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Romney's tough road to the White House. Herbert taps a new energy adviser. Liljenquist finance chairman in trouble with the SEC.

Happy Friday. A presidential race always comes down to the Electoral College and plenty of people are analyzing the map, including Mitt Romney and his team of advisers who say they have identified five paths to the presidency, but all come with significant challenges.

As Dan Balz and Philip Rucker report: "Romney's team acknowledges that any realistic course to 270 starts with winning back three historically Republican states that Obama won in 2008 — Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia — and believes that changing demographics in Virginia present a challenge." [WaPost]

-> The latest poll in the key state of Virginia shows Obama out in front. [CNN]

Topping the news: Democratic candidate for governor Peter Cooke says Gov. Gary Herbert needs to show leadership and fire the UDOT chief responsible for two recent scandals. [Trib] [Fox13]

-> Rusty Cannon, the finance chairman for Dan Liljenquist's U.S. Senate campaign, resigns a day after he was sued by federal regulators over impropriety at a hedge fund he manages. [Trib] [DNews]

Happy Birthday: To Dave Hansen, Sen. Orrin Hatch's campaign manager.

Tweet of the Day: From @tubadude86: "I can hardly check my twitter any more, lotta #utpol comments are kinda snarky lately, kinda sad how we all get P.E.S. pre-election syndrome"

Goodbye: We're a little wistful today. Laura Schmitz's internship with us has come to its end. We will miss her in the D.C. bureau and we wish her the best in her new role as editor in chief of The Daily Utah Chronicle.

A little criticism: Utah Democratic Chairman Jim Dabakis has repeatedly let us know that he thinks Cornflakes should stop linking to Utah Policy stories, because that online publication is owned by LaVarr Webb, a lobbyist and big shot at Exoro Group. His argument is that no one can tell whether the stories appear because a client paid for it or because a journalist found an interesting story.

That criticism really gets under the skin of Bryan Schott, Utah Policy's managing editor, who says: "He could not be more wrong." Schott says he makes all of the editorial decisions and takes no direction from Exoro, and while Webb writes a column, he doesn't direct the news content.

We plan to continue linking to stories on a case-by-case basis that we believe our readers may find interesting or informative. Let us know what you think about this by emailing us at cornflakes@sltrib.com.

In other news: After losing out on a bid to be the Republican nominee for Utah's 2nd District, David Clark was appointed to the Dixie State College Board of Trustees by Gov. Gary Herbert. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Herbert also appointed Cody Stewart, a former congressional staffer and lobbyist for the oil and gas sector, as his new energy adviser. [Trib] [DNews]

-> In response to the public outcry to revamp Utah's open records laws, Rosemary Cundiff was selected as the newly-created GRAMA ombudsman, helping residents navigate the system and ease access to important documents. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Surrogates for Hatch and Liljenquist are battling it out on Twitter daily. We pulled some of the recent confrontations together for easier reading. [Trib]

-> Listen in as Matt Canham talks about the week's big political news with KCPW's Jeff Robinson. [KCPW]

-> NPR spotlights Mia Love, the potentially history making Republican candidate in Utah's 4th District. [NPR]

-> An immigration backlog prevents Utahns from fighting deportation, often having their own records denied after filing public records' request. [DNews]

-> Paul Rolly talks about how one Utahn's vacation ended in a lawsuit. [Trib]

-> A member of the governor's team is asking the group exploring another Olympic bid to ignore the SkiLink proposal. [Trib]

-> It looks like Utah County will have less clout in the Legislature because a bunch of their representatives will be freshmen. [UtahPolicy]

-> Bernick and Schott chat about politics and superheroes. [UtahPolicy]

-> Utah has a new poet laureate as Herbert taps BYU Professor Lance Larsen for the five-year post. [Trib]

2012 Watch: As Mitt Romney gets closer to officially becoming the first LDS presidential nominee on a major party ticket, Mormons brace for the unprecedented media exposure. [AP]

-> Romney goes after President Barack Obama over the handling of a blind Chinese activist who sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy. [Globe]

-> A breakdown of how the Romney couple compare on Twitter reveals that Ann racks up voters who enjoy cooking and science while many of her husband's followers are from Provo. [BuzzFeed]

-> Michele Bachmann explains her endorsement of Romney in two words: "Barack Obama." [FoxNews] [WaPost]

-> Ron Paul racks up delegates, which puts the discounted candidate on the GOP radar — and nerves. [HuffPost]

Where are they?

Rep. Jason Chaffetz is heading to Nevada to campaign for Mitt Romney.

Gov. Gary Herbert attends University of Utah's commencement, heads to a meeting with the Utah Petroleum Association, meets with Lane Ronnow for a discussion on oil shale then goes to the Uplift Utah Families conference.

AG Mark Shurtleff is in Israel.

SL Co. Mayor Peter Corroon speaks at the Mount Olympus Garden grand opening and at the Asian Association's 35th anniversary.

President Barack Obama travels to Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, to speak with juniors and graduating seniors and their parents about the need to prevent interest rates on federal subsidized student loans from doubling on July 1. In the afternoon, the President welcomes the University of Kentucky men's basketball team to the White House to celebrate their 2012 NCAA championship.

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Email us at cornflakes@sltrib.com.

— Matt Canham and Laura Schmitz Twitter.com/mattcanham