TPM2012

Today On The Trail: April 27, 2012

Kyle Leighton April 27, 2012, 7:24 AM

Here are 10 things you need to know today:

After student loans, Obama, Romney spar on foreign policy: After a week when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and President Obama agreed that student loan interest rates shouldn’t go up ahead of Congressional votes on the issue, the two camps moved on to foreign policy. “Governor Romney, I think, is counting on collective amnesia of the American people,” Vice President Joe Biden said in remarks to an audience at New York University and sent out by the campaign, after praising the administration’s work in the area. TPM reported on a Romney campaign conference call earlier in the day in which advisors warned of a “Soviet threat.”
Obama campaign releases web video on bin Laden killing: President Obama’s campaign released a new web video featuring former President Bill Clinton speaking about Obama’s decision to order the Navy Seal team opperation resulting in the killing of Osama bin Laden. “You hire the President to make the calls when no one else can do it,” Clinton says. Watch it here.

Conservative group attacks Obama on spending: Both sides of the political spectrum are gearing up for a massive ad war during the presidential campaign, and conservative group Americans for Prosperity has a new $6.1 million ad buy, hitting President Obama on spending. The new spot highlights what the group claims is wasteful spending that actually went abroad. Watch it here.
Pro-Obama group responds on 3rd party ads: Priorities USA Action Fund, a pro-Obama super PAC, responded to the Americans for Prosperity ad almost immediately. “Yesterday, we released an ad stating that ‘Big Oil has pledged $200 million to help Mitt Romney.’ Today, $6 million of that pledge was spent on television advertisements across the country,” said former Obama spokesman and leader of Priorities USA Bill Burton. “Billionaire oil executives like the Koch Brothers benefit from high gas prices financially and use that extra cash to support Mitt Romney because he has pledged to protect their billions in special tax breaks.” Watch their ad here.
Progressives to endorse in California race today: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee will endorse former California state Rep. Lori Saldaña for Congress in California’s 52’s district in an email to supporters later today. Saldaña is running in a Democratic primary against San Diego city councilman Scott Peters for a newly redistricted seat currently held by Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA), a race that the organization is calling a contest “progressive vs. blue dog fight.”
Conservatives line up behind Tea Party challenger in Indiana senate race: The American Conservative Union (ACU) endorsed Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock on Thursday, as the right wing lines up behind him as the challenger to Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) who has represented the state sine 1985. The ACU said Lugar has “frequently opposed conservatives on key issues in the Senate, such as earmark reform while supporting the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac against a majority of Republicans.”
Ohio Senator attacks opponent in first ad: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is out with his first ad of his 2012, and it goes after his GOP challenger and State Treasuer Josh Mandel on cronyism. The ad highlights the staff salaries that Mandel has been paying to the young members of his official staff, and in the end calling him “Just another politician we can’t trust.” Watch it here.
Conservatives push candidate against Blue Dog congressman in Utah: Freedomworks, the Tea Party affiliated group focusing on House and Senate races in 2012 has announced their endorsement of Mia Love, a Republican running against Blue Dog Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT). “She recognizes that government is part of the problem, not the solution, to our current economic woes. Mia will represent the best interests of Utah taxpayers in Congress, strengthening the Republican majority in the House, and expanding the coalition of fiscal conservatives within it,” Russ Walker, National Political Director for FreedomWorks for America said in a statement.
Christie will campaign with Walker: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will campaign with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Tuesday, as Walker is facing a recall election June 5th. Polls have shown Christie to be a very popular conservative among the Republican base.
Romney will deliver a guest lecture today in Ohio: In a week mostly devoted to the plight of college students’ finances, Romney will end it will a lecture to students at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. The candidate will hold a roundtable discussion with students beforehand.

Kyle is the Editor of TPM Media’s PollTracker. He graduated from Beloit College (WI) and began working in politics before getting an M.A. in magazine journalism from New York University, where he interned at TPM and the website of The New Yorker.