NEW POLLING – AT 9:22 A.M. ET:  New polling from NBC/Marist shows just how tight the president race is:

A new round of NBC News-Marist polls shows President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney running almost neck-and-neck in three key battleground states, with Obama holding a slight advantage in Michigan and North Carolina, and the two candidates tied in New Hampshire.

In Michigan, Obama is ahead by four percentage points among registered voters, including those who are undecided but are still leaning toward a candidate, 47 to 43 percent.

In North Carolina, the president gets 46 percent to Romney's 44 percent, which is within the survey's margin of error.  And in New Hampshire, the two men are tied at 45 percent each.

COMMENT:  Please note that these are registered voters.  Polls of likely voters generally show a slightly larger percentage for Romney. 

Also, other recent polls have shown Romney ahead in North Carolina and Obama ahead in New Hampshire, but by narrow margins.

The intriguing numbers, in this and other polls, come from Michigan, normally a very safe Democratic state, owing to the large African-American population in Detroit and the high percentage of union members.  Michigan this year may just be competitive, which should create at least a case of heartburn in the White House.

June 28, 2012