4. Election News
Delegate count: Mitt Romney-660; Rick Santorum-281; Newt Gingrich-135; Ron Paul-51
Need 1,144 delegates to win Republican nomination
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Romney’s campaign pulled a sharply negative ad against Santourm which was supposed to air April 24th
Santorum cancelled Monday’s campaign events after daughter was hospitalized (Trisomy 18)
Spokesman Hogan Gidley - “We appreciate the outpouring of support and prayers. The prayers worked, she’s doing much better.”
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Obama has announced opposition to marriage amendment which will be on the November ballot in Minnesota
Would restrict marriage to only opposite sex couples
Kristin Sosanie - “It would single out and discriminate against committed gay and lesbian couples - and that’s why the President does not support it.”
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As likely GOP nominee, Romney will be far behind Obama once he clinches the nomination - must raise money for general election, hire more people and sent them to critical states, hone message to resonate with more voters
As incumbent, Obama has advantages - well ahead on fundraising, organization and broad pitch to voters
Romney must figure out how to achieve unity with a base that has resisted his candidacy
3. Election News
Tuesday - Republican presidential primary in AZ and MI
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Santorum accused Obama administration of weakness for apologizing about the Korans being burned
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Romney is focusing on economic issues rather than social issues (possibly in reaction to Santorum focusing on them)
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MI poll shows Romney and Santorum as front-runners and Gingrich and Paul trailing
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Santorum: “[President Obama] is now trying to tell people of faith that you will do what the government says, we are going to impose our values on you.”
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Mitt Romney has Secret Service protection; Santorum will get S.S. starting Tuesday; Gingrich requested it last week; Paul has not requested protection, saying it is a waste of taxpayer money
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Santorum defends his anti-contraception stance by citing a racist author (Charles Murray) when asked about promising to address the dangers of contraception in our country
Santorum cites increase in number of kids born out of wedlock and sexually active teens, impact on society - economically, drug use and “host of other things”
Charles Murray wrote Bell Curve - argues that black people score lower on IQ tests because they are genetically inferior to whites
4. Election polls
New poll indicates Obama would beat Romney in a hypothetical election match-up
Opinion surveys in Minnesota and Colorado (hold caucuses tomorrow) show that Newt Gingrich has lost significant support
Romney will likely win Colorado but in Minnesota it is still a very close race, Santorum slightly in the lead (likely because no other candidate is attacking him)
Ron Paul continues to be a footnote
