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By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com)


TODAY - GUESS WHO'S COMING TO D.C. - Two GOP heavies circling the 2012 race will be in Washington for political events: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. For Daniels: The centerpiece of the day is an education-themed speech to the American Enterprise Institute, followed by an awards event with the Arab American Institute Foundation. And for Huckabee: The former Arkansas governor is holding a fundraiser for his political action committee - an event that supporters are billing as a "small group discussing his potential run for president," according to the Wall Street Journal. http://on.wsj.com/mtfKlv


MORE ON DANIELS - National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru pronounced the governor "on the verge" of a 2012 run after a group of journalists met with Daniels in New York yesterday. Ponnuru: "That's just the impression I got. If he does run, he says, there will be no exploratory committee, "nothing cute.' 'We'll just get on about it.'" http://bit.ly/kVO00H


OBAMA'S BOUNCE BEGINS - WHERE'S THE CEILING? President Obama's numbers are on their way up, according to a slew of insta-polling conducted after the killing of Osama bin Laden. We don't know if this data is the start of a spike, or whether this is as good as it gets. Here's what we do know, so far:


- EXHIBIT A: Obama's approval rating is up 9 points in a Washington Post/Pew poll, hitting the 56-percent mark. Sixty-nine percent of Americans now approve of the president's handling of terrorism and 60 percent approve of his performance on Afghanistan. BUT: Sixty percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country and Obama's economic numbers are still 15 points underwater. http://wapo.st/l9uYrB


- EXHIBIT B: Two thirds of Americans called the killing of Osama bin Laden a "major achievement," according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll. Obama's approval rating on terrorism is 67 percent; on Afghanistan, it's 58 percent. BUT: The president's overall approval was at 52 percent in this poll, up just 1 percentage point from a poll conducted over the weekend. http://bit.ly/iCI08A


- EXHIBIT C: Seventy-one percent of respondents in a Gallup poll said Obama deserves a "moderate amount" or "great deal" of credit for bin Laden's killing, compared with 28 percent who said he deserves "not much" or "none at all." BUT: Obama ranks third in credit-getting, behind the U.S. military and the CIA but ahead of George W. Bush. http://bit.ly/mb7Xrw


As Sarah Palin gets a new consigliere, South Carolina Dems stir the pot and David Koch talks endorsements, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


ELECTION DAY AT THE DNC: The Democratic National Committee is expected to elect Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as its new chair at a meeting in Washington this afternoon. The DNC will gather at the Fairfax Hotel at 3 p.m. to do the voting, per guidance distributed by the committee. The Miami Herald raises the curtain: "The one-time congressional staffer will be the third woman to hold the post when the DNC meets Wednesday to ratify Obama's decision. Democratic strategists say Wasserman Schultz relishes going toe to toe with Republicans on issues she's passionate about, a factor that attracted the White House as it preps for a campaign that promises to be a bruiser." http://bit.ly/k5SrSm


THE 2012 SCORE - HUNTSMAN MOVES - JMART REPORTS: "Moving swiftly since his return to Washington from Beijing Friday, [former Ambassador Jon] Huntsman filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to begin 'H PAC.' In the event he runs, the organization will be the last placeholder before he announces a full-blown campaign. 'This is a paperwork step,' said spokesman Tim Miller. 'He's doing the organizational things required by campaign finance law. When he wants to make an announcement he will make an announcement.' That will likely come by early summer, after the Republican former Utah governor has visited early primary states and conferred at length with his family and the small circle of advisers ... He and his family met with a handful of his aides-in-waiting at his home on Sunday, sitting down with some of them for the first time, and the former ambassador has split the last two days between meeting with congressional Republicans on the Hill and talking to potential strategists and fundraisers." http://politi.co/igb7YG


PLUS - SANTORUM CHECKS THE BOX: Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum completed papers to create a presidential exploratory committee Tuesday, clearing the final logistical hurdle to participating in this week's presidential primary debate. Santorum's comment: "The debate this Thursday is a unique opportunity to put forth ideas and solutions to bring our economy back on track, and with Osama bin Laden's death, I look forward to also discussing in depth ways to tackle our many national security challenges."


ONE DAY TO DEBATE - LOCKED IN - The clock has run out on candidates hoping to qualify for tomorrow's presidential forum in Greenville, S.C. Five Republicans made the cut: Santorum, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former pizza executive Herman Cain.


LIPSTICK ON A PIG - Fox News VP Michael Clemente valiantly spins the low-turnout event: "Our job is not to marshal the field but to ask the tough questions of those who do get in the race ... This is the first of our five debates, and I'm sure we'll be able to kick-start the conversation about who will be the next president of the United States." http://lat.ms/lNY4CC


ROMNEY IN NASHUA - He won't be participating in tomorrow's debate, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is starting to meet the voters of New Hampshire "unaccompanied by the entourages that normally surround potential presidential candidates," WMUR reports. Meeting with business leaders in Nashua, Romney again congratulated Obama for the demise of Osama bin Laden: "The right thing is we got the bad guy, and the nation celebrates that." http://bit.ly/lKDJ36


MORE N.H. - COMING TODAY: A new snapshot of the GOP primary is due out from the WMUR/University of New Hampshire Granite State poll. #ff WMUR's @jamespindell for results on the Twitter.


ADVANCING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION - ORION OUT: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has switched up foreign policy teams, replacing the Randy Scheunemann-Michael Goldfarb duo that has advised her since 2008. POLITICO's Ben Smith: "They parted, both sides said on good terms ... [Palin aide Tim] Crawford said they've been replaced by Peter Schweizer, a writer and fellow at the Hoover Institution who blogs regularly at Andrew Breitbart's Big Peace. The personnel shift carries an ideological charge. Scheunemann, the former executive director of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, is a longtime neoconservative stalwart, as is Goldfarb ... Schweizer has also been skeptical of American involvement in Libya, which he compared to Vietnam, speculated that France is 'on the brink of a violent civil war' between radical Muslims and its resurgent right." http://politi.co/jc8QiF


AND - THE PAWLENTY DOCTRINE: The former Minnesota governor told a crowd in Iowa that he could envision drawing down troops in Afghanistan, but would want a residual U.S. force to stay in the perennially unstable state. The Des Moines Register: "Pawlenty said General David Petraeus told him during a visit to Afghanistan last fall that troop levels could be decreased in two years ... 'I think we need enough military capacity in Afghanistan or at least in the region, so if another material threat to the United States is identified, that we can respond and interrupt it and defeat it, efficiently and quickly,' he said." http://bit.ly/kTXxy7


CABLE BAIT - KOCH VS. TRUMP - Conservative billionaire David Koch is very publicly raining on Donald Trump's 2012 parade, telling the New York Post that Trump's "a wonderful guy, but I don't think he should run for office." The Post: "Noting Trump's love of press, Koch said the 'Celebrity Apprentice' host is 'getting more publicity than he ever dreamed about right now.' But, he added, 'at some point I think he's going to drop out of the race when he realizes that he's really not qualified to be President.' As for picking a candidate to back, Koch says: 'Only next year will I take a position.'" http://nydn.us/lNcHGr


OPERATION CHAOS - S.C. EDITION - A group of South Carolina Democrats has founded an independent expenditure group, South Carolina Forward Progress, with an eye toward making trouble for the GOP during the 2012 primary season. CNN's Peter Hamby reports the organization plans to "draw attention to what they call the 'crazy' elements of the Republican base ... 'I don't think it's a secret that the activists that control the South Carolina Republican Party are composed of a bunch of birthers, Birchers and bozos,' said Lachlan McIntosh, a Charleston-based Democrat ... The group is planning an onslaught of web videos, press conferences and public events to highlight some of the more attention-grabbing behavior of conservative activists in the Palmetto State during presidential primary season." http://bit.ly/k62gNT


NEXT ACTS - CAHILL TO UAW: Former Ted Kennedy chief of staff and John Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill is taking over the Washington office of the United Auto Workers. The Globe's Glen Johnson: "[S]he will oversee the UAW's political program nationally. She will also serve as a senior adviser to UAW President Bob King. Cahill formerly served as assistant to the president and director of the Office of Public Liaison in the Clinton White House ... She also spent five years at EMILY's List, a PAC that supports female candidates and supports abortion rights." http://bo.st/jcy2Ev


METRO SECTION - RUNOFF IN DENVER: The mayor's race in Colorado's largest city is headed to a second round of voting between two very different candidates, the Denver Post reports: "[Chris] Romer is a white, affluent native of Denver whose father was a popular three-term governor and who spent a career in the world of banking. Michael Hancock is an African- American who overcame a poor upbringing to become a Denver councilman and get elected twice as City Council president ... The mayoral race is nonpartisan, but both Romer and Hancock are Democrats. Romer has had Republican support, getting contributions from former Gov. Bill Owens and campaign assistance from Josh Penry, a former minority leader in the state Senate. Romer, 51, has money." http://bit.ly/iROlLA


CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Shame on you, Mr. Trump. We at the Stuttering Foundation find it discouraging that in 2011, Donald Trump has chosen to use the word 'stutterer' in a derogatory fashion, something to be made fun of, to describe Seth Meyers' speech at the annual White House Correspondents' dinner." - Stuttering Foundation president Jane Fraser http://bit.ly/kWMQJ8

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