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President Obama is seen on a monitor in the White House briefing room May 9. In an interview with ABC, he said he supports gay marriage.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

President Obama is seen on a monitor in the White House briefing room May 9. In an interview with ABC, he said he supports gay marriage.

In this space earlier this month, I wrote about whether President Obama would face a backlash from African-Americans for his endorsement of same-sex marriage. (He hasn't.) I made mention of a random field experiment in which 285 black people in Cook County, Ill., were polled about gay marriage.

One group was read a quotation from Coretta Scott King, the late wife of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in support of marriage equality. The other group wasn't. The theory was that King's comments might influence people to express support for gay marriage. But her words had no such effect.

The surprise was that race of the pollster who called made all the difference. Here's how Melissa Michelson, the political science professor at Menlo College in California, explained it:

"A black person calling a black person made the respondent more likely to support marriage equality. There's something about being called by a member of your own ethno-racial community."

Why would a small, obscure experiment conducted a year ago matter today?

Because three new polls suggest Michelson's research may have been spot on, as many African-Americans appear to be reconsidering their resistance to gay marriage.

Public Policy Polling last week surveyed blacks in North Carolina, where voters approved a same-sex marriage ban the day before Obama's announcement. The poll found that their opposition, though a robust 59 percent, had dropped 11 points since the state ban passed.

On Thursday, NPR's Eyder Peralta reported in the Two-Way blog that a Washington Post/ABC News poll found African-American support for same-sex marriage at 59 percent, compared with 41 percent before Obama's announcement.

Also on Thursday, Public Policy Polling released another poll, of blacks in Maryland, where voters will decide in November whether to uphold a new state law that legalized same-sex marriage. Fifty-five percent of black respondents said they will vote to enact the law. Back in March, PPP found that 56 percent of blacks said they would vote against the measure.

For blacks, Michelson says, Obama has made support for gay marriage "a safer position to vocalize."

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Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker campaigns Thursday with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in Waukesha, Wis.

Darren Hauck/Getty Images

Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker campaigns Thursday with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in Waukesha, Wis.

The divisive battle to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker moves into its final phase in coming days with debates, a continuing flood of out-of-state ad money, and polls that suggest the incumbent is poised to fend off Democratic challenger Tom Barrett.

Here's a look at where things stand between the Republican Walker and Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, heading into Friday night's televised debate, the first of two before the June 5 rematch. (Walker defeated Barrett in the 2010 governor's race, 52.2 percent to 46.5 percent.)

At stake is whether Walker will become the third governor in U.S. history to be recalled by voters, or whether Barrett's third try for the office ends like the first two.

Polls

A flurry of statewide survey results released over the past 10 days shows Walker widening his lead over Barrett.

Enlarge Scott Bauer/AP

Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett campaigns earlier this month in Milwaukee.

Scott Bauer/AP

Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett campaigns earlier this month in Milwaukee.

—A Marquette Law School poll had Walker improving his lead over Barrett to 6 percentage points, 50-44 percent. The school's poll last month had Walker up by 1 point.

Enlarge Anonymous/AP

A Punahou School yearbook class photo from 1976 that includes the 9th grader who would grow up to become President Obama, but not before he smoked a lot of pot first.

Anonymous/AP

A Punahou School yearbook class photo from 1976 that includes the 9th grader who would grow up to become President Obama, but not before he smoked a lot of pot first.

The first sneak peak a few weeks back inside journalist David Maraniss' highly anticipated biography of President Obama served up glimpses of the president as a young man in romantic relationships, with information gleaned from early girlfriends.

The latest preview of "Barack Obama: The Story" provides details on Obama's days in high school and college when passing a bong or a joint appears to have been a regular part of his routine.

Aptly, it's BuzzFeed where you can find Maraniss excerpts that shed light on the president's smoke-shrouded past:

"A self-selected group of boys at Punahou School who loved basketball and good times called themselves the Choom Gang. Choom is a verb, meaning 'to smoke marijuana...'

Enlarge Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Rep.Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., is a regular on Twitter. Here, he plays guitar at a festival last July in Whitmore Lake, Mich.

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Rep.Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., is a regular on Twitter. Here, he plays guitar at a festival last July in Whitmore Lake, Mich.

^{Note: We've asked NPR journalists to share their top five (or so) political Twitter accounts, and we're featuring the series on #FollowFriday. Here are recommendations from reporter Andrea Seabrook (@RadioBabe).}

I have a thing about political fakes on Twitter. I HATE them. And when I say fakes, I mean a handle that appears to be a senator or representative, but is very obviously written by some 22-year-old staffer.

See, I already get 200 or 300 emails a day (not kidding!) from congressional offices barking their points of view and snarling at the opposition. And that's enough. I do not want that kind of stuff in my Twitter feed. In fact, let me be bold: That is not what Twitter is for.

What I do like is politicians whose tweets actually, really, identifiably come from them. The ones who tweet interesting facts, interact with their constituents, and even — gasp — crack jokes on occasion.

So on this fine #FF, let me recommend a few pols who walk the walk and tweet the tweet.

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President Obama tossed a cowpie charge at Republican Mitt Romney, May 24, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa.

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama tossed a cowpie charge at Republican Mitt Romney, May 24, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa.

We haven't even yet reached the summer before the general election and already the cowpie is hitting the fan.

Actually, it was President Obama who on Thursday rhetorically hit Mitt Romney, the all-but-official Republican presidential nominee. Obama went all barnyard on Romney, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of not only lying about his presidential record but Romney's as well. It was, according to those following the president's re-election campaign, his toughest attack yet on Romney.

Obama was at a campaign event at the Iowa state fair grounds in Des Moines. As NPR's Don Gonyea reported on Morning Edition Friday:

DON: "President Obama seemed to enjoy being back out on the stump and needling his opponent."

Here's what Obama told the crowd of supporters:

OBAMA: "I know Gov. Romney came to Des Moines last week. Warned about a prairie fire of debt. That's what he said, prairie fire. But he left out some facts. His speech was like a cowpie of distortion. I don't know whose record he twisted the most, mine or his.

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Mitt Romney with charter-school students in West Philadelphia, a section of the city where some people had never heard of him.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Mitt Romney with charter-school students in West Philadelphia, a section of the city where some people had never heard of him.

Every so often comes a stunning reminder of just how distant some Americans are from the mainstream of current events. Politico delivered one in a news story about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's visit to a charter school in West Philadelphia Thursday:

"Protesters assembled outside the building. Philadelphia police blocked off an entire city block during Romney's visit, only a stone's throw away from one of the city's most dangerous corners, and stopped pedestrians who tried to stand on the corner.

"Residents of the neighborhood stopped to stare, some of whom who had never heard of Romney before."

West Philadelphia, a predominantly African-American section of the city is about as solid a part of Obama country as Romney could visit. So you'd expect not to find many if any of his supporters there. But not having heard of him at all? For political junkies, that's hard to fathom. Yet, there it is.

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John Edwards arrives with his daughter, Cate Edwards, at U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C., on May 17 for closing arguments in his trial. The former Democratic presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty to six counts of campaign finance violations.

Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

John Edwards arrives with his daughter, Cate Edwards, at U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C., on May 17 for closing arguments in his trial. The former Democratic presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty to six counts of campaign finance violations.

One day last week, I was entering the federal courthouse in Greensboro, N.C., where John Edwards is on trial, when a U.S. marshal took my local newspaper. A moment later, he told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff to hand over his morning paper.

"We can't have newspapers?" I asked.

"You guys know the rules," the smiling marshal said.

Our copies of the Winston-Salem Journal and The Wall Street Journal were promptly spiked in the trash can. The funny thing is, we did know the rules, and for the previous 3 ½ weeks had been reading our newspapers in the hallway and disposing of them before entering the courtroom.

"We had to pick up some newspapers yesterday," the marshal continued, "so they're not allowed anymore."

Ah, the new rules.

Enlarge Seth Perlman/AP

Despite the misspelling and grammar error, the tee-shirt message is clear on a protester at the Illinois capitol on May 16, 2012. It cites two former governors now in federal prison for corruption.

Seth Perlman/AP

Despite the misspelling and grammar error, the tee-shirt message is clear on a protester at the Illinois capitol on May 16, 2012. It cites two former governors now in federal prison for corruption.

Do state capitals relatively distant from the major population centers have more corruption than those in more densely populated areas?

Researchers report that they have found an intriguing correlation between political corruption in state capitals and population density.

Political scientists have long noted the propensity for self-dealing among politicians in out-of-sight, out-of-mind state capitals like Albany, NY and Springfield, Ill. But Filipe R. Campante of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and Quoc-Anh Doh, of Singapore Management University, decided to see if data supported that view.

They compared federal public corruption convictions from 1976 to 2002 with the population surrounding state capitals and found that, indeed, there does appear to be a strong connection.

The Mitt Romney campaign on Thursday released a sequel to its "Day One" ad, in which it explains what else the presumptive Republican nominee would do on Jan. 21, 2013, if elected president. (This assumes Romney would reserve Jan. 20, 2013 — when he'd have half a day in office — to enjoy his swearing-in and the accompanying pomp and circumstance.)

Romney's first-day-in-office checklist already included: approve the Keystone pipeline, introduce tax cuts, and issue an order to replace President Obama's health care law with "common sense health care reform." Those were announced last Friday in the "Day One" ad.

In Thursday's sequel, the list grew to include: announce deficit reductions, stand up to China on trade, and begin repeal of "job killing regulations".

Enlarge Anonymous/AP

The Reagans at the George Washington University Medical Center today, April 3, 1981.

Anonymous/AP

The Reagans at the George Washington University Medical Center today, April 3, 1981.

If you had hoped to bid on the medical-lab vial that purportedly contains the dried remains of a blood sample from President Ronald Reagan taken on the day he was nearly assassinated in March 1981, you're out of luck.

As the NPR news blog The Two-Way reports, the online auction firm says the consigner of the controversial item has apparently had second thoughts and decided to donate it to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation which runs the library and museum dedicated to the 40th president.

It looks like the flag signed by Fidel Castro and his best friend forever Che Guevara is still available, however.