Thirty-two years after leaving the White House as a defeated one-term president, the mostly Democratic gathering screamed approval for Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, as they arrived for the ceremony just outside the U.S. Capitol.

To be sure, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 White House contender, received a much louder embrace.

But a grinning Carter was back and so were at least some of the cheers and applause that showered him when he was sworn in as reform-minded president in 1977 in the wake of the Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon from office.

All living former presidents are traditionally invited to the presidential inauguration.

But the two others now living, George H.W. Bush, and his son, George W. Bush, declined to attend.

The elder Bush is recovering from a recent hospital stay. The younger Bush has generally kept a low profile since his second term ended in January 2009 and he was replaced by Obama.

And on Monday, these black former “Tuskegee Airmen” were back in the front row for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama.

“I never thought I’d see the inauguration of a black president, and today I’m seeing one inaugurated for a second time,” said Cyril Byron, 92, of Baltimore.

“This is something you dream about, something you hope about, pray about,” said Byron, who was seated with old buddies and wearing a black-and-red baseball cap reading, “Tuskegee Airmen.”

Until World War Two, African-Americans were barred from flying for the U.S. military. They were seen as not up to the task.
But under pressure from civil rights groups and others, the armed forces created an all-black squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama, known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Despite being given inferior equipment and regularly segregated from others, they stepped up and delivered and became a feared and respected fighting force.

“We used to say we fought two wars – against the enemy in the air and against discrimination back home,” Byron said. “We did OK.”

Obama invited veterans of the Tuskegee Airmen to his first inauguration in 2009 and invited them again to his second. Invitations went out to more than 50 of the old soldiers: pilots, navigators, bombardiers and members of the ground crew, like Byron.

“Our motto was ‘We keep ‘em flying,” Byron said.

As for Obama and his second term, Byron said: “He’s proven he’s a fighter. He is not going to get everything he wants. But he is going to keep making progress.”

Within minutes of Obama’s second inaugural address, McConnell issued a written statement expressing a willingness to take a new shot at working together.

Only time will tell if they can put past differences behind them, which included McConnell blocking Obama-backed legislation and rooting for the president to be defeated in last year’s election.

But McConnell, in his Inauguration Day statement, made the case for bipartisanship in a sharply divided Washington where Democrats hold the White House and Senate and Republicans control the House.

“The president’s second term represents a fresh start when it comes to dealing with the great challenges of our day; particularly, the transcendent challenge of unsustainable federal spending and debt,” McConnell said.

“Republicans are eager to work with the President on achieving this common goal, and we firmly believe that divided government provides the perfect opportunity to do so,” he said.

“Together, there is much we can achieve,” the Senate Republican leader added.

Senator-elect Angus King came to Washington preaching bipartisanship and fearing that many of his new colleagues wouldn’t go near him, figuring he’s “a strange creature.”

But to King’s delight, a number of Democrats and Republicans stepped forward to say that they share his desire to end congressional gridlock.

“I was a little apprehensive coming down here,” King told Reuters TV on Thursday (video above), his third day in Washington after last week’s congressional and presidential elections.

“I was afraid they would say all say, ‘Forget it. We’re not going to talk to this strange creature from Maine who’s an independent,’” King said.

“But I have been pleasantly surprised. There’s been a lot of positive, I think genuinely warm words of – ‘Hey, let’s get together. Let’s talk. Let’s see if we can work on some of these problems together.’”

A former two-term Maine governor, King came out of retirement last February to campaign for the seat of retiring Senator Olympia Snowe.

King said he ran for the Senate for the same reason Snowe was leaving it: partisan gridlock that has prevented Congress from tackling many of the nation’s woes, particularly a record debt and an ailing economy.

Having worked across the political aisle while governor from 1995 to 2003, King figured he could do the same in Washington – or at least try.

“I sense a little glimmer of optimism,” King said. However, it’s far too early to say if he and like-minded lawmakers will succeed.

“The message from this election, my election for sure, also around the country, is that people want us to solve problems. I’m hearing this from my new colleagues,” King said.

“People can’t understand why the Senate and House and the president can’t get together and compromise and get things done,” King said.

King said there’s clearly a desire to do so.

“Whether it will hold through some of the painful decisions that will have to be made on the deficit and the debt is the big question,” King said.

Washington is packed with name droppers. But King, citing the privacy of others, declined to identify – with one exception – those in the Senate he talked to this week.

He said he conferred with Senate Democratic  Harry Reid before deciding to caucus with the chamber’s Democrats rather than Republicans.

“I wanted to be reassured by him that I could remain independent and still call ‘em like I see them,” King said. “He assured me that was the case.”

Nancy Pelosi quoted a member of her favorite baseball team, the World Champion San Francisco Giants, in a pep talk on Thursday to newly elected members of the House of Representatives.

The House Democratic leader told incoming lawmakers of both parties about pitcher Ryan Vogelsong and his words of wisdom that bridge hard-ball sports and hard-ball politics.

She quoted Vogelsong as saying: “The reason that we win is that we play as a team, and each member cares more about the name on the front of the uniform (Giants) than the (player’s) name on the back of the uniform.”

Speaking at a news conference afterward, Pelosi said, “What I said to those (House) freshmen, Democrats and Republicans, this morning is that we are all – on the front of our uniforms – Team U.S.A.”

“And we have to work together for our country to continue to be No. 1, to prevail, and hopefully they will find a way to that,” Pelosi said.

Vogelsong made his comments at a recent victory party in San Francisco that drew more than one million people and celebrated the Giants’ four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

Pelosi helped welcome the freshman House class to Washington a week after the 2012 congressional and presidential elections that showed a deeply divided electorate.

She told new members that Washington hasn’t always been as partisan as it has been during the past two years.  Gridlock and constant political fighting resulted in Congress receiving its lowest approval ratings ever while passing the fewest bills into law in more than a half century.

When the new 435-member House convenes in January, there will be 79 freshmen, 44 Democrats and 35 Republicans.

Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, said, “Hopefully with this election and with their fresh start as the freshman class, in a bipartisan way, they can find agreement.”

Photo: House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on November 14, 2012. REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert

Supporters watch as U.S. President Barack Obama celebrates his re-election during his election night rally in Chicago, Nov. 7, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

When President Barack Obama won his historic bid for the U.S. presidency in 2008 as the nation’s first black president, there was a lot of talk about a new era for America.

But his re-election on Tuesday showed that in U.S. politics, race has far from become a back-burner issue.

The Democratic victory driven by strong support from Latinos, blacks and Asians leaves many re-examining the impact of minority voters not only on future elections but on policies ranging from immigration to education.

Latinos are the fastest growing group in America, as my colleagues Patrick Rucker and David Adams report in their story, Hispanic vote tilts strongly to Obama in win.

There are other changes afoot, too, as more Americans marry people of a different race and the number of minority births climbs. In a few decades, the United States will look far different, data show.

“In 1950, we were an 87 percent white nation. In 2050, we will be a 47 percent white nation,” said Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Center. “We are about midway or two-thirds of the way through this century-long passage that will take us by the middle of this century to a ‘majority minority’ nation.”

Obama embraced that picture in his acceptance speech Tuesday night:

“What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on Earth … it doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white, or Hispanic or Asian, or Native American, or young or old, or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight — you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”

But that poses a dilemma for Republicans, who largely saw older white voters line up behind Obama’s challenger Mitt Romney, some experts said.

“The country’s changing and the people our party appeals to is a static group, and that is a recipe for extinction,” Republican consultant and analyst Mike Murphy told MSNBC this week.

Republican commentator Rush Limbaugh, however, said his party isn’t getting credit for its minority supporters.

“But we’re not getting the votes that Obama got … because we have Condoleezza Rice, and she is (the) pinnacle of achievement and intelligent, well spoken. I mean, you can’t find a more accomplished, better person than Condoleezza Rice, Marco Rubio,” he said on his radio show on Wednesday, referring to the former secretary of state and current Florida senator. “And just speaking in street lingo, we’re not getting credit for it.”

So is it racism?

Some experts yesterday pointed to simple cultural misunderstanding. Others say race is of course still an underlying issue.

The Associated Press reports that racial slurs spilled forth at one University of Mississippi protest after the election. There were other signs of racial political shifts as the last white House Democrat won re-election in the Deep South, my colleagues report from Georgia:

“There are no white Democrats in the U.S. House from the other Deep South states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina as white voters in the region have increasingly switched to the Republican Party.”

Ethnicity is not the only factor when it comes to race. Obama also won with strong support from voters age 34 and younger, many of whom experts say lack the racial baggage of previous generations although they are not immune to it.

That could reshape the debate as today’s increasingly diverse children soon become voters themselves — but probably not anytime soon. As Washington Post blogger Janice D’Arcy reports, for now their parents still have to face racial stereotypes and the lack of color-blindness head on.

“We may have re-elected the nation’s first black president, but few of us can walk away from the 2012 campaign thinking we’re a ‘post-racial’ society,” she writes.

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton campaigned together in New Hampshire on Sunday, and both men appeared wistful and nostalgic as one wrapped up his final campaign and the other returned to a state that made his own White House career possible.

U.S. President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton appear onstage together after Obama addressed the crowd at a campaign event at State Capitol Square in Concord, New Hampshire, November 4, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing

“Twenty years and nine months ago, New Hampshire began the chance for me to become president,” Clinton told a crowd of some 14,000 in Concord.

“It’s no secret that I never tire of coming here, that I never forget anything that happened here, that I’m still looking for someplace I haven’t yet been.”

Obama has relied heavily on Clinton in the final weeks of his campaign.

The former president, whose relationship with Obama was strained after his wife Hillary’s unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 2008, has done more than two dozen political events for Obama’s re-election.

“The only Clinton working harder than him is our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. And I’m so grateful to both of them,” Obama said at the top of his remarks.

Obama is more than grateful. He has relied on Clinton not only as a surrogate, but also as an example of the policies he hopes to promote in a second term. That has earned the 42nd president a permanent shout-out in the 44th president’s final campaign stump speech.

“President Clinton’s economic plan asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more so we could reduce our deficit and invest in the skills and ideas of our people,” Obama said.

“By the end of President Clinton’s second term, America created 23 million new jobs, and incomes were up and poverty was down, and the deficit had become the biggest surplus in history.”

Obama’s nostalgia extended past wistfulness for the 1990s. Aides said he was soaking up the final days of what will be, win or lose, his last campaign for public office.

“There is a recognition among the president, among the staff who have been closely working for him, that we’re a family — this is a family, and there are a lot of laughs, and a lot of nostalgia to all the ups and downs, the incredible roller coaster that this journey has been,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Air Force One.

“These will be the last reelection rallies, reelection events, times working the rope line for his own campaign that he’ll ever do. And I think he’s really taking in the moments and taking in the times he has backstage with the introducers, and the conversations he has along the rope line, and really helping that bolster him through the final days.”

(Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert)

Deadly Superstorm Sandy left millions of Americans snowed in, flooded out or stranded without power – and the federal government itself in Washington closed – just a week before voters across the country head to the polls. But if anyone is wondering whether Election Day will be put off, the answer is almost certainly no.

Local U.S. elections have been postponed before – in one relatively recent example, New York put off voting that had been set for Sept. 11, 2001, because of the attacks on the country that day. But presidential balloting has always gone on, even during the Civil War in 1864 (President Abraham Lincoln was re-elected).

Federal law mandates that the national vote must take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years.

Some sources say a state might have the authority to put off voting in a national election within its border in case of a terrorist act or natural disaster. But election law experts said that might not be legal, and would definitely be disruptive, especially in a close election like this year’s and more so in a swing state like Virginia, where two days of early voting have already been cancelled because of Sandy. Changing the federal law – through an act of Congress – is extremely unlikely, given the country’s bitter partisan divisions in the midst of a tightly contested election.

“I feel pretty safe in saying the likelihood of an amendment of this federal statute is right around zero,” said Daniel Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University and an expert on election law and voting rights.

Analysts said there would be howls of protests if President Barack Obama even spoke of the possibility of putting off the vote on Nov. 6, even though it is not clear whether a delay would benefit the Democratic incumbent or his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. Most of the states affected by Sandy are strongly Democratic in presidential elections – Obama leads in New Jersey by 12 percentage points and in New York by 26. For those states, postponing could lower turnout and thus cut into Obama’s overall share of the popular vote, but it is unlikely to change whether Obama wins their electoral votes.

And in Virginia, where the race is a dead heat, Sandy could be expected to hurt Obama’s prospects because it canceled two days of early voting – and Democrats are generally more likely to take advantage of early voting. But it could also hurt Romney, because voters in rural areas – the Republican’s base of support – are more likely to wait longer for their power to be restored or be unable to get to the polls because roads are blocked by fallen trees.

Photo: People take part in early voting in Columbus, Ohio on October 30, 2012. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

When President Barack Obama’s interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board was published on Wednesday, it made headlines not just because of a brief controversy over whether it should be on or off the record — the president ultimately allowed the entire conversation to be on the record — but also because of Obama’s unexpected focus on immigration.

Obama told the editorial board that he was confident he could pass immigration reform in 2013 if he wins reelection. Yet he has not emphasized this issue on the campaign trail, and Reuters/Ipsos polling may explain why: It’s an issue that evokes strong and largely negative responses from the broad population of likely voters. Since July, 58 percent have said they thought American immigration policy is headed in the wrong direction.

At the same time, support for comprehensive immigration reform is a top issue for one of the president’s key support groups, Hispanic voters.

“Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt,” the president told the newspaper. “Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community.” Obama said he would press for immigration reform in his second term because “it’s the right thing to do and I’ve cared about this ever since I ran back in 2008.”

After several failed attempts to get the DREAM Act through Congress, Obama in mid-June took executive action that allows hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children to remain in the country. This policy was included in proposed versions of the DREAM Act. According to Reuters/Ipsos polling since then, 63 percent of likely voters have said most undocumented immigrants should be deported, with a few exceptions, versus 29 percent who believe they should be allowed to stay, with some exceptions.

Fifty-three percent of likely voters believe the federal government should design immigration laws. Paradoxically, in a related question, 62 percent agreed that states “have the right to make laws governing immigration within their borders.” Arizona and Alabama are among the states that have enacted stringent laws, and such measures have support among likely voters: During the summer, almost three-quarters of respondents favored criminal penalties if an undocumented immigrant should “apply for, solicit, or otherwise perform work in the United States,” while 71 percent favored “state laws requiring law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of any person they suspect is in the United States illegally.” Meanwhile, 64 percent supported state laws permitting officers to arrest those who cannot produce immigration documentation.

The Reuters/Ipsos database is now public and searchable here: http://www.tinyurl.com/reuterspoll

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers doughnuts to fire fighters at a fire house in Tampa, Florida October 25, 2012. Obama is on a two-day, eight-state campaign swing. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

He doesn’t have a cell phone, is getting rusty at math, and wants candy – not fruit – to be this year’s White House Halloween treat.

President Barack Obama mixed jokes with serious fare during a taping of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” giving some insights about himself, his family, and the Nov. 6 election.

Here are some of the topics he covered:

Halloween

Obama’s wife Michelle gave out fruit last year as part of trick-or-treating at the White House. That would not do in an election year, he said. “It is an election year, so candy for everybody!” Obama declared. For people from the swing state of Ohio, a huge Hershey’s chocolate bar would be included, he joked.

Phones and kids

Asked whether he had a personalized ring tone, Obama said he didn’t have a cell phone. The Secret Service allowed him to have a blackberry, but that was it.

He didn’t say whether his children had phones, but he did say his older daughter was getting into more advanced math classes that prevented him from helping with her homework. His solution? Get a physicist from the Department of Energy to come over if needed.

Flying and driving

Asked what super hero ability he would choose if he could, the president said he’d like to be able to fly – though he expressed faux concern that he might get cold if he could. Leno’s response: you’re over-thinking this, Mr. President.

Obama, who travels in a motorcade in a limo or a Suburban driven by Secret Service agents, said he had had a chance to drive a car himself recently. A friend came to the White House to show off his Chevy Volt, and Obama gave it a spin around the driveway. The Secret Service would not let him leave the White House grounds.