Congress' approval rating, already dismal last year, has hit a new low.

Gallup found in its Feb. 2-5 survey that Congress' approval rating had sunk to 10 percent.

The rating averaged 17 percent last year, with the highest number, 24 percent, logged in May. 

But Congress was beset last year by partisan gridlock, leading to a bitter summer fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling and a pre-Christmas showdown over continuing a Social Security payroll tax cut.

"It is difficult to pinpoint any specific recent actions that may have led to the continuing deterioration in Congress' image, particularly because much of the political attention in January and early February has focused on the Republican presidential race," a Gallup analyis said.

"Congress at this point is again wrangling over the extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits -- both of which were temporarily extended late last year in a short-term fix that expires at the end of February."

1,029 people were sureyed. Margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Republican voters still aren't crazy about their potential presidential nominees, according to a new Pew Reserach Center poll.

52 percent of GOP and GOP-leaning registered voters said the field is fair or poor. 46 percent have positive views of the field.

The survey was conducted Jan. 26-29 among 1,006 adults, including 341 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters.

A month ago, just before the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, 51 percent gave the field excellent or good ratings. 44 percent rated it fair or poor.

The poll also found that more voters thought President Barack Obama understood the problems of average Americans more than top Republican contenders Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. 55 percent said the president understood them very or fairly well.

But 39 percent thought Romney understood well, and 36 percent felt that way about Gingrich.

Mitt Romney grew up in Michigan, and he had a stark message Friday for President Barack Obama as he visited the state: "Mr. President," Romney said, "forgive me for being blunt, but when it comes to economic affairs, you’re out of your depth." 

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor seeking the Republican nomination to run against Obama, is the son of former Michigan  Gov. George Romney. Michigan holds its presidential primary Feb. 28.

Mitt Romney offered his views in an "open letter" to Obama, who was speaking in Ann Arbor Friday morning.

"I recognize, of course, as do all Americans, that you inherited an economic crisis. But you’ve now had three years to turn things around. The record of those three years is clear. Your policies have failed, and not only in Michigan, but across the nation," Romney wrote.

He told Obama his promises "now ring hollow."

After all, Romney said, "If you have brought new ideas to Michigan for creating jobs, why have you waited three years to unveil them? Have you suddenly had a revelation, or is it because 2012 is an election year?

"Whatever the case, what you are offering Michigan now is too little, too late. What Michigan needs, and what the country needs, is not four more years of economic mismanagement and failed leadership, but a fundamental change in direction. I was born and raised in Michigan at a time when our state was the pride of America. With new leadership, Michigan can feel that pride once more."

Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker and now minority leader, makes it clear what she thinks of Newt Gingrich's prospects for becoming president: Not going to happen, she told CNN's John King.

Here's the transcript:

KING:  Because of your history with Speaker Gingrich, what goes through your mind when you think about the possibility, which is more real today than it was a week or a month ago, that he would be the Republican nominee and that you could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?

PELOSI:  Let me just say this.  That will never happen. 

KING:  Why? 

PELOSI:  He's not going to be president of the United States.  This is -- that's not going to happen.  Let me just make my prediction and stand by it.  It isn't going to happen. 

KING:  Why are you so sure? 

PELOSI:  There's something I know.  The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's the prerogative.  I don't even think that's going to happen. 

Mitt Romney offered his own State of the Union speech Tuesday, warning voters that President Barack Obama Tuesday will "will give a nice speech with a lot of memorable phrases.  But he won’t give you the hard numbers" that show an economy still struggling.

Tonight, Romney said, "the President will deliver his State of the Union.  But make no mistake: What he’s really offering are partisan planks for his re-election campaign." 

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who's seeking the Republican presidential nomination, went point by point during a speech at a Tampa area factory, explaining why he'd be very different from Obama.

"Tonight, President Obama will make the opening argument in his campaign against a 'Do Nothing Congress.'  But, we shouldn’t forget that for two years, this President had a Congress that could do everything he wanted," Romney said. Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress during the first two years of Obama's presidency.

"With huge Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, President Obama was free to pursue any policy he pleased," Romney recalled. "Did he fix the economy? Did he tackle the housing crisis? Did he get Americans back to work? No."

The jobless rate has dropped significant in recent months.

"Three years ago, we measured Candidate Obama by his hopeful promises and slogans," Romney said. "Today, President Obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline, and disappointment. 

 "This President’s agenda made these troubled times last longer.  He and his allies made it harder for the economy to recover."

And, Romney said, "He leads the party of big government.  He believes in ever-expanding entitlement. He’s wrong.  We’re right.  And this is a battle we cannot lose."

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, who finished 1-2 in Tuesday's New Hampshire Republican primary, were upbeat Wednesday as they criticized their critics.

"I've g ot a good start. I've got an uphill climb in South Carolina ahead of me but it could not have worked out better last night," Romney told NBC's "Today Show."

He was not pleased with the recent attacks from fellow Republicans. "I think it's something we expected to come from President Obama. We didn't expect that Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry would become the witnesses for his prosecution, if you wil," Romney said.

Paul scoffed at talk that he's not electable.

"I've been electable. I've won 12 elections already and we're doing quiet well now," the Texas congressman said.

Of his rivals, Paul added, "They're all in fourth, fifth and sixth place and they're all electable? I don't know how that adds up."

He also dismissed talk conservatives should unite around one alternative to the center-right Romney.

"Why should we coalesce behind conservatives  who aren't conservatives? I don't know why people don't understand this," Paul said.

Democrats see Mitt Romney's decisive victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire Republican primary in a different light.

Here's Ray Buckley, New Hampshire Democratic chairman, on the result:

"While he may have won, Mitt Romney, who has spent five years campaigning here in hopes of winning by a huge margin, fell well short on a number of fronts. He lost among self-identified independents. He finished a distant fourth among voters who care about 'strong moral character.'

"He lost the middle class vote, and he lost among New Hampshire residents who said they voted on the issues. The reason is plain: Mitt Romney will say and stand for anything to get elected, and voters clearly don't trust him. He's demonstrated he is out of touch with middle class Americans, and tonight's results make that clear."

Want to be president? Move away from Arizona.

Addressing a Mitt Romney rally Thursday morning in Salem, New Hampshire, Arizona Sen. John McCain recalled the recent experience of presidential candidates from his state.

Since 1964, they've all failed--GOP 1964 nominee Barry Goldwater, one-time Democratic hopefuls Bruce Babbitt and Morris Udall,and McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee.

"Arizona may be the only state in America where mothers don't tell their children they can grow up and be president," McCain quipped.

Rick Santorum brought his newly-energized campaign Friday afternoon to Buffalo Wild Wings in Ames, Iowa--and found virtually everyone was more interested in watching the Pinstripe Bowl on the big screen TVs.

After all, Iowa State University was playing Rutgers in the bowl, and Ames is the home of Iowa State. Santorum was gracious, shaking a few hands, but mostly spending his time talking with dozens of media who flooded the restaurant.

Santorum, who has surged in recent polls, address a major voter complaint about him--that he's not electable.

But he told McClatchy he was doing well against 0bama in Pennsylvania, the state he represented in Congress, and "if we do well here we get on the national stage." The former U. S. senator also pointed out he's the only candidate who's won statewide in a swing state.

it was a real Iowa-style rally Friday--cold, dark, rainy and windy.

Mitt Romney tried to make the most of it at a dawn rally as he spoke to 200 people outside a West Des Moines grocery story.

"We’re out in the cold and the rain and the wind because we care about America. He just finished his 90th round of golf," Romney said, contrasting himself with President Barack Obama, who is in Hawaii this week.

Romney, who polls say has surged into the top tier of candidates as the state's Tuesday Republican caucus approaches, spent his 15 minute talk criticizing the president--without mentioning his rivals.

One sour note: Four protesters hollered at Romney to release his tax returns. Romney ignored them and they were escorted away.