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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.
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USA Today, Firedoglake, Washington Post, CNN, Hot Air, Salon, msnbc.com, Business Week, The Monkey Cage, Ben Smith's Blog, Little Green Footballs, Real Clear Politics, Mediaite, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Reaction, Daily Kos, Wonkette, Booman Tribune, The Moderate Voice, Hotline On Call, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Truthdig, Althouse, The Daily Dish, FrumForum and The Politico
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Trump says he'll reveal ‘interesting things’ on Obama — (CNN) - Possibly-serious Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is giving few details about the investigation he claims to have launched in Hawaii to get to the bottom of where President Obama was born, but the business mogul …
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Wonkette, Connecting.the.Dots, No More Mister Nice Blog, The New Republic and Pew Research Center …

Poll: 45 percent of Republicans think Obama born out of US
Discussion:
FrumForum

‘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 …
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How Republicans Can Win the Debt Limit Fight
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Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Swampland and The New Republic

GOP DEMANDING RESTRICTIONS THAT WOULD BLOCK ITS OWN AGENDA. …
Discussion:
Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hit & Run

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?
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Huckabee: Glenn Beck called me a Nazi
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and FrumForum

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.
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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
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TPMDC, The Raw Story, The New Republic, Seeing the Forest, Washington Post, The Politico and Minnesota Public Radio

Knowledge Counts — There's always a bit of a problem …
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The Daily Dish


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:
Mediaite, James Pethokoukis and Questions and Observations


The Death of Right to Work — After 17 months and $2 billion, the NLRB sandbags Boeing. — We knew that Big Labor had political pull at the Obama-era National Labor Relations Board, but yesterday's complaint against Boeing is one for the (dark) ages. By challenging Boeing's right …
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, Marathon Pundit, Betsy's Page and PoliPundit.com
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Labor Board Tells Boeing New Factory Breaks Law
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Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations and Pajamas Media

Obama jabs ‘climate change deniers’ — President Obama called out Capitol Hill's “climate change deniers” Wednesday night at a Democratic fundraiser in California. — Obama, speaking at a San Francisco event for donors, called rising gasoline prices an economic drain on drivers …
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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:
ThinkProgress, Washington Wire, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Caller, TalkLeft, Gothamist, National Review and The Politico

Obama: Mistakes? Can't think of any. — Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork — Seven years ago, in April 2004, President George W. Bush held a formal news conference in which he was asked, “What would your biggest mistake be...and what lessons have you learned from it?”
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Right Wing News and Pajamas Media
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Invitation to Israeli Leader Puts Obama on the Spot — WASHINGTON — A Republican invitation for Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address Congress next month is highlighting the tensions between President Obama and Mr. Netanyahu and has kicked off a bizarre diplomatic race …
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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:
ABCNEWS, Crooks and Liars, AmSpecBlog, National Review, Washington Post, FrumForum and Hullabaloo

[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:
Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Wire, Little Green Footballs and Joe. My. God.


Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson announces he'll seek GOP presidential nomination — The libertarian-leaning Gary Johnson has climbed Mt. Everest so he knows about uphill fights: In a Gallup poll released last week, he ranked last in name recognition among 14 potential Republican candidates for president.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and AmSpecBlog
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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:
Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Datechguy's Blog, Poynter, National Review, Riehl World View and Right Wing News


What if the Birthers Are Right? — Inside the political vacuum, the headline story on Drudge was none other than Obama's birth certificate. It's the story that just won't go away-and it won't go away until Obama himself releases the long-form document. But with the coming release on May 17 …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Guardian, Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit and Salon

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

Business owner casts reasonable doubt on accuracy of speed cameras — PG business owner gets tickets tossed — FIVE DOWN, 40 TO GO: Will Foreman holds the speeding tickets he successfully challenged in court. Mr. Foreman ironically used the photos shot by speed cameras to challenge the charge of speeding.

Iowa professor's response to GOP prompts outrage — IOWA CITY, Iowa— A University of Iowa professor who studies same-sex relationships was so upset by an email from a campus Republican group promoting “Conservative Coming Out Week” that she fired off a vulgarity aimed at all Republicans …
Discussion:
Moonbattery, RedState and AmSpecBlog