Obama launches reelection campaign with e-mail, web video  —  The president pledges to focus on his job, but will pick up the tempo of campaigning this month with several fundraisers.  The campaign is hoping to raise a record $1 billion.  —  President Obama speaking in March (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images))

Clinton: Shutdown would hurt GOP but might not be ‘traumatic’ for economy  —  A government shutdown might not have a “traumatic” effect on the economy, former President Bill Clinton said Monday.  —  Clinton, who faced a shutdown during his 1995 budget negotiations with congressional Republicans …

GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion  —  Budget Plan Would Transform Medicare, Reset Budget Debate; Democrats Balk  —  Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program …

A Tea Party Star Stirs Iowans, and She Isn't Palin  —  WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Sarah Palin, the reigning heroine of many social conservatives, has given few signals that she will make a presidential bid.  Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 on the strength of his appeal …

It Doesn't Get Any Clearer Than That: “Free speech is a great idea, but we're in a war”  —  Here's what Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said today about Florida pastor Terry Jones' burning of a Koran, which has been used an excuse by Afghanis to murder 22 people, including seven United Nations workers:

‘NYT refused to publish Goldstone retraction’  —  Source close to South African judge claims he initially approached liberal publication to print his letter of regret - and was rejected.  New York Times says in response it does not comment on editorial process  —  Eldad Beck

Is this the first ever portrait of Jesus?  The incredible story of 70 ancient books hidden in a cave for nearly 2,000 years  —  The image is eerily familiar: a bearded young man with flowing curly hair.  After lying for nearly 2,000 years hidden in a cave in the Holy Land, the fine detail is difficult to determine.

Jon Huntsman, the rock ‘n’ roll years  —  Jonny Huntsman didn't quite make it through his senior year of high school, and the cause was pretty plain to his classmates.  One recalled the long-haired, diffident Salt Lake City high schooler sitting next to him in history class “hitting his desk as if it were a piano.”

Diminished Individualism Watch  —  A few weeks back I commented on a George Will column in which he said that … So I think that it is my civic duty to report that yesterday, as I got off Amtrak 161 from Trenton to Washington — having spent 2 1/2 hours being made more amenable to collectivism …

Obama's ‘Bloodbath’: Can We Believe the Hype?  —  Remember when a crusading president, acting on dubious intelligence, insufficient information and exaggerated fears, took the nation into a Middle Eastern war of choice?  That was George W. Bush in 2003, invading Iraq.  But it's also Barack Obama in 2011, attacking Libya.

A SUCKER'S BET.... The effort to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year will be the principal challenge for policymakers over the next few days, but while that work continues, congressional Republicans will also start a massive fight over the next budget.

AP source: Couric leaving news anchor post  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Katie Couric is leaving her anchor post at “CBS Evening News” less than five years after becoming the first woman to solely helm a network TV evening newscast.  —  A network executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity …