Romney: It's a tax
Mitt Romney joined conservatives in his own party -- and contradicted his own campaign team -- by calling the individual mandate a tax. But Romney says when he instituted a similar mandate as governor of Massachusetts, it wasn't a tax. This shift in position may leave him in line with the right wing of his party (who have long worried he's the wrong messenger to take on Obama's health care reform). But will independents buy the flip? Or will they see through this political double-speak?
The Wall Street Journal slammed Romney for his flat-footed reaction to the mandate-as-tax issue.
"Betting on America": Pres. Obama is on a two-day bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania today. Next week he heads to Iowa, where polls show a very close race.
Politico's Maggie Haberman writes about the seven inflection points that may shake up the presidential campaign.
A new poll finds economic optimism on the rise.
Finally, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) doubled down on his comments that his rival, double-amputee Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, isn't a true war hero because he says she too much about her military service. On Tuesday's Hardball, former Congressman Patrick Murphy, the first Iraq war veteran to serve in Congress, and VoteVets.org's Jon Soltz took Walsh on for what he said about Duckworth.