- The specter of a spring stall emerges from Friday’s growth report.
- Recession is part of the story, but health care inflation is slowing.
- Apple shows that there are many ways for corporations to duck taxes.
Must Reads
Morning Must Reads: Unfettered
- The House passes info-sharing Internet security bill over the privacy concerns of the President.
- Obama, via Bill Clinton, actually suggests Romney wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on bin Laden:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/BD75KOoNR9k]
Morning Must Reads: Tune
- Obama chats with Rolling Stone.
- He’s threatening to veto a cybersecurity bill over privacy concerns.
- Democrats and Republicans agree on keeping student loan rates low, so that’s the end of the story, right? Right?
Morning Must Reads: Transformational
- With a good chance of a Republican Congress and budget priorities free from the filibuster, Romney’s presidency could be transformational.
- Paul Krugman asks what ever happened to his beloved professor.
- Scott Brown will release 6 years of taxes, which puts the squeeze on both his opponent (Elizabeth Warren) and his advisers’ other
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Morning Must Reads: Requisite
- Recession and deportations have ground immigration from Mexico to a full stop.
- American Future Fund produces the requisite GSA attack ad:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/GFOiOzxVezQ]
Morning Must Reads: Joblessness
- Orrin Hatch falls less than 50 votes short of avoiding a Senate primary in Utah.
- The Times uncovers a Walmart bribery scandal in Mexico.
- There’s a minor Romney-son side story.
- It’s cybersecurity week in Congress.
Morning Must Reads: Pay
- Signs increase that the recovery could falter.
- The Obama campaign prepares for war.
- GOP super duper PAC raises $100 million.
Morning Must Reads: Ranks
- Romney’s low favorable rating isn’t anything close to a disqualifier.
- His campaign warms up to the eating dog thing much faster than McCain’s would’ve.
- Campaigning to cut federal agencies hasn’t really worked.
- After a lot hyped divisions, both parties have already closed ranks.
Morning Must Reads: Trend
- Presidential horserace numbers aren’t worth a lot at this point (spoiler: it will be close), but poll data do tell us something about partisan coalitions: race, class and gender will divide the electorate much like they did in 2008.
- Obama debuts Spanish-language ads.
- What the historical trend in government spending can tell us
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Morning Must Reads: Incrimination
- Republicans hope to raise $800 million for Romney.
- Backyard candidness or not, there are holes in his tax plan.
- Obviously, the Buffett Rule falls to a filibuster.
Morning Must Reads: Access
- Obama and the DNC raised a combined $53 million in March.
- When donors get access, they bring lobbyists with them.
- At a closed-door fundraiser, Romney does what Obama and Ryan haven’t: says which tax deductions he’d end.
Morning Must Reads: Umbrage
- Just to review yesterday’s umbrageathon: Ann Romney went on TV to respond to something a CNN employee said about her and stay-at-home moms; the rest of Team Romney took to the lowest medium known to man, the campaign reporter conference call; some people made good points about women, others just yelled like Steve Carrell in Anchorman;
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Morning Must Reads: Empathy
- On the politics of empathy: John Sides and Walter Kirn.
- There are more persuadable voters than you might think.
- Obama declines to issue executive order banning LGBT discrimination among federal contractors.