Here are ten things you need to know today.
- Romney sweeps five GOP primaries: Mitt Romney swept all five of Tuesday’s primaries in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, where Newt Gingrich had hoped to stage a comeback.
- ‘Blue dog’ incumbents lose primaries in Pennsylvania: Two ‘blue dog’ Democrats lost their Democratic primaries for House seats in Pennsylvania last night. Rep. Jason Altmire, a conservative democrat who voted against health care reform, lost to his colleague Rep. Mark Crtiz in a race where redistricting pitted the two Congressmen against each other. Rep. Tim Holden, also a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, lost his primary to Scranton lawyer Matt Cartwright.
- Gingrich will take a ‘realistic’ look at campaign: Newt Gingrich focused most of his attention over the last few weeks on winning Delaware — then lost it to Mitt Romney on Tuesday by 29 points. As a result, the former Speaker of the House said he would reassess his campaign in the coming days. “Over the next few days, we’re going to look realistically at where we are at,” Gingrich said. Some reports say he’ll stay in until at least Sunday.
- Romney turns focus to raising money, will open fundraisers to the press: Mitt Romney has at least six private fundraisers in New York and New Jersey the next few days, but starting next week, his campaign will open fundraising events to the press, the AP confirmed. The new rules aren’t entirely set, but Romney will likely invite a small number of reporters to larger fundraising events, particularly those where he will offer remarks.
- Obama speaks at University of Iowa: Wednesday, Obama makes the third of three speeches about student loans at college campuses this week as part of a drive to get Congress to extend the a subsidized federal student loan plan. The president will speak at the University of Iowa in Cedar Rapids.
- Americans Elect is a failed experiment: Americans Elect was started two years ago by wealthy political elites to channel partisan anger into a nonpartisan, centrist candidate. Instead, the group spent $9 million on a website where people would select their own nominee, only to now have Rep. Ron Paul leading the pack with 8,250 supporters — and he’s not even one of their declared candidates. Last week, the group had to postpone online voting due to a high level of disinterest, reports the Huffington Post.
- Santorum almost endorses Romney: Rick Santorum, appearing with wife Karen on “Piers Morgan Tonight” on Tuesday, came close to endorsing Mitt Romney. “It’s very clear he’s going to be the Republican nominee,” Santorum said. “I’m going to be for the Republican nominee.” Santorum adviser John Brabender told CNN Tuesday that Santorum and Romney would likely meet in early May to discuss an endorsement.
- Michelle Obama rallies supporters in Iowa: Speaking to a group of 400 campaign supporters in Iowa, Michelle Obama said the race in November would be close and that it could come down to just a few thousand votes.”I just want you to remember that in the end, this all could come down to those last few thousand people that we register to vote. It could all come down to those few thousand folks we need to help to get to the polls in November,” the First Lady said.
- Mitt Romney raises money in New York: Mitt Romney’s only event Wednesday is a fundraiser in New York.
- Gingrich keeps campaigning: Newt Gingrich will be in North Carolina, where he has four events scheduled. Tuesday night, Gingrich said that he would continue to campaign even while he considered whether to stay in the race. “We have, I think, 23 events all together here in North Carolina this week. We will be at 23 events here,” Gingrich said.
