Here are ten things you need to know today.
- Poll shows tight race in swing states: A new USA Today/Gallup poll of 12 battleground states shows President Obama and Mitt Romney neck-and-neck now that the general election is under way, with President Obama leading 47 percent to 45 percent. A good sign for Obama is that enthusiasm for him is up and higher than it is for Romney.
- Romney, Obama in dead heat among likely voters: A new Politico/George Washington University poll shows Mitt Romney leading President Obama among likely voters by one point, 48 percent to 47 percent. Romney leads by 10 points among independents. Obama has strong leads on foreign policy, who will help the middle class and sharing voters’ values. The poll shows a much smaller gender gap, with Obama leading among women by just seven percent.
- Ayotte says she has more experience than Obama did: New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, elected in 2010, said Sunday that she has more experience than President Obama did when he was elected to the White House. Ayotte is often mentioned as a potential VP for Mitt Romney. “I have, some would say, better experience than Barack Obama had when he was a senator and ran” for president, Ayotte said.
- MA Dems hit Scott Brown over Wall Street donations: The Massachusetts Democratic Party put out a new video Monday morning attacking Scott Brown as one of the top recipients of Wall Street donations. “Scott Brown is signed, sealed and delivered for Wall Street, not Massachusetts families,” said MA Dems Party Chair John Walsh. “Scott Brown protected Wall Street and the big banks, now they’re spending millions to make sure he stays in the Senate so he can keep protecting their interests.”
- MA GOP calls on Harvard to investigate Warren’s minority status: The Chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party sent a letter to the president of Harvard asking for an investigation into Elizabeth Warren’s minority status at the university. The MA GOP and Scott Brown’s campaign have been attacking Warren for being listed as a minority because her great, great, great grandmother was Cherokee. The letter alleges “academic fraud” on Warren’s part by Harvard’s own standards. “Harvard must investigate Ms. Warren’s false claims to be a minority; how it came to pass that Harvard accepted these claims; and the extent to which Ms. Warren’s alleged minority status afforded her advantages to which she would not otherwise have been entitled,” the letter reads.
- Mourdock asks whether Lugar would support him in general election: Richard Mourdock, who’s challenging incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar in Indiana’s primary on Tuesday, is pushing a story from the Indianapolis Star which says that Lugar refuses to say whether he will support Mourdock over Democrat Joe Donnelly in the general election if he loses to him in the primary. “While Donnelly and Lugar’s voting records go hand in hand, it would be a tragedy if the lasting memory of Senator Lugar’s service to Hoosier Republicans will be a petty refusal to not support the Republican ticket in the fall,” a Mourdock spokesperson said.
- Tester up with new ad in Montana: Sen. Jon Tester is up with a new ad in Montana going on air Monday — his fifth ad of the cycle. The ad, titled, “Jon Tester: A New Standard for Senate Ethics,” touts Tester’s ethics record, including going after lobbyists and governing transparently.
- NC voters poised to pass anti-gay marriage amendment: A new survey from Public Policy Polling suggests North Carolina voters will approve Amendment One, an anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot Tuesday that would also ban civil unions. The poll finds voters approving the measure 55 percent to 39 percent.
- New online ads target workers: The progressive group Workers’ Voice is targeting union and non-union workers with an online ad buy of half a million dollars to rally grassroots support ahead of the 2012 election. The ads will run nation-wide across Facebook, Twitter and search displays, with heavy buys in PA, OH, MI, WI, FL and NV. About 15-25% of the ads will be in Spanish. The ads show the picture of Mitt Romney and his friends holding dollar bills and flash sentences like “Mitt Romney thinks corporations are people.”
- Romney visits the midwest: Mitt Romney will hold a town hall in Cleveland Monday and a fundraiser in Indianapolis Monday evening. On Tuesday, Romney heads to Michigan where he will host an event at Lansing Community College.