What to watch for Thursday in politics

The GOP hopefuls will focus on the South on Thursday.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich will be in Mississippi, and Rick Santorum will be in Alabama. Both states hold primaries Tuesday.

Romney, coming off six wins on Super Tuesday, will be in Jackson at 8:15 a.m. CST and in Pascagoula at 4:30 p.m. CST. The South is not home turf for Romney, and his goal is to show electability and traction with socially conservative voters.

Santorum, who would like to weaken Gingrich's candidacy further, if not knock him out of the race with wins in Alabama and Mississippi, has "Rallies for Rick" in Huntsville at 10 a.m. CST and Pelham at 10 a.m. CST. He then has a speech in Mobile at 6 p.m. CST.

Gingrich and his wife, Callista, will attend rallies in Jackson, Miss., at 9 a.m. CST, in Tupelo at 3:30 p.m. CST and Southhaven at 8 p.m. CST.

Ron Paul's campaign calendar is dark for Thursday.

President Obama meets with Ghana President John Evans Atta Mills at the White House at 3:30 p.m. EST for talks on the economic ties between the two countries. Mills hosted the Obamas on a visit to Ghana in July 2009

And then there is this: The First Couple has dinner at 5:35 p.m. EST at a local restaurant with winners of the "Dinner with Barack" campaign contest.

Sources: Yahoo! News, Associated Press.

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