Obama: Talking guns

Obama last night to the National Urban League, via NBC’s Ali Weinberg: “When there's extraordinarily heartbreaking tragedy, there's always an outcry immediately after for action,” Obama said to the crowd of 3,700. “Too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere.”

“President Obama called for some gun-control tweaks Wednesday, including more thorough background checks,” The New York Daily News writes. “While he called hunting and shooting a ‘cherished national tradition,’ Obama added that ‘a lot of gun owners would agree that an AK-47 belongs in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals.’”

“Some of President Barack Obama's most senior aides have begun making regular appearances at his campaign's Chicago headquarters, tightening the link between the White House and the re-election effort as the race intensifies,” the Wall Street Journalwrites, adding, “White House officials and the Obama campaign said the presence of the men at Obama headquarters doesn't suggest discontent with the campaign's operations. The visits are meant to ensure the White House and campaign are aware of what the other is planning and to align campaign schedules and messages, advisers said. But others close to the campaign say Mr. Rouse in particular has been on hand to support campaign manager Jim Messina, who hasn't before run an organization as large and complex.”Reuters: “President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with leaders of all political stripes to ‘arrive at a consensus’ on how to reduce gun violence across the United States after the Colorado shootings highlighted the issue in an election year.”

Back to Bain: “President Obama's campaign looked to again focus attention on Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital on Wednesday, highlighting a new report by the Associated Press that shows the presumptive Republican nominee continued to have regular contact with his partners in the firm after his 1999 departure date,” The Hill writes.