he was doing three or four of these every day. the campaign is trying to make this contrast with mitt romney. it's in the stump speech. the president will talk about his trips to howard johnston's and his joy of using the ice machine and greyhound bus rides as a kid as a clear way with contrasting himself, mitt romney at that time up in new hampshire on his boat at his lake house. in all these interactions, the president is really trying to drive home the idea that he can connect with voters in a way that romney can't. and in practice, all politicians do this. you watch them long enough and they have to say, hey, how are you doing, what's your name, how old are you enough times. they have little shorthand for doing it. they have go-to jokes. and over the course of those two days, the president was using a few of them. >> as someone with a lot of my own go-to jokes, i'm not one to talk. the question is whether mitt romney has gotten better at this. earlier in the campaign cycle "the new york times" had a great story talking about mitt romney on the trail, introducing