By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press – 4 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imploring supporters to stick with him, President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that his re-election is not “a slam dunk” because of understandable public skepticism over the economy but said his campaign would put forward a vision aligned with the mood of the country.

The president, addressing donors at a hotel near the White House, drew attention to his efforts to heal the economy, end the Iraq war and overhaul health care but said “all those things don’t mean that much to somebody if they’re still out of work right now or their house is still underwater by $100,000. So, yeah, this is going to be tough.”

“We’re going to have to fight for it. It’s not going to be a slam dunk,” he said. Obama said the campaign would pursue “the vision that is truest to our history and most representative of the core decency of the American people.”

Obama spoke hours after his top campaign advisers said they were uncertain about which Republican will emerge to challenge him next year but predicted a long GOP primary contest that they say will produce a weaker opponent in 2012.

Democrats have been targeting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the most likely GOP nominee but noted that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s surge in the polls has made the Republican contest very unpredictable.

Obama campaign officials said during a briefing in Washington that they expected a lengthy primary contest that would eventually hurt the party’s nominee. They noted that only 15 percent of Republican convention delegates will be awarded by the end of February, making it likely that the contest will continue well into the spring.

“They’re being tugged to the right every day. I think they’re mortgaging themselves for the general by tacking as far as they are,” Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said of the Republican candidates. He said that would make it more difficult for the nominee “to scramble back” to the center and appeal to a broader base of the electorate for the November general election.

Axelrod likened Gingrich’s rise to a common quip in Chicago politics: “The higher the monkey climbs on the pole, the more you can see his butt.” Reacting to the $10,000 bet Romney offered Texas Gov. Rick Perry during last Saturday’s debate in Iowa, Axelrod said, “Generally his practices have been to bet other people’s money, not his own.”

Republicans said Obama and his advisers keep talking about his “vision” for the country but that all he has offered are empty promises.

“After three years of Obama, Americans want results – not more of his vision that has lost jobs and created record deficits,” said Kirsten Kukowski, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman. “Americans know the truth: This president is full of empty promises and has taken our country in the wrong direction, which is why the Obama’s job approval continues to slump in battleground states across the country.”

Romney and Gingrich remain locked in a close contest in early Republican voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina with less than a month before voters begin assessing the GOP field. The Republican field repeatedly has blamed Obama for the nation’s economic woes and said his policies have failed to jumpstart the economy.

Obama campaign officials said the president’s speech last week in Kansas offered a glimpse of what his message will be next year: His argument that the middle class has faced numerous challenges during the past decade and that the country’s economic policies must give everyone a “fair shot and a fair share.”

Obama made that case again in his remarks to donors, telling them “we’re all in this together.”

“That vision can contrast to a vision that basically says you are on your own,” he said. “It’s what this election was about in 2008; it’s what this election is going to be about in 2012.”

The campaign officials also claimed an organizational advantage over the GOP. They said they have more staff on the ground in Iowa than the Republicans and have had about 1 million conversations with supporters and about 90,000 in-person meetings with volunteers since Obama launched his re-election campaign in April.

Obama’s campaign outlined several potential paths to victory that would build upon states that Democrat John Kerry won in 2004 and winning in Western states like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada or holding onto Southern states Obama captured in 2008, such as Virginia and North Carolina.

Obama’s session with top campaign donors came ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline for the current fundraising quarter. Obama has raised more than $150 million for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the end of September.

Newt Gingrich defended himself against attacks from Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann as well as Mitt Romney, the former front-runner, in the first debate since he soared to the lead in polls nationally and in Iowa. The state’s caucuses on Jan. 3 will kick off the competition for Republican National Convention delegates who will pick an opponent to President Barack Obama.

All six Republicans on stage assailed Obama’s handling of the economy, the overriding issue of the election, yet split down the middle on legislation making its way toward a year-end vote in Congress to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut into 2012.

Here were some of the biggest moments of the night.

What’s $10,000 among friends?

Mitt Romney challenged Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s claims that the former Massachusetts governor backed a requirement that individuals purchase health care coverage.

“I’m just saying, you’re for individual mandates, my friend,” Perry told Romney during Saturday evening’s debate, returning to a criticism that has dogged Romney’s campaign.

“You’ve raised that before, Rick, and you’re simply wrong,” Romney responded, extending his hand toward Perry. “Rick, I’ll tell you what, 10,000 bucks?”

It was a rich bet that perhaps reminded some voters that Romney has a fat enough bank account to make such wagers. But Perry wasn’t playing.

“I’m not in the betting business,” he said.

Romney’s rivals seized on it. Democrats were giddy about the moment, which they planned to use to cast Romney as an elitist who could afford such lavish bets.

And aides to GOP hopeful Jon Huntsman — himself, the son of a famously wealthy family — announced they planned to criticize Romney on a website: www.10KBet.com.

Romney: Football Dreams Dashed

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also took on Romney, saying the only reason he wasn’t a lifelong politician is because he came up short in his first campaign.

“Let’s be candid: The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is because you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994,” Gingrich said to Romney.

“Now wait a second,” Romney said.

“I’m just saying,” Gingrich replied.

“It’s a bit much: You’d have been a 17-year career politician by now if you’d won. That’s all I’m saying on that one,” Gingrich continued.

Romney lost his first campaign and returned to the private sector, where he made millions as a venture capitalist, and rescued 2002′s Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Romney, however, conceded Gingrich’s suggestion — to a point.

“That’s probably true,” Romney said. “If I’d have been able to get in the NFL as I had hoped I could as a kid, why, I would’ve been a football star all my life, too.”

Gingrich on Marital Infidelity: I’m a Grandfather Now

Gingrich also faced tough questions, including about his three marriages — including to wife, Callista, with whom he carried on an extramarital affair while still wed to wife No. 2.

“I think it is a real issue. I think people have to look at the person to whom they are going to loan the presidency,” Gingrich said, while Callista Gingrich sat in the audience. “And they have the right to ask every single question.”

Gingrich has previously acknowledged infidelity.

“I’ve made mistakes at times. I’ve had to go to God for forgiveness. I’ve had to seek reconciliation,” he said Saturday evening. “But I’m also a 68-year-old grandfather and I think people have to measure who I am now and whether I’m a person they can trust.”

Bachmann Keeps 9-9-9 Alive

Rep. Michele Bachmann was the first — and last candidate — on stage to bring up Herman Cain, who recently left the presidential race amid repeated accusations of sexual harassment and an extramarital affair.

It was likely part of a plan to lure some of Cain’s supporters her way.

“One of our former competitors was Herman Cain, and he was always reminding us of the 9-9-9 plan,” Bachmann said early on. “And what I’d like to do is the win, win, win plan.”

She later praised Cain’s contribution to the presidential race while answering her final question of the night.

Gingrich Defends ‘Invented’ Palestinians

Gingrich insisted that an interview where he called Palestinians “invented” was not a mistake. Romney said Gingrich was undermining Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

Gingrich insisted he was factually accurate when he said Palestinians were part of anti-Israel propaganda and that they were historically Arabs.

“Is what I said factually true? Yes,” Gingrich said.

“I spoke as a historian,” he said later.

“That was a mistake, on the speaker’s part,” Romney said of the interview with The Jewish Channel.

“The United States should not jump ahead of Bibi Netanyahu and say something that makes it more difficult for him to do his job,” he added.

Other Key Moments

— Bachmann tried to link Romney with Gingrich — and paint both as unacceptable to conservatives on issues such as climate change and health care mandates. During one exchange, she branded the pair as “Newt Romney.”

— Sen. Rick Santorum compared his record with Bachmann’s — noting that he, too, fought as a member of the then-minority Republican caucus. His difference: He was able to win political fights, while Bachmann has come up short on her signature issues such as stopping Democrats’ health care overhaul.

— Rep. Ron Paul took pride in often being the lone voice in Congress against legislation. “I end up sometimes, believe it or not, voting all by myself, thinking why aren’t there people paying attention?” the Texan said.

— Huntsman was the evening’s missing man. He did not meet the polling threshold to participate and instead campaigned in New Hampshire, a state he is making central to his strategy.

WASHINGTON — With an eye on recruiting volunteers, President Barack Obama is launching the first TV ads of his re-election campaign.

Campaign officials said Tuesday the ad buy is “tiny” on national satellite TV stations but aimed at learning whether television is a good way to find volunteers. In the two 30-second ads, Obama urges viewers to call a number on the screen or visit the website www.JoinObama.com , which invites people to enter their email address and zip code to become involved with the campaign.

Obama’s campaign has placed a premium on building a large network of volunteers and the ads are aimed squarely at that effort. By placing them on satellite TV in small increments, the campaign can test how well they help to recruit people to join neighborhood campaign teams, knock on doors and register new voters.

“They can go in a targeted way, see where it hits, see how effective it is and work out the kinks,” said Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who is not affiliated with the campaign.

For Obama, who became politically active as a community organizer in Chicago during the mid-1980s, the first ads remind viewers of his “change” message in 2008 and underscore his campaign’s strategy of building a large organization next year to compensate for his weakened standing and voters’ unhappiness with the direction of the country.

“It all starts with you making a decision to get involved because we’ve got so much more to do,” Obama says.

Republicans said the ads showed Obama was struggling to generate the enthusiasm he had during the 2008 campaign. “By acknowledging that the 2012 campaign is in full swing, it’s clear everything Obama does for the next year is about saving his job,” said Kirsten Kukowski, speaking for the Republican National Committee.

Obama’s campaign has held thousands of events around the nation to jumpstart participation, including neighborhood gatherings, one-on-one meetings in coffeehouses, phone banks and voter registration drives. His team is also trying to organize many of the voters who formed the foundation of Obama’s coalition in 2008 — black and Latino voters, women, college students and young voters entering the work force.