DNC Chairman Tim Kaine on Sunday defended his party’s record on the economy.

(CNN) – As the summer begins to wind down, Republicans are criticizing Democrats over economic promises they made at the beginning of the season.

Democrats had dubbed it a recovery summer, but critics were taking aim at some economic indicators that didn't show much forward progress.

According to the critics, totaling the job losses from the summer months, a total of 283,000 jobs were lost during that period. GDP growth was only 1.6 percent in the last quarter, and existing home sales fell in July by 27 percent.

On "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace brought up these figures to Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, who defended his party's record.

"There are still challenges out there. Too many people are hurting and we've got a long way to go," Kaine said.

Full story

The CNN 100 takes a look at the top 100 House races, from now until Election Day.

Editor's Note: In the final 100 days before Election Day, CNN has been profiling one race at random each day from among the nation's top 100 House races, which we've dubbed "The CNN 100." Read the full list here. Today's featured district is:

California 45th: Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R) is seeking a seventh term
Primary: June 8, 2010
Location: Southern California, Palm Springs
Days until Election Day: 58

California's 45th congressional district has never been represented by a Democrat, but the majority party is looking to give six-term Rep. Mary Bono Mack a run for her money.

The district, which includes Palm Springs and the slice of rural southern California just to the city's east, has seen a population growth of 28 percent since 2000. Hispanics now make up 41 percent of the population. As such, an electorate that overwhelmingly voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 handed President Obama a 5-point victory two years ago.

As her constituency shifted toward the middle of the political spectrum, Bono Mack shifted across party lines to vote with the Democrats on some key pieces of legislation. In 2007, she was one of 82 Republicans to vote in favor of raising the minimum wage. In 2008, she voted in favor of the financial industry bailout known as TARP. And in June, she was one of eight Republicans to support the Democrat's "cap and trade" energy bill.

Bono Mack's Democratic opponent, Steve Pougnet, is the mayor of Palm Springs, the same post Bono Mack's late husband and predecessor, Sonny Bono, held before being elected to Congress in 1994. Pougnet has the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and is listed on their "Red to Blue" program, which offers him a considerable financial boost. The DCCC said candidates admitted to the program are those who "skillfully demonstrated to voters that they will work to create jobs and stand up for the middle class."

Palm Spring's large gay community has made equal rights a key issue in the race. Bono Mack has not taken a stance on Proposition 8 but has twice voted against constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Pougnet, who is openly gay, supports repealing Prop. 8, the Defense of Marriage Act, and the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

The district shares a border with Arizona and is within 50 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, which has thrust immigration reform into the spotlight as well. Pougnet opposes Arizona's controversial immigration law, the strictest parts of which have been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. Bono Mack has stopped short of endorsing Arizona's legislation, but said the state's citizens voted for the law because the Obama administration has "failed to act" on immigration.

While not a lock for re-election, she enters the final two months of the campaign with some clear advantages. As of mid-year, Bono Mack had a $1.2 million to $878,000 edge over Pougnet in cash on hand. Two well-respected non-partisan political handicappers, Stuart Rothenberg and Charlie Cook, list the race as "Republican Favored" and "Likely Republican," respectively. Also, the incumbent has rarely dipped below the 60 percent mark in her previous races. Her worst showing at the polls was in 2008, but even in that Democratic wave year, she received 58 percent of the vote and won with a 17-point margin of victory.

Nonetheless, Democrats feel they have a legitimate shot at an upset against Bono Mack, and they have fielded their strongest possible candidate in Pougnet. While Bono Mack is potentially vulnerable, Pougnet and Democrats face a tough challenge in trying to oust a Republican in a marginal district, all while fighting a national political environment that should be difficult for the president's party.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair writes in his new book about former President Bill Clinton’s ‘curiosity.’

(CNN) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was hesitant in an interview broadcast on Sunday to explain a passage from his new book that referenced a "potentially sexual element" to former President Bill Clinton's "curiosity about people."

"I was also convinced that his [Clinton's] behavior arose in part from his inordinate interest in and curiosity about people. In respect of men it was expressed in friendship. In respect of women there was potentially a sexual element," Blair wrote in his new book, entitled "A Journey: My Political Life"

On ABC's "This Week," Blair told Christiane Amanpour, "if I try explaining it [what he wrote] I'll get into difficulty."

Blair said politicians live with such pressure that to release the stress, they often rebel against themselves, and sometimes that can take the form of an affair.

Earlier: Arrests made at Blair book signing in Dublin

The former British leader said that if people want to know everything about their elected officials, they should be prepared to learn about their flaws.

"They've got to understand they're also human beings and you've got to be somewhat forgiving therefore of the human frailty," Blair said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special Envoy George Mitchell will travel to the Middle East on September 14.

(CNN) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to the Middle East on September 14 to participate in a second round of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, according to a senior State Department official.

George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, will join Clinton on the trip.

Clinton will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt before traveling to Jerusalem to continue the peace talks.

Arizona Sen. John McCain said on Sunday that he’d like President Obama to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.

(CNN) – Republican Sen. John McCain on Sunday invited President Barack Obama to visit the border with Mexico to get a complete picture of the region and called on the president to do more for security.

If "anybody hasn't seen what's going on south of our border, they have been oblivious to the terrible, terrible struggle that's going on down there - 28,000 Mexican citizens being killed, the murders taking place just south of our border, the invasions and the insecurity in the southern part of our state," the Arizona senator said on "Fox News Sunday."

Securing the border must be a priority for the current administration, he said.

"I'd love for the president to come and visit the border. Unfortunately, he hasn't had time to do so," McCain said.

Full story

President Obama on Wednesday will lay out a new economic plan.

(CNN) - With less than two months to go until a critical midterm election likely to turn on the economy, President Obama this week will lay out a new plan that includes a proposal to extend a tax cut popular with the business community, according to an administration official.

The official said the president will push Congress to permanently extend the tax credit for business research and development costs.

That proposal will cost $100 billion and be paid for by closing other corporate tax breaks, according to the official.

Obama will lay out the proposal during an economic speech Wednesday in hard-hit Cleveland, Ohio, but the official stressed the business tax cut will not be the only part of the new plan. "This is a key element, but not the sum of our new proposals," the official said.

Administration officials previously told CNN the president is considering a payroll tax holiday as well as new infrastructure spending, among several proposals his economic team has been weighing.

There's urgency to the new plan in part because White House officials are anxious that Democrats' majorities in the House and Senate are up for grabs because of the economic uncertainty still sweeping the nation.

But administration officials privately acknowledge it's unclear whether House and Senate Democrats will be able to pass the president's new plan before the election because of the narrow window of a few weeks for Congressional action before lawmakers leave Washington again to focus full time on campaigning.

Even if Obama's plan does win passage, it is uncertain whether or not it would have a measurable economic impact before November. That's a worrisome development for Congressional Democrats already fretting that the president's 2009 stimulus package has not provided the originally-advertised bang for its buck.

Washington (CNN) – After her bicycle shop fell victim to a tough economic climate, Denise D'Amour took some time to regroup and then tried again.

In less than one year, she opened a stripped-down version of her Capitol Hill Bikes store: a tighter operation in a smaller space with fewer employees and less overhead.

"We've become lean and mean," D'Amour said. "Mostly I think we've learned to deal within the tough environment. There's not a lot of people coming to offer me money. There's not a lot of stuff that will improve our cash position that we were suffering from nine months ago, except for our own ingenuity."

Both then and now, D'Amour said the chief problem for small business owners is access to financing. And lawmakers want small businesses to know this complaint is reaching Washington.

President Obama urged Congress last week to move forward on a bill designed to help small businesses, including a $30 billion lending fund to loosen credit lines and $12 billion in tax breaks.

That will help but it won't solve the problem, said Anne Mathias, director of policy research at Concept Captial.

"It's not going to bring a rush of people into stores to buy whatever it is these different small businesses have to offer, but it will help," she said. "It'll help kind of at the back end."

Republicans say the bill won't have much effect and are urging the president to extend the Bush administration's tax cuts.

Todd McCracken, the president of the National Small Business Association disagrees.

"Putting money in the pockets of both consumers and small business people so they can take advantage of the opportunities when they come along is crucial," McCracken said Sunday morning on State of the Union with Candy Crowley.

D'Amour does see cause for hope at her store, however. She employs 10 people now and she's looking to hire more.

"Our customers have come back, and they're spending some money now," she said. "So the economy has improved somewhat."

David Plouffe said Sunday that Democrats can retain both houses of Congress this fall.

Washington (CNN) - The man who engineered President Obama's 2008 victory told CNN on Sunday he thinks Democrats can retain control of both houses of Congress in November.

David Plouffe, now an outside adviser to the president, tossed a quick answer over his shoulder when CNN asked him outside of NBC's Washington studios about the tough climate for Democrats running in the midterms elections.

"I think so," Plouffe said. "We're going to work hard to make sure we do."

When asked how the political climate got so bad for Democrats, Plouffe kept walking but turned to our camera to offer CNN a wave and smile. In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press", Plouffe said Democrats' success in November will hinge on localizing the races and increasing Democratic turnout.

(CNN) - The president of the National Small Business Association on Sunday morning endorsed congressional Democrats' and President Obama's small business jobs bill.

The bill will "will free up a lot of credit for small companies at a very low cost of capital for the government," Todd McCracken told Candy Crowley on CNN's State of the Union.

"Putting money in the pockets of both consumers and small business people so they can take advantage of the opportunities when they come along is crucial," McCracken said.

The bill authorizes the creation of a $30 billion lending fund that would deliver ultra-cheap capital to community banks. It also provides $12 billion in tax relief to small businesses between 2010 and 2020, and $1.5 billion in grants to state lending programs.

Senate Republicans blocked the bill from a vote before Congress' August recess. They oppose the bill because they say it doesn't do enough to encourage small businesses to create jobs.

McCracken criticized Obama for not acting earlier.

"We are talking about small business lending now...this should have been on the table a year and a half ago," McCracken said. "And now they are also talking about a payroll tax holiday–we were talking about that also a year and a half ago, and we think something like that should have been in the first stimulus package."

McCracken also said it is the "wrong time" to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. He agreed with Vice President Joe Biden's recent statement that only a minority of small businesses would be affected by the expiration of the tax cuts, but said the 3 percent that are affected have the greatest potential to create jobs.

"We think that Congress should at least temporarily extend these tax cuts," McCracken said.

"The companies that do pay this tax, and there is a minority of small companies for sure, but the ones that do are the most successful ones who are most likely to be growing jobs and the ones that we want to continue to be successful," McCracken said.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka disagreed, arguing, "the vast majority are created by the other 97 percent [of small businesses]."

On "Fox News Sunday," Arizona Sen. John McCain lambasted Democrats for their willingness to allow the tax cuts to expire.

"Let's get the old class warfare out there, let's attack the rich," McCain said.

"… The first thing we need to do is extend the tax cuts that are already out there," McCain said. Americans "have love lost confidence in this president, this administration's ability to get the economy going again."

Tony Blair on Sunday defended the decision in invade Iraq.

(CNN) – As the United States ended its combat mission in Iraq, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, America's biggest ally at the outset of the war, said the decision to invade Iraq was a necessary one.

Sanctions against Saddam Hussein were being "watered down," and if the former Iraqi dictator hadn't been removed, there would've been other consequences, Blair said on ABC's "This Week."

However, Blair, whose memoir "A Journey" was released last week, wasn't without some regrets.

"You can't not have regrets about the lives lost," Blair said. "I mean, you would be inhuman if you didn't regret the death of so many extraordinary, brave and committed soldiers, of civilians that have died in Iraq, or die still now in Afghanistan. And of course you feel an enormous responsibility for that, not just regret."

Full story

TOPICS: Economic conditions, possibility of double-dip recession, which party is blamed for economy

Full results (pdf)

A new CNN poll indicates a large majority of Americans say the economy is in poor shape.

Washington (CNN) – A new national poll released Sunday indicates that eight in 10 Americans say that the economy is in poor shape, and the number that says conditions are very poor is on the upswing after steady declines through the spring.

And according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, more people blame the Republicans over the Democrats for the country's economic problems.

Full results [pdf]

Eighty-one percent of the public rates the county's economic conditions as poor, with 18 percent describing the economy as good.

Forty-four percent of people questioned describe economic conditions as very poor, up seven points from July.

After the jump: Who do Americans say is to blame?

The poll indicates that roughly half the country says that conditions have not improved in the past two years. The other half says that the economy has gotten better, but many of them expect things will get worse in the near future.

"Roughly a third of all Americans say that the economy has gotten better and will continue to do so," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But one in five say that things have gotten better but will take a turn for the worse in the months ahead - essentially predicting the "double-dip" that many economists are worried about."

So which party gets the blame for the country's current economic problems?

According to the survey, more Americans hold the Republicans responsible than the Democrats, with 44 percent blaming the GOP and 35 percent picking the Democrats.

"And when George W. Bush's name is added to the mix, the number who blame the Republicans rises to 53 percent, with just a third saying that Barack Obama and his party are at fault. That indicates why the Democrats are likely to mention Bush's name every chance they get between now and election day," Holland said.

But according to numbers released Friday, just four in 10 Americans say they approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing on the economy. The 40 percent who give Obama a thumbs up is a new low for the president on the economy in CNN polling.

The CNN/Opinon Research Corp. poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, with 1,024 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

(CNN) - Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio's father has died, his campaign announced Saturday night. The Republican's campaign will be placed "on temporary hold" for a few days, according to a statement.

Citing his father's deteriorating health, Rubio on Friday withdrew from a debate with Democrat Kendrick Meek that was scheduled to take place Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Read Rubio's statement, after the jump:

"My father knew hard work and struggle from very early in his life. His mother died when he was only 9 years old. The day after his mother was buried he went to work with his father and did not stop working until he was 78 years old.

"He was by far the most unselfish person I have ever known, always focused on others, and never on his own well being. He was especially determined to provide his children opportunities he himself never had.

"My dad worked as a street vendor, security guard, apartment building manager and crossing guard. But for most of his life he was a bartender, and by all accounts a great one. But his greatest success came from the two most important jobs he ever had: husband and father.

"He was very proud of my public service. And over the last 18 months he became an expert channel surfer, constantly searching for my next television interview.

"I was blessed to be raised by a world class father. And I thank God for allowing my father to live long and healthy enough to see that the sacrifices he made for us were not in vain."

A quote on the perimeter of the new presidential rug in the Oval Office is wrongly attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. (PHOTO CREDIT: Shawna Shepherd/POOL)

(Updated at 10:30 p.m. ET)

(CNN) – Remember the big makeover the Oval Office got last week while President Obama was on vacation?

Well, there’s a problem with the presidential rug.

The floor piece has quotations from four U.S. presidents and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — or does it?

One quote reads, “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, But It Bends Towards Justice.”

As the Washington Post’s Jamie Stiehm points out, the quote attributed to King is not really King’s quote at all.

It’s Theodore Parker’s.

King often quoted and paraphrased Parker, an abolitionist and minister from Massachusetts, who in 1853 proclaimed, “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one ... And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."

While the origins of Parker’s proclamation are rarely cited in today’s public discourse, a search on even the most basic of research tools, Wikipedia, reveals Parker as the voice behind the words.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton on Saturday stood by the quote on the rug, noting that Martin Luther King Jr. did utter precisely the same words on September 2, 1957. Burton said that Theodore Parker's quote is slightly different.

(Updated at 10:30 p.m. ET with a comment from the White House)

(CNN) – CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley talks with senior editorial producer Kristi Slafka about this week's guests on State of the Union.

President Obama will campaign with Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal later this month.

(CNN) – President Obama will travel to Connecticut later this month to stump for Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal, a spokesperson for the candidate told CNN Saturday.

Obama will campaign with Blumenthal in Stamford on September 16 – the same day he is slated to attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in the state.

"I look forward to welcoming the President of the United States to Connecticut. It is an honor to have his support and his assistance,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “His visit will make a difference for us, energizing our supporters and helping us raise the resources we need against my opponent who is spending an unprecedented $50 million on her campaign."

Blumenthal slowly has been dropping slowly but steadily in the polls. A Quinnipiac University survey of Connecticut voters conducted five weeks ago indicated that Blumenthal held a 10-point lead over his challenger, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon. Blumenthal held a 20-point lead in the same poll in June.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee pounced on news of the fundraiser and said it reeks of desperation.

"It speaks volumes that a candidate who was up by 30 points earlier this year in a deep blue state is now forced to call in the president for reinforcements,” NRSC communications director Brian Walsh told CNN. “Clearly Dick Blumenthal and national Democrats are seeing the same polls that we are."