FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GOP'S VOID  —  The GOP's leadership void... The hits keep on coming for Steele, though the RNC reported raising $11.4 million in March... But that is less than the $13 million-plus the DNC is reporting... Is Bart Stupak going to call it quits?... Obama heads to Prague this evening …

McDonnell's Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders  —  RICHMOND — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, reviving a controversy that had been dormant for eight years, has declared that April will be Confederate History Month in Virginia, a move that angered civil rights leaders Tuesday …

Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies  —  (CNN) — When it comes to the Tea Party movement, the stereotypes don't tell the whole story.  —  Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders …

Obama Bans Islam, Jihad From National Security Strategy Document  —  The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war.

Supreme Court May Soon Lack Protestant Justices  —  text sizeAAA  —  With U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens talking openly about retirement, attention has focused on the “who” — as in who is on President Obama's short list of potential nominees.

Juneau County DA warns districts on sex ed law  —  Teaching curriculum could lead to criminal charges against teachers, he writes  —  By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — A district attorney is telling Juneau County schools to abandon their sex education courses …

Health care overhaul spawns mass confusion for public  —  WASHINGTON — Two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the big health care overhaul into law, Americans are struggling to understand how — and when — the sweeping measure will affect them.  —  Questions reflecting confusion …

Parties Even in Congressional Midterm Preferences  —  Rise in voter enthusiasm after passage of healthcare has since steadied  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Daily tracking for the week ending April 4 finds the two major parties tied at 46% in the congressional voting preferences of registered voters nationally.

Obama weighs new peace plan for the Middle East  —  Despite recent turbulence in U.S. relations with Israel, President Obama is “seriously considering” proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials.

Volcker: Taxes likely to rise eventually to tame deficit  —  (Reuters) - The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.

New Nuclear Policy Enrages Republicans  —  Critics Say New Policy Sends Wrong Message to Iran and North Korea  —  President Obama says his new nuclear policy restricts the use of weapons while continuing to protect the United States and its allies, but some Republican critics argue …

Economic Scene: To Cut Health Costs, U.S. Needs to Learn to Say No  —  How can we learn to say no?  —  The federal government is now starting to build the institutions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of health care costs.  There will be a group to compare the effectiveness …

Upper-income people would lose tax cuts in Obama plan  —  WASHINGTON — Fresh from raising taxes on upper-income Americans to help expand health insurance coverage, President Obama and Democratic lawmakers are targeting them again.  —  When Congress takes up Obama's proposed $3.8 trillion budget this year …

General Motors posts $4.3B loss  —  General Motors posted a $4.3 billion loss for the second half of 2009 but could be profitable this year, the company announced Wednesday.  —  “As the results for 2009 show, there is still significant work to be done,” said Chris Liddell, vice chairman and chief financial officer.

NJ pols grabbed Springsteen, U2 seats as public waited  —  “Former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine's office got U2 and Bruce Springsteen seats the public couldn't buy last year, at the same time the state was suing brokers over ticketing practices, according to documents showing 22 elected …

‘Riot Is the Voice of the Unheard’  —  Tea-party foe Maxine Waters once made excuses for real political violence.  —  “The Tea Party emerges as not only outrageous, but they have turned up the volume in ways that even Code Pink have not been able to do,” Rep. Maxine Waters said the other day on MSNBC.

Politically, Patrick's back in the game  —  Energized governor gains as 2 rivals spar  —  “People who write this guy off do so at their own peril. . . . He has started to do what he did before.”  — Kevin Sowyrda, Republican media consultant, on Governor Deval Patrick.

GOP Senator: Health Care Law Will Permit Sex Offenders to Get Viagra  —  The Congressional Research Service has confirmed Sen. Tom Coburn's assertions that sex offenders not in prison could get Viagra and other drugs treating erectile dysfunction under health plans subsidized by taxpayer dollars.

Updated with Video - Gibbs Calls CNN's Erick Erickson's Comments ‘Remarkably Crazy’  —  At today's White House press briefing, liberal radio host Bill Press asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about recent comments by CNN's Erick Erickson.  Specifically, he asked if Erickson's threat to “pull …

Graydon Carter and Michael Lewis: The Unabridged Conversation About the Financial Collapse  —  Recently Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and V.F. contributing editor Michael Lewis sat together onstage in front of an intimate crowd at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and discussed Lewis's new book …

Rubio's path  —  Marco Rubio's remarkable fundraising haul — $3.6 million this quarter, he just announced — is a reminder of the scale of his stardom inside the Republican Party, all of whose core constituencies seem to like the guy.  —  He's already hearing every day (and brushing it off) …