tory dunnan joins us from washington. thank you for joining us. what is that message tonight? >> reporter: the message is think long and hard about who you want the running mate to be. florida is a battleground state. with that said, mitt romney may want it take a look at the recent poll. you'll see romney in the sunshine state has a six percentage point over obama. backtrack, it was earlier this month he had a 1% lead. this was give on it registered voters, a hypothetical ticket between mitt romney and marco rubio. it's 49% to obama's 41%. kelly, what we have to consider is rub yes has said he wants to remain a senator. more recently he has not closed that doors to the vp slot. >> so, romney has been out of the spotlight the last couple of days kind of holding private fund-raisers. he appeared with the latino group. what is that, courting votes? >> reporter: right, the latino voters. >> make no mistake. when i'm president you won't wake up every day and wonder if the president is on your side. >> reporter: it's estimated that 22 million latino voters will be eligible to vote

tory dunnan joins us live from washington. take us through what you have tonight. >> reporter: at first glance it seems like a breath of fresh air but if you'll go in closer you'll realize it's not all positive. when it comes to campaign ads, at times it has gotten nasty between president obama and mitt romney. but today we have two brand-new ads that each campaign is dubbing positive. >> governor romney. >> reporter: romney's first general election ad runs through what he would do in office. there's still a few digs at the president. >> president obama approves the keystone project. >> reporter: romney's ad hit the air wies in -- airwaves in four battle ground states. then there's the president's new ad entitled higher. it tries to use his own background as a reason to support white house initiatives on higher education. >> his life was transformed. >> reporter: it's a timely issue. congress is set to battled a scheduled hike in interest rates. >> higher education means more for the middle class, giving younger people a chanc

tory dunnan joins us live from washington. he's finally reached that magic number in the state of tex -- texas, right? >> reporter: he timally surpassed 1, 144 delegates. it was all because of a victory in the state of texas. it's hard to believe that this was almost a year ago that mitt romney jumped in the race and shot ahead in the polls. he fought off surges from the likes of rick perry, rick santorum and herman cain. now the republican party has come together with the goal of defeating president obama. the president called him to congratulate him on becoming the gop and he is looking forward to a healthy debate in the future. >> both the romney camp and the dnc released their own version. >> reporter: romney's campaign released a new ad. it dids after some of the highlights over the past year or so. take a lock at this. >> mitt romney will win big tonight. >> we have a mormon responsibility to keepmark the strongest nation of the earth. >> mitt romney will have a huge win, a big win. >> reporter: as for the democratic web

i'm tory dunnan in washington and how that's getting trumped by donald trump. >>> it was an important day at the white house with the awarding of the medal of freedom. we have more from washington on the annual ceremony that showcases some truely inspiration hall stories and life -- inspirational stories and lives. >> reporter: outstanding achievement. president obama awarded it to 13 political, cultural and athletic icons. >> what sets these men and women apart is the incredible impact they have had on so many people. not in short blanding bursts -- blinding bursts but steadily over the course of a lifetime. >> reporter: among the honorees, a space pioneer, the first to orbit the earth. >> john glen became a hero in every sense of the world. >> reporter: the first secretary of state. >> she helped bring peace to the balkans. >> reporter: the winningest coach in history. >> when i think about my two daughters who are tall and gifted and knowing because of folks like coach summit, they're standing up straight and diving after loose balances. >> reporter: and a rock legend who inspired

tory dunnan joins us from washington. they're talking about this from the barber shop to the hair is a will be to the church. >> reporter: just look at the cover of newsweek magazine. you see this provocative picture of president obama and it reads the first gay president and this is creating quite a debate. >> just days ago you confirmed your belief that the right to marriage belongs to us all. >> reporter: the president is being hailed as a hero among lib rat rales and supporters of -- liberals and supporters of same-sex marriage. >> that's how we achieve workers' rights. that's how we achieved gay rights. that's how we made this union more perfect. >> reporter: also on president obama's agenda today a taped sitdown with the view scheduled to air tomorrow. >> thank you so very much. >> reporter: mean while over the weekend mitt romney tackled the issue in his own commencement address at liberty university a private christian school in virginia. there, he found a crowd passionately behind his issue. >> marriage is a rela

tory dunnan has more. what can we take away from this? >> reporter: this is a brand-new poll. take a look at thrills. obama in the lead at 49%. romney at 46%. when it comes to who would better handle the economy, it's a tie. both candidates are at 47%. here's where it gets more difficult for the president. 33% of voters -- 30% of voters say they are worst off than in 2009. only 16% say they're better off. with the economy really being the big issue in the general election, at least for now it seems like the president has his work cut out for him. >> the white house really as focused on mitt romney's time at bain capital. they continued that. what's new with that? >> reporter: today the vice-president and a super pac supporting the president are going after mitt romney. here's a taste of what they're putting out there on the campaign trail. >> folks, making money for investors, which romney did very well is not the president's job. >> over his years at bain capital. >> reporter: so, kelly that ad goes on and goes through the rivals criticizing his record at bain capital. seems

. >> that is john dunnan conducting a clinic for part of a program in early stages. the commissioner sees a huge opportunity. >> try to build pack 12 brand oversea was emphasis on china first. given size of the market and priority. >> so chris chen is a former player on the chinese national team. >> this is to be able to have this this brings a law to understanding both countries. >> that is great. these are the best centers in the world doing it. >> there is a games and clinics like these will help everybody in the sport which is evolving with bigger, stronger and faster player autos this is one of the most exciting things talking about people about evolution and how to stay up with it. how to be able to coach what is going on in the world that comes to high schools or juniors in the area. >> wow. wow. that is a wild idea thank you. >> that is this edition of abc 7 news. >> from the entire abc 7 news team, thanks for joining us. captioned by closed captioning services, inc. from washington, d.c., this is power players week on "jeopardy!" please welcome our celebrity