CNN Poll: Trump tied for first in GOP horserace  —  Washington (CNN) - Donald Trump is now tied with Mike Huckabee for first place when Republicans are asked who they support for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, according to a new national poll.  —  But while a CNN/Opinion Research …

Obama turns to his bipartisan deficit commission's blueprint for reducing debt  —  Video: White House press secretary Jay Carney reiterated Monday that President Obama “regrets” his vote in 2006 as a senator against raising the debt ceiling.  (April 11)  —  President Obama plans this week …

Budget deal details: Cuts that aren't quite cuts  —  $38B in savings agreed to by GOP and Democrats averted a government shutdown, but new details indicate some accounting sleight-of-hand  —  Details of the $38 billion worth of spending cuts factoring in last Friday's 11th-hour budget …

AOL, Arianna Huffington Hit with Class Action Suit  —  Jonathan Tasini.  Image via Wikipedia  —  Huffington Post bloggers who think they ought to get paid for their volunteer writing have been litigating their case in the court of public opinion.  Now they're taking it to a real one.

Japan rates nuclear crisis at highest severity level  —  TOKYO — Japanese authorities raised Tuesday their rating of the severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis to the highest level on an international scale, equal to that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

France and Britain Urge Stronger NATO Action in Libya  —  PARIS —France and Britain urged NATO on Tuesday to intensify airstrikes against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces and called on the alliance to do more to shield noncombatants from loyalist attacks.  —  The remarks could well embolden rebels …

There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap  —  A study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30 found that women earned 8% more than men.  —  Tuesday is Equal Pay Day—so dubbed by the National Committee for Pay Equity, which represents feminist groups including the National Organization …

Republicans and the Civil War  —  Given the demographics of the GOP, as well as its regional base, this isn't particularly surprising: … From voters to elected officials, the Republican Party is dominated by white Southerners, particularly those from the Deep South.

What Impact Has The New York Times Paywall Had on Traffic?  [STATS]  —  The New York Times paywall has now been up for two weeks.  What impact has it had on the popular website's traffic?  More importantly, is the paywall working as intended or is it taking a bite out of The New York Times's revenues?

Gov. Barbour: Let Mitt Romney ‘have his day’  —  Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.) wouldn't openly criticize Mitt Romney Tuesday over Massachusetts' healthcare law but he did say a similiar system wouldn't work in Mississippi.  —  “If Massachusetts wants that, more power to them, that's their business …

Gang of Six closes in on deficit deal  —  Gang of Six negotiators are close to striking a deal on a deficit-reduction package, according to Senate sources.  —  White House officials and Democrats are pressing for the six negotiators to wrap up their talks by the Easter recess beginning on April 16.

1,000 attack non-Muslim village in Nigeria  —  Armed with machetes and guns, 1,000 militants attacked the village of Bar Arewa in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi on April 7.  “Almost every home in the village was destroyed, and some elderly people were reported to have been burnt …

Obama's High-Speed Rail Project Gets $1.5 Billion Slashed In Budget Deal … WASHINGTON — As part of the final budget deal formally agreed to on Friday night, the Obama administration signed off on a big cut to a closely held transportation policy priority.

How America conducts foreign policy  —  This piece originally appeared on TomDispatch.  —  It is a commonplace of American politics: when the moving van pulls up to the White House on Inauguration Day, it delivers not only a closetful of gray suits and power ties, but a boatload of expectations.

Our Structural Disadvantage  —  The intertubes are clogged with the choral wailing of frustrated liberals.  Digby provides a good example, but the same is available pretty much anywhere else you'd think to look. … This is exactly right.  But what's strange is that it almost seems to come as a surprise to people.