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- The first quarter of fundraising hasn't been too kind to Roland Burris, who only managed to take in $845 since being appointed to the Senate, or about half of what Rick Santorum reportedly gets paid per column. Meanwhile in Connecticut, Chris Dodd was only able to secure $4,250 from five residents in his state while netting over $600,000 in out-of-state donations and an endorsement from President Obama. Finally, RNC Chair Michael Steele was able to coax a cool $17.6 million from donors despite his extremely odd behavior as the public face of the national Republican party.
- It's not too surprising that secession is most popular in red states, or even that a quarter of Texans support or are uncertain about secession, but imagining what the country would be like without Texas is an interesting mental exercise, as Nate Silver demonstrates.
- So Steve Schmidt, John McCain's chief campaign strategist, has given a speech to Log Cabin Republicans arguing that the party needs to drop its opposition to gay marriage. He's right that there is a certain inevitability to gay marriage becoming more widely accepted in the near future, and that the GOP will lose voters by continuing to oppose it, but if he thinks the GOP is simply going to just shrug off a major chunk of their political base -- social conservatives and the religious right -- then he just isn't being very realistic.
- I'll admit I'm having difficulty following the logic of this Pajamas Media post that claims low tax receipts are the product of a conscious decision by some of the nation's "industrious people" to go Galt last year, but Steve Benen gives it ol' college try here.
- I agree with Adam that torture prosecutions should be focused on the top of the chain of command rather than those folks who were "just following orders" and if Ali Frick's parsing of Obama's language on the issue is correct, then the president left the door open for precisely that sort of action.
- Remainders: Sarah Palin, one-hit wonder; George Bush senior has a strange concept of what expertise actually is; and Sheldon Whitehouse goes to bat for Dawn Johnsen.
--Mori Dinauer
