Mark Sullivan, the director of the Secret Service, plans to step down and announce his retirement Friday after 30 years with the agency, administration sources say.

Sullivan has served as director since 2006 during the Bush administration. The agency found itself in the middle of a controversy after a prostitution scandal during President Obama's trip to Colombia in April 2012.

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson accused Sullivan of misleading Congress during a testimony in May of last year about the scandal, something other senators called "unfair."

Multiple sources on Capitol Hill and in key special-interest groups involved in national security issues say they have been told to be prepared for a Chuck Hagel nomination for Defense Secretary, either as early as Monday or perhaps more likely Tuesday of next week.

Related: Former Sen. Chuck Hagel apologizes for gay comment

While it's still possible for the president to have a change of heart, all signs are pointing to a Hagel nomination.

That said, a White House spokesperson tells NBC News pretty emphatically that the president has not made a final decision and does not expect the president to make a final decision until he gets back from Hawaii.

The White House spokesperson adds, the "chatter" about Hagel-as-the-pick in the national-security and Capitol Hill communities is "premature." That said this spokesperson acknowledged Hagel is a "leading contender."

For what it's worth, the reason a lot of outside sources are being given a heads up on Hagel is that the White House knows if Hagel is indeed the president's choice, it's going to be a real fight.

Hagel's 2008 statement that "the Jewish lobby" intimidates many lawmakers has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, and some have painted him as weak on defense issues. Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York, a top-ranking Jewish senator, passed on the opportunity to offer an endorsement for Hagel during an appearance on Meet the Press, while Republican Sen. John Cornyn called his positions on Iran and nuclear weapons "unacceptable."

Hagel also recently apologized for his 1998 opposition to an ambassadorial nominee whom he described as "openly, aggressively gay."

There are as many as 10 Democratic senators who could vote no, Capitol Hill sources say. But Hagel has some big backers besides the president who would become the key point people in getting Hagel over the finish line – Vice President Joe Biden and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, both of whom are huge proponents of Hagel.

Asked on MSNBC’s Morning Joe about the opposition to Hagel, Obama political adviser David Axelrod defended the former Republican Nebraska senator.

“It speaks to the larger problem that we’re talking about, which is, we have to get the point, where, first of all, independence is admired and not discouraged, and we can disagree on some things and still work together on others,” Axelrod said. “And the notion that we demonize people because of a position that they’ve taken and disqualify them on that basis is what’s destroying the ability to get things done in this town.”

Dave Kaup / Reuters

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) leaves a news conference in Omaha, Nebraska in this March 12, 2007, file photo.

Bottom line: It appears to be Hagel, but the White House says no final decision has been made.

News of the expected nomination was first reported by Foreign Policy magazine's The Cable blog.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was released last night from the hospital after being treated for a blood clot, is looking forward to coming back to work next week, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said today.

"Some of the senior staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she's sounding terrific, upbeat, raring to go. She's looking forward to getting back to the office. She is very much planning to do so next week, and we'll have further precise details about that as she continues to make progress," Nuland said.

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Nuland said Clinton's family has been with her at home, but didn't have any other details about visitors to share. Nuland said she didn't have any new details on the medical side of things, but instead referenced a previous statement by Clinton's doctors advising against international travel.

"It sounds as if the doctors' preference is that she not make any international trips for a little while," she said.

Nuland called the number of messages from international leaders wishing Clinton well a "tsunami." Nuland didn't have any calls to international leaders to read out, but said she is sure Clinton will be back on the phone with her counterparts soon.

Clinton has said she is committed to testify on the Hill regarding Benghazi, but Nuland didn't have a date to announce. "We are working with the committees on an appropriate set of dates," she said.

Nuland was also asked about Clinton's likely successor. She didn't have an update on when Sen. John Kerry's confirmation hearing would be held, but said the State Department is also working on that date.

"We are also working with the Hill on an appropriate date for the hearing. It goes to the calendar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hasn't yet been set," Nuland said.

It’s not just Benghazi anymore.

One of the most controversial energy projects in the nation also has become a flash point in the drama surrounding who may become the next secretary of state – and it’s coming from the left instead of the right.

Back on Nov. 28, “OnEarth,” published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, dug into U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s financial disclosures and found that she and her husband have a stake in TransCanada, the company pushing for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built.

NRDC officials say it's an important issue that must be discussed during the nomination process. But the timing of the report raises questions, as it is being surfaced by an environmental activist community that has previously given support to another potential secretary of state candidate – Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

The decision on whether to approve the pipeline goes through the State Department.

“If confirmed by the Senate, one of Rice’s first duties likely would be consideration, and potentially approval, of the controversial mega-project,” Scott Dodd at “OnEarth” wrote. “Rice's financial holdings could raise questions about her status as a neutral decision maker.”

Dodd noted that “Rice owns stock valued between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada, the company seeking a federal permit to transport tar sands crude 1,700 miles to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing fragile Midwest ecosystems and the largest freshwater aquifer in North America.”

Bill McKibben, an anti-pipeline activist, told the publication: “It’s really amazing that they’re considering someone for Secretary of State who has millions invested in these companies. The State Department has been rife with collusion with the Canadian pipeline builders, and it’s really distressing to have any sense that that might continue to go on.”

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, the NRDC's director of international programs, sounded a less strident tone a day later: "What's most important is that she rid herself of her holdings in TransCanada and other tar sands-related companies, and we're confident she will do that ... What's most important is that we have a good, thorough review done.”

Danielle Droitsch, a senior attorney for the NRDC and director of the Canada Project, told First Read: “We think Ambassador Rice has the credentials to be secretary of state, but if she were nominated, and then appointed, these holdings would have to be addressed.”

She added that “high-level officials dealing with Keystone should not have any conflicts of interest.”

The likelihood is that, if nominated, Rice will have to divest herself of her TransCanada investment to avoid a conflict of interest.

The environmental group’s effort to shed light on Rice’s financial interest in TransCanada could be just an attempt, if Rice is nominated, to get a “thorough review” and make sure it has a staunch ally in trying to thwart the project, as Casey-Lefkowitz said.

But could it also be a signal that the NRDC prefers another candidate for the job – Kerry, the other of the final two candidates reportedly being considered for the post?

After all, environmental groups have strongly supported Kerry in the past and have a long working relationship with him. Like they would for most Democrats in a presidential election, for example, the NRDC and the League of Conservation Voters, among others, ran ads in the 2004 election boosting Kerry.

LCV even endorsed Kerry before the New Hampshire Democratic primary that year, although it has notably not spoken out about Rice.

Droitsch, however, would not address whom the NRDC prefers for the job.

“We’re trying to signal that the pipeline decision has to be conflict-free,” Droitsch said. “That would pertain to any potential nominee. The president has the prerogative to nominate the person he believes is best for the position.”

The Senate will then raise questions, however, she said. And “now is important to raise the issue ... We want to make sure that anyone who’s being considered would be free of those conflicts. That’s our primary interest right now.”

The NRDC, which has been very involved in efforts to block Keystone, is the environmental interest group most pressing the issue of Rice’s financials.

But others might not be as keen to see Kerry leave Capitol Hill. After all, consider that green groups already spent a lot of money trying to oust Republican Scott Brown from the Senate – and were successful.

But if Kerry becomes secretary of state (or even defense secretary), his seat would become vacant, raising the potential for a costly and competitive special election.

“Who cares if the U.N. ambassador has a TransCanada stock. Who cares if the head of the FDA has TransCanada stock,” said a Democratic strategist and ally of the administration who is a veteran of confirmation battles.

“If she [Rice] were to be nominated, she would go through a process by which we look for financials conflicts. Maybe this stock would be identified as something that posed a conflict, and she would sell," the strategist said. "But she hasn't gone through that process, because she's not a nominee to anything. If they want to say that if she is the nominee, she should sell the stock, that's fine. But you can't legitimately hit her for having it now. And that is likely why NRDC backed off and no other environmental groups have piled-on.”

What really is going on here likely has less to do with Rice and whether she should ascend to secretary of state, and more with the NRDC leveraging pressure on the president and the administration to make sure the pipeline is rejected again once it comes up for approval. And that could be soon.

The next step in that approval phase, in fact, could come as early as next week, Droitsch said. TransCanada has applied for a shortened pipeline in hopes of having that approved – something the NRDC strongly opposes. A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement could be released by the State Department as early as next week, Droitsch said.

“It is critically important for there to be independent decision-makers, free of conflict of interest, who can take an independent view,” she said.

She then tied the administration’s decision on the pipeline to climate change, an issue that has regained prominence as a result of Hurricane Sandy. In the days following Sandy’s landfall, in fact, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Barack Obama for his leadership on climate change.

How Obama decides on the pipeline “signals where the U.S. is headed in terms of importing dirty fuels, inconsistent with an administration that is committed to fighting climate change,” Droitsch said.

“We’re confident President Obama understands the seriousness around the issues surrounding this pipeline. Approving it sends the wrong signal about our country’s commitment to climate change. Yes, he’s under a lot of pressure, but the public is very concerned about this. It’s not a decision I know he’ll view lightly.”

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour asserted this morning on NBC’s TODAY that “Hurricane Sandy saved Barack Obama’s presidency.” 

But did the president’s perceived leadership during the immediate aftermath of the storm really move 2.9 million votes? That’s highly unlikely. 

In fact, Sandy may have actually cost the president 800,000 votes.

It’s difficult to quantify the tangible impact of the good scores the president received during the storm. But public polls before the storm largely proved to be similar to the actual results on Election Day. 

In the days after the storm, First Read projected that in the counties most affected by the storm in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, the president could lose a net of 340,000 votes.

It wound up being about half that across the states, with a net-reduction of about 160,000 votes -- 200,000 in New York, 10,000 in Connecticut, 10,000 in Rhode Island. The president gained about 60,000 net votes in New Jersey, but it could have been higher, given the margin increase.

Obama held his margins in all those states, but with turnout down across all of them, the president got about 802,000 fewer votes than 2008 – 500,000 less in New York, 161,000 in New Jersey, 123,000 in Connecticut, and 18,000 in Rhode Island. 

Jason Reed / Reuters

President Barack Obama campaigns at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Fla. on Nov. 4, 2012.

With just two days until Election Day, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are running neck and neck nationally, according to the final national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll before the election.

Obama gets support from 48 percent of likely voters, while Romney gets 47 percent.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

In the NBC/WSJ poll released two weeks ago, the two candidates were deadlocked at 47 percent each.

“This poll is reflecting a very, very close campaign nationally,” says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart.

“It’s a dead heat,” Hart adds. “This election is going to be decided by turnout, turnout, turnout.”

While both Obama and Romney are running virtually even in this national poll, a majority of surveys from the battleground states – especially in the crucial battlegrounds of Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin – show the president with a slight advantage.

Good news for Obama: Two-thirds approve of hurricane handling
The NBC/WSJ poll – conducted Nov. 1-3 – contains good news for both Obama and Romney in the final days of the campaign.

For Obama, 41 percent of likely voters say that what they have read, heard, and seen over the past couple of weeks have given them a  more favorable impression of president, compared to 40 percent who said it had given them a less favorable impression – which is up from his 38-to-43 percent score on this question two weeks ago.

Read our memo on our 'likely voter' methodology (.pdf)

Part of that more favorable impression is due to his handling of Hurricane Sandy, of which 67 percent of likely voters approve.

By comparison, 45 percent of voters say they have say they have a less favorable impression of Romney from what they have read, heard and seen over the past couple of weeks, versus 40 percent who have a more favorable view.

Yet two weeks ago – fresh off his debate performances – Romney’s score here was tied, 44 percent more favorable, and 44 percent less favorable.

Comparing 2012 to 2004
In addition, Obama’s numbers in this poll look almost identical to George W. Bush’s in the final NBC/WSJ before the 2004 presidential election, which Bush ended up winning 51 percent to 48 percent.

Obama’s approval rating among likely voters stands at 49 percent – exactly matching Bush’s 49 percent approval in the final 2004 NBC/WSJ poll.

Forty-two percent say the country is headed in the right direction, versus 41 percent who said the same thing in late Oct. 2004.

And the head-to-head score between Obama and Romney – 48 percent to 47 percent – is identical to what it was in the final NBC/WSJ poll before the 2004 election: Bush 48 percent, Democrat John Kerry 47 percent.

“The comparisons between 2004 and 2012 are haunting,” McInturff says.

Good news for Romney: Comfort level, the economy
The good news for Romney in this national poll is that 53 percent of likely voters are comfortable with the idea of him as president, which ties Obama’s percentage on this question (although 39 percent are “very comfortable” with Obama versus 26 percent who are “very comfortable” with Romney).

Also, Romney is ahead of Obama among independents, 47 percent to 40 percent.

And the former Massachusetts governor leads Obama by five points on which candidate is better prepared to create jobs and grow the economy, 47 percent to 42 percent.

However, a majority of voters in the survey – 52 percent – say the economy is recovering.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Nov. 1-3 of 1,475 likely voters (including 443 cell phone-only respondents), and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 2.55 percentage points.

Surrogates for President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney projected outward confidence on Sunday in each candidate's ability to win on Election Day.

As the final NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll showed a close race nationally between the two candidates, their top supporters squabbled over who held the upper hand in critical battleground states.

"I'm very confident that, two days out from Election Day, the president's going to be re-elected on Tuesday night," said David Plouffe, a White House adviser who managed the president's 2008 campaign, on "Meet the Press."

There are seven states, worth 89 electoral votes, considered true "toss-up" states on NBC News' battleground map: Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire. Other competitive states include Nevada, which has leaned slightly for Obama in recent polls, and North Carolina, which has tended toward Romney in many recent polls.

"All these states right now, we think the president's in a good position to win," Plouffe said.

Both Obama and Romney spent Saturday barnstorming these battleground states in hope of shoring up their base and shaking loose prized undecided voters in the final hours of the campaign. But their professed confidence belied a much more competitive battle for the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency, especially as an uncertain finale loomed over the 2012 campaign.

The Romney campaign said its Sunday schedule — which took the former Massachusetts governor to Pennsylvania and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to Minnesota — both states which Republicans have only contested as of late — was a sign of surging national momentum. But Democrats castigated those trips as a sign of desperation, as Romney scrambled for new pathways to 270.

One of the most hotly contested battleground states includes Virginia, which Obama has put into play in 2008 and again in 2012. It also has one of the earliest poll closing times in the nation on Tuesday, and could offer political observers an early indicator of the trend lines in the election.

"We're going to win this state, and I think we're going to win it a lot bigger than people are predicting," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican who represents a Richmond-area district.

He added: "I see here on the ground, there is a lot of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan."

But political bravado is a well-worn tradition for the closing days of the elections, and Plouffe was quick to seize upon Romney's plans to spend some of his final campaign stops in Virginia and Florida, two states he might not be able to afford losing come Tuesday night.

"We think Gov. Romney's playing defense," the White House aide said of Virginia and Florida. "I'd rather be the president today than Gov. Romney in terms of those two states."

Plouffe also characterized the Obama campaign's position in Iowa and Ohio — two footholds of the president's Midwestern "firewall" — as "commanding," though he cautioned the campaign must execute its get-out-the-vote efforts on Tuesday if it is to secure those states.

Follow the final weekend of the campaign with NBC Politics:

• NBC/WSJ poll: Obama 48, Romney 47
• Clinton joins Obama for rally capping whirlwind day
• Uncertain finale looms amid weekend campaign blitz
• Romney implores Colorado for 'one last push'
• Biden zings Romney in Colorado
• Ryan travels to Pennsylvania, trying to put state in play
• Obama plays up 'trust' in battleground Ohio
• Obama aide explains 'voting is best revenge' comment
• Ryan: 'We believe in change and hope'
• Romney strikes optimistic tone as final weekend opens
• Polls: Obama stays ahead in Ohio, deadlocked with Romney in Fla.
• GOP's chances at Senate imperiled by self-inflicted wounds

Mitt Romney is fighting to earn a new look from voters with 30 days remaining until the election, as President Barack Obama looks to close the window on his Republican challenger. 

Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has hopes of building momentum off of his strong debate performance this week, in which he generally outperformed Obama with energetic and crisp arguments.

But a top spokesman for the president vowed Sunday that Obama wouldn't allow Romney a repeat performance in their second showdown.

"It's not rocket science to believe the president was disappointed in the expectations he has for himself," former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on "Meet the Press" of Obama's debate performance, which was panned as lethargic and lacking in aggression.

Of the second debate, scheduled for Oct. 16, Gibbs said, "I think you're going to see a very engaged president that is ready and willing to call out whichever Mitt Romney shows up."

Romney "walked over" Obama in Denver, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of Romney's erstwhile primary opponents, contended. But Gingrich also acknowledged that the GOP nominee had "changed" from the primary, when he vowed to cut taxes for individuals in all income brackets. (Romney said in Wednesday's debate that, in his reform plan, the wealthy wouldn't end up paying any less in taxes.)

Whether Romney has made up much ground versus Obama hasn't yet been fully reflected in polls conducted since the debate. The Republican hopeful entered the matchup trailing the president, and must make up ground — especially in battleground states like Ohio — if Romney is to have any hope of winning on Nov. 6.

"The real question to me, of this campaign, is, can the Romney campaign take this moment and run with it?" asked Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican consultant with ties to Romney.

Romney won the endorsement of a newspaper in one such swing state, Nevada, as the editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said Romney "has the principles and experience needed to put America back on the road to prosperity."

But Obama's case for re-election was bolstered Friday by a new jobs report that showed the unemployment rate at 7.8 percent in September, clearing the psychological barrier of 8 percent, above which the unemployment rate had sat for months. 

"I think it was a significant help to the president," Gingrich said of that report.

Obama's advantage over Romney was fueled partly by improving perceptions of the economy, which could be cemented by the new employment data. If nothing else, the president will have a new cudgel to wield against Romney in their next debate matchup. 

Both Romney and Obama will leave it to their running mates this week to carry the banner on Thursday, at the vice presidential debate. 

"I know Vice President Biden is anxious and ready to do this," Gibbs said of Biden's impending debate versus Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

In the meanwhile, both the president and Romney aren't taking the weekend off; instead, they're both on the campaign trail this Sunday. Romney will hold a rally this afternoon in Florida, while Obama attends a "30 days to victory" fundraising concert tonight in Los Angeles.

Updated at 10:55 p.m. ET

Social Security
Tonight, President Barack Obama made a claim about Social Security.

OBAMA: Social Security is structurally sound, it's gonna have to be tweaked the way it was by Ronald Reagan and Speaker, Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill. But it is, the basic structure is sound.

President Obama said that, unlike Medicare, Social Security does not need to be fundamentally fixed to remain solvent.

But according to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security will run into financial trouble, too -- about 20 years from now.

By the year 2030, the amount Social Security pays out will exceed the tax revenue coming in -- so in about 20 years the program will NOT be able to pay for itself through the payroll taxes Americans currently pay.

Medicare
Mitt Romney claimed President Obama's health care law would take $716 billion out of Medicare.

ROMNEY: What I support is no change for current retirees and near-retirees to Medicare. And the president supports taking $716 billion out of that program.

In fact, that $716 billion comes from trimming planned future increases over the next decade, not cutting funding. And those trims come from limiting payments to health-care providers and insurers -- NOT limiting care to seniors.

And Medicare's chief actuary says Obama's health reform "substantially improves" the program's finances.

Romney's claim that his plan would not change anything for seniors and near retirees is true. His changes would not affect anyone currently over the age of 55.

What would happen for younger Americans under Romney's plan?

Has essentially endorsed the latest version of the Ryan budget plan, which substantially transforms Medicare by giving future seniors a payment -- Democrats call it a “voucher,” Republicans call it “premium support” -- to purchase health insurance. Under Ryan's plan, seniors would have the choice of buying private insurance or through Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service model.

The deficit
Tonight, President Barack Obama said his plan would cut the deficit by $4 trillion.

OBAMA: Now, we all know that we've got to do more. And so I've put forward a specific $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan. It's on a website. You can look at all the numbers, what cut we make and what revenue we raise.

That estimate comes from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities -- $3.8 trillion over 10 years.

The president is counting money saved by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for people making more than $250,000 a year.

But he's also counting on savings already agreed to last year when the White House and Congress agreed to raise the debt ceiling.

Taxes
At the outset of the debate, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney tangled over taxes. Romney objected to the president's claim that his tax cuts would cost $5 trillion.

ROMNEY: Let me repeat what I said, I'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. That's not my plan. My plan is not to put in place any tax cut that will add to the deficit.

What is Romney's plan?

He has proposed making the Bush tax cuts permanent for all income levels -- then cutting all rates by an additional 20 percent. He would also repeal the alternative minimum tax and permanently repeal the estate tax.

The non-partisan Tax Policy Center concluded that Romney's tax plan would cost $4.8 trillion over 10 years.

Romney said -- once again tonight -- that his plan would be paid for by closing loopholes in the tax code and by getting rid of some tax deductions and credits. But he has repeatedly declined to say which deductions he'd eliminate, saying he'd work with Congress to make those decisions.

Education has peeked into the forefront during the 2012 campaign for the White House with President Obama's push for low-interest student loans - and Republican challenger Mitt Romney's contrasting views (“shop around”) on how to pay for college. Obama has also seized on comments Romney made largely dismissing the impact of class sizes, using them for a TV ad running in battleground states.

But what's at stake in this election when it comes to education goes beyond the sound bites. The two candidates, like on so many issues, would take starkly different approaches, if elected.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting on September 25, 2012 in New York City.

Obama would likely try to expand many of the same initiatives he has pursued in his first term -- a reform-minded agenda implemented largely through the Department of Education and outside the purview of Congress. That agenda includes content standards that will be implemented in at least 45 states by 2014. Obama, who has not always been in the favor of the teachers’ unions that strongly support him, would continue to try and implement reforms while working with the unions.

Romney, on the other hand, takes a more adversarial approach to unions, which he sees as a large part of the problem. Romney’s plan calls for vouchers and a restructuring of funding for special-needs and low-income students that would assign money directly to individuals instead of schools and school districts. Romney would also try to implement “report cards” and make some changes to No Child Left Behind to recruit teachers.

What would they do – President Obama

1. Preserve funding

The president has warned against steep cuts to education and would fight to preserve funding for the Department of Education and programs like his competition-driven “Race to the Top” initiative.

“I have a question for Gov. Romney,” Obama said Aug. 22^nd in Las Vegas, “how many teachers’ jobs are worth another tax cut for millionaires and billionaires?”

The stimulus included about $100 billion for education. Much of the money went to states to retain teachers. The White House says as many as 160,000 teachers’ jobs were saved.

“Federal stimulus funds appear to have blunted the effects of the economic downturn on the K-12 education sector,” said Maria Ferguson, executive director of the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University after the release of a study from the center on the stimulus’ effect on school districts. “Although many districts still had to eliminate teaching and other key staff positions, our research indicates that the situation would have been worse without the stimulus funds.”

2. “Race to the Top”

“Race to the Top,” an initiative meant to spur innovation in schools, was funded through $4.35 billion in the president’s $787 billion stimulus plan, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The president requested $1.35 billion for the program in his 2011 budget request. The first rounds of grants were announced in April and then September 2010.

Unlike “No Child Left Behind,” officially the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act,” Race to the Top does not set highly specific federal standards. It instead allows local school districts and states to compete over a pot of money – millions of dollars. They come up with their own plans on things like teacher evaluations and initiatives to improve student achievement and submit them to the Department of Education for approval.

The Obama administration argues this approach spurs innovation. Critics say it is too haphazard, inconsistent, and lacks accountability. Romney’s plan charges, for example, that once the money is “out the door,” the Obama administration “can only hope that change occurs.”

3. Common Core

Common Core is a set of math and reading standards developed with the Council of Chief State School Officers and and the National Governors Association. The standards are largely supported by the Obama administration, and the administration has encouraged the adoption of standards by tying them to some Race to the Top money.

Forty-six states will implement them by 2014. Some conservatives have pointed to this as a relinquishing control of state education to the federal government. Others object because the measures are untested.

4. Watering down No Child Left Behind and going around Congress

The Obama administration has largely bypassed Congress on revising NCLB. It was up for reauthorization last year, but the administration – skeptical that Congress would act – instead implemented a series of changes through the Department of Education. Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan called NCLB a “slow-motion train wreck” and noted, “We must fix No Child Left Behind now, not in Washington but in real time.”

Under the Obama administration, states “can request flexibility” from NCLB provisions, “but only if they are transitioning students, teachers, and schools to a system aligned with college- and career-ready standards for all students, developing differentiated accountability systems, and undertaking reforms to support effective classroom instruction and school leadership,” the Department of Education announced on Sept. 23, 2011.

“This is Plan B,” Duncan said in June of last year, previewing the steps the administration would be taking over the next several months. “Plan A is to have Congress move. If that doesn’t happen, we can’t sit here and do nothing.”

Duncan’s criticism of NCLB, highlighted in a January Washington Post op-ed, noted that the law “created an artificial goal of proficiency that encouraged states to set low standards,” was too reliant on test scores, is “overly prescriptive” hasn’t “supported states.”

By February, 37 states and the District of Columbia had requested waivers. Now, 44 states have requested waivers and 33 have already been approved, according a spokesman for the Department of Education.

Members of Congress, who are never fans of the Executive Branch taking steps that bypass them, were not all pleased.

“The best way to fix the problems in existing law is to pass a better one,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, who is chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the same committee – with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) at the helm – that helped write and pass the original NCLB legislation under President George W. Bush. “Given the bipartisan commitment in Congress to fixing [NCLB], it seems premature at this point to take steps outside the legislative process that would address NCLB’s problems in a temporary and piecemeal way.”

Republican John Kline, a congressman from Minnesota and chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, chided the president for what he saw as him seeking “sweeping authority to handpick winners and losers.”

As AP reported, “A Senate committee last fall passed a bipartisan bill to update the law, but it was opposed by the administration and did not go before the full Senate for a vote.”

And Democrats in Congress were skeptical that a bipartisan bill would emerge from the House, making it impossible to see a path forward for the legislation.

“Without a bipartisan bill coming out of the House, I believe it would be difficult to find a path forward that will draw the support we need from both sides of the aisle to be able to send a final bill to the president,” Harkin said in December of 2011. “Given that the HELP Committee was able to come to bipartisan agreement on a strong bill to reauthorize [NCLB], I sincerely hope Chairman Kline will reconsider his decision to not pursue a bipartisan bill.

5. On higher education, low-interest student loans

Obama campaigned for months on a provision to keep student-loan interest rates low, pressing Congress to act when visiting college campus after college campus. Young voters, of course, are a key constituency for the president.

The president continually pushed that government-subsidized student-loan interest rates would double if Congress didn’t approve the measure by July 1^st. (The rate would have gone from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.)

Despite opposition from some Republicans in Congress, in late June, Congress overwhelmingly approved a one-year extension of the low rates.

Obama hammered Romney for saying that his “best advice” is for students to “shop around” for the most affordable school (more on that below).

“He said, ‘the best thing I can do for you is to tell you is to shop around,’ ” Obama said in Ohio last month. “That’s it. That’s his plan.

What would they do – Mitt Romney

1. Vouchers

The most specific criticism from Romney is about the president’s opposition to vouchers for children in Washington, D.C., known as the “D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program,” championed by House Speaker John Boehner.

A bill allocating $60 million over the next five years passed easily in the House, but has not come up in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Democrats argue it takes resources and attention away from public schools. Romney and Republicans contend Democrats are bowing to the teachers unions.

“Instead of eliminating the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program as President Obama has proposed, I will expand it to offer more students a chance to attend a better school,” Romney said in a May speech focused on education before The Latino Coalition’s Annual Economic Summit. “It will be a model for parental choice programs across the nation.”

Romney said in that speech in May that that too many poor and disabled students receive “a third-world education” in the United States. To help remedy this, he would restructure Title I and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act) funds, meant for schools with low-income students and students with disabilities. Instead of assign the money to school districts and whole schools, Romney would want to assign specific amounts to those students and allow them to choose to attend better-performing schools.

There are a couple of potential problems with this approach: (a) “Any proposal to radically shift the use of that money would be almost certain to face a host of administrative, budgetary, and political hurdles from the Congress and statehouses on down,” Education Week wrote.

The New America Foundation similarly wrote that Romney’s proposal “undermines local control of schools, a concept many conservatives hold dear,” it writes. “Not only would states be required to implement open enrollment systems and transfer funds among districts, but districts and schools could no longer target their Title I funds to the schools or grades of their choosing. If candidate Romney becomes President Romney, we predict a long and tough road ahead for his education proposals, likely with resistance from both sides of the aisle.”  

And (b): There might not be enough money between the two programs to pay for the schooling of all the students Romney would want to support.

There is about $26 billion allocated for Title I and IDEA. There were about 21 million low-income students benefiting from Title I funding in the 2009-2010 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics – and another 5.8 million students covered under IDEA, according to Education Week.

That means the 26 million or so students would only get about $1,000 each.

2. Report cards

Romney pledges to “provide better information for parents through straightforward public report cards and will empower them to hold districts and states responsible for results.”

Of the report cards, Romney said in his May speech: “Parents shouldn’t have to navigate a cryptic evaluation system to figure out how their kids’ schools are performing.  States must provide a simple-to-read and widely available public report card that evaluates each school.  These report cards will provide accurate and easy-to-understand information about student and school performance.  States will continue to design their own standards and tests, but the report cards will provide information that parents can use to make informed choices.”

According to the Romney campaign’s white paper on education: “States will be required to provide report cards that evaluate schools and districts on an A through F or similar scale based primarily on their contribution to achievement growth,”. “These report cards will provide accurate and easy-to-understand information about student and school performance, as well as information about per-pupil spending in the local district. States will continue to design their own standards and tests, but information on the state’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) performance will appear on the school and district report cards, and the grading system will be standardized so that states with poor NAEP performance cannot assign artificially high grades to their schools.”

3. Attracting good teachers, eliminating seniority for hiring, firing

Romney’s plan would “eliminate” what he calls “NCLB’s ineffective ‘highly qualified’ certification requirement.

He would also “block grant” money “for states that adopt policies focused on improving teacher effectiveness. For instance, states seeking block grants will be required to establish evaluation systems based in part on effectiveness in advancing student achievement, reward effective teachers and principals with additional compensation and advancement opportunities, eliminate or reform teacher tenure, streamline the certification process for becoming a teacher, and prohibit seniority-based transfer and dismissal rules (including Last In, First Out layoffs).”

That is known colloquially as LIFO, an aspect of seniority that is a sticking point for teachers unions.

4. Seeking distance from NCLB

As noted above, Romney’s plan mentions NCLB, but he has largely distanced himself from the plan that was the chief domestic accomplishment of his Republican predecessor in the White House, George W. Bush.

Romney indicates a move away from federal standards. His white paper, instead says his administration would “work closely with Congress to strengthen NCLB by reducing federal micromanagement.”

5. Romney against Common Core, then for it -- just not tying federal money to standards

During an October 2011 interview with Huckabee on FOX, Romney praised Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan for trying to “reward school systems that reward teachers for doing a good job, that remove bad teachers, that test kids to see how the kids are doing.”

But he added, “By the way, not everything that Arne Duncan is doing do I agree with. So, for instance, this national core curriculum they are pushing and trying to get states to take that on. I don’t like a national curriculum.  I like states to be able to draft their own curriculum.”

But in May, before Romney’s education speech, his campaign indicated he had shifted position. Education Week: “Romney's campaign staff said he is supportive of the Common Core State Standards, but thinks the Obama administration has gone too far in encouraging states to adopt them. Those policies ‘effectively are an attempt to manipulate states into’ adopting common core, said Oren Cass, Romney's domestic policy director on a call with reporters.”

Romney also said in a 2010 Fox interview that the federal government has a role in “overseeing our schools, or some portion of our schools.”

He does not mention “Common Core” in his white paper.

6. Supporting testing, “standing up” to unions

In 2007, Romney said he supported NCLB and, “I like testing in our schools.”

In 2012, he hinted at testing as part of the solution as well as “standing up” to unions.

“We looked at what drives good education in our state,” Romney said in a September 2011 debate. “What we found is the best thing for education is great teachers, hire the very best and brightest to be teachers, pay them properly, make sure that you have school choice, test your kids to see if they are meeting the standards that need to be met, and make sure that you put the parents in charge. And as president I will stand up to the National teachers unions.”

7. Supported temporary student-loan extension but opposes long-term government intervention - “shop around”

In April, Romney said, “I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans. There was some concern that that would expire halfway through the year, and I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students as a result of – as a result of student loans, obviously – in part because of the extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market.”

But Romney has also said the “best advice” he could give students trying to figure out how to afford college is to “shop around” and not take out loans.

“The best thing I can do for you is to tell you to shop around and compare tuition in different places,” Romney told a student in Ohio in March. “And make sure you get the education you want for the cost you want. Make sure you can get your degree in four years – or less. Work hard. Get done in two-and-a-half years. Recognize, I mean, that college is expensive. You don’t want to have huge debts. And I know it would be popular for me to stand up and say I’m going to give you government money to pay for your college. But I’m not going to do promise that.”

He added, “My best advice is find a great institution of higher learning, find one that has the right price. Shop around. In America, this idea of competition, it works. And don’t just go to the one that has the highest price. Go to one that has a little lower price where you can get a good education and hopefully you’ll find that and don’t take on too much debt, and don’t  expect the government to forgive the debt that you take on. Recognize you’re going to have to pay it back. I want to make sure every kid in this country that wants to go to college gets the chance to go to college. If you can’t afford it, scholarships are available. Shop around for loans. Make sure you go to a place that’s reasonably priced. And if you can think about serving the country because that’s a way to get all that education for free.”

8. Continue Pell Grants (and the Ryan budget)

The budget proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, Romney’s pick to be his vice president, would put a hard cap on Pell Grants spending. But Romney, at a Univision forum -- meant to appeal to Latino voters – took a different position, saying he would want them to “go with the rate of inflation.”

“I care about your education and helping people of modest means get a good education and we’ll continue a Pell Grant program,” he said. “I think the Republican budget called for a Pell Grants being capped out at their current high level. My inclination would be to have them go with the rate of inflation. I think it’s important in higher education that we get serious about the fact that the inflation of tuition has been much faster than inflation generally. And my view is we have to hold down the rate of tuition increases and fee increases in higher education.”

The candidates have sparred over how much the Ryan budget would cut. The Obama campaign charges it could mean 20 percent across-the-board cuts to domestic programs. But it’s unclear how cuts in the Ryan budget would be applied. Romney has said, although he’s broadly supportive of the Ryan budget, he’s not in favor of every detail.

9. Welcome the private sector

But when it comes to college loans, “Romney favors bolstering the role for the private sector, which he contends has been decimated by the Obama administration's choice to scrap the Federal Family Education Loan Program and ensure that all loans originate through the U.S. Department of Education,” Education Week writes.

“We welcome private sector participating instead of pushing it away,” said Oren Cass said, Romney’s domestic policy adviser.

Obama has criticized Romney for that, charging that would cause rates to increase.

10. Class-size controversy

At a charter school in Philadelphia back in May, Romney ran into tough questioning from a teacher when he said, in talking about the success of schools in other countries: “It’s not the classroom size that is driving the success of those school systems.”

At a GOP debate in Florida, Romney was more blunt. “[A]ll the talk about we need smaller classroom size, look that's promoted by the teachers’ unions to hire more teachers,” Romney said, adding, “[A]s president, I will stand up to the National Teachers Unions.”

Of course, as First Read has written previously, Obama’s pushes for performance pay, teacher evaluations tied to student achievement, and support for charter schools, have rankled those unions.

Part of the Chicago teachers’ strike, in fact, had to do with teacher evaluations. Obama’s former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is mayor of Chicago.

*** UPDATE *** The post has been updated with the most recent number of states that have requested and been approved for waivers from No Child Left Behind.

*** UPDATE 2 *** The section on Common Core has been adjusted.