Here are ten things you need to know today:
- Obama officially hits the trail May 5: The Obama campaign announced on Wednesday evening that it will officially kick off their campaign season on May 5 with rallies in Richmond, Virginia and Columbus, Ohio.
- RNC accuses Obama of campaigning on taxpayer’s dime: The RNC is calling for an investigation into whether the president was campaigning this week on taxpayer money rather than campaign funds when he made stops in North Carolina, Colorado, and Iowa to push his student loan plan. The White House responded that the president was not campaigning this week. The RNC continued to push the idea after the Obama camp said it would officially hit the trail next weekend. “I think it’s interesting that the president just now realized he maybe should pick up the bill for his campaigning after a year of doing it on the taxpayer’s dime,” said RNC spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski.
- National poll shows Obama, Romney tied: Fox News released a national poll Wednesday showing President Obama and Mitt Romney in a dead heat at 46 percent. Obama’s edge in the poll came in favorability. Obama’s favorability is at 50 percent against 48 percent unfavorable, while Romney is still under water at 42 percent favorable to 45 unfavorable.
- Poll shows tight race in Arizona: A new Rocky Mountain poll out Wednesday showed President Obama actually leading Mitt Romney among registered Arizona voters 42 percent to 40 percent with 18 percent undecided. An Arizona State University’s Merrill/Morrison Institute poll on Monday had the same results. Arizona hasn’t gone to a Democrat since 1996, but the Obama campaign is keeping a close watch on the state. A recent Democratic poll also showed Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona running close behind likely GOP Senate nominee Rep. Jeff Flake.
- New Mexico not looking like a swing state: “New Mexico is not going to be a swing state this year,” Public Policy Polling declared Wednesday. Their latest survey in New Mexico shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by 14 points, 54 percent to 40 percent. Obama seems to have women, Latinos, and young voters all in his column, which will make him hard to beat there: “Obama’s up 61-35 with women, 67-30 with Hispanics, and 56-35 with young voters.”
- Is Romney shoring up the base?: He is in North Carolina. A new survey of North Carolina from Public Policy Polling — which included Newt Gingrich — showed Romney leading Newt in groups he just recently struggled with such as evangelicals and Tea Partiers.
- Ann Romney had health scare before Super Tuesday: In an interview to air Thursday, Ann Romney told “Entertainment Tonight’s” Nancy O’Dell that her multiple sclerosis does flare up from time to time if she’s tired. “There have been some days, like the day before Super Tuesday, I was quite fatigued and I knew I couldn’t quit. I didn’t tell anybody I was tired,” Romney said. “I just kept going, I kept going. I had a little bit of a scare.”
- Perry endorses Romney: After dropping out of the race in January, Texas Gov. Rick Perry endorsed Newt Gingrich. But now that Gingrich is essentially out, Perry announced Wednesday that he is backing Mitt Romney instead. “Mitt Romney has earned the Republican Presidential nomination through hard-work, a strong organization, and disciplined message of restoring America,” said Perry in a statement. “So today I join the many conservative Republicans across the nation in endorsing Mitt Romney for President and pledge to him, my constituents and the Republican Party.”
- Romney to campaign with Kasich: Mitt Romney will campaign with Ohio’s not-so-popular governor John Kasich on Friday. Kasich’s approval rose in the last few months, but he’s still underwater in the state. Romney will hold a roundtable with graduating seniors at Otterbein University in Westerville followed by a lecture at the university.
- Romney holds fundraiser in New York: Mitt Romney’s only publicly scheduled event Monday is a fundraiser in New York, although he’s expected to hold several fundraisers between Wednesday and Thursday in New York and New Jersey. Overall, Romney will be holding a lot of finance events over the next month.
