Campaign News

Obama Tops Romney In Three Battleground States A trio of new Marist/NBC News polls shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney in the key states of Virginia, Florida and Ohio, though his margins are down from earlier this year. In Florida, Obama leads Romney 48%-44%. In Ohio, the President is up 48%-42%. In Virginia, Obama leads 48%-44%. However, these margins are down significantly from a similar set of surveys taken in March, during the end of the GOP primaries. In those surveys, Obama led 50%-38% in Ohio and 52%-35% in Virginia. The polls surveyed 1,078 registered Florida voters, 1,103 registered Ohio voters, and 1,076 registered Virginia voters from May 17-20.
According to CNN , "Majorities of voters in all three states say the worst of the economic downturn is behind us, rather than to come," which "may be benefitting Obama. But 40% or less say the economy will improve over the next year."
On its website, Politico noted that "in each of these states, Obama's share of the vote is below the 50 percent threshold usually considered safe haven for an incumbent president, and Romney has narrowed the margin in these three battlegrounds since earlier this year."

Romney Faces Tough Audience At Philadelphia Charter School The AP reports Mitt Romney "struggled to find support for his education proposals while campaigning at an inner-city school" in West Philadelphia "one day after declaring education the 'civil rights issue of our era.'" However, "if praise was what he was looking for, Romney had a hard time finding any at the Universal Bluford Charter School" in a "largely African-American neighborhood facing economic, educational and social challenges."
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Romney "suggested class size mattered little to pupils' achievement," and "the teachers in the room immediately questioned his stance." The Washington Times says "some of the teachers on the panel challenged his assertion, and the Democratic National Committee gleefully blasted out emails highlighting the exchanges."
The Washington Post says Romney made the visit "aiming to highlight his education agenda but also to connect with voters who were not part of his political calculus during the primary campaign." But "a few dozen protesters met him with chants of 'Get out, Romney, get out!'"

Records Raise Further Questions About Warren's Heritage Claims The Boston Globe reports that while Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) "has said she was unaware that Harvard Law School had been promoting her purported Native American heritage until" last month, "for at least six straight years during" her "tenure, Harvard University reported in federally mandated diversity statistics that it had a Native American woman in its senior ranks at the law school. According to both Harvard officials and federal guidelines, those statistics are almost always based on the way employees describe themselves." Moreover, "Harvard's guidelines and federal regulations for the statistics lay out a specific definition of Native American that Warren does not meet."
Quizzed On Heritage Issue, Warren Says Brown Attacking Her Family The AP reports that Warren on Thursday accused Sen. Scott Brown (R) "of launching attacks on her family over her claims of Native American heritage." Stumping yesterday in Brookline, Warren "was again quizzed by reporters about her claims of Native American ancestry" and "said she was proud of the Native American heritage."
The Springfield (MA) Republican reports Warren "said Thursday that she knows she has Native American ancestry because her mother told her so. Warren's comments came after nearly four minutes of tense back and forth between Warren and Fox 25 reporter Sharman Sacchetti and 7News reporter Andy Hiller."
The Boston Herald reports that Brown's camp, meanwhile, "kept the heat on Warren. 'In the absence of any facts, Elizabeth Warren continues to claim she is a Native American minority. She needs to stop stonewalling and finally produce the records from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard that will show whether or not she or these schools benefited in any way from this false information about her ancestry,' said Brown spokesman Colin Reed."

Polls Split In Florida Senate Contest A Quinnipiac University poll of 1,722 registered Florida voters, including 742 Republicans, shows Rep. Connie Mack (R) leading Sen. Bill Nelson (D) 42%-41%. In a similar poll in late March, Nelson led 44%-36%. In the GOP primary, Mack draws 40%, followed by Mike McAlister with 8%, and former Sen. George LeMieux with 7%. Quinnipiac's Peter Brown said, "Although some activists have been critical of Congressman Connie Mack and his campaign, he retains an overwhelming lead in the race for the Republican Senate nomination and is tied with Sen. Bill Nelson."
Meanwhile, a Marist/NBC News poll of 1,078 registered Florida voters taken May 17-20 shows Nelson leading Mack 46%-42%.
The Miami Herald says the two polls "differ in their results because they have different methods of gauging the electorate. The Marist poll could have over-represented Democrats by about 3 percentage points and the Quinnipiac poll could have under-sampled Democrats by a wider margin. But pollsters agree the race is pretty much a tie and that the numbers will change." The Herald adds, "Nelson has been nicknamed one of the luckiest Democrats in Florida for facing the highly unpopular former Secretary of State Katherine Harris in 2006."
The Palm Beach (FL) Post adds, "The new Senate polls suggest the race has tightened since last month, when a Rasmussen poll gave Nelson an 11-point lead over Mack and the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Nelson up by 10 points. Quinnipiac's last Senate poll in late March had Nelson up by 8 points."
The Hill says, "Democrats have been optimistic that a weak field on the GOP side has shored up Nelson's reelection prospects and made it less likely that" he'll "face a serious threat. But with two polls showing the race within 5 points before the primary is even over, both parties are sure to make Florida a major focus of their efforts as they fight for narrow control of the Senate in 2013."

Washington News

In Iowa, Obama Urges Congress To Extend Wind-Energy Tax Credits The President's trip to Iowa Thursday is covered in this morning's major papers, but was not mentioned on any of the three network newscasts yesterday evening.
While most reports focused on the jobs at stake as Congress debates whether to or not to extend wind-energy tax credits set to expire at the end of the year, and, therefore, reflected positively on the President, Fox News' Special Report reported, "In 2009...Mr. Obama passed a stimulus bill of almost $900 billion, which he has admitted didn't work very well," but, "in spite of that, the President was in Iowa calling for congress to pass a number of additional stimulus items, including more subsidies for wind power."
The Washington Post reports from Newton, Iowa: "President Obama returned to this Midwestern manufacturing town Thursday three years after he first visited to reaffirm his commitment to renewable energy, calling on Republican rivals to support new tax credits for companies that produce wind power." According to the Post, the President "used an appearance at TPI Composites, which makes blades for wind turbines, to emphasize his campaign message that his administration is focused on economic growth that promotes a strong, enduring middle class."
The New York Times says Newton was "revitalized by [the] wind-turbine blade factory." According to the Times, the President argued "that his policies have begun to transform American energy production," and "complained that Republicans were jeopardizing an initiative that helped make wind energy a more meaningful source of energy here in Iowa. The state now gets nearly 20 percent of its electricity from wind, he said, and the country as a whole has enough capacity to power 10 million homes."
Bloomberg News said the President also used his appearance "to promote his list of economic measures that he wants Congress to act on. The tax credits have had broad political support, according to the administration, including the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Governors Association."
Politico reported that the President noted that "besides recent growth in the industry as a whole, more of the thousands of parts that go into wind turbines are being made in the United States than just a few years ago." The President said, "We used to have just a few dozen manufacturing facilities attached to the wind industry. Today we have nearly 500 facilities in 43 states employing tens of thousands of American workers."
However, according to Eamon Javers of CNBC, the White House "knows that it's on tricky ground here in terms of renewable energy given the scandal over the failed energy company Solyndra earlier last year."
Iowa Republicans Agree With Obama On Tax Credits The Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette notes that in March, Sen. Charles Grassley "was among a group of senators who called for a two-year extension of the tax credit," but Grassley "criticized Obama for stumping for the plan in the senator's home state rather than directly discussing the proposal with congressional leaders. 'The president could exert his leadership by working with Congress on a way forward instead of calling for a provision that's a no-brainer for many of us,' Grassley said." Rep. Steve King (R-IA) "said he was disappointed Obama chose to 'politicize' the production tax credit for wind energy -- which he supports -- during his Iowa swing."

Senate Drug Bill Increases Foreign Inspections, Revamps FDA User Fees The AP reports that a "Senate bill, approved by an overwhelming 96-1 vote ," would allow US regulators to "inspect more drug manufacturing facilities in China, India and other foreign countries." The new legislation will address "a number of concerns about the safety and quality of imported medicines. It also gives regulators new tools to combat drug counterfeiting and shortages." An amendment to the bill by Sen. John McCain to allow cheaper prescription drug imports from Canada was defeated by a 54-43 vote.
The New York Times reports that "a similar bill is on a fast track to approval in the House, perhaps as early as next week" and that "President Obama, consumer groups and pharmaceutical companies strongly support the legislation." The bi-partisan vote comes "after months of legislative paralysis and political sniping" making "the sight of Democrats and Republicans working together on a significant bill...remarkable." According to the Congressional Budget Office "the bill 'would lead to earlier marketing of lower-priced drugs,' reducing the average price of drugs in the market and saving more than $750 million over 10 years in Medicare, Medicaid and federal subsidies for private insurance under the new healthcare law."
The AP reports "other sections of the bill would increase fines for drug counterfeiting and require drugmakers to notify the government earlier of potential drug shortages. More than 280 drugs are currently in short supply in the US, largely due to drug industry consolidation."
Politico reports that the process of passing the bill was uncommonly smooth in part, "because it's the No. 1 priority for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. And in part, it's because legislators on both sides have had a lot of input for a long time."

Both Parties' Student Loan Plans Defeated In Senate The AP reports that the Senate "rejected dueling Democratic and Republican plans on Thursday for averting a July 1 doubling of interest rates on federal college loans for 7.4 million students, pushing back efforts to resolve the election-season showdown until next month. In mostly party-line roll calls, senators voted 62-34 against the GOP package and 51-43 for the Democratic version, with each falling short of the 60 votes needed for approval."
According to the Washington Post , Democrats "have proposed paying for the additional year of loan subsidies by ending a tax provision that allows executives of some small businesses to collect some of their income as business profits instead of wages, allowing them to avoid paying payroll taxes." Republicans "said the Democrats' proposal amounted to a tax increase on those best positioned create jobs," and, instead, "would have paid for the loan-rate freeze by eliminating the preventative healthcare fund created in the 2010 healthcare act," which they "call...a slush fund."
Politico reports White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Senate Republicans "haven't 'proven that they're serious' about keeping student loan rates from doubling on July 1st." In a statement, Carney wrote, "For the second time this month, they voted to ask millions of students to pay an average of $1,000 each rather than close a loophole that allows the very wealthy to avoid paying their fair share."

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!