Who Really Wants a Shutdown?  —  President Obama does, but the GOP's strategy is a lot less clear.  —  For people who keep saying they don't want a government shutdown, Washington's warring parties are sure acting like they can't wait for it to happen.  Since the policy stakes …

Vote-Counting Error In Wisconsin Points to Incompetence, Not Conspiracy  —  When Kathy Nickolaus, the county clerk in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, spoke to the press on Thursday after revealing that she had failed to count more than 14,000 ballots in the hotly contested state supreme court election …

On Budget Dispute, Obama Casts Himself as Mediator in Chief  —  President Obama has now assumed the role of Mediator in Chief in the efforts to avoid a government shutdown.  —  Over the course of 24 hours and three separate meetings, Mr. Obama has cast himself as the sober one in the room …

The Ryan Journey  —  For decades, academics and think tankers have been proposing plans to avert a fiscal catastrophe.  The ensuing debates were always sedate, high-minded affairs.  Now Republican political leaders have come up with a bold proposal of their own and the atmosphere is totally different.

Biden gets fed up during spending talks  —  Vice President Joe Biden got visibly upset during late night White House talks on avoiding a government shutdown.  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Friday morning that Biden doesn't get upset very often …

Christie takes a cheap shot at Springsteen  —  He can't help himself, our governor.  In less than a year and a half, he's demonized more people than the Salem witch trials — if they had been run by Judge Judy: Democrats.  Teachers.  Superintendents.  Public workers.  State Supreme Court justices.

Cathie Black vows to come back: “I'm a warrior”  —  Few career falls are as swift and spectacular as Cathie Black's.  —  It took just 95 days for the former boss of Hearst Magazines — and alum of the Fortune Most Powerful Women list — to get ousted as chancellor of New York City public schools.

Rep. Louise Slaughter: GOP Freshmen Came to Washington ‘To Kill Women’  —  (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said today that the new Republicans elected to the House of Representatives last November came to Congress “to kill women.”  She also likened Republican efforts …

Paying for What We Get  —  Andrew Sullivan writes today that healthcare costs are skyrocketing and there are basically two way to rein them in: … I think half of this is right, but the other half betrays a fundamental (though common) misconception about how politics actually works.

Optimism in the House  —  A House staffer emails:  —  Post Comment  —  Pages  —  Ben Smith passes along an anonymous email, from someone quoting hearsay.  This is, sadly, the “journalism” we've come to expect from Ben.  —  Who cares!  —  Posted By: Who cares!  April 08, 2011 at 02:38 PM

Commander in Chief's Appalling Action with Our Troops  —  Yesterday the House passed H.R. 1363, which funds our Department of Defense and our military for the rest of the year at their current levels.  It allows for the continuation of current military operations, which is pretty important when you're fighting three wars.

G-A-Y Exclusive: National Organization For Marriage tour organizer/Facebook moderator does startling about-face; Exposure to NOM could lead to unintended side effects  —  Louis Marinelli first came on our radar late last spring, when he started Tweeting under the name “NOMUpdates”:

Brody File Exclusive: Donald Trump Explains Pro-Life Conversion  —  In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Donald Trump explains why he changed his view from pro-choice to pro-life.  —  He says one of the main reasons was because one of his close personal friends chose to keep his child rather than have an abortion.