Mother Jones obtained audio of a private meeting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell held with aides “to discuss how to attack his possible Democratic foes, including actor/activist Ashley Judd, who was then contemplating challenging the minority leader. During this strategy session McConnell and his aides considered assaulting Judd for her past struggles with depression and for her religious views.”

Said one aide: “She’s clearly, this sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced. I mean it’s been documented. Jesse can go in chapter and verse from her autobiography about, you know, she’s suffered some suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the ’90s.”

Vice President Joe Biden “faces a situation unique in the annals of modern American politics,” the New York Times reports.

“He is the vice president, the highest-ranking member of his party interested in running for president, yet he is not the heir apparent. While every sitting vice president who sought it in the last half-century captured his party’s nomination, Mr. Biden would start as the underdog if he ran against Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state.”

“As the race for governor heats up in Virginia, Beltway insiders again will seek to turn it into a warm-up for a bid for the White House. But that’s almost certainly not going to happen,” writes Ryan Teague Beckwith.

“Although Virginia is sometimes called the “mother of presidents” because eight were born there (including Washington and Jefferson), the state’s reputation as a presidential proving ground is outdated. And its gubernatorial races, which happen in otherwise slow years, are vastly overrated by Beltway pundits.”

“The past eight governors of Virginia have been discussed as potential presidential or vice presidential prospects at various points in their careers, yet none have ended up mounting a credible campaign.”

“That’s exactly why the establishment Republicans supported Romney and McCain, because they didn’t emphasize these positions, and they were going to run on one issue, which was limited government and lower taxes. All of which are good things, and I support them, but I think what they showed is that they’re insufficient.”

— Rick Santorum, quoted by CNN, saying that ignoring social issues caused the last two GOP defeats in presidential elections.