Hotline Sort: No Ceiling Fans
Welcome back to Hotline Sort. The DNC officially has a new chairman, American Crossroads weights spending money in the New York 26 special election, and Romney has a big, early primary lead in the Granite State in two new polls. Here's today's rundown:
7) Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) acknowledged that he was fooled by fake photographs of Osama bin Laden's dead body, after telling reporters (mistakenly) that he saw photos of it.
6) On Wednesday, Democratic National Committee members officially selected Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) as the new head of the committee. She is the third woman in history to serve as chair of the DNC.
5) American Crossroads is considering whether to put resources into the upcoming special election in New York's 26th District. A Siena poll released last week showed Republican Jane Corwin leading Democrat Kathy Hochul by just five points (36 percent to 31 percent), with businessman Jack Davis, running as a Tea Party candidate, and earning the backing of 23 percent of likely voters.
4) In Florida, Republican state senators blocked Democratic efforts Wednesday to make changes to an election overhaul bill, including proposals to allow college students to update their addresses at the polls and keep 14 days of early voting.
The two chambers also agreed to move up the date of the nonpresidential 2012 primary to Aug. 14, because the original date conflicted with the Republican National Convention being held in the state, and also agreed to create a nine-member commission to select the date of Florida's 2012 presidential primary, the St. Petersburg Times reports.
3) Also in Florida, the New York Times reports on an immigration bill that is dividing Republicans in the state legislature. On one side, pro-business and Hispanic GOP lawmakers oppose the measure, while more-populist Republican members favor it. The bill's chances in the House are not certain.
2) Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has a sizable lead at the outset of the campaign in the neighboring, first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, according to two new polls out today. A Granite State poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center for WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., shows Romney with 36 percent of the vote among likely Republican primary voters. He holds a 25-point lead over real estate mogul Donald Trump, who, at 11 percent, is the only other candidate to score in double-digits. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (7 percent) is third, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) tied for fourth at 6 percent.
Meanwhile, a new Suffolk University poll conducted for WHDH-TV in Boston also shows Romney well ahead of the pack, with 35 percent of the vote. Giuliani, Paul and Trump are tied for second place, with 8 percent.
1) A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out early today shows that a majority of Americans are opposed to raising the federal debt ceiling -- data that underscores the political challenge facing both parties this summer. Fully 60 percent oppose raising the debt ceiling, even though respondents are told that a failure to do so would deny the government "enough money to pay all of its bills and other financial obligations." Only 37 percent favor raising the debt limit. Moreover, just 17 percent of Americans believe that, if the debt ceiling is not raised, it would lead to a crisis for the U.S.
CNN's findings echo results from an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll last month that showed that opposition to raising the debt limit actually rose slightly after respondents were told of the potential economic implications of the U.S. exceeding that limit.
-- Steven Shepard contributed to this post
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