Visual source:
Newseum
USA Today:
A pair of new polls suggest the race for the Michigan primary has swung to Mitt Romney's advantage heading into the last weekend before the election. But his lead is a slim one.
NY Times:
For Romney, a Message Lost in the Empty Seats
The Guardian:
Mitt Romney's economic speech falls flat at near-empty stadium
Romney fails to elaborate on his 20% tax cut in awkward speech setting where he let slip another gaffe about his wealth
NY Times:
“When Republicans focus in a very extreme way on these kinds of [social] issues, it focuses more attention on the problems with the Republican brand,” said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster. “It becomes part of a larger narrative about Republican leadership and a referendum on Republican leadership over the last year and a half.”
Independent women “are turned off by extremism,” Ms. Greenberg said. “It’s not a broadband issue for the Democratic Party, but as a targeted message to independent women, it can be very effective.”
Charlie Cook:
Simply put, the passion and energy of the Republican Party today may well fail to produce a nominee with a decent chance of winning in November. My assumption was that Romney would be the nominee and would make a good run. Now, I have begun to doubt both propositions. His odds of winning the nomination are growing longer. And even if he does, he has twisted and turned himself into a human pretzel. I’m not sure how electable he is. The alternatives, however, seem even less so.
Kathleen Parker:
Let me be blunt: If Republicans nominate Rick Santorum to run for president, they will lose.
The prospect of four more years of President Barack Obama holds some appeal for many Americans but probably not for most Republicans. It may give doubters among them some comfort, however, to know that Obama and Santorum share the same prayer: that Santorum be the Republican nominee.
Dana Milbank:
If the gender gap becomes a chasm that swallows Republicans this fall, it will be no fluke. It will, however, have something to do with Sandra Fluke.
She’s the Georgetown University law student who was blocked by chairman Darrell Issa from testifying about contraception before his House government-reform committee this month. The result was an embarrassment of a panel in which five men testified against an administration plan to expand birth control coverage.
MSNBC:
NBC's new battleground map
As we mentioned above, the moves of Wisconsin and Michigan are due to the president’s improved standing, but they also reflect the GOP’s struggles in both states and how Mitt Romney, in particular, appears to be unable to connect very well to Obama’s weakest swing voting group: working-class whites. And until Romney fixes that, those states may be unattainable. As for Iowa, Democratic operatives acknowledge the very LONG Republican campaign in Iowa may have taken a toll on the president. Remember, of all the primary states, it’s the one where candidates truly camped out.