Top Items:
Larry J. Sabato / Politico:
Republicans Really Could Win It All This Year — A definitive guide to the 2014 elections from our new columnist. … Another midterm election beckons, and over the next 10 months we'll see headlines about a thousand supposedly critical developments—the “game changers” and the “tipping points.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Week, Hot Air, Mediaite, Booman Tribune, The PJ Tatler, No More Mister Nice Blog, CANNONFIRE, First Read and The Plum Line
RELATED:
Burgess Everett / Politico:
In surprise, unemployment benefits advance — In a surprise, several Senate Republicans on Tuesday morning joined with Democrats to break the filibuster of a bill to extend unemployment benefits for three months. — By 60-37, Senate Democrats secured the votes needed to advance the bill …
Discussion:
Slate, CNN, Taylor Marsh and The Raw Story
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Morning Plum: Republicans reframing fight over unemployment benefits — With the three month extension of unemployment benefits set for a Senate vote this morning, multiple Republicans are going all in on the suggestion that they would support extending benefits if only it were paid for.
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Jobless Benefits Extension Clears One Hurdle, but More Remain — WASHINGTON — A Democratic push to extend unemployment benefits that have expired squeaked past a Republican filibuster Tuesday, setting off intense negotiations to find a way to pay for the program and win over a skeptical House leadership.
Discussion:
The World's Greatest … and National Review
Speaker.gov:
Boehner Statement on Jobs
Boehner Statement on Jobs
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Plum Line and PoliticusUSA
CNN:
Democrats get Republican help to get unemployment bill over first hurdle
Democrats get Republican help to get unemployment bill over first hurdle
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Business Insider
Washington Post:
Income gap takes shape as central issue for both parties ahead of 2014 midterms
Income gap takes shape as central issue for both parties ahead of 2014 midterms
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Business Insider, The Fix, Guardian, NBCNews and Associated Press
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:
FOR OBAMA, CONGRESS, A LAST GRASP AT IMMIGRATION
Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows — Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets: One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia. They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans. The case was unsolved, until now.
CNN:
Angry Dennis Rodman defends North Korea basketball game — (CNN) — Basketball star Dennis Rodman defended his controversial visit to North Korea with a team of former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying it was a “great idea for the world.” — In an exclusive interview …
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Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Dennis Rodman Screams at CNN's Chris Cuomo, Implies Kenneth Bae is Guilty in Bizarre Interview
Dennis Rodman Screams at CNN's Chris Cuomo, Implies Kenneth Bae is Guilty in Bizarre Interview
Discussion:
TIME, ThinkProgress, Washington Free Beacon and National Review
Tara Palmeri / New York Post:
Spitzer caught sucking Lis Smith's toes in topless hot tub romp — Sleazy Eliot Spitzer turned a resort hot tub into a steamy love cauldron over the weekend — kissing and sucking the toes of his topless mistress, Lis Smith, in front of families with children, mortified witnesses told The Post.
Yahoo! News:
Obama backs repeal of law that green-lighted Iraq War — The law that green-lighted the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq is still on the books - but maybe not for much longer if President Barack Obama has his way, the White House said Tuesday, two years after he declared that war officially over.
Discussion:
emptywheel
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Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
McCain Thinks Obama Is The One Who ‘Blew The Whole Thing’ In Iraq — Rising bloodshed in Iraq has Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) convinced that failure of the American military effort there now falls on President Obama's shoulders. — McCain went on Fox News on Tuesday morning to once again blast Obama …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Lawfare, Outside the Beltway and Washington Post
Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:
How Janet Yellen's Agenda Could Transform Washington — The next Fed chair is an old-school progressive economist. Just wait until she starts sharing her passions. — Every Federal Reserve Board chairman comes into office with a secret agenda, a hidden passion.
Discussion:
New York Times
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Joshua Stewart / GPB:
Senate Conversations: Paul Broun ‘Fighting For Liberty’ — The primary race for Georgia's open U.S. Senate seat heats up in the first weeks of 2014 with the election looming May 20. — For Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), the race is all about liberty. — “What I'm fighting for is liberty.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Ajc Blogs: &lsquo and Taegan Goddard's …
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Christie heralds DREAM Act as message to Washington — Union City, New Jersey (CNN) - Flanked by Hispanic leaders, students, and immigration reform advocates, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie celebrated the signing of his state's so-called DREAM Act on Tuesday, hailing the new law …
Discussion:
Riehl World News
David Freddoso / Conservative Intelligence Briefing:
Ten freshman governors who have shrunk their states' bureaucracies — In 2010, Americans went to the polls and elected a whole crop of new governors — 26 in all, if you count the election of governors who had previously served non-consecutive terms in Iowa and Oregon.
Amanda Hess / Pacific Standard:
Why Women Aren't Welcome on the Internet — “Ignore the barrage of violent threats and harassing messages that confront you online every day.” That's what women are told. But these relentless messages are an assault on women's careers, their psychological bandwidth, and their freedom to live online.
Discussion:
The Switch and The Verge
Bloomberg:
Ghosts of Burke and Paine Still Haunt U.S. Politics — Sometimes the deepest differences in politics aren't about the conclusions people draw but the way they reach them. — The British statesman Edmund Burke and the Anglo-American revolutionary Thomas Paine both favored free trade, for example, but for different reasons.
Discussion:
Mirror of Justice and National Review
Richard Pollock / Washington Examiner:
Surprise! Walmart health plan is cheaper, offers more coverage than Obamacare — WATCHDOG OBAMACARE HEALTH CARE ACCOUNTABILITY WALMART — New Obamacare health insurance enrollees may feel a pang of envy when they eye the coverage plans offered by Walmart to its employees.
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
If You Can't Go to Cedars-Sinai Anymore, Is It Obamacare's Fault? — Consumer choices, cachet, and health care reform — At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, originals by Picasso and Warhol hang in the hallways. The deluxe maternity rooms—three-bedroom, two-bath suites with views of the city …
CNN:
CNN Poll: Support for legal marijuana soaring — Washington (CNN) - In a major turnaround from past decades, a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll. — The CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicated that the number of people who say smoking pot is morally wrong has plunged.
Discussion:
Politico, Hit & Run, Hot Air, The Dish, NewsBusters, The Fix, Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider and KDVR.com
Alan Duke / CNN:
What the heck is a polar vortex? — (CNN) — Americans in two dozen states from the Midwest to the Southeast and Northeast are shivering this week courtesy of a distorted polar vortex. The rush of cold air it's sending southward is the biggest visitor from the North Pole since Santa Claus.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers and Blogcritics
Karl Bergholz / ABC News:
3 Amtrak Trains With Hundreds of Passengers Stranded Since Monday — About 500 passengers aboard three Amtrak trains were stranded overnight in a remote part of northern Illinois because of blowing and drifting snow, Amtrak officials said today. — The trains were halted late Monday near Mendota, about 80 miles west of Chicago.