Mitt Romney may have difficulties on the campaign trail because of his connections to birther Donald Trump. NY1's Errol Louis and Lehigh University professor James Peterson join Ed Schultz to talk about the issue.

New polling shows the Wisconsin recall race is neck and neck between Gov. Walker and his challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. The Progressive Magazine’s Ruth Conniff joins Ed Schultz to discuss the latest news, and whether support from big name Democrats could put Barrett over the top.

Ed: "I guess Mitt Romney has never seen this chart.  Income has leveled off over the last 30 years, but productivity keeps going up."

President Obama goes to Iowa and drops the hammer on Mitt Romney.  Tonight, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) talks about what Romney's “cow pie of distortion” would do to the country.

Donald Trump's crazy conspiracy theories are causing major troubles for the Romney campaign. Errol Louis, host of NY1's "Inside City Hall," and Dr. James Peterson, Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University, weigh in on Romney’s refusal to cut ties with his out of control birther surrogate.

Republicans are trying to win the presidential election before a vote is even cast. Judith Browne-Dianis, Co-Director of Advancement Project, will have a report on the latest voter suppression effort in Ohio.

By Carey Fox, Segment Producer

Here’s one of the big stories we’re working on tonight for The Ed Show: Mitt Romney's campaign just announced a fundraising contest and a Las Vegas event that will both be held in collaboration with real estate magnate and Obama birther Donald Trump.  

Exhibit A: Trump just won’t give up on birthirism; in fact, he’s digging in.

Exhibit B: Romney continues to use Trump as a major surrogate and fundraiser.

So when (if ever) will Romney distance himself from the King Of The Birthers, Donald Trump?

Here’s more insanity from Trump over the past year or so...

--There are so many things that people don’t know about this man, where he comes from (:at 56):

-- I want him to show his birth certificate. There’s something on this birth certificate that he doesn’t like (at 3:10):

AP Photo/Fox News Channel, Shealah Craighead

This photo provided by Fox News Channel shows Sean Hannity interviewing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. The interview will be broadcast Wednesday night on the Fox news Channel's "Hannity."

Another study confirms that those who don't watch any news at all are more informed than those who only watch Fox News. 

The study asked questions about international news (Egypt, Iran, and Syria) and domestic issues (Congress, domestic policies, the Keystone XL Pipeline).

On average, respondents correctly answered 1.8 of 4 questions about international news and 1.6 of 5 questions about domestic affairs. However, those who only watched Fox News fared much worse. 

The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly — a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all.

Who performed the best in the study?

With 11 days left before the recall election in Wisconsin, we check in with John Nichols, Washington Correspondent of The Nation and author of  Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street , for the latest news and extraordinary analysis:

Walker vs. Barrett (and John Doe)

• Scott Walker and Tom Barrett have debates before, but it was different then. In 2010, Walker was a mild conservative talking about creating 250,000 new jobs and Barrett was a mainstream Democrat trying to survive the oncoming Republican wave.
• They disagreed, but the debates of the 2010 race produced little in the way of fireworks.
• It's different now.
• Walker is the most controversial governor in the nation, a right-wing firebrand whose attack on collective-bargaining rights has provoked mass demonstrations, lawsuits and a recall election that has transformed the politics of Wisconsin.
• And Barrett is the challenger who carries the hopes of those who would defend labor rights, public education and public services in a historically-progressive state.
• But the issue that will likely be the most contentious of the first debate of the Wisconsin recall campaign between Walker and Barrett in a John Doe inquiry into felony wrongdoing by Scott Walker's aides and political donors.
• The probe, which is led by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, has already produced felony convictions and now top aides to Walker when he served as Milwaukee County Executive face trials that will raise the question asked recently by a Milwaukee anchorman: "What did the governor know and when?"

A Florida Democrat has a message for his GOP governor: Stop trying to suppress voter turnout to help your party.

Gov. Rick Scott has come up with a list of 180,000 voters who his administration suspects are ineligible to cast ballots in the battleground state. The problem? Florida has cast such a wide net that it seems to have snared many legitimate voters.

A Miami Herald analysis shows that Hispanics, Democrats, and independent minded voters are most likely to be targeted by Scott's initiative — potentially hurting President Obama and other Democrats in November.

That's outraging Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch. "He's got to stop this," the lawmaker said of the governor on The Ed Show on Thursday.

"The whole plan is to suppress voter turnout, whether by scrubbing the roles or whether by convincing people it’s just too difficult. That’s what we have to remind them. They can’t give up,” he added, noting that several of his constituents received letters saying they were ineligible to vote — even though they are American citizens.

Mitt Romney hit a road block today when his education tour stopped in West Philadelphia.  Parents and teachers rejected his plan to corporatize public schools and increase class sizes.  And the mayor told him to get out!

Tonight, Eugene Robinson, MSNBC Analyst and Associate Editor and Pulitzer Prize winning Columnist for the Washington Post, and Sam Stein, Huffington Post political editor, talk about Romney’s ugly day.

Congressman Mike Coffman has a brand new excuse for his attack on President Obama and it's a beaut.  Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher of The Nation, looks at the right-wing hatred of the president.

Governor Rick Scott wants wants to play the role of Katherine Harris this year and purge 180,000 voters off the rolls in Florida.  Ed will talk to Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), the congressman leading the effort against the massive voter suppression plan in the Sunshine State.  

Ed Schultz is warning Wisconsin voters that "they may be voting for a criminal" in the recall election of Gov. Scott Walker, set for June 5.

"This John Doe investigation has reeled off a bunch of people who have come forward and been charged with felonies," Ed said  on MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts.  "These are his people, so we don't know where that is going."

Ed was referring to the secret "John Doe" investigation in which five staffers who served under Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive are facing criminal charges ranging from campaigning on county time to embezzling money from a veterans program.

Walker has not been implicated in the scandal, but he's hired criminal attorneys using money from a legal defense fund.

With 12 days left before the recall election in Wisconsin, we check in with John Nichols, Washington Correspondent of The Nation and author of  Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street , for the latest news and extraordinary analysis:

Scott Walker welcomes a corporate raider to Wisconsin

• Why is Scott Walker bringing governor's of Louisiana and South Carolina -- both southern right-to-work states that have raided Wisconsin for factories and jobs -- to campaign for him in Wisconsin's recall election?
• Bobby Jindal, who will campaign with the embattled Wisconsin governor Thursday (for a public event and a fund-raising session that will be closed to the public), has been a leading proponent of "corporate raiding" strategies that move jobs from northern states to the south.
• And Jindal's Louisiana has raided Wisconsin.
• In 2009, Gardner Denver closed its manufacturing facility in Sheboygan, Wisconsin -- where the company and its predecessor had been located for 70 years -- and left 366 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union members and other plant workers without jobs.
• Where did there jobs go? Monroe, Louisiana.
• Why? Because Louisiana state government gave away massive tax breaks and other benefits to the company.
• "Gardner Denver said Louisiana would reimburse the company for most of the cost of moving equipment and staff to Monroe, provide yearly payroll and sales tax rebates and help the company with recruiting and training," reported the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in 2009. "The City of Monroe also plans to help with the construction of a 124,000-square-foot factory adjoining the company's plant."

Scott Walker invites a right-to-work zealot to campaign for him

• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says that he does not plan at this point to promote a so-called "right-to-work"-- which would undermine the rights of private-sector unions and their members.

The Ed Show's political panel--  Krystal Ball, Democratic strategist and former candidate for U.S. Congress, Steve Deace, nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host, and Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, weigh in on Congressman Coffman's birther comments, Mitt Romney's unemployment claims and much more.