The joke was on Mitt Romney at a pancake breakfast in Milwaukee, two days before the crucial Wisconsin primary.

"You know, it’s April Fools Day, I forgot. They turned me into the April Fool this morning," Romney joked to the crowd.

Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson, both newly announced Romney backers, teamed up with Romney staffers to give the storied prankster a taste of his own medicine. They staged a faux event and introduced Romney into an empty room - as Romney subsequently recalled to the actual crowd at the actual campaign event.

"My staff says to me, there’s a small, it’s a small, we didn’t get much of a turnout this morning, it’s really, it’s really small but it’ll be ok, it’ll be ok," a jovial Romney explained.

Romney recounted how Ryan gave the exact introductory speech as he did at the actual event and when he boomed, "And now the next President of the United States, Mitt Romney!" the former governor wasn't received by the fanfare he was expecting.

"And so the two of us go out there and I go out there and it’s completely empty," Romney said, drawing big laughs from the crowd. (read more)

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who many eyed as a possible contender himself for the Republican presidential ticket, has thrown his support to Mitt Romney after Romney's convincing win in the Illinois GOP primary Tuesday night.

Bush, who now joins his parents, former President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush, in expressing support for the front-runner, said it's time for the GOP to focus on the November election.

"Congratulations to Governor Mitt Romney on his win last night and to all the candidates for a hard fought, thoughtful debate and primary season. 

"Primary elections have been held in 34 states, and now is the time for Republicans to unite behind Governor Romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall. 

"I am endorsing Mitt Romney for our party’s nomination.  We face huge challenges, and we need a leader who understands the economy, recognizes more government regulation is not the answer, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism and works to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed." (read more)

One day ahead of the Illinois primary, Mitt Romney made a plea to voters Monday to get to the ballot box.

"Vote early and vote often," the Republican presidential primary candidate joked as he spoke to about 50 people inside a '50s styled diner in Springfield, Ill. Another 100 people gathered outside.

Romney, jovial after a decisive victory Sunday in Puerto Rico against top rival Rick Santorum, said he needed voters to put the race in the bag for him.

"I need only one thing from you this morning – no,  two.  Number one, I need some pancakes," Romney said. "Number two, I need you to go vote tomorrow."

After placing his order for pancakes and a "horseshoe," Romney joked about the size of the pancakes being served, calling them as large as his win in Puerto Rico.

Campaigning by his side was Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, who said Republicans need someone who can go "toe to toe" with President Obama and his "Chicago machine." 

Pointing to Obama's record, he told the crowd, "electability alone is not everything."

"He won alright, but he hasn't governed," Schock said. "We've got to have somebody who not only can win the election but most importantly can run our country." (read more)

Ever since the convergence of politics and social media first gained prominence during the 2008 presidential election, political candidates are expected to engage with their voters in new and creative ways through the Internet. So in the race to gain popularity online who is leading the pack?

On Twitter, Mitt Romney has about 376,000 followers, Newt Gingrich has more than 1.4 million followers, Rick Santorum has close to 165,000 followers and Ron Paul has about 27,500 followers.

They are all dwarfed by President Obama, who dominates the Twitterverse with more than 13 million followers.

Of the GOP candidates on Facebook, Romney last had about 1.5 million likes, Gingrich has 295,979 likes, Santorum has 177,829 likes and Paul with 908,056 likes.

But again, President Obama surpasses all the GOP candidates with 25.5 million likes. (read more)

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney backed off comments that were construed as calling GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich a liar when he claims that if elected president, he would lower gas prices to $2.50 per gallon.

Carney said Monday that anyone who claims to be able to get gas prices down to $2.50 quickly is "lying." But on Tuesday, he backed away from that assertion.

"I said yesterday that anybody who said that would be a liar and I shouldn't have gone in motivations, I should have said anybody who says that doesn't know what he's talking about," Carney said at the daily press briefing.

President Obama has criicized the assertion that as president, Gingrich would lower gas prices to $2.50.

"First of all, while there are no silver bullets short term when it comes to gas prices," the president said during a February speech at the University of Miami. "And anybody who says otherwise isn't telling the truth," he added.

Gingrich lashed out at Carney's original comments Monday night, challenging the president to a debate on energy, giving suggestions for a location.

"I'd be glad to meet you at a oil rig somewhere, at a refinery, I'd be glad to meet you at a gas station, I'd even go to a university campus where you feel comfortable," Gingrich said.

Chris Stirewalt heads to the big board to break down Tuesday's Alabama and Mississippi presidential primary elections.

Watch Power Play Live Monday-Friday at 11:30am ET here: http://live.foxnews.com/

Almost lost in the fight for delegates in the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi is a Tuesday night caucus in the nation's most southern state: Hawaii.

It'll be the first time Hawaii's Republicans will go to the polls to determine the allocation for 17 of the state's 20 delegates.

"We want to use this opportunity to draw in new members of the Republican Party," State GOP Chairman David Chang told Fox News on Monday. He explained that in past years local party leaders would select the state's delegates to the national convention. "Even though we're a small state and the national scene may not pay attention to us [hopefully we can] get more people involved who wouldn't get involved."

None of the presidential candidates have travelled to the state in recent weeks preferring instead to campaign on the mainland. But three of the four campaigns are sending family surrogates to Hawaii.

Rick Santorum's daughter Elizabeth has multiple events scheduled for the next two days throughout Honolulu. Mitt Romney's son Matt also has events planned for the next two days including a stop on Oahu's North Shore in a town that is home to Brigham Young University's Hawaii campus. Last week, candidate Romney held a 30 minute conference call with Hawaiians asking them to support him with their votes on Tuesday. (read more)

If the contest for the Republican presidential nomination is like a game of football, then Newt Gingrich predicts Mitt Romney will lose the game in the second half. 

On the eve of the primaries in Mississippi and Alabama, the presidential candidate told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren he stands a “good chance” in both states Tuesday. However, he expects the vote to be so close that he’ll move on regardless of whether or not he wins either state.

“The biggest story tomorrow night's going to be simple: Governor Romney will get at most one out of every three delegates,” Gingrich said.

He called Romney the weakest frontrunner in over 90 years, and predicted the former Massachusetts governor will not be able to secure 1144 delegates necessary to lock up the nomination.

Responding to Carl Cameron's exclusive report that sources close to Gingrich were floating the idea of a possible Gingrich-Perry ticket, the candidate said he hasn’t “talked directly to Perry.”

“I think it's way to premature to talk to anybody about anything,” said Gingrich, who said he was more concerned with getting the nomination. (read more)

In a shot aimed directly at one of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's primary talking points, White House spokesman Jay Carney amped up the rhetoric during Monday's press briefing saying a politician who promises $2.50 gas is lying.

"What he is not willing to do is to look the American people in the eye and claim that there is a strategy by which he can guarantee the price of gas will be $2.50 at the pump," Carney said of President Obama. "Any politician who does that is lying, because ... that strategy does not exist. It is a simple fact that there is no such plan that can guarantee the price of oil or the price at the pump."

While the White House has tip-toed up to the line of suggesting Gingrich is lying when he says he could quickly drop gas prices to $2.50 per gallon, neither the president, nor his spokesman had actually used the word lying before Monday's briefing. But during an energy speech in Miami last month, the president did question the truthfulness of Gingrich's campaign promise. (read more)

Sources close to the Gingrich campaign say preliminary "what-if" conversations are underway that could lead to a Gingrich-Perry ticket being announced prior to the  Republican National Convention at the end of August.

Gingrich insiders hope forming a predetermined ticket with Perry will unite the evangelical, Tea Party and very conservative voters that make up the core of the GOP.

As discussions got underway, a spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry released a statement saying, "Gov. Perry thinks Newt Gingrich is the strongest conservative to debate and defeat President Obama and truly overhaul Washington. The speculation is humbling but premature."

Floating Perry as a runningmate two days before Alabama and Mississippi could energize conservatives or turn them off.

A senior aide to Rick Santorum called it a desperate hail mary to create buzz ahead of contests in Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday. (read more)