text: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Sunday that President Barack Obama is a "credible, formidable candidate" for reelection and praised Rick Perry and Mitt Romney for the very things that have hindered them in the Republican presidential campaign. 
   
   "He would be a credible, formidable candidate," Bloomberg, an independent who has registered as both a Republican and a Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "The president is a very viable candidate, and you're going to have a real horse race no matter who the Republican nominee is." 
   
   Bloomberg, who said he'll "probably not endorse a candidate in the 2012 election, also weighed in on the GOP presidential nominating contest, saying that he's troubled by some anti-science positions in the Republican field. But Bloomberg did praise Perry for his 2007 executive order requiring sixth-grade girls to receive the HPV vaccine and said Romney's health care plan for Massachusetts worked. 
   
   "To accuse Perry of doing something wrong with the vaccine when he probably did what's right, to accuse Romney of doing something wrong with health care in Massachusetts, which in all fairness turned out to be the only health care change that has really worked" is not right, Bloomberg said. 
   
   Bloomberg also offered praise to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is again said to be considering entering the GOP presidential race, calling him "a good governor." 
   
   "If he wants to run, he certainly should just get in there and do it," Bloomberg said. 
   
   Bloomberg also rapped Obama for using billionaire investor Warren Buffett as an example for why taxes should be increased on the wealthy. 
   
   "The Buffett thing is just theatrics," Bloomberg said. "If Warren Buffett made his money from ordinary income rather than capital gains, his tax rate would be much higher than his secretary's." ||||| Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who considered a White House run himself, says fellow Republicans should forgive Texas Gov. Rick Perry's uneven debate performances as the GOP presidential campaign goes forward. 
   
   "It's way too early to know, or to issue, to pronounce last rites over one performance," Daniels said on CNN's "State of the Union." "There's still many of these [debates], too many maybe. ... I'd cut him some slack and give him a little time." 
   
   Daniels, who is making a round of interviews to push his new book, "Keeping the Republic," also offered some unsolicited praise for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) for his work earlier this year with the Gang of Six senators who were working to cut spending from the federal budget. 
   
   "It's very encouraging, by the way, to hear a guy like Sen. Warner speak to it as clearly as he just did," Daniels said. "I wish he were president." ||||| Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus mocked President Barack Obama's 2008 election slogan Sunday, arguing it won't pass the smell test with voters in 2012. 
   
   "It sounds like the new slogan is no longer 'hope and change'," Priebus said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "It's, 'Hey, it could've been worse'. Great bumper sticker, Debbie. I hope it works for you." 
   
   Priebus was speaking to his counterpart at the Democratic National Committee, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was with him in the joint interview. 
   
   An aggressive Priebus also said Wasserman Schultz's talking points had already been proved false, referring to the recent GOP victory in New York's special House election. 
   
   "This has already been tested in a Democratic district. These talking points have been tested, and they're losing. They're imploding," he said during their animated exchange. ||||| Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Sunday called the specter of a government shutdown because Congress can't agree to another short-term spending bill "embarrassing" and blamed tea party-affiliated Republicans for the stalemate. 
   
   "Yes, it is embarrassing," Warner said on CNN's "State of the Union." "The Senate is saying, 'Why should we build schools in Iraq on the credit card but expect that rebuilding schools in Joplin, Mo., at this moment in time have to be paid for in a way that's never been in any of the previous disaster assistance that we've done before.'" 
   
   Asked in more explicit terms if the tea party is to blame for the crisis, Warner said: "There is a group, and I do believe it is more centered in the House, in terms of some of these tea party Republicans, who say on every issue, 'We're going to make this a make-or-break.'" 
   
   Appearing on the same program, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) blamed Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for holding up the bill. 
   
   Reid, Alexander said, "manufactured a crisis all week about disaster aid when there is no crisis." 
   
   "Everybody knows we're going to favor every single penny of disaster relief that the president declared and FEMA certifies," Alexander said. "The House settled for a bill that does that, and the Senate should have approved it." ||||| Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says the United States needs to leave "all options on the table" in dealing with Pakistan after U.S. military officials accused the country's intelligence officials of assisting terrorist operations. 
   
   "We need to put Pakistan on notice," he said on "Fox News Sunday." 
   
   "We're going to have to put all options on the table, including defending our troops," said Graham, a member of the Armed Services Committee. 
   
   Pressed by host Chris Wallace whether that meant military action, Graham dodged a direct answer but emphasized that Pakistan was engaged in "hostile acts against the U.S." 
   
   "It's now a time of choosing, so I hope they choose wisely," Graham said. ||||| President Barack Obama's senior adviser, David Plouffe, says he doesn't expect significant changes in top White House staff or the Cabinet ahead of the 2012 reelection campaign. 
   
   Pushing for Congress to pass Obama's American Jobs Act, Plouffe said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that Obama is "confident in his team, in the direction we've laid out here. ... I think he's got a good plan; he's got a good team to execute that." 
   
   Asked directly by Candy Crowley if there will be changes to the White House staff or Cabinet, Plouffe said: "I don't expect that." 
   
   Plouffe also said the U.S. may continue reducing aid to Pakistan if it can't do more to impede anti-American terrorism being conducted by the Haqqani terror network. 
   
   "We cannot abide the situation where the Haqqani network is being provided safe havens," Plouffe said. "Any links there need to be decoupled, and that's going to be a very important aim for us in the coming period of time."
target: – Mitch Daniels has some advice for those who are writing Rick Perry's political eulogy: Hold your horses. "It's way too early to know, or to issue, to pronounce last rites over one performance," Daniels said today. "There's still many of these (debates), too many maybe. ... I'd cut him some slack and give him a little time." Politico notes that Daniels also had kind words for Democrat Sen. Mark Warner's work on the Gang of Six, saying, "It's very encouraging, by the way, to hear a guy like Sen. Warner speak to it as clearly as he just did. I wish he were president." More fun on your Sunday dial, as per Politico: Michael Bloomberg on President Obama's 2012 chances: "He would be a credible, formidable candidate. You're going to have a real horse race no matter who the Republican nominee is." Reince Priebus to Debbie Wasserman Schultz on 2012: "It sounds like the new slogan is no longer 'hope and change.' It's, 'Hey, it could've been worse.' Great bumper sticker Debbie, I hope it works for you." David Plouffe on a White House shakeup: "I don't expect that." Obama is "confident in his team, in the direction we've laid out here." Warner on Congress' standoff over a short-term spending bill: "It is embarrassing. The Senate is saying, 'Why should we build schools in Iraq on the credit card but expect that rebuilding schools in Joplin, Mo.,'" will be paid for. Warner blames "a group, more centered in the House, in terms of some of these Tea Party Republicans, who say on every issue, 'We're going to make this a make-or-break.'" Lindsey Graham on Pakistan: "We need to put Pakistan on notice. We're going to have to put all options on the table. including defending our troops. It's now a time of choosing, so I hope they choose wisely."