Obama to talk mortgages in Reno, Romney heads to North Carolina, plus more to watch for this weekend in politics

After an evening of fundraising in Los Angeles at George Clooney's house that brought in nearly $15 million, President Barack Obama will touch down in Reno, Nev., on Friday to meet with a local family and talk about creating jobs and restoring middle class security. He is expected to call on Congress to cut red tape and allow homeowners who have been paying their mortgage on time to refinance at lower rates. Nevada, it is worth noting, is a battleground state in the general election.

Mitt Romney will be in North Carolina on Friday, trying to shift the focus back to the economy in the state that passed a constitutional amendment on Tuesday banning same-sex marriage a day before Obama made history by expressing his support for such unions. North Carolina is another battleground state, and where Democrats will hold their convention this year.

On Saturday, Romney heads to Virginia — yet another battleground — to deliver the commencement address at Liberty University, a Christian college in Lynchburg. The school's chancellor, Jerry Fallwell Jr., also will speak. It will be interesting to see if Liberty University is a venue where Romney will bring up how he and Obama differ on same-sex marriage.

First lady Michelle Obama has two commencement addresses this weekend. On Friday, she and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., will speak to the more than 5,000 graduates at Virginia Tech. And on Saturday, the first lady will speak to graduates of North Carolina A&T.

Rick Santorum, who ended his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in April and endorsed Romney this week, still has something to say. He's speaking Friday at the Benton County (Arkansas) GOP Lincoln Day Dinner.

And then there is this: Stephen Colbert, who has threatened to run for president and has his own political action committee, turns 48 on Sunday.

Sources: Yahoo! News, Associated Press

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