A new Economist/YouGov poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney in the presidential race among registered voters, 49% to 42%.

However, Obama’s approval rating is a dismal 41% to 51%.

A new McLaughlin & Associates poll in Indiana finds Richard Mourdock (R) edging Sen. Richard Lugar (R) in their U.S. Senate primary, 42% to 41%.

Nate Silver:
“Mr. Romney’s mediocre favorability ratings at this early stage of the
race are no death sentence. There have been clear reversals in
favorability ratings in the recent past once the general election
campaign got under way, such as in 1988 and 1992… The favorability
deficit between Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama is more likely to be meaningful
the longer it persists. If, for instance, we still see this
favorability deficit in July — and certainly if we see it in September
or October — the odds are fairly good that Mr. Obama will perform more
strongly than the economic fundamentals alone would dictate and could
win an election that he is otherwise ‘supposed’ to lose… For the time
being, I’d consider them a negative but fairly minor factor when we
evaluate his chances at victory.”

West Virginia U.S. Senate candidate John Raese (R) compared no smoking laws to one of Adolf Hitler’s most notorious policies.

Said Raese: “I don’t want government telling me what I can do and what I can’t do because I’m an American. But in Monongalia County you can’t smoke a cigarette, you can’t smoke a cigar, you can’t do anything… I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke free environment. This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County. OK? Remember Hitler used to put Star of David on everybody’s lapel, remember that? Same thing.”

[Read more…]

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) has been “quietly making it official” that he’ll seek re-election in 2014, the Arkansas Times reports.

A letter to friends which was described as a “somewhat rambling” eventually “got around to the point that he’d definitely be running in 2014. It noted that there’d been rumors that he would not run, that he might run for governor, that he might once have been interested in the presidency of the University of Arkansas. He said those rumors weren’t true, that his family was happy at their home in Little Rock and that he looked forward to another race.”

“The debt number is alarming and gives you great concern, of course, because we’re moving toward the Greek-type numbers. My guess is, by the way, at the Democratic convention, he will not be appearing in front of Greek columns like in Denver. He won’t want to remind people of Greece.”

— Mitt Romney, in an interview on Fox News.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows President Obama holds a thin 46% to 42% lead nationally over Mitt
Romney in the presidential race.

Said pollster Peter Brown :”Obama has a big lead among women and is seen as the candidate most
in tune with their needs. He is seen as more in touch with average Americans. Republican
Romney seems to hold an edge on the economy – the top issue of the campaign – and holds his
own against the incumbent on being a strong leader. His opening is that by 56% to 38%
voters disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) told the CBS affiliate in Dallas that he’s going to give the “appropriate consideration” to running for re-election as governor in 2014 and said he was leaning toward running for president again in 2016.

Said Perry: “2016 is way down the road, but I’ll assure you one thing, if I decide to run for the presidency in 2016, I’ll be way in before the summer of 2016; 2015, even.”

A new Dartmouth College poll in New Hampshire finds Mitt Romney edges President Obama in a general election match up, 44% to 42%.

A new CNN survey of Republican voter preferences for Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate finds Condoleeza Rice with 26% support, ahead of Rick Santorum at 21%, Marco Rubio at 14%, Chris Christie at 14%, and Paul Ryan at 8%.

Dan Amira: “Rice hasn’t been considered a very plausible contender in the Mitt Romney veepstakes so far, and perhaps with good reason. Rice was a central figure in the Bush administration, particularly in terms of homeland security and foreign policy, which are most prominently defined by the worst terrorist attack in American history and a widely unpopular war, respectively. And if the Obama campaign decides to portray a potential Romney presidency as a retread of the Bush years, putting one of Bush’s closest advisers on the ticket would be a big help.”