Argument recap: A lift for the mandate?  —  Analysis  —  The Supreme Court spent 91 minutes Wednesday operating on the assumption that it would strike down the key feature of the new health care law, but may have convinced itself in the end not to do that because of just how hard it would be to decide what to do after that.

Dem kicked off House floor for ‘hoodie’ in Trayvon Martin protest  —  Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) on Wednesday morning was asked to leave the House floor after removing his suit jacket to reveal a “hoodie,” then putting the hood of his sweatshirt on his head to protest the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida.

Exclusive: Newt Gingrich cuts staff, aims at Tampa  —  Newt Gingrich is cutting back his campaign schedule, will lay off about a third of his cash-strapped campaign's full-time staff, and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a “big-choice convention” strategy, communications director Joe DeSantis told POLITICO.

Record Number See Romney Negatively; Obama Outpaces Him in Popularity  —  Mitt Romney trails Barack Obama by 19 points in basic popularity as the 2012 presidential contest inches closer to the main event, with a record 50 percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll now rating Romney unfavorably overall.

Anti-Gay activists looking for glamorous, unintelligent celebrities to advance their cause  — Commentator Accountability Project  —  It sounds like a headline from the Onion, but strategy documents uncovered yesterday, from the nation's most prominent anti-gay marriage group …