Here is what to keep an eye on on Wednesday in the presidential race. 

Of note: Illegal immigrants under 30 years of age who meet certain requirements can apply for work and residency permanents starting on Wednesday. Obama’s executive action on immigration and goes in effect today. This will be the dominant topic of the mainstream media stories — look for Democrats and their mainstream media allies to use any excuse to paint Republicans as being anti-Hispanic. 

Also of note: Will the mainstream media pressure Vice President Joe Biden’s racial dog-whistling in which he told an audience in Danville, Virginia that Republicans are “gonna put y’all back in chains?” 

Obama: Obama will finish his three-day swing of Iowa, and Michelle Obama may join him on the stump. The Obama’s campaign’s actions in Iowa suggest they are feeling uneasy about Iowa. 

Obama leads by 1 point in Iowa, according to the RCP average.

Biden: On Wednesday, Biden will campaign at Virginia Tech University. On Tuesday, Biden campaigned in former Virginia Tech running back David Wilson’s hometown of Danville. Biden mentioned Wilson, who is now a running back for the defending Super Bowl champions New York Giants, at the event. Biden forgot he was in Virginia when he referred to attendees as North Carolinians.   

Obama leads Romney in Virginia, one of the most critical swing states,  by 3.2 points according to the RCP average.

Ryan: Ryan will make an appearance at his alma mater, Miami University of Ohio, in Oxford, Ohio today. Miami of Ohio is one of four universities, along with Stanford, Michigan, and the Naval Academy, that has produced a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and a president. Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, went to Miami of Ohio and has won two Super Bowls with the Steelers. Ryan’s appearance is scheduled for 5:30 pm, which will give him favorable press during the evening newscasts in Ohio. 

Obama leads Romney by 4 points in Ohio according to the RCP average.

Romney: Romney will go to Columbus, Ohio in the morning, where he will give an interview to “CBS This Morning.” 

Tuesday Recap

Romney versus Biden: 

Tuesday started, on paper, as a battle between Vice President Joe Biden and Mitt Romney for white working class voters. Romney campaigned in Ohio’s coal country in the morning and and criticized Obama’s energy policy while Biden campaigned in Virginia’s Southside. Romney needs to increase his margins with white working class voters. Biden needs to help Obama keep Romney’s margin down among these voters. 

In Danville, Biden, while referring to Wall Street regulations, dog-whistled to black voters by saying Republicans are “gonna put y’all back in chains,” in an explicit reference to slavery. The comments were despicable, and Romney’s campaign immediately called out Biden. 

“The comments made by the vice president of the United States are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama campaign will say and do anything to win this election,” said Andrea Saul, Romney’s spokeswoman. “President Obama should tell the American people whether he agrees with Joe Biden’s comments.”

Later, the Obama campaign and Biden said Republicans have often said they wanted to “unshackle” Americans from burdensome regulations so Biden’s comments were thus appropriate. 

This farcical explanation was good enough for the mainstream media, and this will most likely be a one-day story. Had Biden been a Republican, the mainstream media would have chained his comments to him for the duration of the campaign. 

Biden also insulted a lady who was translating his speech in sign language and thought he was in North Carolina. But the mainstream media barely touched upon these comments, which would hurt Biden in Virginia and hurt the “empathetic” image around which Democrats try to wrap themselves. The mainstream media highlights and nitpicks every gaffe and endlessly plays them — except when those gaffes are made by Democrats, of course. 

In Ohio, flanked by coal miners, Romney said two promises Obama has kept was that energy prices would skyrocket when he became president and those who built new coal plants would go bankrupt under his administration. 

Romney said Obama knows “he’s got to win Ohio. And to win Ohio, he’s got to win eastern Ohio, and he’s got to get the votes of the people in these communities all around us here and you’re not going to let that happen because you’re going to keep our jobs, you’re going to keep Ohio strong and bring back America.”

Later, in Ohio, Romney addressed Biden’s comments as “outrageous” and said they were reflective of a campaign that wanted to shatter America and then piece 51% of the country together to eek out a victory in November. 

Paul Ryan:

Ryan made a campaign stop in Colorado, and, as CNN reports, talked about his experience “flipping burgers at McDonalds” while he was growing up:

‘You know, I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, you know when I was flipping burgers at McDonalds, when I was standing in front of that big Hobart machine washing dishes or waiting tables, I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life,’ Ryan told at least two thousand fired up supporters at Lakewood High School in suburban Denver. ‘I thought to myself: I’m the American dream.’

Ryan’s appearance in Colorado felt comfortable to many, and may signal a candidate who can appeal suburban young professionals in places like Colorado, Virginia, and North Carolina that have been trending toward Democrats. It was Ryan’s first solo campaign appearance and second appearance without Romney.

Obama leads Romney by 1.2  points in Colorado according to the RCP average.

Ryan then campaigned in Las Vegas and attended a fundraiser with Las Vegas Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. The Obama campaign, on cue, sent out an email that served as yet another dog-whistle to the anti-Israel left in which they said Ryan was going to Nevada to “kiss the ring” of Adelson. 

Obama leads Romney by 5.3 points in Nevada according to the RCP average.

Barack Obama

A month ago, Obama had close to a five-point lead in Iowa. Now, he only leads Romney by one percentage point and his campaign knows they are in trouble. Tuesday was the second of three days the campaign is devoting to Iowa this week. They have attacked Republicans for playing drought politics when Democrats played politics with a bill that would have provided immediate relief for those impacted by the drought. This weekend, Obama told young professionals in Chicago to help him in Iowa, just like he urged his supporters to do so in 2008. Iowa launched Obama to the presidency and many Iowans, in recent months, have felt some regret. Some feel responsible for the country’s down economy because without Iowa, Obama would not be president. Obama won Iowa in 2008, but the outcome in 2012 is far from certain. 

On the stump, Obama made a reference to Seamus, the now infamous dog Romney put into a kennel on the roof of his car while traveling on vacation. The mainstream media, which all but ignored Biden mocking a sign language translator and his referring to Virginians as North Carolina, of course, gave Obama’s silly reference to Seamus the light of day they did not afford to Biden’s gaffes.