Top Items:


Republicans Fuming Over Chris Christie's Senate Decision — The New Jersey governor's decision to hold the Senate race in October 2013 means it will be difficult for the GOP to contest the seat. — Republicans are fuming over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's decision to hold …
RELATED:


Christie Likely to Announce Dates of Special Election — ABC News' Josh Margolin and Shushannah Walshe report: — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is holding a 1:30 p.m. press conference and and sources briefed on the governor's thinking say it's likely he will address the special election process …
Discussion:
Business Insider

Christie Calls Election in October to Fill Senate Seat
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, Outside the Beltway and The Political Carnival

Christie Previously Signed Law to Consolidate Elections to Save Money
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

Obama Picks 3 for Top Appeals Court, Setting Up Battle — WASHINGTON — President Obama set a confrontation with Senate Republicans in motion on Tuesday morning by naming a slate of judges to a top appeals court and daring his rivals to block their confirmations.
RELATED:


Harry Reid says immigration bill on floor next week
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CNN and The Huffington Post

Rubio: Senate immigration reform bill lacks 60 votes
Discussion:
Politico, CNN and Weasel Zippers

Emails of top Obama appointees remain a mystery — WASHINGTON (AP) - Some of President Barack Obama's political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes …
RELATED:


Bush Administration Appointees Also Used ‘Secret E-mail Addresses’
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily, Hit & Run and The Raw Story


Erick Erickson Shows Everything That's Wrong With The GOP — Conservative pundit Erick Erickson doesn't like me. This morning he wrote 900 words about why. — But the main thing his post reveals is what's wrong with Erickson - and with a Republican party that is built to appeal to people like Erickson.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, The Plum Line, Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman
RELATED:

On Conservative Reformers — There is a lot of back and forth chatter going on right now in the DC-NYC corridor about conservative reform. This is problematic because the people talking about reform are in Washington and New York, the two places least likely to lead any version of conservative reform.
Discussion:
The Dish, Washington Monthly, The Other McCain and The Daily Caller


Bob Woodward criticizes IRS ‘fiction’ — The Washington Post's Bob Woodward says the Obama administration has explaining to do on the IRS scandal and needs to answer questions about who knew what, when. — “This fiction that somehow [The IRS is] totally an independent agency is absurd,” …
Discussion:
The Dish, Yahoo! News and No More Mister Nice Blog
RELATED:

Accuse first and ask questions later — A third House committee joined the stampede to examine the IRS on Monday, and its chairman did exactly what you would expect somebody to do before launching a fair and impartial investigation: He went on Fox News Channel and implicated the White House.
Discussion:
PostPartisan, msnbc.com, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, Right Wing News, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post and The Hill


Mississippi governor: Educational troubles began when ‘mom is in the workplace’ — VIDEO — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said Tuesday that America's educational troubles began when women began working outside the home in large numbers. — Bryant was participating in a Washington Post Live event focused …

Military brass oppose removing sexual assault cases from chain of command — Military leaders on Tuesday expressed unified opposition to stripping commanders of the power to decide where sexual assault cases are prosecuted. — In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee …
Discussion:
Politico, Prairie Weather, Outside the Beltway, Shakesville and CNN
RELATED:

Sandra Fluke Redux? Senate Stacks the Deck Against Reformers in Sexual Assaults Crisis
Discussion:
BuzzFeed and Yahoo! News

Gallup Identifies Factors That Led to Its G.O.P. Skew in November — The Gallup Organization has identified a series of factors that contributed to its overestimation of support for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, including problems with its survey sample and methodology …
RELATED:

Gallup overhauls polls after 2012 failure
Discussion:
CNN, Politico and NationalJournal.com


John McCain's Surprising Toast at Kissinger's 90th Birthday Party — At Henry Kissinger's 90th birthday party, the assembled VIP guests learned a piece of the past shared by the imprisoned Navy pilot and Nixon's secretary of state. — Henry Kissinger's 90th birthday party on Monday night …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Taegan Goddard's … and ABCNEWS


Conservative group claims it has proof IRS leaked donor list — The chairman of an anti-gay marriage group testified Tuesday that his organization has proof that the IRS leaked confidential donor details last year, calling for prosecution into what he described as a “felony.”
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll and NOM Blog

Why the Court Was Right to Allow Cheek Swabs — SOMETHING astonishing happened Monday: Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's longest-serving member and one of its most conservative justices, joined three liberal justices in a sharply worded dissent arguing for the rights of criminal suspects.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, National Review, SCOTUSblog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, THEROOT.COM, Balloon Juice, The Verge and The Week
RELATED:

Court's DNA Ruling Brings U.S. a Step Closer to ‘Gattaca’
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog, Althouse, Outside the Beltway and The Volokh Conspiracy

Is Obama waging psychological warfare on Americans? — I believe that the Obama administration is conducting psychological warfare on conservative Americans. Not only that but it is also waging this war on all Americans who previously viewed themselves, their country …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice and Shakesville


The Latest Navy SEAL Book Could Impact the Military's Transgender Rules — In every Navy SEAL is a memoir, it seems lately. Retired SEAL Kristin Beck's new memoir, published on Tuesday and titled Warrior Princess, is a bit different, though. In it, Beck describes how …

Baby boomers are killing themselves at an alarming rate, raising question: Why? — Last spring, Frank Turkaly tried to kill himself. A retiree in a Pittsburgh suburb living on disability checks, he was estranged from friends and family, mired in credit card debt and taking medication for depression …
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Clayton Cramer's Blog and Vox Popoli


Citing Stand Your Ground, Jury Acquits Man Who Killed Wife's Lover — As trial approaches for the man who generated national controversy over Stand Your Ground laws when he shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on a Florida street, a jury has acquitted another man under Florida's controversial law …

House Republicans broken into fighting factions — On New Year's Day, in a cramped room in the Capitol basement, House Republican leaders faced an angry caucus. Democrats had negotiated them into a corner — virtually every American would be hit with a massive tax increase unless …
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, American Prospect, Yahoo! News, PostPartisan, Taegan Goddard's …, msnbc.com, Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

Judge accepts insanity plea in Colorado theater massacre trial — CENTENNIAL, COLO. - A judge on Tuesday accepted James' Holmes plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, setting the stage for a lengthy mental evaluation of the Colorado theater shooting suspect.
Discussion:
TalkLeft and The Daily Caller