Santorum's Turn  —  At the moment Rick Santorum appears to be overtaking Newt Gingrich as the principal challenger to Mitt Romney.  Santorum has won more contests than Gingrich (who has won only one), has more delegates, and leads him in the polls.  In at least one poll, he also leads Romney.

Inside Media Matters: Sources, memos reveal erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations  —  This is the first in a Daily Caller investigative series on Media Matters For America.  Daily Caller reporters Alex Pappas and Will Rahn contributed to this report.

Dem lawmaker: Obama budget is a ‘nervous breakdown on paper’  —  Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) expressed concern President Obama's budget would go too far to rein in government spending in the midst of an economic recovery, calling the forthcoming proposal a ‘nervous breakdown on paper.’

Religious Freedom and Contraception (among other things)  —  I'm amazed by the turns this issue has taken.  I posted about it two weeks ago.  My post had problems.  Among other things, I slighted legal issues to focus on what I took to be really going on, motivation-wise.

Severe Conservative Syndrome  —  Mitt Romney has a gift for words — self-destructive words.  On Friday he did it again, telling the Conservative Political Action Conference that he was a “severely conservative governor.”  —  As Molly Ball of The Atlantic pointed out, Mr. Romney “described conservatism as if it were a disease.”

Why America Keeps Getting More Conservative  —  Even with the president's approval rating showing signs of life and the Republicans busily bashing themselves over the head — “one is a practicing polygamist and he's not even the Mormon,” retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently quipped …

Contraception and the cost of culture wars  —  Politicized culture wars are debilitating because they almost always require partisans to denigrate the moral legitimacy of their opponents, and sometimes to deny their very humanity.  It's often not enough to defeat a foe.

Israel says bombs target embassies in India, Georgia  —  (Reuters) - Bombers targeted staff at Israel's embassies in India and Georgia on Monday, wounding four people, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of involvement.

Greek Parliament Passes Austerity Plan After Riots Rage  —  ATHENS — After violent protests left dozens of buildings aflame in Athens, the Greek Parliament voted early on Monday to approve a package of harsh austerity measures demanded by the country's foreign lenders in exchange for new loans …

Cronyism 101  —  I wrote about my participation in the Koch brothers' semi-annual seminar in Palm Springs two weekends ago here.  Along with Peter Schweizer, I did a presentation on cronyism.  My speech focused on corporate cronyism, while Peter's centered on the sort of political cronyism …

Wall Street turns wrath — and cash — on Obama  —  NEW YORK — Profits and bonuses are down across Wall Street.  Banks are slicing jobs and shuttering once profitable trading units in the face of new regulations.  —  But the financial services industry is poised to set records in one arena in 2012: politics.

Notre Dame Faculty to Obama: ‘This Is a Grave Violation of Religious Freedom and Cannot Stand’  —  (CNSNews.com) - Twenty-five Notre Dame faculty members—led by the university's top ethics expert, and including some of the school's most eminent scholars—have signed a statement declaring …