GOP primaries

One center-right group is stepping in to help Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) fend off a Tea Party challenge.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson contributed another $5.5 million to Winning Our Future, the super-PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, according to Federal Election Commission documents filed Tuesday.

Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) would start off with a narrow lead over Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) in the general election if Mourdock beats Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) in the GOP primary, according to general-election numbers obtained by The Hill from a Donnelly poll.

Donnelly leads Mourdock by 34 percent to 28 percent in the poll, while he would trail Lugar by 42 percent to 29 percent.

The campaign released a portion of the poll on Monday that showed Mourdock within striking distance of Lugar, trailing him by just six points.

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The former Massachusetts governor said Democrats were saddling young people with debt.

Romney won a crushing victory in the territory, with early results showing him with over 83 percent of the vote.

Mitt Romney guaranteed the GOP would not face a brokered convention in Tampa.

"Look, we're not going to go to a brokered convention," he said on Fox News Thursday morning.
"One or the other of us among the three or four that are running is going to get the delegates necessary to become the nominee. As it gets closer towards the end, it's going to be clear we've got someone who's in the strong lead. The states that remain will vote for that person and that person will get the delegates and become the nominee."

One of Newt Gingrich's top surrogates suggested to The Hill on Wednesday a possible meeting between the candidates to hash out a plan to give one of them the nomination if no one wins a majority of delegates. But Romney scoffed when asked if Newt Gingrich could award his delegates to Rick Santorum, and implicitly denied the idea that such a meeting could work.

"A candidate can release the delegates or keep them," he said. "A candidate really can't get folks to do something they don't want to do. Ultimately, the delegates have more say than that."

Mitt Romney blamed President Obama's policies for sending gas prices through the roof during a Fox News appearance Thursday morning.

"People who set the prices of oil look not just at the daily spot rate, they look long-term to see what's going to be happening," Romney said. "They buy and sell these shares and futures of oil based upon what they think is going to happen. What they're seeing with this president is a series of policies that say oil, natural gas, coal are not going to be used as effectively in this country as they could be."

Republicans have increasingly focused on gas prices as other economic indicators have improved, and polls show that the public blames Obama for the high prices at the pump. Romney is the latest Republican presidential candidate to drill Obama on the issue — rival Newt Gingrich has been campaigning on a "$2.50 per gallon plan" that promised to lower prices.

A mailer sent to Louisiana Republicans by the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future misstated the day of the week the election will occur.

The mailer, obtained by The Hill, states the correct primary date, March 24, but says that the primary is on Tuesday. March 24 is a Saturday.

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Former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle (R), who is running for Senate, won't say which presidential candidate she's backing in Hawaii's Republican caucuses.

Lingle spokesman Lenny Klompus told The Hill that Lingle would vote in Tuesday's caucuses but that she was keeping her choice private.

"Yes, she will vote," Klompus said. "She's not going to endorse until the convention."

He declined to say who she was backing.

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The American Conservative Union's political action committee endorsed Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) over Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Tuesday morning, making it the latest conservative group to jump in for Manzullo in the member-vs.-member primary.

The group joins the Tea Party-affiliated Freedomworks, the anti-abortion-rights Eagle Forum and the 60 Plus Association, a conservative seniors group, in supporting the longtime congressman.

Kinzinger has the backing of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as well as fellow Illinois Republican Reps. Aaron Schock and John Shimkus. The Campaign for Primary Accountability, an anti-incumbent super-PAC, is also backing him.

The race has turned into a proxy war between conservative groups and Republican House leaders. Kinzinger has received donations from House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) as well, although neither has endorsed in the race and Boehner has declared he is neutral.

Kinzinger decided to run against Manzullo in a new district encompassing part of both their old districts after his district was dismantled by a Democratic gerrymander. The two will face off in a primary next Tuesday.