A new Honolulu Star-Advertiser poll shows both Democratic candidates well ahead of Linda Lingle (R) in the U.S. Senate race. Mazie Hirono (D) leads 58% to 39% and Ed Case (D) leads 56% to 38%.

In the Democratic primary, Hirono leads Case 55% to 37%.

The Guardian: “From criticising the biggest sporting event Britain has held in over 40 years, to ‘looking out of the backside of 10 Downing Street’, Mitt Romney’s first foreign trip of his presidential candidacy hasn’t gone quite as well as he might have hoped. As the former Massachusetts governor continues to gaffe his way across London, here’s a round-up of Romney’s red-facers. So far.”

“There are some people coming from around the world who don’t yet know if we are ready. There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we are ready. Are we ready?”

— London Mayor Boris Johnson, quoted by the Daily Telegraph, mocking Mitt Romney in front of a crowd of 60,000 at Hyde Park.

[Read more…]

Mitt Romney has already been slapped by British Prime Minister David Cameron for suggesting that Britain may not be ready to host the Olympics, but Josh Rogin points out it’s not the first time he’s said unflattering things about the country.

Romney wrote, in his book, No Apology:

“England is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn’t make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy. And if it hadn’t been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler’s ambitions.”

As head of the Salt Lake Olympics, Mitt Romney became the first Olympic executive to approve a series of commemorative pins in his likeness, BuzzFeed reports.

In an interview in London, Mitt Romney “expressed ignorance about when a horse owned by his wife, Ann Romney, would be participating in the Olympic sport called dressage,” Reuters reports.

Said Romney: “I have to tell you. This is Ann’s sport. I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it, I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”

Andrew Sullivan: “This is either a fib, designed to insulate him from whatever minimal
fallout there is from owning a dressage horse; or it’s true and he’s
just unlike other human beings.”

Mark Halperin: “With about 100 days to go until Nov. 6, campaign veterans spy a rarity in presidential politics: both the Obama and Romney operations like their chances of winning … The phrase used consistently by each side: ‘I would rather be us than them.’ That is a shift from the recent past, when the McCain, Kerry, Gore and Dole camps all projected the air of fretful underdogs at this stage.”

A new Pew Research survey finds eight-in-ten voters who know Mitt Romney is Mormon say they are either comfortable with his faith (60%) or that it doesn’t matter to them (21%).

However, the survey also finds that nearly four years into his presidency the view that President Obama is Muslim persists. Currently, 17% of registered voters say that Obama is Muslim; 49% say he is Christian, while 31% say they do not know Obama’s religion.

Some of President Obama’s most senior aides “have begun making regular appearances at his campaign’s Chicago headquarters, tightening the link between the White House and the re-election effort as the race intensifies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Top aides Pete Rouse and David Plouffe have been spending about one day a week at the campaign’s offices, senior Obama advisers said. Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer made a trip to Chicago this week and is expected to spend about one day a week at the headquarters as the campaign season picks up.”

Tech News Daily: “A new study from Baylor University shows how anti-Obama and just plain racist groups use Facebook to spread their messages. And we’re not talking about politics, but Ku Klux Klan-style hate speech using old stereotypes updated with do-rags and golden grills.”

Bloomberg Businessweek has a must-read cover story on Karl Rove “and how he is holding the reins of the GOP’s destiny and redefining the business of political finance.”

The piece looks at the creation of his Crossroads political action committees, their top contributors, how they raised $71 million in their rookie election cycle (and tallied a 16-14 record in the 30 2010 senate races they joined), how they are now poised to spend double the amount of the Democrats in the 2012 presidential election, and their focus on getting independents to vote for Mitt Romney.

A new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll finds Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) with a solid lead over challenger Joe Kyrillos (R) among registered voters, 42% to 32%.

In the presidential race, President Obama leads Mitt Romney by double-digits, 51% to 38%.

At a press conference in London this morning, First Read notes that Mitt Romney answered questions from British reporters but did not take any questions from the American reporters, “which isn’t protocol.”

“In fact, it’s considered a bit of an insult to the U.S reporters who are following the presumptive GOP presidential nominee overseas. Even bringing this up will lead some to say, ‘There goes the media, whining again.’ But folks, those of us that have traveled overseas and been involved in these VERY limited press avails have rarely seen heads of democracies TOTALLY ignore their own press corps but answer ANOTHER press corps’ questions. Sure, it would have looked REALLY bad had Romney ignored the U.K. questions. But is the campaign so intent on limiting media access that the candidate won’t call an audible when standing next to a leader from another country who DOES want to take questions?”

“This is a bipartisan challenge for the press corps. Every president in the modern era has decided to pick up on some aspect of limiting media access to the president from their predecessor. The public never cares, because most of them distrust at least half of the press corps. But folks, it’s a slippery slope.”

The conservative New Hampshire Union Leader calls on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns:

“But there is no place for secrecy or, indeed, privacy in a Presidential campaign. If you want the job, you have to subject yourself to the scrutiny. You have to be prepared to stand and explain, indeed, justify, your actions. If they are legal, then so be it… Surely he could not have arrogantly believed that he could withstand any storm that developed by bluffing his way through it? If so, it hasn’t worked.”

“If Romney intends to win, he is going to have to make the tax forms public.”