Speaking at a fundraiser in Los Angeles, vice president Joe Biden sought to vouch for the president's softer side.

He said that some in the media have questioned why the president doesn't "emote more" and a pool report from the Beverly-Wilshire event says Biden "assured the crowd that Obama feels things deeply – especially the economic struggles of Americans. He said Obama is simply private about his personal life and has 'character traits that don’t lend themselves to 2012 national politics.'

And he told the crowd, "You’re backing the right guy, this guy knows what he believes, this guy is determined to get things done." Obama, he said, "has a backbone like a rail-rod."

He also told the crowd that he and Obama spend three hours a day together and have become close friends.

As the field of GOP'ers hoping to replace him lands in South Carolina today for the state's Jan. 21 primary, President Barack Obama is off to his hometown of Chicago for three fundraisers.

The events include two events at private homes as well as a large fundraiser at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where tickets began at $44. His campaign and Democrats have already pulled in more than $150 million.

First Lady Michelle Obama held a campaign fundraiser in Richmond -- tickets began at $500.

Vice President Joe Biden took on the Republican field Tuesday night in a video address to New Hampshire Democrats, telling them that Obama is on the side of the middle class. He took aim at front runner Mitt Romney, saying "he thinks it's more important for the stockholders and the shareholders and the investors and the venture capital guys to do well, (than) for those employees to be part of the bargain.

"We inherited a broken bargain," he said. "A deal that our parents didn't have to face. Middle class folks, if you gave them an even chance, they got to share in the benefits they helped to produce for this country. That bargain was broken during the Bush years and we were determined to fix it."

Biden said Republicans don't understand the concept of the broken bargain.

"Listen to Mitt Romney," he said. "He has no idea the bargain even exists, let alone is broken."

A week ago, President Barack Obama talked via video conference with caucus-goers in Iowa. This time around, it'll be vice president Joe Biden who plans to touch base via video teleconference with campaign supporters in New Hampshire. (A conspiratorial side note: Biden started his day with breakfast with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom former NYT ed Bill Keller suggested Sunday should be on the 2012 ticket with Obama, rather than Biden.)

The White House insists it's too early for Obama to thoroughly engage in campaigning, but the president hit up two campaign fundraisers in DC Monday night and heads to Chicago Wednesday for more fundraising. He warned Monday at one fundraiser that "everything we fought for during the last election is at stake in this election."

He also sought to temper expectations, saying he "warned" supporters in 2008 that "I'm not a perfect man.

"I said I won't be a perfect President," he said, adding "But... I made a commitment to you and I've kept this commitment. I will always tell you what I think. I always will tell you where I stand.  And I wake up every single day thinking about you and fighting for you, and trying to figure out how can we make sure that everybody has access to the American Dream."

The U.S. Mint plans to suspend the production of presidential dollar coins for circulation -- as part of a White House campaign to cut waste.

Vice President Joe Biden announced the move, saying that nearly 1.4 billion surplus dollar coins are "literally just sitting around unused" in Federal Reserve vaults due to lack of demand and that by ending production, the feds will save $50 million per year in production and storage costs.

"It will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there," Biden said at an event to announce the coin cutoff. 

Congress in 2005 enacted the Presidential $1 Coin Act, which requires the Mint to issue new Presidential $1 Coins with the likeness of every deceased President. But more than 40 percent of the $1 coins the Mint has issued have been returned to the Federal Reserve, because nobody wants to use them, the White House says.

As a result, nearly 1.4 billion excess dollar coins are already sitting unused in Federal Reserve Bank vaults – enough to meet demand for more than a decade. But until today, the White House says, the Mint was on pace to produce an additional 1.6 billion dollar coins through 2016.

In Iraq to mark the end of U.S. military involvement there, the veep spoke Thursday at an Iraq-government hosted event at the Al Faw Palace -- built by Saddam Hussein -- to honor U.S. and Iraqi forces. 

Reporters with the vice president said the bridge to the palace was decorated with tinsel -- over barbed wire and Iraqi flags. A red carpet led to the palace entrance, lined with Iraqi troops. Inside, about 130 US troops sat on one side. Iraqi forces on the other. About 30 chairs on the Iraqi side were empty. 

The ceremony began with the Iraqi and US national anthems, as well as a moment of silence for the "martyrs."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani spoke first. "History will record that the liberation of our country was not only an important turning point in Iraq but it was an important beginning for the region," he said, referring to events of the Arab Spring.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki thanked former President George W. Bush for signing a post-war agreement and President Obama for seeing it through. He appeared to deliver a message to Iran, warning against fomenting unrest: "The withdrawal operation will take away all the slogans that some countries hide behind in order to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq," he said

Biden spoke third and thanked the troops: "Because of you and the work those of you here have done, we are now able to end this war," he said. He also appeared to address Iran, noting that, "we learned in over 8 years in Iraq that this country's independent spirit is stitched into its national fabric. ... The Iraqi people have not and will not yield again to any kind of external domination."

In Iraq to mark the end of U.S. military involvement there, vice president Joe Biden Wednesday pledged a "new beginning of a relationship.

"We are embarking on a new path together, a new phase in this relationship," said Biden, who along with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki delivered remarks at the start of a meeting of the US-Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee. "That partnership includes a robust security relationship based on what you think that relationship should be. We will continue our discussions with your government over the substance of our security arrangements, including areas of training, intelligence and counterterrorism."

He said the two countries are "bound together by many things but particularly bound together by the more than eight years of shared sacrifice and struggle."

And he stressed multiple times that the US "keeps its promises," including the one Obama made in 2008 to remove U.S. troops. He called the drawdown in the best interest of both countries. "And it's in the best interest of the relationship," he said. 

Vice President Joe Biden --en route to Turkey and Greece -- made a surprise stop in Iraq to mark the end of the war, arriving Tuesday night in Baghdad. While there, the White House says he'll meet with Iraqi leaders and thank U.S. and Iraqi troops -- a few weeks before U.S. troops are due to withdraw from the country.

The White House says Biden will co-chair a meeting of the U.S. Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee and meet with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and other political leaders. The trip is Biden's eighth to Iraq since becoming vice president -- and he joked in a meeting with US officials that they suggested he's now eligible for Iraqi citizenship.

Obama last month announced the end of the war, though there is fear that violence could escalate after U.S. troops are gone. The deadline for all American military troops to be out is Dec. 31, though it's thought likely that the American withdrawal will be completed before then. Fewer than 20,000 American forces remain in Iraq.

After 2 days in the South of France urging his European counterparts to stablize their economy, President Barack Obama is back stateside -- and likely taking up his push for his moribund jobs package when he travels Tuesday to Pennsylvania.

Vice President Joe Biden delivers the administration's weekly address today from the University of Pittsburgh, urging Congress to pass parts of the jobs bill

"We have to increase the pace," Biden said, citing last month's tick in job creation. "We have to act now to do everything in our power to keep this economy moving and to grow jobs."

He assailed Republicans for voting down the latest part of the jobs program: a package to rebuild roads and bridges.

"These are all programs that the Republicans in the past have supported, but once again, every Republican voted no -- blocking the majority will to put these folks back to work.

"If the Republican Congress won’t join us, we’re going to continue to act on our own to make the changes that we can to bring relief to middle-class families and those aspiring to get in the middle class," he says. 

Vice President Joe Biden will lead a high-profile U.S. delegation to Saudi Arabia to mark the death of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, the White House announced Tuesday.
The delegation, which will head to the kingdom on Thursday, will also include:
--James B. Smith, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia;
--Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.;
--Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen;
--Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus;
--CIA Director David Petraeus;
--Gen. James N. Mattis, Commander of the U.S. Central Command

Vice President Joe Biden was in Concord, N.H. today, making it official that Barack Obama will be on the ballot for the first-in-the-nation primary. (A likely formality in that so far, he's not got a Democratic challenger)

Biden promised Obama would return to the state and campaign there -- though his popularity ratings in the Granite State are now under water.

Greeted by hundreds of supporters outside the State House, Biden handed Secretary of State William Gardner the paperwork. He criticized Republicans for all sounding the same.

"There is no fundamental difference among all the Republican candidates," he said, saying they want to roll back Wall Street regulations and oppose raising taxes on millionaires.