Police are assigning extra security to Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) after a Tea Party activist declared at a rally last week, “We have to kill the Claire Bear ladies and gentlemen.” The rally was hosted by the group Tea Party Express, which is endorsing McCaskill challenger Sarah Steelman (R), who was in attendance at the rally.

Scott Boston, a St. Louis Tea Party activist, said, “She walks around like she’s some sort of Rainbow Brite Care Bear or something but really she’s an evil monster.” “We have to kill the Claire Bear,” he added.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that local police are performing more patrols around the senator’s house at the request of the Capitol Police, and that she now has extra security at public events.

Steelman has not made a public comment condemning Boston’s comments, despite being present at the event supporting her, and neither have McCaskill’s other GOP challengers, Rep. Tod Akin (R-MO) or John Brunner. Boston later said he did not intend the comment to be a threat.

In a statement provided to ThinkProgress, Missouri Democratic Party spokesperson Caitlin Legacki, said, “The kind of language in this threat is totally unacceptable and needs to be immediately renounced by Todd Akin, John Brunner and Sarah Steelman.”

“What makes America different from the rest of the world is that we settle our political disagreements without threats of violence. Akin, Brunner and Steelman need to make it crystal clear to their supporters that this kind of language will not be tolerated in any venue under any circumstances. If they refuse to do so, these three candidates are sending a clear message that they endorse the kind of inflammatory language that could lead to violence, or something worse,” Legacki said.

Despite writing an op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” Mitt Romney is trying to take “a lot of credit” for the government’s successful bailout of the auto industry, claiming (falsely) that President Obama followed his playbook.

This is surprising to a lot of people, including, apparently, one of Romney’s chief surrogates — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, who has been campaigning for Romney. “Romney said that he was responsible for the auto bailout?” Mccain asked TPM’s Brian Beutler today when asked about Romney’s comments. He went to criticize the deal that Romney is now trying to take credit for: “I know that if the auto companies had gone into bankruptcy like thousands of small businesses had to do across America, they could’ve emerged without the sweetheart deal for the unions like was orchestrated by the Obama administration.”

Despite 26 consecutive months of private sector jobs growth, Mitt Romney has nonetheless opened a full court press against President Obama over the recovering economy, claiming that the jobs market has not improved at all in the three years since Obama took office.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul appeared on CNN yesterday morning to renew the attack:

“President Obama hasn’t created a net single new job,” Saul asserted. “And so we need someone that actually has the experience, has actually done these things, balanced budgets, instead of someone who is just offering up political gimmicks and trying to tear down his opponent instead of looking at the full part of his record.”

It’s a hard sell to anyone with access to a newspaper, since last week the Wall Street Journal reported that there are now more private sector jobs than when President Obama took office in 2009.

And the Romney campaign’s mission to convince voters is being made even more difficult thanks to several prominent Republican politicians — many of whom are widely speculated to be on Romney’s vice presidential short list — who have been touting their home states’ job creation numbers:

• There’s Ohio Senator Rob Portman (R), a VP shortlister, who was quick to point out his state’s recent success at creating jobs. “Well we are creating jobs already. So far we’ve created thousands of jobs already,” he said last week.

• Or Ohio Governor John Kasich (R): “We were the No. 1 job creator in America in February, and we are now the No. 4 job creator in the last year.”
• Or Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R), also on the VP shortlist: “We have put in place policies that help private-sector job creators innovate and grow.”
• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R), also a rumored VP pick, even put together a video touting several successful jobs initiatives.
• Or Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) who, while defending his beleaguered chief of staff to a group of reporters said, “we’re getting a lot of good things done — jobs are coming back.”

This will likely be a problem for Romney going forward: The local politicians will want to tout their job creation record, even as their standard bearer wants to try to case the economy in a negative light. They can’t have it both ways.

Progressives will be watching Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Indiana closely today as voters head to polls to decide three key votes.

In Wisconsin, Democrats will decide who their nominee will be to go up against Gov. Scott Walker (R) in his upcoming recall election. The party and labor organizations have been split between two candidates for much of the race, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk, though Barett is the clear favorite and more likely to beat Walker in the recall. Barrett also served five terms in the U.S. House and lost to Walker narrowly in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Falk has been more closely tied to the protest movement against Walker, however. Labor unions and other progressive activists have vowed to unite behind whoever wins in order to oust Walker on June 5.

Indiana has another key primary today, this one on the Republican side, where long-time Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) is in the fight of his political life against Tea Party-backed state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R). Most observers expect Lugar to lose today, ending his 36-year career in the Senate. A Lugar loss would likely make it easier for Democrats to pick up the seat in November, which otherwise would have been a cake walk for Republicans to hold.

And in North Carolina, voters will take on an anti-gay ballot measure that has attracted national attention and organization. Marriage equality is already banned in the state, but North Carolina Amendment One would prohibit civil unions and domestic partnerships as well, and is written so broadly that it could even imperil heterosexual couples.