GOP primaries

The Club for Growth is unlikely to target Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) after all, sparing him what could have been a major threat to his reelection.

"We continue to watch [the race], but we’re not doing anything now," said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola.

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Lugar faces a May 8 primary fight with Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock to keep his seat.

The meeting comes as polls show Santorum behind in Pennsylvania and pressure increasing on him to exit the race.

Richard Mourdock, who is Sen. Richard Lugar’s (R-Ind.) Tea Party-backed GOP primary foe, is calling on the incumbent to renounce his affiliation with two groups that support action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Mourdock, the state treasurer, wants Lugar to resign from his advisory positions with the Alliance to Save Energy and the Brookings Institution’s Energy Security Initiative.

“Clearly, Lugar is out of touch with Hoosier conservatives if he thinks that serving on the board of groups that advocate ‘cap and trade’ carbon tax schemes and the junk science associated with global climate change alarmism is prudent when he represents a state that meets the majority of its electrical needs with coal-fired generators,” Mourdock said in a statement Thursday.

The comment signals the extent to which backing proposals to curb carbon emissions have become toxic in Republican circles in recent years.

A wave of high-profile endorsements, coupled with beautiful weather and brisk turnout, should help Romney build on his delegate lead.

A top Mitt Romney surrogate said Tuesday morning that Rick Santorum's ego is the only thing keeping him in the presidential race and that he should have dropped out already.

An internal poll for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) shows him in great shape to win the GOP nomination outright at the state's Republican Party Convention late this month, a major coup for the senator.

Hatch led his poll with 62 percent support, followed by former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist at 16 percent and state Rep. Chris Herrod at 5 percent. Hatch needs 60 percent of convention delegates to back him to avoid a primary. Even if he is forced into a primary he's likely in good shape — polls have indicated that he remains popular with Republicans statewide and would have little trouble winning his race.

"What this says is Sen. Hatch is in pretty good shape," his campaign manager, Dave Hansen, told The Hill. "Three weeks is a long way to go to the convention and we're continuing to work hard; we're not taking anything for granted. But we feel very, very good about where we are."

The senator hasn’t lived in Indiana for decades, and his political opponents challenged whether he could still vote there.

Mitt Romney released a new Web ad Thursday that mocks President Obama for bragging about his accomplishments as president, arguing he's only excelled at "piling on debt."

Romney has repeatedly helped Democrats and GOP rivals paint him as wealthy and out-of-touch with several campaign gaffes.