Wisconsin election officials “are predicting that between 60 to 65 percent of the voting age population, or about 2.6 to 2.8 million people, will cast regular and absentee ballots in the June 5 recall election,” the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

“That level of turnout would be higher than the 49.7 percent of voters who turned out in the November 2010 gubernatorial general election, in which Gov. Scott Walker beat Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, his current challenger, by about five percentage points. It would not be as high as the 2008 general election for president, when some 69.2 percent of Wisconsin voters turned out to vote.”

Wolf Blitzer: Donald, you’re beginning to sound a little ridiculous, I have to tell you.

Donald Trump: You are, Wolf. Let me tell you something, I think you sound ridiculous, and if you’d ask me a question and let me answer it.

A new Florida Opinion Research poll finds former Gov. Charlie Crist (I) would trounce Rick Scott (R) in Florida’s 2014 gubernatorial race if Crist ran this time as a Democrat, 48% to 34%.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll of white working-class voters across the Rust Belt — Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and parts of New York and Pennsylvania — finds Mitt Romney leading President Obama, 44% to 30%.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) “turned in 2,000 petition signatures to get on August primary ballot, but all except 244 have been deemed invalid because of rampant duplicated copies,” the Detroit News reports.

“A review by The Detroit News of the petition signatures found full copies of a sheet of signatures that were photocopied once and in some cases two times and mixed in with the 136-page stack of signatures. In some cases, a different petition circulator’s name was signed to the duplicate copy.”

McCotter accepted the findings and will now run as a write-in candidate.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports the Michigan attorney general is investigating the McCotter campaign for possible fraud.

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Michigan finds President Obama leads Mitt Romney by 14 points, 53% to 39%.

Key finding: “Obama’s crushing Romney on what will doubtless be one of the biggest issues in the campaign in Michigan: 55% think that he’s been better for the automotive industry in the state to only 31% who say Romney wins out on that front.”

On the same day Donald Trump hosts a fundraiser for Mitt Romney in Las Vegas, he stepped up his accusations in a remarkable CNBC interview that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States.

Trump also confirmed he would start a Super PAC with up to $10 million to “do your own thing.”

[Read more…]

Rolling Stone takes an interesting look at 16 Mitt Romney donors who have put up $52 million in a Super PAC that supports his campaign.

“This unprecedented infusion of money from America’s monied elites underscores the radical transformation of the Republican Party, which has made defending the interests of 0.0001 percent the basis of its entire platform.”

Sen. Mark Kirk’s (R-IL) ex-wife filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that her former husband and then-girlfriend may have broken campaign finance laws, the Chicago Tribune reports.

“The girlfriend, Dodie McCracken, who works in public relations, has acknowledged receiving more than $143,000 in fees and expenses for her campaign work. A former live-in girlfriend, she is no longer romantically involved with Kirk… At the heart of the matter is Vertolli’s assertion that the Kirk campaign may have improperly hidden money to McCracken by paying her through another company working for the campaign. Because the money was not paid directly to McCracken, her name does not appear in Kirk’s federal disclosures.”

Interestingly, Kirk also “quietly paid” his ex-wife $40,000 in campaign funds after she publicly said she wouldn’t support his campaign in 2010.

Admitting there were “some irregularities” in his signatures to qualify for the Michigan GOP primary ballot, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI said he is running for re-election to Congress as a write-in candidate, the Detroit News reports.

A Project New America poll in Colorado finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by four points in the presidential race, 48% to 44%.