Here are ten things you need to know today.
- Sunday show line-ups: Rick Santorum and Gov.’s Jerry Brown and Jan Brewer will be on Meet the Press; Gov.’s Chris Christie and Martin O’Malley and former Sen. Alan Simpson will be on Face the Nation; Mitt Romney and Gov. Mitch Daniels on Fox News Sunday; Robert Gibbs, Sen.’s John McCain and Lindsey Graham will be on State of the Union; Rick Santorum and Gov.’s Rick Snyder and Deval Patrick will be on This Week.
- Romney attends the Daytona 500, takes heat for auto-bailout stance: Mitt Romney will attend the Daytona 500 NASCAR race in Indianapolis today before returning to Michigan Sunday evening for a rally in Traverse City. Democrats and their allies will use the occasion to remind everyone that Romney opposed the auto-bailout. The United Auto Workers will fly a banner over the race from 10:30 to 11:30am that reads “Mitt Romney: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
- GOP group runs ads against Obama: The American Future Fund, a GOP independent expenditure group, will run ads targeting President Obama in nine battleground states totaling $4 million dollars, reports Politico. The ads, which will run on cable in cable in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia, are the first big expenditure this cycle from the group, which spend heavily in 2010.
- Does Romney have a home-state advantage in Michigan?: According to a Facebook/Politico Poll, 82.6% of respondents said Mitt Romney being from Michigan was not important to how they would vote in the state’s primary Tuesday. The poll surveyed 4,248 adult Facebook users in Michigan on Saturday. Take the poll with a grain of salt, but it does reflect an earlier poll that showed only 26% of Michigan voters consider Romney a Michigan native, reports Politico.
- On trip, Clinton tells students Obama will be re-elected: Secretary Hillary Clinton told a group of students in Tunis that Barack Obama will be re-elected: “He will be re-elected president,” Clinton said. “I think that will be a very clear signal to the entire world as to what our values are and what our president believes.”
- Democrat shows strong fundraising in special election for Gifford’s seat: Ron Barber, the only Democrat currently running for Gabriel Giffords house seat, raised over $100,000 in the three days after his campaign opened. His campaign is certainly experiencing strong support from Democrats. So far, three Republicans have jumped into the race. The special election will be held on June 12.
- Ann Romney campaigns in Michigan: Maybe her husband’s most effective surrogate, Ann Romney will attend two events in Michigan today: A Midland County Republican Club Lunch and a Meet and Greet in Gaylord, Michigan.
- Santorum campaigns in Michigan: Rick Santorum will spend the next two days campaigning in Michigan, holding several ‘Rallies for Rick’ across the state Sunday and Monday.
- Newt campaigns in Georgia: Newt Gingrich will spend Sunday at two events in Georgia, his must-win home state. On Monday, he’ll head to Tennessee, then return to Georgia where he’ll campaign through Thursday.
- Paul announces campaign celebration in Virginia: Ron Paul sent out an email to supporters to announce a “special Final Push Celebration” in Springfield, Virginia on Tuesday with a special guest: his son, Senator Rand Paul. Though Tuesday’s contests will be in Michigan and Arizona, Paul seems to be looking forward to Super Tuesday, when he and Mitt Romney will appear on the Virginia ballot.
