Santorum leads in LA and other notes...  Rick Santorum is headed for a commanding win in Louisiana on Saturday.  We find him with 42% to 28% for Mitt Romney, 18% for Newt Gingrich, 8% for Ron Paul, and 2% for Buddy Roemer.  —  It's interesting to look at these numbers in the context of last week's results in Alabama and Mississippi.

The Ineffective Greenhouse  —  A liberal legal legend's ludicrous ObamaCare defense.  —  Linda Greenhouse is something of an institution of legal journalism.  She became the New York Times's Supreme Court correspondent in 1978.  Thirty years later, when she accepted an early-retirement package …

5 things Dems got wrong on health care  —  President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies thought their political assumptions were airtight during the yearlong battle to overhaul the health care system.  —  Voters would reward them, they thought, even if Democrats muscled a bill through without Republican support.

James O'Keefe's Panty-Stealing ‘Rape Barn’ Sex Scandal  —  It's a right-wing rabble-rouser showdown!  Jazz-handed pimp impersonator James O'Keefe is at “#WAR” with a former Project Veritas colleague who is now blogging an O'Keefe tell-all involving stolen panties, drugged beers, a “rape barn …

U.S. Inches Toward Goal of Energy Independence  —  MIDLAND, Tex. — The desolate stretch of West Texas desert known as the Permian Basin is still the lonely domain of scurrying roadrunners by day and howling coyotes by night.  But the roar of scores of new oil rigs and the distinctive acrid fumes …

Obama heckled during energy speech in Ohio  —  A heckler interrupted President Obama's speech on energy policy Thursday at Ohio State University.  —  The president, looking frustrated, stopped speaking and addressed the man  —  “Sir.  Im here to speak to these folks.  You can hold your own rally.

Florida governor appoints new prosecutor in Trayvon Martin case  —  Gun control advocates say the Florida law that authorizes using deadly force to stop someone from committing a serious crime also encourages violent behavior.  NBC's Pete Williams reports.  —  By msnbc.com staff

Specter says he might vote for Romney  —  Former Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) says he might vote for Mitt Romney in November, depending on which version of Romney shows up for the general election.  —  “I'm going to wait to see which Romney it is,” said Specter in an interview with The Hill at his elegant apartment in Georgetown.

SUSPECT ‘KIDNAPPED MAN’ AND THEN ‘WALKED AROUND CITY WITH SWORD IN HIS HAND’  —  Suspected serial killer Mohammad Mera, who broke out of an Afghanistan jail in 2008 as part of a mass Taliban escape, once kidnapped another man, it has been reported.  —  A close family friend …

Obama's First Ford ‘Rattled and Shook’  —  President Obama kicked his PR campaign on gas prices into a higher gear Wednesday, giving what is believed to be the first ever presidential interview to AAA.  —  “I understand what folks are going through because it wasn't that long ago that I was having …

Bachmann: GOP primary has created ‘a lot of fatigue’ among Republican voters  —  Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said that the grueling Republican primary had created “a lot of fatigue” among Republican voters, although emphasized again that she did not plan to endorse before the primary was settled.

BofA Tests an Option to Foreclosure  —  Lender Lets Owners Stay in Homes, Rent From the Bank  —  Bank of America Corp. is launching a pilot program that will allow homeowners at risk of foreclosure to hand over deeds to their houses and sign leases that will let them rent the houses back from the bank at a market rate.

Roll Call - The Newspaper of Capitol Hill Since 1955 At the Races  —  Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is heading back to Washington state next month, stoking speculation he might be considering a comeback bid on the West Coast.  —  Kucinich will address a forum on protecting Social Security …