Top Items:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
McConnell: ‘Not clear’ if GOP can block partisan tactic on healthcare — It's “not clear” whether enough Democrats will defect on a majority-vote procedure on health legislation to stop it, the Senate's top Republican said Sunday. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …
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Politico Live's Blog
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
REID EYES MAJORITY RULE FOR HEALTH CARE.... There's been plenty of Democratic skittishness on using the reconciliation process to complete work on health care reform. That's substantively foolish — reconciliation exists for exactly these kinds of circumstances — but there's been Democratic reluctance …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Reid: Dems will use 50-vote tactic to finish healthcare in 60 days — Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. — Reid said that congressional Democrats …
Evan Bayh / New York Times:
Why I'm Leaving the Senate — BASEBALL may be our national pastime, but the age-old tradition of taking a swing at Congress is a sport with even deeper historical roots in the American experience. Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill, The Reaction, Mediaite, James Fallows, TBogg and Gawker
Fox News:
Ron Paul Wins Presidential Straw Poll at CPAC — Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas known for his libertarian views, ran for president in 2008 but was never a serious contender for the GOP nomination.
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The Politico:
Boos as Paul wins CPAC straw poll — Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Texas Republican who ran a quixotic bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, was the top vote-getter in the Conservative Political Action Conference's straw poll, capturing the support of 31 percent of those who participated in the contest.
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs — BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.
Lynn Sweet:
Sarah Palin coming to Illinois; Valerie Jarrett on Sarah Palin — Will Sarah Palin play in Peoria? Except for a brief stop in Chicago to tape an Oprah Winfrey show last November, Palin's first public appearance in Illinois will be April 17 in Washington, a town of about 14,000 near Peoria.
Discussion:
Riehl World View
Larry O'Connor / Big Journalism:
Breitbart Confronts Blumenthal at CPAC — A funny thing happened on the last day of CPAC. Max Blumenthal, recently corrected and embarrassed “journalist” from Salon.com paraded through the convention with a camera crew. Like last year, he was looking for a confrontation of some kind.
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CNN:
Report: State economies not seen worst of recession — Washington (CNN) - Although the national economy has reported growth, revenues at the state level continue to deteriorate, and state economies have not seen the worst yet, the governors' association said Saturday.
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The Note
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Ronen Bergman / Wall Street Journal:
Israel and the Dubai Murder Mystery — The circumstantial evidence all points to the Mossad, and the result is a diplomatic nightmare for the Jewish state. — Israelis woke up Wednesday morning to pictures of 11 individuals plastered on the front page of every newspaper.
Sarah Kliff / Newsweek:
The Polling Contradiction — In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the majority of Americans are opposed to President Obama's health-care reform plan—until they learn the details. Plus, a look at very unhappy mood of the electorate.
Discussion:
DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Moderate Voice, AMERICAblog News, Liberal Values and Newsweek Blogs
Bruce Bartlett / Capital Gains and Games blogs:
Another Dumb Right-Wing Idea: Default on the Debt — Over the years I have heard a number of conservatives suggest that defaulting on the national debt wouldn't be such a bad thing. Today Prof. Glenn Reynolds of the University of Tennessee Law School (better known as “Instapundit") suggests the idea once again.