THE VETTING: BEN SMITH RELEASES SELECTIVELY EDITED OBAMA RACE VIDEO  —  Earlier today, Buzzfeed's Ben Smith announced on Twitter that video researcher Andrew Kaczynski had released “the mysterious Harvard/Obama/race video that the Breitbart folks have been talking about.”

Armed Forces Chairman Levin wants Limbaugh dropped from military radio  —  The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday that he would “love” to see controversial conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh dropped from the Armed Forces Network.

TPM2012  —  Bachmann: ‘Health Care Dictator’ Could Decide How Many Babies You Can Have  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is warning that the Obama administration's contraception insurance mandate could put America on a slippery slope — to a totalitarian one-child policy.

New poll shows Rick Santorum leading in Alabama GOP primary  —  A new poll released on the eve of Rick Santorum's first campaign visit to Alabama shows the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania leading in the state Republican Party presidential primary.  —  The statewide poll conducted …

Obama lobbying Dems over Keystone XL pipeline  —  President Barack Obama is intervening in a Senate fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline and personally lobbying Democrats to reject an amendment calling for its construction, according to several sources familiar with the talks.

Joe the Plumber blows a gasket on CNN  —  Samuel Wurzelbacher, who on Thursday morning accused CNN of being like TMZ and trying to trap him with “gotcha questions,” explained to POLITICO immediately following the tense interview that he is “sick of the gossip and drama.”

Won't Be Long Now, Folks!  —  And the odds that we'll get to somebody dropping the ni-CLANG word on President Obama took a really big step forward today, along with bonus misogyny to boot.  They say a picture's worth a thousands words, and judging from the latest Mike Lester political cartoon from the Rome …

The Party of Hate  —  Millions of Americans voted for Barack Obama in the hope that he would be a trailblazer who would conduct the presidency in a new way.  Well, he has: Obama has been the most divisive president in our modern history, unabashedly stirring up hate against not only his political enemies …

The Influence Industry: Obama gives administration jobs to some big fundraisers  —  Big donors considering whether to work the phones raising money for President Obama's reelection campaign might consider the fate of his 2008 bundlers.  Many of them, it turns out, won plum jobs in his administration.

U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers  —  Justice Department Threatens Lawsuits, Alleging Collusion Over E-Book Pricing  —  The Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rep. Jean Schmidt's Defeat Serves as Warning  —  Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt had tough primaries before, but it's obvious she didn't see this one coming.  —  Podiatrist Brad Wenstrup defeated Schmidt by 6 points in Tuesday's GOP primary, likely ending the controversial Congresswoman's career.

VP Joe Biden raises money in St. Petersburg  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Vice President Joe Biden slipped into the bay area for a fundraiser Wednesday, where he cheered for the spirited Republican presidential primary to continue for as long as possible.  —  “God love them, as my mother would say.

Subject for Debate: Are Women People?  —  I've always assumed that women are fully autonomous human citizens—who vote, even!—but now I'm not so certain  —  From left: Catholic Bishop William Lori, the Rev. Matthew Harrison, Dr. Ben Mitchell, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and Craig Mitchell …

Massive solar storm heading for Earth  —  Airlines and energy suppliers are on alert as the largest solar storm in five years threatens to disrupt flights and power lines  —  Airlines and energy suppliers are on alert as the largest solar storm in five years heads toward Earth, threatening to disrupt flights and power lines.

Obama plays hard on and off court  —  For President Obama, politics translates to sports, and the two worlds often come together.  —  The president's goal — from the basketball court to the Scrabble board and campaign trail — say those who know him, is simple: He wants to win …

Secret Service agent: Clinton's staff rude, Hillary aloof  —  In a breach of tradition, a former U.S. Secret Service agent has self-published a book that savages the Clinton White House staff as arrogant and rude, suggests former first lady Hillary Clinton was aloof and charges …

Texas Women's Clinics Retreat as Finances Are Cut  —  Leticia Parra, a mother of five scraping by on income from her husband's sporadic construction jobs, relied on the Planned Parenthood clinic in San Carlos, an impoverished town in South Texas, for breast cancer screenings, free birth control pills and pap smears for cervical cancer.