Rasmussen Reports took a poll of likely Republican primary voters in Ohio on Thursday and finds -- much like another Ohio poll from Quinnipiac University released on Friday-- that its a close race between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney in the Buckeye State.

Virginia holds its Republican presidential primary on Tuesday -- and it looks like Mitt Romney will roll to a big win in the Old Dominion according to a poll released on Friday.

Romney will only face Ron Paul in Virginia as Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum did not make the ballot. According to a Roanoke College poll of likely primary voters released on Friday, Romney is easily besting Paul in Virginia taking 56 percent while the Texas congressman lags with 21 percent.

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are in a tight struggle, according to a new poll of Ohio which holds its primary on Tuesday.

Republican Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Connie Mack took aim at Democrat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson for voting against the Blunt amendment that would have permitted employers to refuse to cover health-care costs contrary to their religious beliefs -- mainly birth-control and abortion-inducing drugs. The amendment went down on a 51-48 vote.

Fresh off his wins in the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Tuesday, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has taken a commanding lead over his rivals for the GOP nomination in a national poll unveiled Thursday by Rasmussen Reports.

On Thursday, Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate rejected the amendment from U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., which would have permitted employers to refuse to cover health-care costs that are contrary to their religious beliefs -- mainly birth-control and contraception. The amendment went down on a 51-48 vote.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration backed a mandate that employers affiliated with religious organizations opposed to birth control would have to cover contraception costs as part of the federal health-care plan that Obama signed into law back in 2010.

Hitting the campaign trail in Cherokee County, Ga., on Thursday,Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich called on President Barack Obama to fire U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

While Rick Santorum leads in the polls in the Buckeye State, which holds its presidential primary on Tuesday, GOP rival Mitt Romney insisted on Thursday that he is also playing to win in Ohio. Looking to win as many of the 66 delegates on the line in Ohio, Romney announced campaign chairmen in all 88 counties in the Buckeye State on Thursday.

From his perch on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. David Rivera joined his chairwoman -- and fellow Florida Republican -- U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lethinen in opposing a proposal to build a statue of ChGuevara in Galway, Ireland.

Conservative new media publisher and pundit Andrew Breitbart died overnight at the age of 43.

His website had the following posting on Thursday morning:

With a terrible feeling of pain and loss we announce the passing of Andrew Breitbart.

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.