In his first major interview since his unsuccessful 2012 bid for White House, Mitt Romney likened being a presidential candidate to the bumpy and unpredictable path of a roller coaster.

“We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs. But the ride ends," Romney told Fox News. "And then you get off. And it's not like, ‘Oh, can't we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life?’ It's like, no, the ride's over."

The pre-released clip is from an interview with Romney and his wife, Ann, set to air on “Fox News Sunday,” the first media either has done since the November 6 election.

The Romneys have kept a low-profile since their unsuccessful bid for the White House. Photos of the former Massachusetts governor running errands around his La Jolla, Calif., home have been about the only thing the public has seen of him since the fall.

One photo even surfaced of Romney riding a roller coaster with family at Disneyland.

“It is an adjustment, but it’s one I think we did well,” said Ann Romney. She added, “The good news is fortunately we like each other.”

This is not the only public appearance Romney will be making. He will make his first speech since the campaign ended at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C., in two weeks.

Adriana Alvarado / AP

Rapid response Coahuila state police stand at a checkpoint iin Piedras Negras, Mexico, after a prison break on Sept. 18. Security is among the challenges facing the country.

News analysis

Where is home to the largest number of Americans living abroad, as well as the world's richest man?

Which country is the United States' third-largest foreign supplier of oil?

Which nation did President George W. Bush call the U.S.' most important bilateral partner?

Which close American ally has lost some 60,000 lives in a U.S.-backed effort to combat violent crime?

The answer to all of the above is Mexico.

But despite the many ties that bind the two countries, the United States' southern neighbor barely warranted a mention during the presidential campaign, and didn't come up once during the third "foreign policy" debate between Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.

This omission is not lost on many in Mexico.

"At times the United States sees Mexico as an unconditional ally and they see us with the stigma of an undeveloped nation," said Eduardo Rosales, director of the United States-Mexico relations master's program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). "But the United States needs to put their eyes south. It is the most important bilateral relationship in the world."

Some Mexico-related news is grimly familiar to most Americans -- tens of thousands have died in violence since outgoing President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country's drug cartels at the end of 2006.

Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Mexican cartels funnel between $19 and $39 billion worth of illegal drugs to the United States every year, according to the State Department. The United States, in turn, is a major source of weapons for the cartels.

Mexico's death toll remains stubbornly high and swathes of the country virtually ungovernable despite the Merida Initiative, a $1.9-billion U.S.-funded program aimed at fighting trafficking, organized crime and money laundering.

A vivid example of the shared security challenges came in August when Mexican police officers thought to be working in cahoots with the cartels ambushed and wounded two U.S. agents.

Oscar Alvarez, a college student in the northern state of Coahuila, alleged that much of the blame for the violence and crime lies with the United States, the world's largest consumer of illegal drugs.

"The demand on drugs is not being controlled ... and Mexico will always be affected," said Alvarez, 22, who has a small printing business to help cover the costs of school. "Whoever wins (the U.S. election) needs to act. I've heard a lot of talk but I haven't seen anything get done."

Full coverage: NBCNews.com's The World is Watching series

More election news at Telemundo

That the drugs trade and the hyper-violent crime that surrounds it is a shared problem has not been widely accepted in the United States, according to UNAM's Rosales.

"The problem is the consumption and the things that surround it such as violence and money laundering," he said. "It's a reality that is neglected by the United Sates. But our bloodshed continues to grow."

Cross-border methamphetamine trade booms amid Mexico's 'war on drugs'

It isn't clear how incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto of Institutional Revolutionary Party, which governed Mexico for about 70 years, will deal with the cartels, but indications are that many in country are losing patience with the drug war.

"I'm against the war," former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda told NBC News in May. "At six years on, it is beginning to look more difficult to see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel."

Crime and cartels do not define Mexico.

It is one of the United States' most important trading partners. Its economy, the world's 14th largest, grew at 5.5 percent in 2010 and 3.8 percent in 2011, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, despite the global economic downturn. Trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada -- members of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- is worth more than trade within the eurozone. 

Also in this series: Iran, Israel name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions

A symbol of Mexico's growing international economic prominence is Carlos Slim Helu– a telecoms tycoon with wide-ranging investments including a sizable stake in The New York Times – who topped Forbes' list of the world's richest people in 2012.

But despite billionaire tycoons and high growth rates, the anemic economy north of the border is hurting Mexico.

Mexico leader's message to US: 'No more weapons!'

Isidoro Peyron, owner of a family-run tile-making business in Pachuca, central Mexico, says the United States' slowdown has hit him directly. Whoever wins Tuesday's election must kickstart the economy for the sakes of both the U.S. and Mexico, he says.

"The next president of the United States needs to reactivate the American economy," said Peyron, 63, who has stopped exporting to the United States. "They are (Mexico's) main commercial partner."

Nevertheless, U.S. trade with Mexico totaled about $500 billion in 2011. 

Also in this series: Suspicion of US rife as Obama, Romney jab China

The 2,000-mile border between the two countries makes this trade easier, but the easy access also fuels another issue that both unifies and divides the U.S. and Mexico: immigration.

At an estimated 12 million, Mexicans are by far the largest immigrant group in the United States. And around 7 million, or 59 percent of undocumented immigrants, are thought to have come from Mexico.

While Obama decreed earlier this year that hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who went to the United States illegally as young children would be entitled to remain, the promise he made in 2008 to reform immigration has not been fulfilled.

Meanwhile, there have been more deportations under the Obama administration than during any other presidency in modern times.

Also in this series: Should next US president treat Russia as friend or foe?

But even though Obama has disappointed many for not delivering on immigration reform, the UNAM's Rosales did not hold out hope that Romney will resolve the problems.

"If Romney got to power, there would be zero chances of an immigration reform," Rosales said. "If Obama is elected a second term, it's still hard, but the chances increase."

Romney favors a U.S.-Mexico border fence and opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants, as well as offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college, although he would support doing so for those who serve in the armed forces.

More Mexico coverage from NBC News

Mike Reyes, who currently resides in Mexico City, lived in Arizona for eight years as an illegal immigrant. He feels the U.S. fails to appreciate what immigrants like himself contributed to the country.

"We hope the situation with Hispanics can be resolved in this election," said Reyes, 45, who works as a driver for the public transportation system despite having a degree in business.

Net Mexican immigration to the United States has stopped growing and may even have declined in recent years, according to a recent study. But with about half of Mexico's population classified as poor, economic realities are likely to continue propelling many Mexicans north for years to come. 

So immigration policies pursued by the winner of the 2012 presidential race will have an impact not only on the United States but Mexico.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Analysis: Suspicion of US rife as Romney, Obama batter China
• Meet Afghan female rapper, colonel who defy the odds
• Analysis: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions
• Chinese say one child is enough as Beijing weighs end of policy
• Analysis: Should next president treat Russia as friend or foe?
• China opposition party lasts a day, founder gets 8 years in prison
• Expert: Tourists threaten Sistine Chapel's famous paintings
• Oasis of tolerance or 'Republic of Shame'? Two faces of gay life in Beirut
• After decades of oppression, Kurds get taste of freedom in Syria

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney debated domestic policy almost as much as they did foreign policy during the third and final presidential debate Monday night in Lynn University, Boca Raton.

Obama's barbs and policy clashes define the final debate

Obama delivered some of the harshest lines of the night, inspiring "horses and bayonets" memes across the Internet after he mocked Romney's criticism that "our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917":

"Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater — nuclear submarines":

Here's a selection of the reaction from NBC News analysts and others:

Brian Williams, anchor of 'NBC Nightly News'
"We always try to look for the phrase or expression that will live forever out of these. Tonight's has to be 'horses and bayonets.' It was during an exchange where, clearly, the president's effort was to paint Governor Romney, paint the debate as kind of a past-versus-future framing. It was specifically about the military — the governor's assertion we had fewer ships as a Navy than at any time since (1917) — a very sharp comeback from the president."

Tom Brokaw, NBC News
"What we saw tonight was Governor Romney trying to move to a less hawkish position, talking much more about winning hearts and minds than he has in the past.

"If you could have said to one of the two candidates, 'Nice tie,' he would have said, 'Yes, let me talk to you about the economy.' They got back to that subject as quickly as possible, because they know that's where the big interests of the country are.

"When it comes to foreign policy, these are very complex issues, and there are no shake-and-bake kinds of answers to them. No one has talked, for example, about the European economy and the impact it's having on our domestic economy."

David Gregory, moderator, 'Meet the Press'
"Our colleague Tom Brokaw likes to talk about voters' watching an event like this and imagining either the president or his challenger as commander-in-chief, in the Oval Office. Obviously, a sitting president has already passed that threshold test, and I think you saw President Obama trying to make it very clear that Mitt Romney, in his judgment, was not up to the test. talking about his positions' being all over the map, talking about the fact that you've never had to execute on foreign policy decisions, talking about what I've learned as commander-in-chief.

"You also saw the president determined to pick a fight ... with Governor Romney and Romney surprisingly determined to avoid a fight, playing almost as if he was ahead, determined to sound more moderate, to disagree less with the president on foreign policy.

"Where were the bright shining distinctions between these two men tonight?"

Savannah Guthrie, NBC News
"This was absolutely the Romney strategy going into this debate — to majorly tone down the rhetoric, and at times, as David observed, it seemed the president was spoiling for a fight. He wanted to draw the contrast.

"Romney, it was clear from the very first answer, wasn't going to be the Romney we've seen on the campaign trail, known for those stinging criticisms of the president on a whole host of areas of foreign policy. He was asked about Benghazi, Libya — something we've heard Romney go hard after the president on the campaign trail — but he didn't take the bait from the very first answer. Instead, Romney advisers said they wanted him to come across as measured, as moderate, as somebody who has an understanding of the foreign policy issues with some depth.

Vote: Did the final debate influence whom you'll support?

"There were times during this debate where it seemed Romney was almost delivering a book report on the hot spots of the world. (He was) clearly trying to show that he will not be caricatured as a warmonger, somebody who engages in cowboy rhetoric. But the president, by the same token, (was) determined to remind him of his past statements."

Truth Squad: The third and final presidential debate

Richard Haass, president, Council on Foreign Relations
"I found all of this somewhat odd. But again, to me, the larger bottom line of the night was that on foreign policy issues, there was actually much more agreement than disagreement.

"I found it striking how both gentlemen were talking about things domestic. Here it was a foreign policy debate, and they both kept coming back to what were the real bases of American strength: 'Enough nation building overseas; now we need to start nation building at home.' That to me was a consistent theme, and I think they're both reflecting what they're hearing and seeing out around the country."

George Pataki, former governor of New York
"When the president stands up there and says we need to put some distance between ourselves and Israel, I think you're making a very clear statement. As Governor Romney effectively pointed out tonight, on that first trip he visits Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, he goes to Iraq, but skips our closest ally. That sends a message not just to the Middle East but to the globe about Israel's standing in this administration.

"Talk about changing policies — it was President Obama's administration that fought tooth and nail to delay the sanctions that he's bragging about tonight. It was Congress that said to the president, because of the support of the American people, we're going to make sure we have these things.

"Governor Romney today pointed out differences on Iran where he would be far more aggressive on sanctions, and the president again — revisionist history — it was President Obama who, when the Green Revolution was happening in Iran, when Iranian students were holding up signs saying, 'America, help us,' this president was the one who sat on the sideline and did nothing.

"This is a president who forever in his speech was talking about how al-Qaida is on the run. Well, he's dropped that. ...

"I'm proud of Governor Romney tonight. I think he did an excellent job."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Obama's practice debate opponent
"If you're a leader in the world, you're scratching your head tonight saying, 'How could the American people possibly elect a guy who has changed his position every few months and doesn't know what he's going to do in foreign policy?'

"I thought I was listening to the Wikipedia candidate tonight. (Romney) would say, 'Oh, there are Taliban in Pakistan. They have nuclear weapons.' But what's the policy, Governor? What are you going to do that is different? How are you going to — nothing. Absolutely nothing. Which is why I tweeted that they sunk the battleship.

"Take the ships. As a Navy guy, when I was in the Navy, we had 680-something ships. There's not anybody that questions today that our Navy is the most powerful on the seas, that we don't have the most powerful military in the world. We spent more, as the president said tonight, than the next 10 nations in the world — China, Russia, Great Britain, France all put together — we spend more. ...

"I have to tell you: I was stunned. Mitt Romney scares — he really scared me tonight. I mean, this is a guy, if people think he's ready to be president, this country's going to go back to the Bush policies that took us to Iraq."

Slideshow: Twin sons of different parties

From tramping through cornfields to munching ice cream cones to holding babies – the time-honored traditions of the campaign trail leave President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney looking surprisingly alike.

Launch slideshow

With new polls out every day leading up to the election, NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss the importance of paying attention to margin of error and poll trends when examining the data.

Thanks to Steeler Fan_380417 for the question!

TRANSCRIPT:

Mark Murray: It's another Inside the Boiler Room question, this actually comes from Steeler Fan, Domenico. Steeler Fan asks I'm curious about the attacks on the polling by the Republicans. Do you think there is anything to the criticisms of the methodology and the polling results that we're all seeing right now?

Domenico Montanaro: Well look, I just think people need to really remember that polls are about margin of error and trends. Everybody that wants to look at specific numbers within polls, party ID, this turn out model, that or the other, you know, that stuff, everybody, especially the good polls, they do a pretty good job of trying to wait for those things, understand what they are. Let's look at the trend of these things. It always drives me nuts when you see somebody talk about, 'oh my gosh, you know, it's a ten point lead, it must be over in one poll!' That's not the way, that's not an appropriate way to look at polling I mean, you should look at a broad swath of these things you know, so, and it always seems to be that the side that's down makes these complaints.

MM: Well and you can always usually tell in body language too, I mean, you look at all the polls right now pretty much tell us what our gut confirms that Mitt Romney's down right now. We saw that after the conventions, we certainly saw that on the crisis that they've actually had and crisis communication on dealing with that 47%. When you look at everything the Romney campaign has done, this doesn't look like a campaign that's ahead. And kind of going to the polls, Domenico, there's this great example where even in the Florida Senate contest Connie Mack, on the Republican side, his campaign said look, these Quinnipiac New York Times/CBS polls that actually showed us down double digits were wrong. Here's our internal poll, we're down by 6. Well the thing is, well maybe the spread isn't double digits, maybe it's in the high single digits, but it does show you what's actually actually going on right now.

DM: Right, and again that's margin of error. I mean, if something, if something says someone's up by 11 and it's a margin of error of 3, it can be 8 to 14, you know, and if another poll shows it's 6 then you're looking at a broad range of these polls, but you want to look at the trend and the direction that these things go.

MM: And not only the trend and the direction, but the preponderance.

DM: Right.

MM: If they're all, 90% of them are pointing in one direction, chances are that 90% is right and the 10% might be wrong.

DM: Yeah, I think the other thing too like you said about body language and the other things campaigns do, when you see MItt Romney put an ad out where he's talking directly to camera to try to address and mitigate concerns over the 47%- you know look, those are the things that are important too, I think people start to rely too heavily on polling, and shouldn't rely a little bit on anecdotal evidence, reporting in the states, and what kinds of TV ads that these guys are running.

MM: Thanks for the question, Steeler Fan.

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Vice presidential nominee or not, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) will not be relying on an iPhone app to find out the fate of his political future.

Thought to be on Mitt Romney's VP shortlist, the Ohio senator told reporters on Saturday that he still has not downloaded the mobile phone application that promises to inform users of the pick "before the press and just about everyone else (except maybe Ann)." He first revealed on Thursday that he did not have the app, and that seems to have remained unchanged over the past 48 hours.

"I haven't actually gotten the app myself.  I have an iPad all full of apps, half of which I never get time to use anyway.  But we'll see," he said. "I assume I'll hear it other ways."

He told a local Cincinnati news station, "I imagine that's not how they probably would communicate it to me, but who knows."

His disinterest in the app is in contrast with the Romney campaign and at least one other potential VP shortlister.  Along with campaign staffers, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has been promoting the technology through twitter.

It would be hard to argue that Portman has not already earned a phone call or face-to-face meeting with the Romney campaign to find out the news.  He attended volunteer appreciation events at two Romney Victory offices on Saturday as part of the "Buckeye Blitz" happening throughout the state.  It's just the latest in a long line of events he's done in his home state on behalf of the presumptive nominee.

Asked what his responsibilities might be if chosen as Romney's No. 2, Portman said, "I would work very hard for Mitt Romney, but that's what I'm doing anyway."

That certainly will remain true at the beginning of this week when the Cincinnati native travels to the northeast part of the state to stump for the former governor. And while Congress is on its August recess he also plans to travel out of state to campaign for Romney as well.

This year’s presidential election may hinge on voters’ wallets.

More than half of Americans say their own financial well-being is the most important factor, or among the most important factors, when it comes to deciding who’ll they’ll pull the lever for come November, according to a study released Monday by Bankrate.com.

“How Americans feel about the U.S. economy and their own finances will be central to the election on Nov. 6,” said Claes Bell, senior banking expert with Bankrate.com. “While unemployment will probably be above that 7.2 percent historical benchmark when the election takes place, the key question will be whether Americans are comfortable with the progress that has been made since the economy took a turn for the worse.”

The telephone survey, that polled 1,000 adults earlier this month, also found voters were “deeply divided about which candidate will help households get back on track financially.” 

• 21 percent said their personal financial situations would be better under former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
• 21 percent said they would be better under President Barack Obama 
• And 8 percent were undecided.

But a majority, 50 percent, said whoever wins come November probably wouldn’t make much of a difference when it came to their wallets.

Restore Our Future is out with the ad for its more than $4 million buy. (The buy is up to $4.3 million in nine states.)

Notably, the ad that's being run is, "Saved," the same positive Mitt Romney ad that the Romney CAMPAIGN ran in 2007 and Restore Our Future ran during this past primary season. That raised questions in February of just how close to the line campaigns and the Super PACs that support them come.

Here's what we wrote, in part, Feb. 23 about Restore recycling this ad:

"The pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future is going up with an ad in Michigan and Arizona, starting tonight, that focuses on the story of Mitt Romney helping to lead the search for his business partner's daughter who went missing in New York City in the 1990s. The story is true, but the ad is recycled. In fact, the ad run by a SUPER PAC, called 'Saved,' is word-for-word the same ad that the Romney CAMPAIGN ran in 2007, called 'The Search.'"

The Super PAC is run by people close to Romney, who were key 2007-2008 campaign staffers. Running this ad is an acknowledgment of the image problems Romney has. He has been upside down in his likability ratings (33 fav/36 unfav) in polls for months, though, they have improved slightly since the GOP primary ended.

Here's Restore's press release on this ad buy:

Restore Our Future Launches $4.3 Million Ad Campaign

Group targets Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Restore Our Future today launched a $4.3 million TV ad campaign that targets nine states:  Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.  The group is currently running the ad "Saved," which touts Gov. Romney's tremendous efforts to find his former business partner's 14-year-old daughter after she went missing in New York City.

"Barack Obama had his chance to lead and failed.  Now, it is time to exchange empty rhetoric with a proven record," said Charlie Spies, Treasurer of Restore Our Future.  "The choice this November is clear:  Mitt Romney, an experienced leader and job creator who fixed an economy without raising taxes, or Barack Obama, a politician whose way forward hinges on bolstering the government's power - and budget - at the expense of private-sector jobs."

The $4.3 million TV buy begins on May 3 and will run through May 16.  To view the video, please click here.

Ad Buy by State:
·    Colorado:  $293,000
·    Florida:  $857,000
·    Iowa:  $490,000
·    Michigan:  $465,000
·    Nevada:  $278,000
·    New Hampshire:  $231,000
·    North Carolina:  $773,000
·    Ohio:  $581,000
Virginia:  $354,000