Editors note: This is the Journals weekly roundup of campaign news.
DENVER President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are tied among Colorado voters, according to a poll released this week.
The NBC News/Marist poll of registered voters showed Obama with 46 percent support and Romney at 45 percent within the 3 percentage point margin of error.
The same poll showed statistical ties in Iowa and Nevada, two other states that Obama considers key to his re-election.
These are very, very competitive states, Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, told NBC News. Everything is close.
The poll also revealed that, by a slight margin, voters trust Romney more on the economy and Obama more on social issues.
Both candidates have closely matched favorability ratings, with 47 percent seeing Obama as favorable and 47 percent as unfavorable. Romneys numbers are 43 percent each.
Overall, the NBC poll shows a tightening race in the West. An April survey by Public Policy Polling, which polls for Democrats, found Obama with a 13-point lead in Colorado.
Romney in coal country: Romney paid a visit to the Northwest Colorado coal town of Craig on Tuesday. It was the first major-party presidential campaign stop in the 10,000-person town in a century, the towns mayor said.
Romney was drawn by a video made by a conservative group. It starred the owners of a local hotel, who complained that state and federal mining regulations were killing the towns economy. However, officials this week said the coal mines are doing well, and Romney touched only briefly on energy in his 14-minute stump speech. He criticized Obama for focusing on green energy jobs and blocking drilling on public lands.
Matt Inzeo of the Colorado Democratic Party said the speech showed how out-of-touch Romney is with Colorados economy.
Countdown: 24 days until the primary election. 157 days until the November election.
