Top Items:
Niall Stanage / The Hill:
An air of inevitability grows around Romney after decisive primary win — Mitt Romney is now within touching distance of the Republican Party's presidential nomination, after being ensnared for months in a tough battle. — Romney has taken a bound forward within the past 48 hours.
Discussion:
CNN
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Emily Schultheis / Politico:
Etch A Sketches hit the trail
Etch A Sketches hit the trail
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Maddow Blog, Liberal Values, The New Republic, The Reaction, Daily Kos, The Impolitic and CNN
Amy Bingham / ABCNEWS:
‘Etch A Sketch’ Latest Gaffe From Romney Campaign
‘Etch A Sketch’ Latest Gaffe From Romney Campaign
Discussion:
The Hill, americanthinker.com, The Spectacle Blog and Politico
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
G.O.P. Nomination Becoming a One-Man Race
G.O.P. Nomination Becoming a One-Man Race
Discussion:
Daily Kos, NPR, msnbc.com, The New Republic, The Daily Dish, Philly.com, IMAO, Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Top Romney adviser: Mitt will erase his conservative positions once he's the nominee
Top Romney adviser: Mitt will erase his conservative positions once he's the nominee
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Platform ‘Like An Etch A Sketch,’ Top Spokesman Says
Mitt Romney Platform ‘Like An Etch A Sketch,’ Top Spokesman Says
Discussion:
CNN, The Caucus, Politico and New York Times
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney holds small lead nationally
Romney holds small lead nationally
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, Israpundit, GOP 12, Conservatives4Palin, Wake up America and New York Times
Ben Dimiero / Media Matters for America:
Jason Mattera Still Hasn't Found What He's Looking For — As part of the promotional rollout for his new book, Hollywood Hypocrites, Jason Mattera yesterday unveiled an ambush interview he conducted with U2 lead singer Bono. Or at least, that's who Mattera thought he had ambushed.
Discussion:
Mediaite, TBogg, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, The Raw Story, The Impolitic and Stinque
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Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Jason Mattera interviews someone — is it Bono? — Jason Mattera, editor at large at Human Events, is famous for rough-and-tumble journalism. Last year he created a sensation when he pulled something of a fast one on Vice President Biden. He distracted the veep by pretending he wanted to pose for a picture with him.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Althouse and Taylor Marsh, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Carney: Backers of Ryan budget ‘deliberately ignorant’ on clean energy — House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the Republicans who support his budget plan are “aggressively and deliberately ignorant” when it comes to the need to invest in clean energy, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.
Discussion:
White House.gov Blog, Politico, Power Line and The Hill
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Joel Gehrke / Campaign 2012:
WH: Ryan ‘aggressively and deliberately ignorant’
WH: Ryan ‘aggressively and deliberately ignorant’
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative, The Right Scoop and Pundit & Pundette
Darren Goodeand Dan Berman / Politico:
Obama: Expedite part of Keystone
Obama: Expedite part of Keystone
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
NOM Blog:
The National Organization for Marriage Announces International “Dump Starbucks” Protest Campaign — Contact: Anath Hartmann or Elizabeth Ray (703-683-5004) — “Corporations should not take sides in a culture war that pits a company against the majority of the American people …
Discussion:
Human Rights Campaign, Balloon Juice and Towleroad News #gay
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G-A-Y / Good As You:
AUDIO: NOM confronts Starbucks on marriage equality; gets smacked down to great applause — NOM gets SMACKED DOWN! Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Shultz says the company's support for marriage equality “was not something that was a difficult decision for us”:
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Romney Praises 2008 Bank Bailout — Credits Bush, not Obama for saving the country from a Great Depression. A big policy statement on a tough day. — US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at his Illinois primary night party March 20, 2012 in Schaumburg, Illinois. — (Getty Images / DON EMMERT)
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Hot Air, The Political Carnival, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and Post on Politics
NBC New York:
Occupy Protester Dumped Tub of Feces: Police — Police said Occupy Wall Street protesters were captured on surveillance video dragging a large receptacle of human urine and feces into a public space in Lower Manhattan — This is raw surveillance video of Occupy Wall Street protesters …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys
Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress:
AP Fact Check: In 36 Years Of Data, Not A Shred Of Evidence That Drilling Reduces Gas Prices — Experts deny that drilling brings down gas prices, despite how often Republicans claim to have the “silver bullet.” Now, the Associated Press reports that an analysis of 36 years …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:
More See “Too Much” Religious Talk by Politicians — Santorum Voters Disagree — A new survey finds signs of public uneasiness with the mixing of religion and politics. The number of people who say there has been too much religious talk by political leaders stands at an all-time high since …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The New Republic, msnbc.com, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Washington Monthly and Ballot Box
BuzzFeed:
Gillibrand: Hillary Clinton Should Run In 2016 — In an exclusive interview with BuzzFeed Shift , New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says she will be “one of the first to ask Hillary to run in 2016.” Gillibrand is a close Clinton supporter, and her words add weight to speculation about Clinton's plans.
Discussion:
The Reality-Based Community, American Prospect, The Hill and Politico
Isaac Stone Fish / FP Passport:
Chinese coup watching — Last week, controversial politician Bo Xilai, whose relatively open campaigning for a seat on China's top ruling council shocked China watchers (and possibly his elite peers, as well), was removed from his post as Chongqing's party secretary. He hasn't been seen since.
Discussion:
Financial Times, Instapundit and Daniel W. Drezner
Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Opponents Of Florida's 2005 ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law Predicted ‘Racially Motivated Killings’ — SANFORD, FL — Nearly one month after shooting and killing Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman remains a free man. The Sanford Police maintain that Zimmerman's conduct was legally justified under …
Discussion:
CBS News and Little Green Footballs
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Justices' Ruling Expands Rights of Accused in Plea Bargains — WASHINGTON — Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective lawyers during plea negotiations, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a pair of 5-to-4 decisions that vastly expanded judges' supervision of the criminal justice system.
Discussion:
Hit & Run
Walter Shapiro / Yahoo! News:
The other story of Mitt Romney's dog: Character Sketch — With his double-digit victory in Tuesday's Illinois primary, Mitt Romney moved closer to a goal he has been doggedly pursuing since 2007—making Seamus famous. — Already, Seamus (the Romney family's Irish setter during the 1980s) …
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Julian Sanchez:
Fearing for Your Life — Most of the commentary on the Trayvon Martin case has focused on the growing mountain of evidence suggesting that shooter George Zimmerman, far from acting in “self defense,” was the instigator of the confrontation between the two late last month.
Discussion:
News Desk, The Huffington Post, Guardian and Balloon Juice