Top Items:

Survey: Four in 10 Tea Party members are Dems or independents — Four in 10 Tea Party members are either Democrats or Independents, according to a new national survey. — The findings provide one of the most detailed portraits to date of the grassroots movement that started last year.
RELATED:

Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics — Skew right politically, but have typical profile by age, education, and employment — PRINCETON, NJ — Tea Party supporters skew right politically; but demographically, they are generally representative of the public at large.


Spring forecast: Incivility with a chance of rage — MANCHESTER, N.H. - If the experience of this state's two Democratic House members is any indication, the raw emotion and mistrust emanating from last summer's congressional town halls never really went away.
RELATED:

Why can't they just forgive and forget? — Politico begins its story about the rough reception two New Hampshire Democrats who voted for Obamacare have received from their constituents this way: … I'm not sure why anyone thought it might have. All that has changed since last summer's town hall is …
Discussion:
Pundit & Pundette


Jobless rate may rise as many are drawn back to labor force — The increase in jobs highlighted in the nation's most recent unemployment report carried the sound of economic promise, but Obama administration officials said Sunday that the public shouldn't expect any dramatic improvement in the jobless rate …
RELATED:


Unemployment benefits expire for thousands — (CNN) — Extended unemployment benefits will temporarily expire for thousands of Americans on Monday because the Senate went on its spring recess without approving a one-month deadline extension. — The extension, which had bipartisan support …

Street Fight — Obama can get everything he wants on financial reform—if only he gets tough. — Last week, Alabama Republican Richard Shelby, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, floated a compromise on the consumer financial protection agency that's currently stalled in the Senate.
RELATED:

Making Financial Reform Fool-Resistant — The White House is confident that a financial regulatory reform bill will soon pass the Senate. I'm not so sure, given the opposition of Republican leaders to any real reform. But in any case, how good is the legislation on the table …

The Media Equation: Sarah Palin's Lucrative Career in Mainstream Media — When Sarah Palin made her debut as the host of “Real American Stories” on Fox News on Thursday night, she described several triumphs of regular people over insurmountable odds, but she missed an obvious one: her own.

Earthquakes rattle Pacific Coast — (CNN) — A string of earthquakes and aftershocks rattled the Pacific Coast of the United States and Mexico on Sunday, including a magnitude 7.2 quake that could be felt across Baja California, Arizona and Southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
RELATED:

Kagan, Judges Said to Be Considered for Supreme Court Vacancy — The Obama administration, contemplating the possible retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, is focusing on three candidates to succeed him, a White House official familiar with the deliberations said.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Note, Wall Street Journal, The Confluence, TalkLeft and Mediaite
RELATED:


Karzai's defiant stance concerns U.S., other Afghans — KABUL — President Obama's visit to Kabul last week, intended in part to forge a closer working relationship with President Hamid Karzai, has helped produce the opposite: an angry Afghan leader now attacking the West for what he perceives …

U.S. Consulate in Pakistan Is Attacked by Militants — PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militants mounted an assault against the United States Consulate in this northern Pakistani city on Monday, using a powerful bomb and rocket launchers in a multipronged attack, said a senior Pakistani intelligence officer.


Obamas celebrate Easter in SE Washington church — President Obama made it his goal Sunday to quietly attend an Easter service with his family, planning a secret trip in which he made no public remarks. But presidents don't blend in, especially in neighborhoods plagued by crime and unemployment.
RELATED: