memeorandum: Top Obama campaign donor accused of fraud (Jack Gillum/Associated Press)

12:00 PM ET, April 2, 2012

Top Items:

Justin Sink / The Hill:

‘Mad Men’ character knocks Mitt Romney's father as ‘a clown’ — Sunday's episode of “Mad Men” — the popular drama about an ad agency in the 1960s — gave a nod to the current political scene, with one character taking a not-so-subtle jab at the father of 2012 Republican front-runner Mitt Romney.

Discussion: CNN

Susan Page / USA Today:

Swing States poll: A shift by women puts Obama in lead — MILWAUKEE - President Obama has opened the first significant lead of the 2012 campaign in the nation's dozen top battleground states, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, boosted by a huge shift of women to his side.

Lois Romano / Politico:

Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats fear most — Ann Romney's unexpected rock star status has the political arena buzzing about how her husband's campaign will leverage her popularity in an election in which Michelle Obama — one of the most admired first ladies in history — will have an outsized and substantive portfolio.

Discussion: CNN

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Obama 49%, Romney 45% Among Registered Voters Nationwide — Obama, Romney supporters equally enthusiastic about voting — PRINCETON, NJ — If asked to choose between them today, 49% of U.S. registered voters say they would vote for Barack Obama for president, while 45% would choose likely Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, The Spectacle Blog, The Maddow Blog, FiveThirtyEight and The PJ Tatler

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:

Swing state poll makes key omissions — USA Today released a seemingly-rough poll for Mitt Romney over the weekend, but it's not nearly as lopsided as it first appears. — The substance: Barack Obama has jumped to a 9% lead over Romney, overall, in swing states (Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Jonathan Easley / Ballot Box:

New Santorum ad links Romney to Obama on healthcare, bailouts — Rick Santorum is going hard after Mitt Romney in a new Web advertisement, directly tying the former Massachusetts governor's policies to those of President Obama. — “What if I told you this man's government-mandated healthcare …

Discussion: CNN

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Romney headed for double win Tuesday — Mitt Romney looks to be headed for another pair of victories in Tuesday's primaries. Maryland is likely to be a blow out with Romney at 52% to 27% for Rick Santorum, 10% for Newt Gingrich, and 9% for Ron Paul. Wisconsin should be a good deal closer.

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Week

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's women problem

Discussion: Hot Air, Associated Press, The Hill, The Raw Story and Hotline On Call

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Pink Slime Economics — The big bad event of last week was, of course, the Supreme Court hearing on health reform. In the course of that hearing it became clear that several of the justices, and possibly a majority, are political creatures pure and simple, willing to embrace any argument …

Discussion: National Review, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Paul Krugman, Suburban Guerrilla, Daily Kos, Washington Wire and Prairie Weather

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

The right's stealthy coup — Right before our eyes, American conservatism is becoming something very different from what it once was. Yet this transformation is happening by stealth because moderates are too afraid to acknowledge what all their senses tell them.

Discussion: The Mahablog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Former President Clinton on Mitt Romney: Etch-a-Sketch “Is What He's Got to Do” — Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, currently faces a dynamic similar to the one President Bill Clinton faced during his first presidential run 20 years ago: a long, bruising primary, driving up his unfavorable ratings.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Politico, CNN and Taegan Goddard's …

John E. Sununu / Boston Globe: An exciting VP? Don't go for it, Mitt

Christian Heinze / GOP 12: Clinton: Flip-flops will doom Romney

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Rep. Clyburn: Obama should campaign against Supreme Court if health law falls — Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said President Obama should campaign against the Supreme Court, painting it as a conservative, activist institution if it rules that the administration's healthcare law is unconstitutional.

Discussion: Politico and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:
Assailing the Supreme Court

Discussion: Althouse and BizzyBlog

Seattle Times:
U.S. Supreme Court should overturn Arizona's anti-illegal-immigration law

Discussion: Don Surber

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Obama allies launch ad campaign hitting back over gas prices — In case you needed another sign of how intense the battle over gas prices will get as the election heats up, the Obama-allied Priorities USA Action is going up with a new ad in seven swing states hitting back hard at a spot …

Discussion: American Prospect and Scared Monkeys

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Obama extends olive branch to Cantor after passage of jobs bill

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Facing voter anger at home, lawmakers play gas prices blame game

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Heritage Foundation

Juli Weiner / Vanity Fair:

The Top Candidates in the Democratic Presidential Primary Mad Men's Henry Francis Calls George Romney a Clown! — Clown? — On last night's episode of Mad Men, Henry Francis, a high-ranking operative for Republican New York mayor John Lindsay and Betty's mostly supportive …

Discussion: Mediaite

James Crugnale / Mediaite:
Mad Men Takes A Swipe At Mitt Romney's Father, Calls Him A ‘Clown’

Discussion: Campaign 2012 and nation.foxnews.com

Washington Examiner:

Spike Lee puts the ‘twit’ in Twitter — Just when you thought the controversy over the Trayvon Martin shooting couldn't get any worse, it got worse. Or, more accurately, several parties helped make it worse. — Enter Marcus Davonne Higgins, a Los Angeles man no one's probably ever heard of …

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:

Obama Calls for More Redistribution of Wealth, Declaring: 'I Am My Brother's Keeper' — (CNSNews.com) - In a campaign speech in Vermont on Friday, President Barack Obama referenced the biblical story of Cain and Abel in condemning what he called “you're-on-your-own economics” …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Politico:

Where is George W. Bush? — George W. Bush is everywhere and nowhere in the 2012 presidential race. — Reviled by Democrats and generally avoided as a campaign talking point by his fellow Republicans, the former president is in a self-imposed political exile — an absence that was underscored …

Discussion: American Prospect

Ylan Q. Mui / Washington Post:

Senior citizens continue to bear burden of student loans — New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt. More than 10 percent of those loans are delinquent.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, News Desk, US Politics and Via Meadia