Dems propose cutting Obama budget by billions  —  CNN Congressional Producer  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Hours before President Obama was to hold a prime-time news conference — in part to boost his $3.6 trillion budget plan — a key Democratic senator Tuesday unveiled a scaled-down budget proposal.

Obama skips major papers  —  During President Obama's second East Room news conference, he took questions from 13 reporters over about an hour — that's the same as during his first presser on Feb. 9.  —  But in quite a departure from the first presser — and White House protocol — Obama skipped over the nation's top newspapers.

Specter delivers death blow to labor union bill  —  Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced Tuesday he will oppose card check, giving an apparent death blow to the most important congressional issue to organized labor.  —  Specter made the dramatic announcement in a floor speech.

U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

K-Lo & Crew: Only Republicans Should be Honored at Catholic Colleges  —  Right-wing Catholics are furious that President Obama is [defiling the sanctity of] delivering the commencement address at Notre Dame.  —  K-Lo called it “disgraceful,” grunting, “They took a giant step away …

Ehud Barak to Join Netanyahu Cabinet  —  Kadima Leader Tzipi Livni has spent weeks resisting Benjamin Netanyahu's pleas that she enter his cabinet, citing the fact that she has no desire to be moderate window-dressing for a hard-right administration that's overtly opposed to a two-state resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Open for Questions: President Obama to Answer Your Questions on Thursday  —  Today, the President invited everyone to use a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov called “Open for Questions” to ask a question about the economy and rate other questions up or down.  Then, on Thursday morning …

Treasury rewards waiting  —  Maybe it was worth the wait.  —  Judging from preliminary details, the US Treasury's plan to rescue the financial system is a lot savvier about the relationship between financial markets and the macroeconomy than are the usual-suspects: critics from both left …

Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit in Pictures  —  President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term.  But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package …

Why God Invented C-SPAN  —  In today's installment, Michele Bachmann saves us from a sneaky Chinese and Russian plot to achieve world domination through a global currency, but reveals that she was not at school the day they studied this in sixth grade:  —  Sphere Related Blogs & Articles

Dems Hammer GOP's New “Too Many Ideas” Strategy  —  Dems are opening fire on the GOP in response to our story below, which quotes Mitch McConnell's spokesperson saying that the GOP will start attacking the Obama administration for throwing out too many ideas on the economy, with not enough cohesion.

President Obama's News Conference  —  Following is a complete of President Obama's prime-time press conference on March 24, as transcribed by Federal News Service.  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hello, everybody.  Please have a seat.  —  Good evening.  Now, before I take questions from the correspondents …

Summers briefs $5k conference goers  —  National Economic Adviser Larry Summers is conducting a private briefing at the White House Tuesday afternoon for about 100 financial industry executives attending a $5,000-a-head conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal.

Money For Nothing  —  Jilted Wall Street donors should rethink future political donations.  —  An honest politician, as an old saw has it, is one who stays bought.  If this is true, then we have the most dishonest bunch of officeholders ever, and it may lead Wall Street to reconsider its donations in the future.

Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence  —  Editor's note: Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University.  —  CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) — Over the past two years, drug violence in Mexico has become a fixture of the daily news.

Justices Consider Interplay Between First Amendment and Campaign Finance Laws  —  WASHINGTON — A quirky case about a slashing documentary attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton would not seem to be the most obvious vehicle for a fundamental re-examination of the interplay between the First Amendment and campaign finance laws.

Stimulus idea: How about massive forgiveness of student loans?  —  Nothing on this yet from Congress or The One, but a Facebook group dedicated to the proposal has 138,000 members and counting.  No typo.  My sense of personal responsibility says no but my debt-crushed monthly budget cries proceed:

The GOP's Cheney Problem  —  The least popular vice-president in memory is not helping the Republicans regroup - according to this piece from the Hill.  But Cheney is not giving these disgraceful and classless interviews to help the GOP.  He's giving them because it is beginning to dawn …

On Campus: The Pro-Palestinians' Real Agenda  —  During a recent visit to several university campuses in the U.S., I discovered that there is more sympathy for Hamas there than there is in Ramallah.  —  Listening to some students and professors on these campuses, for a moment I thought …

Contender for TARP Job Drops Out  —  WASHINGTON — The leading candidate to run the Treasury Department's $700 billion bailout program has withdrawn his name from consideration, according to people familiar with the matter.  —  Frank Brosens, a hedge-fund manager and big Democratic donor …

Coleman won't rule out federal appeal  —  Former Sen. Norm Coleman is still considering taking his election lawsuit to the federal court if he's unsuccessful in reversing Al Franken's 225-vote lead in the Minnesota Senate recount.  —  Speaking to reporters at the Capitol …