Bust out the chips—it’s almost time for kickoff. Declare your loyalty to New York or New England, order the Obama 2012 Big Game pack, and steal a recipe for some chili that’s downright presidential. Then sit back and enjoy the game.

1. The economy added 257,000 jobs in January, making it the 23rd consecutive month of growth. Check out our new interactive chart.

2. Watch President Obama’s message to supporters on African American History Month and the launch of African Americans for Obama.

3. Listen up: supporters from Iowa talked about what health reform means to them.

4. On Thursday, the Senate passed the STOCK Act, which bans members of Congress from engaging in insider trading.

5. Three years after President Obama signed the Fair Pay Act, hear from Lilly Ledbetter—the inspiration behind it all.

The big game is almost here—so, who you got? Will the New England dynasty reign or will New York pull off another upset? We’ve got our eye on the big contest this November, but there’s only one game on everyone’s mind tomorrow. So put your team over the top—make your pick today.

Bought anything from the Obama 2012 store lately? We’d love to see how it looks. Send us photos of you and your friends with campaign t-shirts, magnets, hats, and more—you just might find yourself featured here on BarackObama.com.

Supporters in Dayton, Ohio enjoyed one of the biggest and most action-packed office openings in the country last night. Ashley reports:

Over 300 campaign supporters joined together in support of our newest office opening in Dayton! As we continue to open offices across the state, Ohio State Director Greg Schultz said it best:

“We want this to be your home away from home!”

Supporters and volunteers packed the office elbow to elbow just for a chance to be a part of the 2012 journey here in the state. We heard from many of the campaign staffers and neighborhood team leaders here in Ohio, and mingled amongst food, friends, and fun!

Follow @OFA_OH on Twitter and the state blog for more.

Amanda, chair of the College Democrats at the University of Michigan, was on campus last week when President Obama stopped by to talk about his proposals for making college more affordable.

“People waited in line for 14 hours to get tickets to the speech,” Amanda said. “Students are remembering how much they like him and how much support he needs, so we’re hoping to use that momentum to grow our volunteer base for what we’ll be doing next fall, and to grow the amount of people who will be with us when we’re canvassing, knocking on doors, registering voters on campus, and making phone calls.”

Facing a pile of student loans herself, Amanda said the President’s message was right on target:

"It was great to have the President here talking about college tuition—something that so specifically affects all of us."

Muriel, a county organizer, was sitting right alongside the students for the President’s speech.

“I had been reading a lot about the rising cost of education, especially at the University of Michigan, and what impressed me the most was him talking about keeping tuitions real, cutting funding to universities that don’t follow tuition guidelines, and making sure our colleges and universities are teaching what they need to in order to prepare students for the jobs that are out there right now. And of course that really hit home with all the college students in attendance.”

Muriel was also struck by the President’s focus on one issue of particular importance to Michiganders.

“The biggest thing for us in all of Michigan is that the automotive industry touches just about every family in some way,” she said. “He stood up for the auto industry and said yes, we do need to support them. So many people had said, ‘No, let them fail. Manufacturing is dead.’ But he believed in us, and GM is now back to number one in auto sales in the world. They were down so low, and now they’re back—so the President made the right decision to continue to help the auto industry and small businesses.”

Energized by the President’s speech, Muriel reiterated her support for him in 2012.

“We’ll be busy organizing our volunteer teams in Livingston County—we’ve got so many volunteer opportunities that there's something for everyone,” she said. “I’d give 110 percent for this President.”

Join Amanda and Muriel—step up to volunteer in your community.

Speaking at a Virginia firehouse this morning, President Obama laid out his new proposals for getting our veterans back to work:

In my State of the Union address, I proposed a new initiative, called the Veterans Job Corps, to put veterans back to work protecting and rebuilding America. And today, we’re laying out the details of this proposal.

First, we want to help communities hire more veterans as cops and firefighters … Over the past three years, my administration has made it possible for states to keep thousands of first responders on the job. But today, we’re announcing that communities who make it a priority to recruit veterans will be among the first in line when it comes to getting help from the federal government.

The second thing we want to do is to connect up to 20,000 veterans with jobs that involve rebuilding local communities or national parks … They’ve already risked their lives defending America. They should have the opportunity to rebuild America. We’ve got roads and bridges in and around our national parks in need of repair. Let’s fix them.

Of course, Congress needs to fund these projects. Congress should take the money that we’re no longer spending on war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building here at home, to improve the quality of life right here in the United States of America and put our veterans to work.

And for veterans who want to do something else—maybe put their leadership skills to use starting a small business—we’re going to start offering entrepreneurial training to our veterans. We want service members prepared for battle—and for professional success when they come home. So we should do all that we can to support our troops and our veterans—in helping them start a business, in helping them get a foothold in a fire station like this one, and start moving up the ranks.

Read the President’s full proposal for getting veterans back to work here.

This week’s Friday Facts looks at the work President Obama has done to help America’s homeowners and strengthen the housing market, and his new plan to help families save as much as $3,000 a year through refinancing.

• 33 percent: Amount home prices have fallen since their high in 2006

• 962,000: Number of families President Obama’s Home Affordable Refinance Program has helped to better afford their mortgages and stay in their homes

• $3,000: Average savings a family could see from refinancing under the President’s new program

Download the complete fact sheet and share it with your friends and family.