Election 2012: Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41%  —  Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is - virtually dead even.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote.

Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes.  Look Closer.  —  Forty-seven percent.  —  That's the portion of American households that owe no income tax for 2009.  The number is up from 38 percent in 2007, and it has become a popular talking point on cable television and talk radio.

Sen. Mark Warner: Mitch McConnell 'either doesn't understand or chooses not to understand'  —  When Sen. Mitch McConnell said that the Senate financial-regulation bill meant “endless taxpayer-funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks,” he was, knowingly or not, taking aim at a policy …

Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution  —  AS the Senate awaits the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, a frank discussion is needed on the proper role of judges in our constitutional system.  For 30 years, conservative commentators have persuaded the public that conservative judges apply the law …

Joe Lieberman thanks “GOD” that Republicans have the momentum in the upcoming election  —  Good old Joe.  He's doing what he does best.  Throw as much dirt as he can on the left.  While giving an interview with the conspiracy theory-wingnut site known as Newsmax, he says he's really happy …

Obama/Bush Nearly Divided  —  Americans are now pretty evenly divided about whether they would rather have Barack Obama or George W. Bush in the White House.  48% prefer Obama while 46% say they would rather have the old President back.  —  Bush had atrocious approval ratings for his final few years …

Source: State Dems scrambling to deploy tea party ‘crashers’  —  New Hampshire Democrats are engaged in a statewide search for liberal activists willing to attend so-called tea parties on Thursday and carry signs expressing racist or fringe sentiments, a Democratic source with knowledge of the effort tells NowHampshire.com.

The Curious Cook: Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap, for Some  —  FOOD partisanship doesn't usually reach the same heights of animosity as the political variety, except in the case of the anti-cilantro party.  The green parts of the plant that gives us coriander seeds seem to inspire …

Eliot Spitzer's flameout  —  (Fortune) — It was one of America's most shocking political sex scandals, instantly transforming New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer — who had terrified Wall Street during his political climb — into the infamous “Client 9.”  —  In Rough Justice, his new book out April 20 …

Why FL-19 isn't a health care referendum  —  In the immediate wake of soon-to-be Rep. Ted Deutch's (D) victory in a special election in Florida's 19th district on Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee released a statement casting it as a rejection of Republican claims that health care …

Arianna huffs about overbooked celebs at WHCD  —  Like a Real Housewife of New Jersey, Arianna Huffington was flipping tables, well, at least metaphorically.  —  Because like most media organizations that placed a bid for White House Correspondents dinner tables, the Huffington Post founder didn't get her way.

Arizona Clears Strict Immigration Bill  —  Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday passed one of the toughest pieces of immigration-enforcement legislation in the country, which would make it a violation of state law to be in the U.S. without proper documentation.  —  It would also grant police the power …

How Bad Could 2010 Really Get For Democrats?  —  Though Election Day is still months away, pundits have already begun to speculate on possible outcomes for this year's midterms.  There's a general consensus that Democrats will lose seats in November, but beyond that opinions vary widely on how big those losses might be.

Anthony Weiner Goes Viral  —  Congressman Anthony Weiner bounded into a DJ booth at a fashionable Lower East Side bar one recent Wednesday night, grabbed the microphone with his left hand and unleashed his inner Borscht Belt.  —  “Every single moment that we are stroking our beards and gazing …

Mike Huckabee Blasts Student Newspaper for ‘Sensationalizing’ Comments on Gay Marriage  —  ABC News' Huma Khan reports: In an unusual battlefront, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is embroiled in a heated war of words with a college newspaper after telling a student reporter that it is …

Agitated McCain: Don't call me a maverick  —  John McCain — who built his political persona and his 2008 presidential campaign around the claim that he's a “maverick” — told Newsweek recently: “I never considered myself a maverick.”  —  When POLITICO asked McCain about the contradiction …