Whitman Invites Media Then Refuses to Take Questions »

California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (R), “who has been criticized for sidestepping news reporters’ questions, took heat Tuesday after she called the media to an ‘open’ campaign event — then barred reporters from accompanying her on a tour of Oakland’s port and refused to take their questions,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
A very awkward video [...]

Crist Independent Bid Would Help Rubio »

Maybe this is why Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) rules out an independent run for U.S. Senate: A new Public Policy Polling survey shows that an independent Crist bid would only work to Marco Rubio’s (R) advantage, “because Crist would win more Democratic votes than Republican ones.”
In a hypothetical three way contest, Rubio leads [...]

Reed Declines Congressional Bid »

Ralph Reed will not run for Congress,  putting his efforts instead into his Faith and Freedom Coalition.
David
Brody: “I can tell you that it is indeed poised to be a major player in the 2010 and 2012 elections… Don’t underestimate Ralph Reed and his ability to galvanize conservative Christians.”
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Republicans Say Tea Party Candidate is Fake »

CNN reports that some Republicans are accusing Jon Scott Ashjian, “a new Tea Party candidate running for U.S. Senate in Nevada, of being a fake. The allegation? He was put in the race by agents of Senate Majority leader Harry Reid to siphon votes from the GOP.”
Says Senate candidate Danny Takanian (R): “No doubt about [...]

New Life for an Energy Bill? »

Lost in yesterday’s Eric Massa circus was news that a bipartisan group of 14 senators — led by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — is pushing ahead with climate change legislation.
The bill under discussion would put a first-ever price on carbon emissions.
New York Times: “The rush of [...]

Bonus Quote of the Day »

“I have very few hard and fast rules. One of them is not to have sword fights in the morning with Rahm Emanuel.”
– Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), in an interview with Don Imus on the Fox Business Network, referring to former Rep. Eric Massa’s (D-NY) naked confrontation with the White House chief of staff.
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A Jobs Bill Too Small for the Task »

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Democrats promoting their $15 billion jobs bill Thursday were hoping to get a strong endorsement from one of the nation’s most influential financial experts. Instead, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said the bill is “too small” to tackle the jobs crisis and ensure that the country doesn’t slip back into recession.
“I don’t think [...]

Wrestling With Janet Napolitano »

Here’s a video of one of the better scenes from the CPAC exhibit hall: Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty hosts sumo wrestling matches that pitted “America” (volunteers) versus “Janet Napolitano” (intern Sam Swedberg).

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John Boehner’s Interesting Framing of Financial Reform »

In his booster-ish speech about how a Republican Congress would govern, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) deployed a clever frame to make the financial reform bill passed by the House sound absolutely awful.
“Every Republican voted against [the Democrats'] TARP bailout,” said Boehner, “the permanent slush fund for politicians.”
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Liz Cheney Loves Torture, Doesn’t Understand Interrogation »

Over at CPAC, TPM’s Christina Bellantoni caught up with Liz Cheney and elicited this response to a question about the recent capture of Taliban deputy commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar:
I worry though when we capture these leaders that we no longer have the option of using any of the enhanced interrogation techniques because the president [...]

Scenes From CPAC 2010, Round One »

After the jump, a slideshow of photos from the first day of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

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Spitzer Advising Paterson »

New York Gov. David Paterson (D) has told people he’s taking advice from disgraced predecessor Eliot Spitzer (D) on how to save his flailing re-election campaign, the New York Post reports.
“Spitzer has his own eye on a comeback at some point and knows that failings by Paterson, whom he chose as his lieutenant governor in [...]

Romney: Bush Nostalgia in Full Bloom »

Mitt Romney’s CPAC experiences since 2007 have been fairly fraught affairs. On the one hand, he always wins the activist straw poll. On the other hand, exhibit halls at past CPACs have been thick with Romney critics — in 2007 one dressed as a dolphin and declared himself “Flip Romney.”
None of that today. In a [...]

Economists Float Solution for Congress to Muck Up: Wage Subsidies »

If the news about increasing unemployment, the failure of the stimulus to address disproportionate unemployment among African-Americans or the “shovel-ready projects” that have been the least effect part of the stimulus makes you wonder if there really are any short-term solutions to address unemployment in this country, economists Bred DeLong, Alan Blinder and Larry Katz [...]