Romney, Obama in Dead Heat

Another new poll (like this one before it) suggests that Rick Santorum's exit from the race has pushed Republicans to rally behind Mitt Romney. A CBS/New York Times survey of registered voters has Romney dead even with President Obama at 46%. Last month, the president held a 3-point lead. A bigger jump for Romney came among Republicans: More than half (54%) say he's the preferred candidate, up from 30%. Newt Gingrich pulled in 20% and Ron Paul 9%. All this, of course, came before the new dog wars. (More Mitt Romney 2012 stories.)