand? The answer only Romney knows as he repeatedly dodged the question or gave vague responses.

“He has a great allergy to specifics and details,” conservative columnist and commentator Rich Lowry said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday. “And he actually said in an interview a little while ago that he thinks one of the things that hurt him in his 1994 race against Ted Kennedy was that he was too specific so it creates these targets for the other side.”

But Romney was very specific on his way to the nomination, suggesting that illegal immigrants “self-deport,” taking a very hard-line stance on immigration to win the hearts and votes of die-hard conservatives.

So now he’s stuck in part because those same conservatives don’t want to hear about comprehensive immigration reform. That’s why it also will be interesting to hear what Romney has to say when he addresses a conference of Latino elected officials later in the week.

The big question is: Will he say what he means or what he thinks Hispanics or conservatives want to hear? Unfortunately for Romney, he can’t have it both ways.

(Photos: Courtesy Romney For President, Inc; Courtesy Democratic National Committee)

Mitt Romney is taking it old-school, embarking a five-day road trip Friday morning that may not set tongues wagging like his now-infamous family voyage to Canada when he strapped poor family dog Seamus to the roof of the station wagon, but could turn out to be rather interesting. That’s because the GOP White House hopeful has got some uninvited travel companions on what his campaign has dubbed the “Every Town Counts” tour.

The Democratic National Committee plans to hit each of the six battleground states where Romney aims to highlight how President Obama has allegedly ignored Americans’ “everyday concerns” and offered them “no hope for the future.” The DNC is calling its trip the “Middle Class Under the Bus” tour and each stop will “feature representatives from Massachusetts who will speak from firsthand knowledge about what Romney Economics meant for economic growth and the middle class” during the his tenure as governor.

And it’s not the only organization hitching its wagon to the event. MoveOn.org plans to send protesters to each of the sites where the GOP candidate is scheduled to deliver speeches and also is following the tour in its “Romneymobile,” an SUV tricked out with decals of his largest corporate sponsors and a fake dog strapped to the roof. The group is calling its version of the trip the “Every Millionaire Counts” tour.

Want to go along for the ride? ABC News has created a Google map to track “how he rolls.”

(Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

The amount of money that teams Obama and Romney will raise to pummel each other along the campaign trail this year is going to be epic — and kind of scary. Already they’ve spent enough money on negative advertising to support a small developing nation. Even scarier is that the two campaigns have agreed that it’s a good idea to allow voters to text message campaign donations. And Monday night, the Federal Election Commission voted in favor of it.

The goal is to counter the impact of the big, bad super PACs that watchdog and other groups fear will be able to essentially buy the presidential and other federal elections because of the unrestricted amounts of money they can collect. Now ordinary Americans will be able play their part in the democratic process. And just like concertgoers wave lighters as they sway in unison along with songs that move them emotionally, a fired up campaign rally crowd can whip out their cell phones to make a donation.

“With billionaires and super PACs drowning out the voices of hardworking Americans, text message campaign contributions can enhance the role of small donors and, combined with public matching funds, could provide a megaphone for the masses,” said Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign.

At first, some people will be excited when they see a text message from Obama or Romney responding to their contributions. But dialers beware: those messages will grow more frequent and kind of weird with requests and reminders from the candidates’ surrogates talking about “midnight” deadlines, “help me celebrate my anniversary,” and “I want to see you at the convention.”

That’s when the thrill starts feeling more like spam.

(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI)

Comedian Don Rickles is old-school and built a career on his acerbic wit. In fact, there was a time when he could get away with saying anything to get a laugh, including racist comments. Not anymore.

At an American Film Institute tribute to actress Shirley MacLaine last Thursday, “Mr. Warmth,” as he is known, insulted President Obama in a joke that received a cold reception, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“I shouldn’t make fun of the Blacks,” the 86-year-old said. “President Obama is a personal friend of mine. He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.”

It’s not his first attempt at humor at the Obama’s expense. Soon after Obama won his 2008 presidential election, Rickles, in an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, joked about Obama playing basketball in the White House, which also was not received well.

“It was a joke as were the other comments Don made that night,” said a Rickles representative of the latest incident. “Anyone who knows him knows he’s not a racist.”

Politically correct humor is probably an oxymoron to Rickles and many people will likely give Rickles, an equal opportunity insulter who spares no one, including himself, a pass. At his age, it’s unlikely that the old dog is prepared to learn new tricks. But he is old enough to know that when it comes to the president, regardless of who’s occupying the White House, he needs to bite that acerbic tongue, especially if he’s one of “the Blacks.”