Top Items:
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The Electoral Implications of Ensign's Resignation — Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada is expected to appoint Dean Heller, currently the Republican incumbent in the state's Second Congressional District, to replace Senator John Ensign, who is resigning. — Mr. Heller was already expected …
Discussion:
USA Today and Booman Tribune
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Jennifer Cooper / John Ensign …:
ENSIGN TO RESIGN FROM OFFICE — Washington, D.C. - Senator John Ensign today announced his resignation as the 24th United States Senator from the state of Nevada. In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden tomorrow, Senator Ensign will state that his resignation from office is effective as of May 3, 2011.
Washington Post:
Nevada Sen. John Ensign to resign — Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign is expected to resign from office in the near future. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jessica Ebelhar) Embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign (R) announced Thursday night that he will resign from office in early May …
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Senator Ensign to Resign Amid Inquiry — WASHINGTON — Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the subject of an ethics investigation related to his affair with the wife of a former top aide, announced Thursday evening that he was resigning, effectively ending the high-profile Senate inquiry …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, USA Today, Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice
Karoun Demirjian / Las Vegas Sun:
JOHN ENSIGN TO RESIGN FRIDAY, HELLER LIKELY REPLACEMENT
JOHN ENSIGN TO RESIGN FRIDAY, HELLER LIKELY REPLACEMENT
Discussion:
Roll Call, Firedoglake, UrbanGrounds, Mediaite, msnbc.com, This Just In and The Lonely Conservative
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Breaking: John Ensign to resign tomorrow
Michael McAuliff / The Huffington Post:
9/11 Responders To Be Warned They Will Be Screened By FBI's Terrorism Watch List (EXCLUSIVE) … WASHINGTON — A provision in the new 9/11 health bill may be adding insult to injury for people who fell sick after their service in the aftermath of the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks, The Huffington Post has learned.
Discussion:
FrumForum
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Attaturk / Firedoglake:
A trio of self-proclaimed GOP heroes — Let's have a good solid Bronx Cheer for these three survivors of the burger wars: — Cliff Stearns (R-Florida) who added a provision to the 9/11 Responders health care bill last May that requires the tens of thousands of police, firefighters …
New York Times:
Nation's Mood at Lowest Level in Two Years, Poll Shows — Americans are more pessimistic about the nation's economic outlook and overall direction than they have been at any time since President Obama's first two months in office, when the country was still officially ensnared in the Great Recession …
Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Krauthammer: Trump is running — Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer says Donald Trump reached out to him after a piece he wrote that laced into the developer's potential 2012 bid — a phone call he said convinced him The Donald is running for president.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway, Don Surber and FrumForum
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Obama suggests low poll numbers due to high gas prices — President Obama on Thursday suggested his lagging poll numbers are due to high gas prices around the nation. — Speaking to supporters at his sixth fundraising event in California, Obama conceded that gas prices are having an effect …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, FrumForum and The Hill
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Obama makes ‘birther’ joke at fundraiser
Obama makes ‘birther’ joke at fundraiser
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Wake up America
Washington Examiner:
There is a ‘magic’ formula for lower gas prices
There is a ‘magic’ formula for lower gas prices
Discussion:
Right Wing News, The Lonely Conservative, POWIP and Outside the Beltway
Julie Pace / Associated Press:
Obama says new task force will examine gas prices
Obama says new task force will examine gas prices
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, JammieWearingFool and iOwnTheWorld.com
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Media's Spotlight Shines Less Brightly on Palin — One of the few pieces of statistical evidence that we can look toward at this early stage of the presidential campaign is the number of media hits that each candidate is receiving. Apart from being interesting unto itself, it's plausible that this metric has some predictive power.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Shot in the Dark, GOP 12, Public Policy Polling, Opinionator, Hot Air, Guardian, Swampland, The Daily Dish and CNN
The Politico:
Birtherism: Where it all began — Just when it appeared that public interest was fading, celebrity developer Donald Trump has revived the theory that President Barack Obama was born overseas and helped expose the depth to which the notion has taken root—a New York Times poll Thursday found that a plurality of Republicans believe it.
Discussion:
Right Wing News and White House Dossier
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Rep. Phil Roe / Economy & Budget:
Debt elimination is a national priority — Seeking to put our economy on the path to prosperity and fiscal responsibility, the House passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget, which aims to cut $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next ten years. The Senate must still approve a budget …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Office Of The Governor:
[Proclamation] Gov. Perry Issues Proclamation for Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas — Gov. Perry Issues Proclamation for Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas — Gov. Rick Perry has proclaimed the three-day period from Friday, April 22, to Sunday, April 24, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas …
Wall Street Journal:
Iraq Troop Talks Falter — Allies Want U.S. to Stay Past Withdrawal Date but Baghdad Fears Unrest — WASHINGTON—Senior U.S. and Iraqi military officials have been in negotiations about keeping some 10,000 American troops in Iraq beyond the scheduled withdrawal of all U.S. forces at year's end …
Discussion:
Global Public Square, Connecting.the.Dots and FrumForum
Robert Frank / The Wealth Report:
Millionaire Tax Didn't Chase the Rich From New Jersey, Study Says — Anti-tax advocates contend that higher taxes on the wealthy lead to millionaire flight. They say this has been seen in Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York. The rich are mobile, they say.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Mahablog, Gawker, Oliver Willis and Mercury Rising
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Ayn Rand's adult-onset adolescence — The movie “Atlas Shrugged,” adapted from Ayn Rand's 1957 novel by the same name, is a triumph of cinematic irony. A work that lectures us endlessly on the moral superiority of heroic achievement is itself a model of mediocrity.
Discussion:
Hit & Run and The Daily Caller
Tom Humphrey / Knoxville News-Sentinel:
'Don't say gay' bill clears Senate panel — Register or log in using your account on these websites. — Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH — NASHVILLE - After some convoluted maneuvers, a Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that will prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Towleroad News #gay
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Democrats Sue to Force U.S. Election Agency to Reveal Political Donations — WASHINGTON — Unable to stanch the flow of corporate money to Republican causes, Democrats tried a new tack on Thursday by bringing a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission to force the disclosure of tens of millions of dollars in secret donations.
Discussion:
Sunlight Foundation Blog and Fox News
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Patients Are Not Consumers — Earlier this week, The Times reported on Congressional backlash against the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a key part of efforts to rein in health care costs. This backlash was predictable; it is also profoundly irresponsible, as I'll explain in a minute.
Discussion:
The New Republic, The Incidental Economist, Daily Kos, Paul Krugman and Jay Bookman
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Trump's White House bid gets press, but fails to drive up ‘Apprentice’ ratings — If Donald Trump's flirtation with running for president is a bid to boost ratings for his reality TV show, it doesn't appear to be working. — Trump, the real estate mogul who hosts “The Apprentice,” …
Discussion:
msnbc.com and Taegan Goddard's …
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
President predicts Pelosi will again be Speaker of the House — President Obama this week predicted that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hasn't seen her last stint as House Speaker - an indication Democrats remain confident they can win back control of the House sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and FrumForum
John Bolton / bostonherlad.com:
Obama wobbly on Libya — Opponents of the Vietnam War — that seemingly endless, inconclusive, increasingly unpopular and ever-more-deadly and costly conflict — called it a “quagmire.” They said it was unwinnable and should never have been fought, and that America must avoid similar future wars.
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, The Daily Caller, Cubachi, Top of the Ticket and National Review
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Inhofe Claims Fracking Has ‘Never’ Contaminated Water Supply One Day After Spill Contaminates Stream — Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is perhaps Congress' most reliable defender of dirty energy and evangelizer against the “hoax” of global warming. This morning, he took his message …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Associated Press and Balloon Juice
New York Times:
As Consumers Cut Spending, ‘Green’ Products Lose Allure — When Clorox introduced Green Works, its environment-friendly cleaning line, in 2008, it secured an endorsement from the Sierra Club, a nationwide introduction at Wal-Mart, and it vowed that the products would “move natural cleaning into the mainstream.”
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution and Modeled Behavior
Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:
Joanne Kloppenburg's Really Bad Poker Tell: She KNOWS She Didn't Win Election — Check out that pregnant pause at 1:33 in. This re-count is a sham.
Discussion:
Hot Air and Weasel Zippers
Haaretz:
Israel: New Gaza flotilla has ties to Hamas, terrorist organizations — Israel's ambassador to UN warns the organization not to allow new flotilla, planned for May, to launch; U.S., Germany also call on flotilla organizers to find other ways to deliver aid to Gaza.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav