A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s favorable rating at 65%, the highest mark that the former first lady has ever reached in the history of the poll. Just 27% of respondents viewed Clinton unfavorably.

The Fix: “Great poll numbers and high-profile supporters don’t matter at all if Clinton has, in her heart of hearts, put away the idea of running for president again. If that door is left open even a crack, however, these are the sorts of developments that could push it open wider.”

As he heads into a general election against Mitt Romney, President Obama’s speeches “are revisiting parts of the life story that helped propel his rise,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “There are nods to his humble beginnings, his hardworking grandmother and the stresses of debt — in short, stories that best connect with the middle-class voters his reelection may depend on.”

The reason: “After more than three years in office, the trappings of the presidency can begin to take a toll, causing voters to see the incumbent more as a high-priced suit behind a podium than as a person whose life once resembled theirs. Obama campaign aides are mindful of that potential problem.”

After losing all five primaries Tuesday night to Mitt Romney in landslide fashion, Newt Gingrich “sent the strongest signal yet that he’s nearing the end of his tottering campaign,” Politico reports.

Said Gingrich: “We’re going to look realistically at where we’re at. We are going to think carefully about how we can be the most helpful to this country.”

But he made clear he’s still got a full schedule as the GOP presidential campaign heads to North Carolina.

Coal-mining millionaire Tom Smith (R), a newcomer to politics who spent $4 million of his own money on TV advertising, easily won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

His candidacy “was scorned by the Republican establishment,” including Gov. Tom Corbett (R).

Smith will face Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in the fall election.

Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA), who was elected to Congress in 1992 and was one of its conservative Blue Dog Democrats, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary to Matt Cartwright (D), the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Rep. Mark Critz (D-PA) “used his deep home base support and the heft of organized labor to win his fratricidal bout” with Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), “picking up an underdog victory in an increasingly conservative district,” the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reports.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) “made it clear” that he will seek reelection in 2014, the Miami Herald reports.

Said Scott: “I’m running for re-election. I like this job!”

Ezra Klein points out that if President Obama wins re-election, he will likely “still be negotiating with Republican leaders in Congress. But the same can’t be said for Mitt Romney.”

“If Romney wins the election, it’s almost a sure bet that Republicans win control of both the House and the Senate. And that matters. Right now, the GOP’s agenda is the Ryan budget, and that’s entirely fiscal: It’s a premium support plan for Medicare, and tax cuts, and deep cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other domestic programs. All that can be passed through budget reconciliation — which is to say, all that can be made immune to the filibuster.”

“So if Romney wins and the Republicans take control, they could accomplish quite a lot on party-line votes, even if their majorities are slim, and Democrats are opposed. Indeed, Romney could end up being a fairly transformational president for conservatives so long as he’s paired with a Republican Congress.”

Mitt Romney’s big speech tonight as primary results come in is billed as his “pivot” to the general election campaign.

A quick search by BuzzFeed finds this is his 97th pivot since voting in Iowa began in January.

A new Pew Research study finds negative coverage of President Obama outweighed his positive coverage in each of the last 15 weeks — the only presidential candidate where that was true.

“While a sitting president may have access to the ‘bully pulpit,’ that does not mean he has control of the media narrative, particularly during the other party’s primary season.”

The Gallup daily tracking poll, which kicked off eight days ago with Mitt Romney leading by two points, now has President Obama in front by 7 points, 49% to 42%.

Meanwhile, a new DailyKos/SEIU poll shows Obama leading Romney 49% to 44%.

Walter Shapiro writes about his “political-journalistic courtship” of John Edwards “that now makes me cringe.”

“With Edwards on trial in North Carolina on charges of violating federal campaign-finance laws — after the disgrace of being caught with a mistress and denying being the father of her baby — I wish I had befriended a comparatively more honorable political figure like Eliot Spitzer or Mark Sanford… In hindsight, I feel like the jaded city slicker, bristling with self-confidence that he can never be fooled, who ends up hoodwinked by the smiling rural Southern confidence man.”

“I’m not sure what that is because I’m not serving right now.”

— Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Sarah Steelman (R), quoted by the Springfield News-Leader, when asked for her position on reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Despite ripping his own party over the weekend, Jon Huntsman told CNBC that he’s still firmly behind Mitt Romney for president.

Said Huntsman: “Absolutely, I am. Listen, the economic message is going to carry the day in November, and I think that message will resonate — or not — through the critically important states in the Midwest… These are gonna be the states that will tell the story in November. I think it’s about recovery, it’s about rebuilding our manufacturing muscle in this country, and the prospects for job creation. I think he’s best positioned by virtue of his own background training to be able to provide that leadership.”

That said, Jeff Greenfield is convinced Huntsman will leave the Republican party.

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