memeorandum: White House Jumps Through Hoops to Increase Obamacare Enrollment (Eleanor Clift/The Daily Beast)

7:55 AM ET, March 18, 2014

Top Items:

Exclusive: Russia Will Sanction U.S. Senators — Putin is set to respond to Obama's sanctions of Russian officials with his own list. Several U.S. Senators and officials will be banned from visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin. — U.S. senators, congressmen and top Obama administration officials …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, TruthRevolt.org, Yahoo! News, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Liberaland, The Dish and The Lead with Jake Tapper

ABC News:

Russian Deputy PM Laughs at Obama's Sanctions — MOSCOW - Russia's deputy prime minister laughed off President Obama's sanction against him today asking “Comrade @BarackObama” if “some prankster” came up with the list. — The Obama administration hit 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials …

Discussion: RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Wall Street Journal and Hinterland Gazette

Scott Johnson / Power Line:

The 1930s are calling — Commentators with a cruel memory have recalled the moment from one of the 2012 presidential debates when President Obama cited Mitt Romney's warning about the growing threat from Russia and dismissed it with a superficially sophisticated remark: “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and Hit & Run

Garry Kasparov / Politico:
Vladimir Putin and the Lessons of 1938

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, CNN and Hot Air

New York Times:

Defying Sanctions, Putin Declares Crimea Independent — MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed a decree late Monday night formally recognizing Ukraine's Crimea region as a “sovereign and independent state,” defying the United States and Europe just hours after they imposed …

Discussion: Truthdig, Daily Kos, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Reaction

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
U.S., E.U. announce sanctions following vote in Crimea

Discussion: Post Politics, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, The Fix, WorldViews, Power Line and The Plum Line

Marie-Louise Gumuchian / CNN:
U.S., EU announce sanctions after Crimea vote

Discussion: Washington Post, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon and Gawker

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEight:

What the Fox Knows — FiveThirtyEight is a data journalism organization. Let me explain what we mean by that, and why we think the intersection of data and journalism is so important. — If you're a casual reader of FiveThirtyEight, you may associate us with election forecasting …

Discussion: The Dish, FishbowlDC, Politico, Washington Monthly, TVNewser, Marginal REVOLUTION, The Huffington Post and PandoDaily, more at Mediagazer »

Lauren McGaughy / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

It's official: Edwin Edwards is running for Congress — Just three years after his release from federal prison, former Gov. Edwin Edwards is throwing his hat into the open race for Louisiana's 6th Congressional District. — The 86-year-old Silver Fox, known for his memorable …

Discussion: CenLamar, CNN, Daily Kos, The Fix, OnPolitics and The Daily Caller

Kathy Finn / Reuters:
Former Louisiana Gov. Edwards, a convicted felon, to run for Congress

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Tal Kopan / Politico:
Ex-gov announces bid for Congress

Discussion: CNN

Marilyn Tavenner / HHS.gov:

Marketplace Enrollment Hits 5 Million Milestone — As this historic open enrollment period enters its final weeks, millions of Americans are finding quality, affordable coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Fernando Valdez and Denise Schroeder were part of a weekend wave of consumers signing …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Liberaland, El Paso Times, bizjournals, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:
We overhauled U.S. health care — to insure 4.2 million people?

Discussion: National Review, The Huffington Post, The Fact Checker and Rush Limbaugh

Juan Williams / The Hill:

GOP blinders on civil rights — Rep. Gregg Harper, a Republican from Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District, is standing near the blood stained driveway in Jackson where civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated as he fought for black voting rights in 1963.

Tina Moore / NY Daily News:

L'Wren Scott dead: Fashion designer and Mick Jagger girlfriend found dead in apparent suicide — Mick Jagger is ‘completely shocked and devastated by the news,’ spokesperson says in statement. Scott's body, discovered hanging from a scarf tied to a doorknob in her apartment on 11th Avenue …

Discussion: Gothamist, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Syracuse Post-Standard and TalkLeft

New York Times:

Malaysia Backtracks on When Airliner's Communications Were Disabled — SEPANG, Malaysia — As the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stretched into a 10th day, the Malaysian authorities on Monday identified the plane's first officer as the last person in the cockpit to speak to ground control.

Discussion: American Spectator, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and Politico

William J. Dobson / Slate:
The Malaysia Airlines Pilot's Politics

Discussion: The Week, Mediaite, National Review, Jihad Watch, Hit & Run, Bloomberg View, Here & Now, Telegraph, Guardian and New York Times

Elad Benari / Arutz Sheva:

Erekat: Israel Must Choose - ‘Settlements’ or Peace — The chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator, Saeb Erekat, on Monday once again blamed Israel for the lack of progress in peace talks, saying that the Israelis must choose between “settlements” and peace.

Discussion: Israel Matzav and Israpundit

Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal:

Stephens: How Obama ‘Gets Things Done’ — We need a president who rarely thinks and never speaks about how he looks in jeans. — Maybe Barack Obama should have given Zach Galifianakis an off-ramp, like the one he keeps trying to offer Vladimir Putin. Those were some pretty barbed lines …

Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:

White House Jumps Through Hoops to Increase Obamacare Enrollment — In an effort to reach their initial goal for registration prior to the looming March 31 deadline, Obama has enlisted NCAA athletes and coaches to play ball and create viral videos that encourage registration.

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Koch Group Abandons Obamacare ‘Horror’ Stories After Fact-Check Backlash — Have we heard the last Obamacare “horror” story? If new ads from the Koch Brothers-backed group are any indication, we might have. — Americans for Prosperity, the well-funded conservative group …

Discussion: Liberal Values and Americans Against the …

Bobby Jindal / New York Post:

Bill de Blasio's war for poverty — This year, many on the left are celebrating 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson declared his War on Poverty — an era that saw the creation of massive new government programs that liberals proclaimed would raise living standards for the poor.

Mother Jones:

24 Mind-Blowing Facts About Marijuana Production in America — The only thing green about that bud is its chlorophyll. — You thought your pot came from environmentally conscious hippies? Think again. The way marijuana is grown in America, it turns out, is anything but sustainable and organic.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Daniel Simmons-Ritchie / Rapid City Journal:

Phil Jensen: South Dakota's most conservative lawmaker? — It was July 10, 2003, and Phil Jensen, a life-long Kansas boy and red-blooded Republican, was set for a big move. — Jensen and his wife were relocating from Wichita to Rapid City to live closer to family.

Discussion: Liberaland, PoliticusUSA, Americans Against the …, The Raw Story and Little Green Footballs