Things are heating up in South Carolina. Here are the 10 things you need to know today.
- Quinnipiac has Obama beating Romney in Ohio and New Jersey: Quinnipiac will release two polls Wednesday. The first, of the GOP candidates in Ohio, shows Romney leading other GOP candidates in the state with 27% of the vote, but losing to President Obama 42% to 44%. The second poll, of New Jersey voters, has Romney leading the pack with 41% while a distant second place goes to Santorum with 15%. Obama still beats Romney there 48%-38%.
- Romney Running Away With It In South Carolina: Rasmussen’s latest poll has Romney with a big lead in the Palmetto State. Romney gets 35%, with Newt Gingrich 14 points behind in second with 21%. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are locked in a tie for third with both earning 16 percent. The TPM Poll Average in South Carolina has Romney besting Gingrich by 13 percentage points.
- Romney surrogates hold call on Newt’s record: Two Mitt Romney surrogates, former Sen. Jim Talent and former rep. Susan Molinari will hold a conference call Wednesday on Newt Gingrich’s “record as an unreliable leader.” These calls generally come when Romney feels threatened, but again, Romney is leading in South Carolina.
- Romney acknowledges 15% tax rate, but questions remain: Tuesday, Mitt Romney acknowledged that his effective tax rate was probably around 15%, affirming what most have speculated about his low tax rate. But questions remain, like, for example, whether he has money tied up in off-shore accounts. Romney said he would release his returns in April, presumably after he has clinched the nomination.
- Paul suspends campaigning Wednesday to vote against raising debt ceiling: Ron Paul changed his plans Wednesday to fly back to Washington to vote against raising the debt ceiling. Of course, the vote is a bit of a campaign move itself.
- Gingrich ups the Bain attacks again: Rumors that Newt and Mitt were approaching a détente over the Bain attacks are exaggerated, it seems. Tuesday night, Newt called Bain’s business “exploitative” before launching into a tirade, Politico reports.
- Obama’s re-election campaign is preparing to air TV ads: We know this because Tuesday, the campaign requested rates for potential ad buys – including large ones. This doesn’t mean ads will appear soon, it just means they’re starting to get their house in order when it comes to putting up ads from now until November.
- Sarah Palin urges South Carolinians to vote for Gingrich: It’s not an endorsement, but Sarah Palin has urged South Carolina voters to turn out for Newt on Saturday, because she thinks the contest should go on a little longer. “I want to see this thing continue because iron sharpens iron,” Palin said Tuesday night on Fox News. “If I had to vote in order to keep it going, I would vote for Newt.”
- Gingrich urges Perry and Santorum to drop out: Newt Gingrich, stressing that he is the only viable anti-Romney, wants Rick Santorum and Rick Perry to drop out. Santorum laughed off the suggestion, but it’s true that the three of them, with Paul, are splitting the anti-Romney vote.
- Rupert Murdoch dings Romney over Twitter: On Tuesday evening, Rupert Murdoch wondered at Romney’s struggles over the last 24 hours: “When will Romney get a manager to prepare him? Fancy not being ready for questions about taxes or felons! Damaging,” Murdoch wrote, referring to Monday’s debate.
