Shifting the Economic Narrative  —  What is clear from this fresh look at public consciousness on the economy is how difficult this period has been for both non-college-educated and college-educated voters - and how vulnerable the prevailing narratives articulated by national Democratic leaders are.

Romney holds small lead in NC  —  PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds Mitt Romney leading Barack Obama 48-46.  It's a small lead but still significant in that it's the first time we've found Romney ahead in our monthly polling of the state since October.

Pileup at the White House  —  It has been a Junius Horribilis for President Obama.  —  Job growth has stalled, the Democrats have been humiliated in Wisconsin, the attorney general is facing a contempt-of-Congress citation, talks with Pakistan have broken down, Bill Clinton is contradicting Obama …

Sen. Cornyn calls on Holder to resign  —  Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Tuesday called on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign.  —  Cornyn, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has long been critical of Holder, but had so far resisted pushing for Holder to step down.

Jeb Bush comments have blogs in uproar  —  Conservatives in the blogosphere lashed out at Jeb Bush for saying that Ronald Reagan and his father, George H.W. Bush, would not have fit well in the modern Republican Party, ripping the former Florida governor as a “RINO” and dismissing his “steaming pile of nonsense.”

The Follower Problem  —  If you go to the Lincoln or Jefferson memorials in Washington, you are invited to look up in admiration.  Lincoln and Jefferson are presented as the embodiments of just authority.  They are strong and powerful but also humanized.  Jefferson is a graceful aristocratic democrat.

Obama: GOP campaign fits in a single tweet  —  OWINGS MILLS, Md. — President Obama accused the Republicans of running a campaign focused exclusively on blame.  —  “You can pretty much put their campaign on a tweet and have some characters to spare,” Obama said at a fundraiser outside of Baltimore.

The Fiscal Legacy of George W. Bush  —  Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul.  He is the author of “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform - Why We Need It and What It Will Take.”

HUGE!  Neal Rauhauser's Vicious Lies Exposed by Yet Another Leaked E-Mail  —  Last night, I published an e-mail showing that Democrat political operative Neal Rauhauser, representing himself as an agent of Brett Kimberlin's Velvet Revolution, had used his connections to the “Anonymous” …

Public Worker Unions Back Controversial Barron In New York  —  AFSCME set to spend on behalf of the “revolutionary Pan-Africanist” and Mugabe, Qaddafi ally.  —  BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Powerful public workers' unions are throwing their weight — in public and behind the scenes …

Times Have Changed, It's OK to Lie  —  Last month David Corn noted that Mitt Romney was claiming that “government” would control half the economy once Obamacare was up and running.  He's still saying it, and today Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post gives it a score of four Pinocchios and says Romney should drop it.

Top conservative says read my lips: Don't sign ‘no new tax’ pledge  —  Spinners and Winners  —  As a conservative Republican, Lindsey Graham has never had a problem promising not to raise taxes.  Like almost every other Republican member of Congress, during his last re-election campaign …

IU community mourns passing of Distinguished Professor and Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The entire Indiana University community mourns the passing today of Distinguished Professor Elinor Ostrom, who received the 2009 Nobel Prize …

Does Mitt Romney need ‘Obamacare’?  —  Republicans are cheerleading for the Supreme Court to strike down President Barack Obama's health care law.  —  But there's one Republican who might be sorry: Mitt Romney.  —  There's fear in some GOP circles that if the court wipes the Affordable Care Act off …

North Dakota Considers Eliminating Property Tax  —  BISMARCK, N.D. — Since Californians shrank their property taxes more than three decades ago by passing Proposition 13, people around the nation have echoed their dismay over such levies, putting forth plans to even them, simplify them, cap them, slash them.

Why I voted for Ron Paul  —  I operate on instinct.  So I should not have been surprised by my own gut reaction to the absentee ballot that lay before me on the kitchen table.  —  I scanned the list for Republican primary candidates and let instinct take over.  —  Mitt Romney?  Not on your life.

Actor Kal Penn Meets With Young Obama Supporters in Arlington  —  Actor Kal Penn met with more than 100 young supporters of President Obama in Rosslyn and on Columbia Pike last night.  —  At Cafe Asia in Rosslyn, Penn spoke to a young professionals event about the importance of the upcoming presidential election.

White House softball team smoked by pot lobby's bats  —  Anyone notice a cloud hanging over the Mall last week?  That might have been the White House softball team getting absolutely smoked by the team fielded by the marijuana lobby.  —  The One Hitters, the team of pro-pot activists, beat STOTUS (the Softball Team of the U.S.) 25-3.

House Of Dimon Marred By CEO Complacency Over Unit'S Risk  —  JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) could have spotted trouble at its chief investment office long before traders there racked up at least $2 billion in losses.  One reason it didn't: Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.

Michelle Obama's book earns a ‘thumbs-up’ from her daughters  —  Michelle Obama signed copies of her book Tuesday, and revealed at the event that the hefty tome earned a hard-won “thumbs-up” from her daughters Malia and Sasha.  —  “The book ‘American Grown’ is everything I would have imagined …

Sherrod Brown: Government does create jobs, and we Democrats need to say so  —  It's good to see the two presidential campaigns squaring off over the real causes of the ongoing unemployment crisis, but let's face it: When it comes to whether we are actually going to do anything to create jobs …

Obama Sees Sharpest Drop In Donors From Western States  —  Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, and Idaho are home to the highest percentage of 2008 Obama donors who have yet to contribute $200 or more this year.  Analysts cite the issues, from climate change to the war in Iraq, and the economy.

Laffer and Moore: Obama's Real Spending Record  —  There's no way around the facts.  Under Presidents Bush and Obama, government exploded as a share of the economy.  —  President Obama shocked us the other day when he said, “Since I've been president, federal spending has risen at the lowest pace in nearly 60 years.”

ObamaCare's Secret History  —  How a Pfizer CEO and Big Pharma colluded with the White House at the public's expense.  —  On Friday House Republicans released more documents that expose the collusion between the health-care industry and the White House that produced ObamaCare, and what a story of crony capitalism it is.

Anti-gay Muslim cries bias  —  The NYPD wouldn't hire him — because he is anti-gay, a Police Academy reject complains in a startling new discrimination lawsuit.  —  The would-be cop from Brooklyn — identified only as “Farhan Doe” — is a Muslim-American who believes homosexuality is a sin …

Fed Says U.S. Wealth Fell 38.8% In 2007-2010 On Housing  —  The financial crisis wiped out 18 years of gains for the median U.S. household net worth, with a 38.8 percent plunge from 2007 to 2010 that was led by the collapse in home prices, a Federal Reserve study showed.