Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Bachmann Wins Ames Straw Poll - Pawlenty Drops Out - Perry In - In a busy day for Republican presidential candidates. As expected, Minnesota Representative Michele BachmannAmes Straw Poll with Tex. Rep. Ron Paul coming in a close second. - you can read more here.

After, a disappointing third place finish in the Ames Straw Poll and depleting campaign resources, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race. He informed supporters in a conference call this morning and will officially make the announcement while appearing on ABC "This Week" this morning. You can read more here.

Meanwhile, Texas Governor Rick Perry made it official he was now a candidate in a speech yesterday. You can read his full remarks here.

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Obama To Begin 3 Day Bus Tour - The president will have stops in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois on what the White House is calling a "listening tour". Tomorrow, Obama will be in Cannon Falls, Minnesota for a town hall meeting. You can read more here.

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Clyburn Highlights Growing Economic Disparity in U.S. - Democratic Representative James Clyburn (S.C.) intends to use his appointment to the deficit reduction committee to point out the growing gap between the wealthy and poor across America.

An excerpt from an article in TheHill.com which caught my attention states "There's also a racial element to the nation's wealth gap. Analysts at the Pew Research Center reported last month that the median wealth of white households is $113,149 – 20 times greater than that of black households ($5,677) and 18 times greater than that of Hispanic households ($6,325). The divide is the widest it's been since the government began keeping such figures 25 years ago, Pew found." You can read the full piece here.

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