(CBS News) Sixty percent of Wisconsin voters in today's recall election say recall elections are only appropriate for official misconduct, according to early CBS News exit polls. Twenty-eight percent said they think they are suitable for any reason, while nine percent think they are never appropriate.

Today's recall election in Wisconsin pits Republican Gov. Scott Walker versus Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in a rematch of their 2010 race. According to the early exit polls, 6 percent say they decided on their candidate in the last few days, with 93 percent saying they made up their minds before that.

The recall effort was brought about mainly in response to Walker's plan that restricted collective bargaining rights for public union workers. Today, 52 percent of Wisconsin voters in the early exit polls said they have a favorable view of unions for government workers, while 43 percent have an unfavorable opinion of these unions. Among voters in unions households (public or not), 69 percent view these unions favorably.

On the issue of collective bargaining, 50 percent of Wisconsin voters say they approved of the recent changes to state law that limits collective bargaining for government workers, but 48 percent disapproved of these changes.

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(CBS News) Voters in Wisconsin are deciding today whether to recall their governor, but many are looking to the race to provide clues into the presidential election this November. And early CBS News exit polls show that President Obama would have an advantage over presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground state if the presidential race was held today.

Among voters in today's recall election, 51 percent said they would pick Mr. Obama, compared to 45 percent for Romney. Two percent say they won't vote. However, it should be noted that there is a lot of time before the November elections, and it's too soon to tell what the electorate will be like in five months.

In 2008, Mr. Obama defeated Republican Sen. John McCain by 14 percentage points in Wisconsin.

The recall election in Wisconsin pits Republican Gov. Scott Walker versus Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in a rematch of their 2010 race. The recall effort was brought about mainly in response to Walker's plan that restricted collective bargaining rights for public union workers. Today, 52 percent of Wisconsin voters in the early exit polls have a favorable view of unions for government workers, while 43 percent have an unfavorable opinion of these unions. Among voters in unions households (public or not), 69 percent view these unions favorably.

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Updated 10:30 p.m. ET

(CBS News) Former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant on Saturday, his office announced.

A statement from the former vice president's office said the 71-year-old is now recovering in the intensive care unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., outside Washington.

The statement said Cheney had been on the transplant list for 20 months and did not know the identity of the donor.

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The Etch A Sketch took an unexpected turn at center stage on the campaign trail this week, but most Republican primary voters in Louisiana say it was not an important factor in their vote in today's primary, according to early CBS News exit polls.

On Wednesday, Mitt Romney's communications director, Eric Fehrnstrom, sparked controversy when he compared a potential general election campaign to the popular toy when he was asked in a television interview if the extended primary campaign would hurt Romney with moderates in the fall.

"Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign," Fehrnstrom said. "Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again."

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Following a second lopsided defeat to Mitt Romney in a week, Newt Gingrich on Saturday night again pledged to go on the Republican nomination fight all the way to the Republican convention this summer in Tampa.

"I will be a candidate for president of the United States," Gingrich told reporters at a Las Vegas hotel following projections from CBS News and others that Romney would handily win the caucuses. "And we will continue to campaign all the way to Tampa."

Gingrich, who won the South Carolina primary two weeks ago, has vowed several times in the past week since losing to Romney in Florida on Tuesday that he would not withdraw from the race. He said on Saturday he expects the primary campaign to go on for a "long time."

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised Monday night that there would be "no surprises" in the tax returns he plans to release tomorrow.

Appearing at a Republican presidential debate in Florida, Romney that people "will talk" about the returns when they are released, but said they will show he paid "all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more."

"You'll see my income, how much taxes I've paid, how much I've paid to charity. You'll see how complicated taxes can be," Romney added. "And will there will discussion? Sure. Will it be an article? Yeah. But is it entirely legal and fair? Absolutely. I'm proud of the fact that I pay a lot of taxes."

One element that is expected to potentially garner attention are donations by the former Massachusetts governor to the Mormon church.

Romney, the former CEO of Bain Capital whose net worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars, has been under pressure in recent weeks to release his tax returns. After initially saying he would release the full returns in April, the former Massachusetts governor reversed course and said he would release his 2010 returns and a 2011 estimate on Tuesday morning.

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Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman again defended his service as an ambassador to China in the Obama administration in a Sunday morning debate, saying that he put "country first" and that the criticism he has sustained reflected attitudes which divide the country.

"I was criticized last night by Governor Romney for putting my country first," Huntsman said in the NBC/Facebook debate from New Hampshire. "He criticized me while he was out raising money for serving my country in China, yes, under a Democrat, like my two sons are doing in the United States Navy. They're not asking who -- what political affiliation the president is. I want to be very clear with the people here in New Hampshire and this country: I will always put my country first. And I think that's important to them."

Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, served as U.S. ambassador to China from 2009 until April of 2011 -- service in the Obama administration which has drawn criticism from Republicans and hampered his presidential campaign. At last night's ABC debate, Romney hit at Huntsman for his work on behalf of the president.

Gingrich to Romney: Drop the "pious baloney"
Gingrich, Romney continue war over super PAC ads
Santorum, Romney challenged on gay rights in debate

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that a candidate's marital fidelity is "important" to the presidential race, an apparent knock at frontrunner Newt Gingrich, whose current wife was his mistress during his second marriage.

"I make a vow to my wife but I made a vow to God. And that's pretty heavy lifting in my book," Perry said in Saturday night's Republican debate in Iowa, sponsored by ABC News. "When I make a vow to God, then I would suggest to you that's even stronger than a handshake in Texas.

Moderator George Stephanopoulos then asked whether Perry thinks "a candidate who breaks his marital vows is more likely to break faith with voters?"

"I think the voters are wise enough to figure that one out," he said. "I've always kind of been of the opinion that if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner. So I think that issue of fidelity is important."

Perry, who is running ads in Iowa which highlight his faith, didn't directly mention Gingrich, but the question and answer obviously alluded to him.

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Newt Gingrich is standing by comments he made earlier this week when he called the Palestinians an "invented" people.

"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire," the former House speaker told the Jewish Channel this week. "And I think that we've have invented the Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and are historically part of the Arab community, and they had the chance to go many places."

Gingrich's comments immediately caused a stir in the Middle East and elsewhere. A Palestinian legislator said Gingrich had "lost touch with reality," while another official described called him "ignorant," according to the Associated Press.

Gingrich was then asked about the comments during Saturday night's Republican presidential debate from Iowa, which was sponsored by ABC News.

"Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes," he answered. "Are we in a situation where every day rockets are fired into Israel while the United States? The current administration tries to pressure the Israelis into a peace process... Somebody ought to have the courage to tell the truth. These people are terrorists. They teach terrorism in their schools. They have textbooks that say, if there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left? We pay for those textbooks through our aid money. It's fundamentally time for somebody to have the guts to stand up and say, enough lying about the Middle East."

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Updated 7:00 p.m. ET

President Obama is promising to veto any effort to undo the automatic spending cuts that are set to take effect now that the congressional supercommittee has announced its failure to strike a deal to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years.

"Already some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. My message to them is simple: No," Mr. Obama said from the White House briefing room Monday evening. "I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending."

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Updated Nov. 10, 12:30 a.m. ET

In a cringe-worthy moment during Wednesday's Republican presidential debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry couldn't remember the third federal agency he has pledged to eliminate.

Perry was discussing his jobs plan and his flat tax plan when he said: "And I will tell you, it is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce, Education, and the... what's the third one there? Let's see."

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The sixth Republican presidential debate this year, which took place Thursday night in Orlando, Florida, left some candidates more prepared than others and gave some candidates some key standout moments. Here's our breakdown of the winners and losers:

Winners:

Mitt Romney: The former governor of Massachusetts was the clear winner of the Orlando debate hosted by Fox News and Google. He's run a presidential campaign before and it shows. His answers were polished and on message. When he didn't have an answer, he quickly went on to the main talking point of his campaign -- attacking President Obama. And he held his ground in a back and forth with front-runner Rick Perry over what each said in their respective books, telling the Texas governor "words have meaning."

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CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto

Nearly three out of four Americans think the country is on the wrong track, the highest percentage since President Obama took office almost three years ago, a new CBS News/New York Times poll released Friday showed.

Just 23 percent think the country is currently headed in the right direction, compared to the 72 percent who think it is on the wrong track.

And more than half -- 53 percent -- think the country is either headed into or already experiencing another recession. About 39 percent say they it is not.

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CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto

Just a month after jumping into the race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry already leads a crowded field of Republicans vying for the White House, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released Friday.

Among voters who intend to vote in a Republican primary or caucus, Perry leads the pack of candidates nationally with 23 percent, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 16 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann tie for third with 7 percent, followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul (5 percent) and business executive Herman Cain (5 percent). Former Ambassador and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former Sen. Rick Santorum each receive 1 percent.

However, with months to go before the start of the primaries and caucuses, about one in five Republican primary voters is undecided on a candidate at this point. That is about twice as many compared to four years ago.

About one in ten said they would choose someone else, with three percent volunteering former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has not yet publicly said whether she will even run.

For comparison, at a similar stage in the campaign in 2007, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the leading choice of Republican primary voters (at 34 percent), followed by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson (23 percent). The eventual nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, was in third place with 16 percent, according to a CBS News poll. Romney, who is undertaking his second bid for the GOP nomination, received the support of 9 percent in that poll.

In the poll, half of primary voters who pick a candidate for the nomination say they like their candidate but have reservations about him or her. As for the two leading candidate, six in 10 Perry and Romney supporters say they have reservations about their candidate. And Romney's support is somewhat weaker than Perry's - just 25 percent of Romney's supporters strongly favor him, compared to 33 percent of Perry's.

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