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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.
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Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Santorum moves ahead in Michigan — Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich. — Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Washington Monthly, Slate, Firedoglake, GOP 12, emptywheel, The Maddow Blog, Politico, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wonkette, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, The Other McCain, American Spectator, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Political Watch and The Daily Dish
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Santorum Catches Romney in GOP Race — Obama Leads Both in General Election Matchups — OVERVIEW — Rick Santorum's support among Tea Party Republicans and white evangelicals is surging, and he now has pulled into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Ballot Box, GOP 12, Hot Air, Taegan Goddard's …, Booman Tribune, The Page, Los Angeles Times and Daily Kos
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
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.”
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
GOP Gov. McDonnell warns Santorum not to demean military women
GOP Gov. McDonnell warns Santorum not to demean military women
Discussion:
CNN
Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
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.’
Discussion:
Washington Post, Guardian, Politico, Weasel Zippers and Ron Paul 2012 Presidential …
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Obama's Broken Deficit Promise — “This is big,” wrote White House director of new media Macon Phillips in a February 23, 2009 blog post, “the President today promised that by the end of his first term, he will cut in half the massive federal deficit we've inherited. And we'll do it in a new way: honestly and candidly.”
Discussion:
Washington Post and Hullabaloo
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Obama proposes $800 million in aid for “Arab Spring” — (Reuters) - The White House announced plans on Monday to help “Arab Spring” countries swept by revolutions with more than $800 million in economic aid, while maintaining U.S. military aid to Egypt. — In his annual budget message to Congress …
Discussion:
Mail Online, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Jack Lew's misleading claim about the Senate's failure to pass a budget resolution
Jack Lew's misleading claim about the Senate's failure to pass a budget resolution
Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
WH Chief of Staff Errs on Senate Budget Rules
WH Chief of Staff Errs on Senate Budget Rules
Discussion:
Fox News, Betsy's Page, Power Line, Campaign 2012, Erick's blog, americanthinker.com, ThinkProgress and tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Republicans See Broken Promises and Gimmicks in Obama Budget
Republicans See Broken Promises and Gimmicks in Obama Budget
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Center for American Progress, Reuters, The Maddow Blog, Hot Air and RedState
Geoff Mulvihill / Associated Press:
NJ Senate OKs gay marriage bill in milestone vote — TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers gave their blessing to legalizing gay marriage for the first time Monday as the state Senate passed a bill that would allow nuptials for same-sex couples, despite Gov. Chris Christie's insistence that he will veto such legislation.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Politico, Business Insider and Truthdig
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Edith Honan / Reuters:
New Jersey Senate approves gay marriage; veto looms
New Jersey Senate approves gay marriage; veto looms
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Prop 8 Trial Tracker and Campaign 2012
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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.
Discussion:
Hot Air, RedState, Washington Monthly, Big Journalism, Wake up America, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Booman Tribune, Ed Driscoll, Michelle Malkin, The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit, The PJ Tatler, Wonkette, FishbowlDC, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Atlas Shrugs, TBogg, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and American Thinker, more at Mediagazer »
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Vince Coglianese / The Daily Caller:
Inside Media Matters: David Brock's enemies list
Inside Media Matters: David Brock's enemies list
Discussion:
Big Journalism, RedState and iOwnTheWorld.com
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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 …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, In America, The Reaction and Althouse
Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:
‘Former Homosexual’ Calls for Dan Savage's Arrest — DL Foster, an anti-gay activist and professed “former homosexual,” called for the arrest of author Dan Savage for his role in founding the It Gets Better Project, which has consistently been in the crosshairs of Religious Right activists …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Towleroad News #gay
Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Whitney Houston album price hike sparks controversy — Sony Music under fire after cost of greatest hits set on iTunes rises by more than 60% after singer's death — Sony Music has come under fire after it increased the price of a Whitney Houston album on Apple's iTunes Store hours after the singer was found dead.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Colorlines and Metro.co.uk
E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
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.
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House GOP scrambles payroll tax cut calculus — In a dramatic reversal, House GOP leaders said Monday they'll attempt this week to pass a 10-month extension of the payroll tax holiday without saying how they'd pay for it. — Republicans say it's not their first choice …
Discussion:
tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, Swampland and The New Republic
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Ludwig Von Mises Makes the Libertarian Case against “Free Love” (and Implicitly Against Birth Control) — UPDATE at end. — Huh. So apparently the GOP is going all-in on the birth control stuff. TPM: “Republicans will move forward with legislation by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) …
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Brad DeLong
EU Press Room:
Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google — The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a developer of smartphones and tablets, by Google, the world's largest internet search …
Discussion:
Reuters, TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Zach Carter / The Huffington Post:
Congress Debt Ceiling Debacle May Repeat Before Presidential Election … REACT: — FOLLOW: — 2012, Debt Ceiling, Congress, Deficit, Democrats, Economy, Elections 2012, Jobs, Obama, Politics, Video, State Of The Union 2012, Debt, Election, Elections, Hostage, Treasury, Politics News
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Taegan Goddard's …
Byron Tau / Politico:
W.H. ruling reopens cabinet access — President Obama's decision to encourage his donors to give to a super PAC does more than just empower an outside group looking to level the playing field with Republican groups. — It also opens to the door to a kind of influence peddling that was banned …
Discussion:
About.com US Politics
Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Obama takes combative tone with Congress in touting $3.8T budget — President Obama sent Congress a $3.8T budget proposal Monday that he says is a “reflection of shared responsibility” and aims to pour billions of dollars in increased spending into the down economy to inject some immediate life there.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
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Inside team Rahm: Emanuel taps best minds in country for advice — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is interviewed in his fifth floor City Hall offices on Tuesday, February 7, 2012. Richard A. Chapman~Sun-Times — Former Mayor Richard M. Daley maintained a closed circle of advisers that got tighter …