Top Items:
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:
ABCNEWS, The Note, FiveThirtyEight, New York Times, Swampland and Gawker
RELATED:
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, Little Green Footballs and Outside the Beltway
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, msnbc.com, The Lonely Conservative and This Just In
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 …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Breaking: John Ensign to resign tomorrow
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:
Opinionator, Business Week, FiveThirtyEight, Real Clear Politics, Swampland, CNN, Salon, Unqualified Offerings, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Monkey Cage, The Daily Dish, msnbc.com, GayPatriot, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Wonkette, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blog, Booman Tribune, The Reaction, Truthdig, Hotline On Call, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Althouse and TPMDC
RELATED:
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 …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and The Daily Dish
Meghan McCain / The Daily Beast:
Trump to McCain: 'You're Hired!'
Trump to McCain: 'You're Hired!'
Discussion:
CNN, Mediaite, Wonkette, Gawker and Wake up America
Stephanie Condon / CBS News:
Poll: One in four Americans think Obama was not born in U.S.
Poll: One in four Americans think Obama was not born in U.S.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Top of the Ticket and CBS News
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Trump says he'll reveal ‘interesting things’ on Obama
Trump says he'll reveal ‘interesting things’ on Obama
Discussion:
The Hill, This Just In, Wonkette, Connecting.the.Dots, Pew Research Center … and No More Mister Nice Blog
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:
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, The Gateway Pundit, Wonk Room and The Hill
RELATED:
Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Paul Ryan, Rand Paul Clash Privately Over Budget
Paul Ryan, Rand Paul Clash Privately Over Budget
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, Hot Air and Hullabaloo
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, USA Today, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story, CNN, TPMDC, Wonkette and GOP 12
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, Mediaite, Newsalert, Questions and Observations and James Pethokoukis
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 …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Wire, Juanita Jean's, The Raw Story, Dependable Renegade and Joe. My. God.
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:
Cubachi, Top of the Ticket and National Review
RELATED:
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
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
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, Towleroad News #gay, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Joe. My. God.
Julie Pace / Associated Press:
Obama says new task force will examine gas prices — RENO, Nev. - President Barack Obama said Thursday that the Justice Department will try to “root out” cases of fraud or manipulation in oil markets, even as Attorney General Eric Holder suggested a variety of legal reasons may be behind gasoline's surge to $4 a gallon.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, JammieWearingFool, POWIP and iOwnTheWorld.com
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
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, Associated Press, Booman Tribune and Balloon Juice
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.
Discussion:
Big Journalism, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Nice Deb, Poynter, National Review and Datechguy's Blog, more at Mediagazer »
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, Hot Air, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Don Surber, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Gothamist and National Review
Gang Phan / International Business Times:
TEPCO: Fuel of the Fukushima plant No. 1 reactor could be melting — Fuel of the Fukushima nuke plant plant's No. 1 reactor could be melting, an official said on Wednesday at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) , the operator of the crippled plant. — TEPCO said last week …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
ij.org:
Nashville's Sedan Drivers Fight City Effort To Run Them Off the Road — Can government force transportation businesses to charge a minimum price to protect politically connected companies from competition? — That is the question the Institute for Justice (IJ) and its clients seek to answer …
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
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:
Fox News
Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:
Getting Real About Obama's Chances, Part 1 — As of this writing, the Intrade futures markets give the Democrats a 62 percent chance of holding the White House in 2012, essentially unchanged from a peak of 63 percent a month ago. Washington conventional wisdom seems to agree.
Discussion:
Moe Lane and James Pethokoukis
Donald J. Trump / USA Today:
Trump's view: Obama, come clean — On any given day, I receive hundreds of requests from television, radio and newspapers to provide comments on various topics. There is not one interview when the “birther” issue is not raised multiple times during the conversation.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Key Republican in deficit talks rules out significant tax increases — Republican senators trying to hash out a bipartisan deal to reduce the deficit will refuse any significant tax hikes, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Thursday. — Coburn, one of six senators involved in behind …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, TPMDC, ABCNEWS, The Politico, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, AmSpecBlog, National Review, Washington Post, FrumForum and Hullabaloo
CNN:
Man wanted for questioning after attempted bombing at Colorado mall — (CNN) — Investigators asked for help Thursday as they searched for a man seen in a mall in Littleton, Colorado, shortly before what they described as a possible attempt to bomb the shopping center on the 12th anniversary …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Boing Boing