“You know, this Republican primary at some points has been more of a
circus show and a clown show.”
— White House adviser David Plouffe, in a CNN interview.
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Romney Way Ahead in California Primary
A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in California finds Mitt Romney leads Rick Santorum in the GOP presidential race, 42% to 23%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 12% and Ron Paul at 10%.
Key finding: There remains a palpable lack of enthusiasm for the Republican field. Half of GOP voters said they wished other candidates were running for president.
The California primary is on June 5.
Santorum Wins in Louisiana
The AP reports Rick Santorum “is the winner of the Louisiana Republican presidential primary, defeating GOP front-runner Mitt Romney in yet another conservative Southern state.”
“The Louisiana victory was unlikely to change the overall dynamics of the race. Santorum still dramatically lags Romney — the former Massachusetts governor — in the hunt for delegate to the GOP’s summertime nominating convention. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia was far behind in the Louisiana vote count.”
Politico: “While all of the candidates made stops here this week — including Newt
Gingrich, who stayed in Louisiana for a week — none stuck around to see
the votes get counted.”
Cheney Has a Heart Transplant
Former Vice President Dick Cheney is recovering at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA after undergoing heart transplant surgery today, NPR reports.
Associated Press: “Cheney suffered a heart attack in 2010, his fifth since the age of 37. He had bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two subsequent angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries. In 2001, he had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest.”
Gay Marriage Effort Attracts Different Set of Donors
The New York Times has a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at a fundraising network “whose goal is to legalize same-sex marriage from coast to coast.”
“This emerging group of donors is not quite like any other fund-raising network that has supported gay-related issues over the past 40 years. They come from Hollywood, yes, but also from Wall Street and Washington and the corporate world; there are Republicans as well as Democrats; and perhaps most strikingly, longtime gay organizers said, there has been an influx of contributions from straight donors unlike anything they have seen before.”
Quote of the Day
“And don’t ever forget, Barack Obama is a great uniter of Republicans.”
— Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R), in an interview on Bloomberg TV.
The Parallels Between Clinton and Obama
The Washington Post runs a must-read piece from David Maraniss, author of First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton and the forthcoming Barack Obama: The Story, on the similarities between the two presidents.
“They were born on August days 15 years apart, at opposite ends of the baby-boom generation, Bill Clinton in 1946 and Barack Obama in 1961. Both came into the world under circumstances that made it surpassingly unlikely either boy would grow up to be president of the United States. It is hard to imagine two places further from the centers of power than southwestern Arkansas or Hawaii. Neither state had produced a president before. But there was so much more working against them than geography.”
“William Jefferson Blythe III and Barack Hussein Obama II were the namesakes of fathers they did not know. Billy’s dad, a traveling salesman from Texas, was killed in a car crash before his son was born. Barry’s old man, a traveling student from western Kenya, also died in a car crash. His son was 21 then but had never lived with his father. Both boys’ mothers created myths about their fathers to ease the pain; in truth, the sons were almost certainly better off without them.”
Louisiana Votes
Louisiana Republicans head to the polls today to make their choice for Republican presidential nominee. Nearly every public opinion survey shows Rick Santorum holding a solid lead over Mitt Romney.
Polls close at 9 pm ET.
Corzine Ordered Customer Funds Moved
A memo says former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D), who was head of brokerage MF Global as it failed and lost $1.6 billion in client money, gave “direct instructions” to transfer $200 million in customer funds to meet an overdraft in one of the firm’s bank accounts, Bloomberg reports.
“The money transferred came from a segregated customer account… Corzine testified that he never intended a misuse of customer funds at MF Global, and that he doesn’t know where client funds went.”
Arlen Specter Ogles Sarah Palin
Former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) describes meeting Sarah Palin for the first time in his new book, Life Among the Cannibals:
“Still, she was a total charmer, very friendly. The few things she said were intelligent. We were sitting virtually knee to knee in the cramped bus, and she radiated sensuality. Her skirt rode above her knees — not exactly short, but close.”
For more, the Huffington Post compiles the “five steamiest passages” from the book.
Romney Up Big in Wisconsin Primary
A new Rasmussen survey in Wisconsin finds Mitt Romney with a double-digit lead over Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential primary, 46% to 33%, followed by Ron Paul at 8% and Newt Gingrich at 7%.
The Wisconsin primary is on April 3.
Word of the Day
From the political dictionary: Dorothy Dixer
Gingrich Suggests Obama Acts Like a Muslim
Politico says Newt Gingrich was asked today if he was concerned about polls that find people continue to think President Obama is a Muslim.
Said Gingrich: “Why does the president behave the way that people would think that? You have to ask why would they believe that? It’s not because they’re stupid. It’s because they watch the kind of things I just described to you.”
Obama Advisers Debating Gay Marriage
President Obama’s top political advisers “have held serious discussions with leading Democrats about the upsides and downsides of coming out for gay marriage before the fall election,” Greg Sargent reports.
“This does not mean that it will happen, and there are plenty of reasons to assume it won’t. Indeed, it would be political malpractice if Obama’s top advisers didn’t discuss every permutation and possibility, no matter how far fetched. However, the fact that it has been discussed seriously at high levels means it’s not out of the question. Those advisers are convinced that Obama will make this call based on his gut, and ultimately without regard to the fine-grained political analysis of the situation, the source says.”
Berkley Faces Ethics Probe
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) faces an ethics investigation in the midst of her bid for U.S. Senate this year, as she hopes to knock off incumbent Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), National Journal reports.
It is not clear what the subject of the probe is but Politico hints it’s “over allegations that she used her official position to aid her husband’s business.”
GOP Congressman Advises Women to Donate to Democrats
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) was the only Republican congressman at an Equal Rights Amendment rally yesterday and he advised a crowd of mostly women to give their money to Democrats, the Huffington Post reports.
Said Hanna: “I think these are very precarious times for women, it seems. So many of your rights are under assault. I’ll tell you this: Contribute your money to people who speak out on your behalf, because the other side — my side — has a lot of it. And you need to send your own message. You need to remind people that you vote, you matter, and that they can’t succeed without your help.”
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Turning Romney Into a Joke
Michael Hirsch: “It would be a cruel irony indeed for Mitt Romney, whose father’s political career was ended with one indelible word — ‘brainwashed’ — if the son suffered the same fate at the hands of one of his most loyal aides, Eric Fehrnstrom. But if the Obama campaign were smart, right now it would be using some of its millions of dollars to hire the best former Saturday Night Live writers out there, all in an effort to keep the country laughing at the image of Mitt Romney as ‘the Etch A Sketch candidate.'”
