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already trying to scuff up those considered by political insiders to be most likely to join the GOP ticket.
• The president's campaign started swinging at the potential Republican running mates this week while urging home-state Democrats to chime in about the shortcomings that -- as emails to donors and supporters put it -- "Americans need to know." The pre-emptive strikes are an effort to define a possible No. 2 in a negative light and reflect a sense that time is precious to sway opinion in a stubbornly close presidential race dashing quickly toward November.
• Tim Pawlenty? The former Minnesota governor is a fee-raiser whose record "is painful for the middle-class families who lived under his leadership," the Obama campaign argues.
• Rob Portman? The Ohio senator is "one of the architects of the top-down Bush budget" that the Obama team blames for "crashing our economy."
• Marco Rubio? The rookie Florida senator has "led the way on almost every extreme position Mitt Romney has embraced," according to the missive that seeks examples of "the good, the bad and ugly" of Rubio.
• ___

• PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- The ancient Martian crater where the Curiosity rover

landed looks strikingly similar to the Mojave Desert in California with its looming mountains and hanging haze, scientists say.
• "The first impression that you get is how Earth-like this seems looking at that landscape," chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology said Wednesday.
• Overnight, the car-size rover poked its head out for the first time since settling in Gale Crater, peered around and returned a black-and-white self-portrait and panorama that's still being processed.
• It provided the best view so far of its destination since touching down Sunday night after nailing an intricate choreography. During the last few seconds, a rocket-powered spacecraft hovered as cables lowered Curiosity to the ground.
• In the latest photos, Curiosity looked out toward the northern horizon. Nearby were scour marks in the surface blasted by thrusters, which kicked up a swirl of dust. There were concerns that Curiosity got dusty, but scientists said that was not the case.

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