As Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) gears up for a U.S. Senate bid, the Miami Herald runs a brutal piece on his problems with personal finances, his ex-wife and bar fights.

One notable incident included baseball player Ron Gant: “Gant claims a drunken Mack repeatedly bumped into him, precipitating a fight. Mack claims Gant attacked him for no reason. During the melee, Gant head-locked Mack. Mack testified that he couldn’t breath. So he starting striking and grabbing the ball player’s crotch. At a certain point, the club’s bouncers got involved and Mack broke his ankle. He sued Gant, who was held liable. But a jury awarded no damages.”

A new Mitchell/Rosetta Stone Poll in Michigan shows Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum, 32% to 30%, with Newt Gingrich at 9% and Ron Paul at 7%. Another 22% of voters remain undecided.

Eight days ago, Santorum had a 9% lead and twelve days before that Romney led by 15% in a very volatile race.

Rick Santorum now holds a 10 point lead in the Gallup daily tracking poll of registered Republicans nationally.

New financial disclosures shows that Super PACs and other groups “dominated the race for the Republican presidential nomination last month, raising and spending tens of millions of dollars outside the traditional campaign system and playing a key role in extending an already tumultuous contest,” the Washington Post reports.

New York Times: “The spending reports revealed the breadth and power of super PACs as the campaign hits a critical and perhaps decisive period, with outside groups poised to pick up a growing share of political spending during the costly primary battle that lies ahead.”

David Weigel reads into the food-related expenses of the four Republican presidential campaigns.

“What
do we learn? Sometimes there are data dumps that confound our
expectations about candidates, and sometimes, we get material that
confirms them. Here we learn that the Paul campaign, holding no debt,
tracks the most minute expenditures at average joe fast food places,
that the Romney campaign eats well or eats in airports, and that the
other two guys are too strapped and too busy to care about this stuff.”

The Hotline:
“Obama made his first visit to Wisconsin in over a year this week, and
we were reminded of why he’s been absent for so long. Last year’s
dispute over collective bargaining triggered a series of state Senate
recalls in the Badger State — but in districts Republicans won in 2008,
even as Obama carried the state by double digits. So his presence would
not have been helpful. But next up is a different type of recall, a
statewide affair in which turnout will matter, regardless of where in
the state it comes from. Obama will have a decision to make about how
closely he wants to tether himself to the Democratic nominee in the
near-certain recall. And how close he stays will say a lot about what
the White House thinks the chances of defeating Gov. Scott Walker look
like.”

“Walker is looking to extend the delay in the Wisconsin’s
recall process as long as possible. Due to a quirk in the state’s
campaign finance law, Walker can raise unlimited funds until the date of
the election is set, allowing him to further bolster his already
massive campaign warchest.”

A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds that by a 66% to 29% margin, Republicans say it would be better if one of the four candidates now running managed to secure enough delegates to clinch the nomination rather than head to a brokered or deadlocked convention.

In addition, 57% say the volatile nomination battle isn’t hurting the party.

Pinterest highlights photos of the luxury hotels that appear under “TRAVEL: LODGING” in Mitt Romney’s January 2012 campaign finance report.

Howard Kurtz: “Rick Santorum’s main complaint about the press used to be that he wasn’t getting enough of it. But now that he’s surged to the top of the national polls, the former senator’s campaign is growing increasingly perturbed by a wave of coverage of his views on birth control, abortion, and religion.”

“Defeating Barack Obama becomes, in fact, a duty of national security. Because the fact is, he is incapable of defending the United States.”

— Newt Gingrich, quoted by NBC News, adding the country is at risk “someday in your lifetime of losing an American city” from a terrorist attack.

Washington Post: “President Obama and his wife, Michelle, despite having the second-lowest income of the four candidate/spouse combos, gave the highest percentage of their $1.8 million income to charity in 2010. He and Michelle gave 14.2% of their AGI, while the Romneys gave 13.8%.”

“Santorum and Newt Gingrich, by comparison, gave very little of their income to charity. Gingrich and his wife, Callista, gave 2.6% of their $3.2 million income in 2010. Santorum and wife Karen, who made the least in 2010 (less than $1 million), also gave the lowest percentage of their income to charity, at 1.8%.”

Paul Caron has charts detailing their charitable contributions,

A new Tulsa World poll in Oklahoma finds Rick Santorum leading the GOP presidential race with 39%, followed by Mitt Romney at 23%, Newt Gingrich at 18% and Ron Paul at 13%.

The Oklahoma primary is on March 6.

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Arizona finds Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum, 36% to 33%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 16% and Ron Paul at 9%.

Key finding: “One thing to keep an eye on over the next week is whether Newt Gingrich can hold his support. 16% is pretty good for him compared to what we’re finding other places right now, but only 46% of his voters say they’re solidly committed to him. 40% of his supporters say that Santorum is their second choice, compared to only 25% for Romney. If Gingrich’s supporters see he’s not viable and decide to jump ship the race could get even closer.”

A new We Ask America poll in Michigan finds Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum tied in the GOP presidential race at 29% each. They are followed by Ron Paul at 12% and Newt Gingrich at 10%.

The Hill
notes that Rick Santorum has been “unable or unwilling to escape
controversies over social issues” amid his rising prospects in the
Republican presidential nomination race.

“Santorum’s response –
welcoming the line of questions – reveals a side of the senator’s
personality that is unwilling to shy away from topics that other
national politicians fear would alienate centrist swing
voters… There’s logic to Santorum’s penchant for delving into such
controversies. Doing so has established his bona fides with conservative
voters, signaling that he is willing to stand up for core beliefs and
principles even when they’re unpopular. Relative to Mitt Romney – who
has struggled to shed the image of an opportunist willing to shift his
positions to suit the popular mood – that sort of conviction has proven
attractive to GOP primary voters.”