Top Items:
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Poll Finds Lack of Passion for Republican Candidates — With less than a year to go before the Iowa caucuses, Republican voters have yet to form strong opinions about most of their potential candidates for president in 2012, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Business Week, Salon, msnbc.com, Unqualified Offerings, Swampland, Real Clear Politics, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, GayPatriot, Mediaite, CNN, The Monkey Cage, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Wonkette, The Daily Dish, Ben Smith's Blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Firedoglake, The Reaction, Hotline On Call, Outside the Beltway, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Truthdig, Little Green Footballs, Althouse, ECHIDNE of the snakes and TPMDC
RELATED:
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Trump says he'll reveal ‘interesting things’ on Obama
Trump says he'll reveal ‘interesting things’ on Obama
Discussion:
This Just In, Wonkette, Connecting.the.Dots, No More Mister Nice Blog and Pew Research Center …
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Poll: 45 percent of Republicans think Obama born out of US
Poll: 45 percent of Republicans think Obama born out of US
Discussion:
Wake up America and FrumForum
Karoun Demirjian / Las Vegas Sun:
JOHN ENSIGN TO RESIGN FRIDAY, HELLER LIKELY REPLACEMENT — WASHINGTON — Sources confirmed this afternoon that embattled U.S. Sen. John Ensign will resign from office on Friday, opening the door for Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to appoint Rep. Dean Heller to finish out the term.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Hot Air, msnbc.com, The Lonely Conservative and This Just In
RELATED:
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.
Discussion:
The Note, New York Times and Swampland
Shira Toeplitz / Roll Call:
Ensign to Resign, Heller Likely Successor — Sen. John Ensign will announce within the next 24 hours that he plans to resign from the Senate, according to a well-placed source. — The Nevada Republican announced March 7 that he would not run for re-election in 2012, saying …
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 …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Outside the Beltway
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WHEN POLITIFACT BECOMES POLITIFALSE.... Independent fact-checking outlets play an important part of the political discourse, or at least have the potential to. With a lot of figures making all kinds of claims, voters should have reliable sources they can turn to in order to help separate fact from fiction.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
RELATED:
Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: “Seniors will have to find $12,500 for health care because Republicans voted to end Medicare.” — The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire! Democrats say Republicans voted to end Medicare and charge seniors $12,000
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
PolitiFact Insists Republicans Don't Want To End Medicare (VIDEO)
PolitiFact Insists Republicans Don't Want To End Medicare (VIDEO)
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and Seeing the Forest
Mike Huckabee / Huck PAC:
Response to Glenn Beck — This week Glenn Beck has taken to his radio show to attack me as a Progressive, which he has said is the same as a “cancer” and a “Nazi.” What did I do that apparently caused him to link me to a fatal disease and a form of government that murdered millions of innocent Jews?
Discussion:
Salon, Mediaite, TVNewser, CNN, The Raw Story, USA Today, The Daily Caller, GOP 12, TPMDC and Wonkette
Sabato's Crystal Ball:
The Map — The Crystal Ball's First 2011 Take on 2012's Electoral College — Larry J. Sabato, Director, U.Va. Center for Politics — With 18 months to go until November 2012, there is exactly one use for a current projection of the 2012 Electoral College results.
Discussion:
protein wisdom, AmSpecBlog, Newsalert, Mediaite, Questions and Observations and James Pethokoukis
Colby Itkowitz / Pennsylvania Ave.:
Barletta town hall gets heated over Medicare — Reminiscent of the August 2009 town halls when members of Congress faced angry constituents over health care reforms, a public forum in Carbon County with Rep. Lou Barletta Wednesday night provided a glimpse of the strong emotions stirred by a Republican plan to alter Medicare benefits.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Wonk Room, The Hill and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Paul Ryan, Rand Paul Clash Privately Over Budget … WASHINGTON — Before releasing his budget publicly, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) gave Senate Republicans a private briefing about the plan in early April. During that meeting, Sen. Rand Paul, a Tea Party-backed freshman from Kentucky …
Discussion:
FrumForum
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Paul Ryan's Plan To End Medicare Stirs Anger At Pennsylvania Town Hall Event
Paul Ryan's Plan To End Medicare Stirs Anger At Pennsylvania Town Hall Event
Discussion:
Swampland, The Caucus and Hullabaloo
Ben Smith / The Politico:
New Labor plan: Nationwide protests — In a major strategic shift, the Service Employees International Union plans to use its giant political operation to try to build a grassroots movement of public protest and organization similar to the massive show of pro-labor support that overran Madison, Wis. last month.
Discussion:
RedState
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
The Death of Right to Work
The Death of Right to Work
Discussion:
NLRB, Hot Air, RedState, Sister Toldjah, The Lonely Conservative, The Other McCain, Pajamas Media, Marathon Pundit, PoliPundit.com and Betsy's Page
Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
Labor Board Tells Boeing New Factory Breaks Law
Labor Board Tells Boeing New Factory Breaks Law
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations and Pajamas Media
Martha Raddatz / ABCNEWS:
U.S. Sends Armed Drones to Libya — President Obama has given approval for two armed American Predator drones to operate over Libya, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. — The U.S. has flown armed drones in Libya for the past several weeks, but they have been used only for surveillance.
Discussion:
The Politico and The Atlantic Online
RELATED:
John Bolton / bostonherlad.com:
Obama wobbly on Libya
Obama wobbly on Libya
Discussion:
Cubachi, Top of the Ticket and National Review
Tim Hetherington / Associated Press:
Gates says Obama has approved use of armed Predator drones in Libya
Gates says Obama has approved use of armed Predator drones in Libya
Discussion:
Hot Air, Corrente and Mother Jones
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 …
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
The Annoying Hypocrisy Trope — Gregg Easterbrook: … This is one of the most annoying tropes in existence, on both the left and the right. The point of laws is to provide a level playing field, and no one is a hypocrite for following existing law even if they think it should be changed.
Discussion:
Modeled Behavior
RELATED:
Matt Miller / Washington Post:
‘The Shining’ — national debt edition — Remember that great scene in the 1980 film classic, “The Shining,” when the wife comes upon the typewriter of the Jack Nicholson character, who's supposed to have been working night and day for months on his novel? To her horror, she finds thousands …
Abdullah Gul / New York Times:
The Revolution's Missing Peace — THE wave of uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa is of historic significance equal to that of the revolutions of 1848 and 1989 in Europe. The peoples of the region, without exception, revolted not only in the name of universal values but also to regain …
Discussion:
Power Line, Israel Matzav and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Congressional Job Approval at 17% — Approval is now the same as in November, after the midterm elections — PRINCETON, NJ — Congress' approval is at 17%, essentially unchanged from last month's 18%, and identical to where it was just after last November's midterm congressional elections.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Washington Post
RELATED:
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Gallup: Congressional approval at 17 percent
Stephanie Condon / CBS News:
Gary Johnson announces presidential run — Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson announced today that he's running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. — “I'm ready for a different America,” Johnson said in a statement today. “I'm ready for the day when a person can build …
RELATED:
New York Post:
Trump blasts Seinfeld pullout — Donald Trump wasn't laughing when funnyman Jerry Seinfeld canceled an upcoming appearance at a benefit for his son's Eric Trump Foundation. — Seinfeld pulled out of the Sept. 13 event benefiting the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital because he disagrees …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, ThinkProgress, Don Surber, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Caller, Gothamist and National Review
Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
More Companies Pull Ads From Wonkette After Trig Palin Post — More companies have joined Papa Johns, Huggies and Vanguard in dropping ads from the liberal, pro-abortion blog Wonkette after it ran a crass post mocking Sarah Palin and her son trig, who has Down Syndrome.
James Pethokoukis:
Budget group: New Obama budget plan would fail, could cause tax trigger to be pulled — The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has taken a crack at deciphering President Barack Obama's murky new budget plan, called the “Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility.”
The Onion:
Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People — BELMONT, MA—Though Mitt Romney is considered to be a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the national spotlight has forced him to repeatedly confront a major skeleton in his political closet …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Boston Globe