memeorandum: Ed Gillespie: Romney benefits from longer primary season (CNN)

2:30 PM ET, March 18, 2012

Top Items:

Executive Order — National Defense Resources Preparedness — NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.) …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers, Israpundit, Hot Air, Israel Matzav, Pirate's Cove, Atlas Shrugs, The Volokh Conspiracy, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Lonely Conservative and iOwnTheWorld.com

Kenneth Schortgen Jr / Examiner:

President Obama signs Executive Order allowing for control over all US resources — On March 16th, President Obama signed a new Executive Order which expands upon a prior order issued in 1950 for Disaster Preparedness, and gives the office of the President complete control over all the resources …

Discussion: protein wisdom

Meghashyam Mali / Ballot Box:

Sen. McCain: Romney ‘improving dramatically’ as a GOP candidate — Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) defended Mitt Romney on Sunday, amid concerns the GOP frontrunner is failing to rally the party's conservative base and may fall short of the delegates needed to win the nomination outright.

Discussion: CNN and The Hill

Emily Schultheis / Politico:

McCain says Romney is ‘improving dramatically’ — Arizona Sen. John McCain dismissed concerns about a brokered Republican national convention, saying Mitt Romney is “improving dramatically” as a candidate and will ultimately get the nomination. — Asked by host David Gregory on NBC's …

Discussion: CNN

CNN:

Ed Gillespie: Romney benefits from longer primary season — (CNN) - While a brokered Republican convention in August would be “fractious,” former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie insisted Sunday that the GOP nominating process still works.

Discussion: Politico

Rick Santorum / CNN:

Santorum: America doesn't need Romney as CEO — (CNN) - While Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney touts his business experience as one of his strongest credentials, rival Rick Santorum blasted it on Sunday as a drawback. — “If Governor Romney thinks that he is the CEO of America …

Discussion: Politico

Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine:

SAN DIEGO TEA PARTY LEADER ARRESTED FOR KIDNAPPING, RAPE — Lemon Grove resident Michael John Kobulnicky, 50, a leader in the San Diego Tea Party and former regional director of the Southern California Conservative Party, is under arrest for allegedly kidnapping and raping a local woman on Fiesta Island.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Crooks and Liars

Lauren Steussy / KNSD-TV:

Sex Assault Suspect a Tea Party Leader — Michael Kobulnicky suspected of pulling woman into his car and sexually assaulting her — Police arrested a prominent local political activist in connection to a recent Fiesta Island sex assault on Thursday. — Michael Kobulnicky …

Discussion: Conservative Hideout 2.0, Jammie Wearing Fools, Joe. My. God. and The Raw Story

Victor Davis Hanson / National Review:

Will Maher Go the Way of Olbermann? — David Axelrod's moral-equivalence argument that Limbaugh's smear is worse than Maher's because the former is both more influential and more identifiable with Republican circles is a sad sort of sophistry. Limbaugh may have a larger audience …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and The Other McCain

Ben Geman / The Hill:

Mitt Romney calls on Obama to fire ‘gas hike trio’ over rising prices — Mitt Romney is ramping up attacks on President Obama over rising gasoline prices by calling for the firing of Obama's Interior and Energy secretaries and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Discussion: CNN, Scared Monkeys, Los Angeles Times and Mediaite

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Is Elvis a Mormon? — TRUST Mitt Romney to be on top of the latest trend of the superrich: the trophy basement. — On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported on the new fashion to look low-key on the outside while digging deep for opulence — carving out subterranean spaces for Turkish baths …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Who Are You Going To Believe, Me Or Your Lying Ears? — The NY Times opens a campaign to bring racial justice to Florida. They may have landed on the right side of the issue, or not. Their lead: — Justice Department Investigation Is Sought in Florida Teenager's Shooting Death — By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Discussion: New York Times, Whiskey Fire and News One

Chris Good / ABCNEWS:

Police Intervene, Arrest Ron Paul Backers at Missouri Caucus — Police and organizers shut down proceedings at one of Missouri's largest caucuses today, as Ron Paul supporters feuded with local GOP leaders. — “It's like the Hatfields and the McCoys around here,” St. Charles County's …

Discussion: Kansas City Star, Wake up America and Weasel Zippers

Steven Yaccino / The Caucus:
Disruption Closes a Missouri Caucus Before Vote

Discussion: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Maddow Blog and The Other McCain

Byron Tau / Reuters:

Obama celebrates St. Patrick's Day at Capitol Hill Irish pub — President Obama celebrated St. Patrick's Day at the Dubliner — a traditional Irish pub just steps away from the U.S. Capitol. — Obama was greeted by a raucous (and undoubtedly inebriated) crowd to chants of “four more years,” “USA!