Rush Limbaugh Closes First Hour With Dead Air  —  Rush Limbaugh closed the first hour of his radio show on his flagship station, WABC, with 1:03 of dead air Monday.  —  From WABC's online feed of the final commercial break of the first hour:  —  While advertisers have fled Limbaugh's show since …

Was Soledad O'Brien Bailed Out by Producers on Critical Race Theory Definition?  —  CNN's Soledad O'Brien's venomously sarcastic interview with Breitbart.com editor-in-chief Joel Pollak culminated with her throwing out her definition of “Critical Race Theory” in the heat of her interview over the Obama/Bell Tapes released last night.

Senate rejects GOP measure to construct Keystone pipeline, 56-42  —  The Senate has rejected a GOP plan to approve construction of the Keystone oil pipeline after President Obama made personal calls to Democrats urging them to oppose it.  —  The 56-42 vote staves of an election-year rebuke of Obama …

Gallup: Unemployment now up over 9%  —  The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the official unemployment report for the month of February, but we have two previews this week to use as a gauge.  First, the ADP report predicts a net growth of 216,000 jobs in the private sector …

Mitt Romney's media charm offensive  —  BOSTON — It's the worst-kept secret of the 2012 campaign: The candidate who does the least public media-bashing — Mitt Romney — has the worst relationship of all with the press.  —  But as Romney seeks to nail down the GOP nomination and cement …

How a $1,000 test could destroy the health-insurance industry  —  The New York Times reports that the cost of sequencing an individual genome will soon be less than $1,000.  That's not nothing, but given what most health care costs, it's not much.  And it means that an individual mandate — or something much like it — is inevitable.

Romney Calls Southern Primaries “An Away Game”  —  Lowering expectations for a rough stretch, he tells an Alabama radio station he hopes to pick up delegates in Birmingham — even if he can't win the state.  —  Mitt Romney admitted Thursday that he might not be the most natural fit …

Ron Paul's pointless Internet presidency  —  Ron Paul has about as many votes in this year's GOP primaries as he has Facebook fans - is his fierce online following that much less relevant than it appears?  —  Four years ago, the shrewdest presidential candidates used YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and a dash of Twitter.

Bill O'Reilly Clashes With ‘View’ Hosts Over Contraception, Gas Prices, GOP Candidates (VIDEO) … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Bill O'Reilly made an epic return to “The View” on Thursday and clashed with the hosts about well, just about every topic that came up.

Rush Limbaugh's Advertisers, March 8  —  At least 50 advertisers have reportedly dropped their ads from Rush Limbaugh's radio show in the wake of his misogynistic attacks on Sandra Fluke.  —  Here are his March 8 advertisers, in the order they appeared on WABC, the flagship station for Limbaugh's show.

Mitt: Pay for Your Own Damn College!  —  And get off my lawn while you're at it.  —  Earlier this week, a pretty interesting and telling exchange took place at a Mitt Romney town hall meeting.  A student asked Romney what he would do to make college more affordable for students who struggle to pay for it.

Pat Robertson Says Marijuana Use Should be Legal  —  Of the many roles Pat Robertson has assumed over his five-decade-long career as an evangelical leader — including presidential candidate and provocative voice of the right wing — his newest guise may perhaps surprise his followers the most: marijuana legalization advocate.

UN women's rights panel due to culminate annual session by condemning Israel  —  Israel's envoy to UN Prosor bemoans Commission on the Status of Women ‘obsessive’ preoccupation with Palestinian issue, while ignoring women being ‘butchered, tortured, raped’ in Syria.  —  Get Haaretz on iPhone

Gas Prices Now A Big Factor In Presidential Election  —  MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It might be one of the biggest issues in the upcoming presidential election.  Last night, CBS News exit polls found 77 percent of those voting in seven Super Tuesday states say rising gas prices were an important factor in their vote.

Kansas Abortion Bill Could Raise Taxes On Women Seeking Procedure (UPDATE) … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Planned Parenthood, Abortion, Abortion Rights, Anti-Abortion, Taxes, Video, Birth Control, Kansas Legislature, Sales Tax, Sam Brownback, Women's Health, Abortion Tax, Kansas Abortion …

‘Game Change’ actors dish on Palin, portrayals and politics  —  Washington (CNN) - Actress Julianne Moore, who portrays former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the HBO movie “Game Change,” said she was surprised to learn how disorganized the McCain-Palin campaign was in 2008.

A Jeffersonian Proposal for the Constitution  —  There are two basic approaches one can take to thinking about the United States Constitution.  One is to treat it is a given, whether that refers only to the specific document proposed and ratified in 1787-88 with subsequent textual amendments …

Richard Epstein responds to Levinson's Jeffersonian Proposal  —  I have been asked for my response to Sanford Levinson's plea for a Jeffersonian approach to constitutionalism that refuses to treat the document as the Ark of the Covenant and treats it as a social arrangement that should be subject …

OMM done with JC Penney  —  The leader of a pro-family advocacy group says only time will tell whether JC Penney's decision to have a high-profile homosexual entertainer as its spokesperson was a good business decision.  —  Despite opposition from the American Family Association's advocacy …

Georgia Senate OKs drug tests for welfare applicants  —  ATLANTA (Reuters) - Adults applying for welfare in Georgia would have to pass a drug test before receiving benefits under a bill approved by the state Senate late on Wednesday.  —  The legislation, called the Social Responsibility …

Romney is facing skepticism in Republican South  —  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mitt Romney faces a tough sell in the Deep South.  With Mississippi and Alabama primaries coming up next Tuesday, there's concern that he's too slick, not really a conservative.  In a region where the evangelical vote …