Super Tuesday Results

The New York Times' interactive primary map is here.

The Washington Post has an updated state-by-state delegate count for all states. Politico's delegate tracker is here.

Maggie Haberman of Politico with five Super Tuesday take-aways.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Romney is in worse shape at this point in the campaign than virtually all recent previous nominees. Demographically, his image among independent voters, the most critical swing group, is more negative now than it was when the primary battle began. He could be hurt among women. He is in trouble with Latinos, a growing part of the electorate that is tilting even more Democratic than it was four years ago. He is not as strong as he needs to be among working-class white voters, among whom President Obama has been consistently weak." ...

... Romney's Got the Richy-Rich Fired Up and Ready-to-Vote. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Exit polls in both Michigan and Ohio show voters making more than $100,000 per year turning out in much higher numbers this year than they did in 2008. And in both cases, they might well have provided the difference for Romney." CW: Sweet.

... Winger John Fund in the National Review: "... it is striking that [Romney] is struggling so much in a state [Ohio] where he carpet-bombed Rick Santorum the way he did. And in Ohio — unlike Michigan — there was no semi-organized effort among Democrats to embarrass him by casting votes for Santorum." ...

... BUT. Ezra Klein: "Though Romney has the worst poll numbers of any presidential nominee in recent history, Obama has the worst poll numbers of any incumbent president running for reelection in recent history. And we remain a closely divided country with a very fragile economy."

NBC News: "Rick Santorum's campaign is calling on conservatives to pressure Newt Gingrich to abandon his bid for the White House, a senior adviser told reporters tonight. Senior campaign strategist John Brabender said the key for the campaign going forward will be creating an opportunity to challenge Mitt Romney one-on-one, though Brabender maintained the Santorum campaign would not directly call on Gingrich to drop out of the race."

CBS News: "With 98 percent of the vote counted in Ohio, Romney has 38 percent support to Santorum's 37 percent. Newt Gingrich is in third place with 15 percent and Ron Paul follows with 9 percent. Mitt Romney has also won primaries in Virginia, Massachusetts and Vermont, as well as the Idaho caucuses. Rick Santorum won primaries in Tennessee and Oklahoma, and in the North Dakota caucuses. In Georgia, Gingrich clinched his first primary victory since South Carolina's January 21 primary contest."

Politico: "Rick Santorum pocketed victories in Oklahoma and Tennessee on Super Tuesday but narrowly lost Ohio to Mitt Romney. But the performance of the former Pennsylvania senator in the 10 states that voted Tuesday is strong enough to propel his campaign forward into future races, where the battleground will shift South to Mississippi, Alabama and Kansas, which votes on Saturday."

Washington Post: "... with Gingrich’s decisive win in Georgia, Santorum emerges from Super Tuesday having to fend off the former House speaker in the race for second place and will be unable to focus exclusively on Romney."

Alaska. Anchorage Daily News: "Mitt Romney won the Alaska GOP's presidential preference poll Tuesday, edging out Rick Santorum in a race Romney won handily four years ago."

Idaho. Los Angeles Times: "Mitt Romney won the Idaho Republican presidential nominating caucuses, according to The Associated Press."

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/03/06/2355971/alaska-republicans-vote-on-presidential.html#storylink=cpy

Ohio. New York Times @ 1:30 am ET: "Mitt Romney appeared to pull off a narrow victory in Ohio on Super Tuesday but lost several other states to Rick Santorum, a split verdict that overshadowed Mr. Romney’s claim of collecting the most delegates and all but ensured another round of intense infighting on the road to the Republican presidential nomination." Story will be updated.

Wyoming. AP: "Mitt Romney added a small margin to his Super Tuesday victories by picking up four delegates in the first round of Wyoming’s Republican presidential caucuses. A fifth delegate ... went to Texas Rep. Ron Paul.... Tuesday’s voting launched a long state GOP process that will choose 29 delegates by the time it’s over at the Republican state convention in April."

North Dakota. Washington Post: "Rick Santorum has been declared the winner of the North Dakota GOP caucuses.... Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had repeatedly said he doesn’t care about winning, only about amassing delegates. But he was eyeing North Dakota as his best chance for a true victory. This caucus state was really a tossup. There was no reliable polling in the small state. All delegates are unpledged, although they are advised to follow caucus results at the convention, and no candidate but Paul spent much time in the state. He even gave his Tuesday-night speech in Fargo."

Oklahoma. AP: "Rick Santorum won Oklahoma's Republican primary Tuesday, faring best among voters who said they sought a 'true conservative' and a candidate with 'strong moral character' to represent the party in this fall's campaign against President Barack Obama. With 75 percent of the state's 1,961 precincts reporting unofficial returns, Santorum had 35 percent of the vote. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 27.3 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 27 percent."

Oklahoma Democratic Primary. Tulsa World: "President Barack Obama won Tuesday’s Oklahoma Democrat primary but didn’t appear to sweep all 45 national convention delegates that were in play.... Obama had 56.43 percent of the vote. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry [CW: and all-around hideous person] had 18.16 percent, getting over the 15 percent threshold for delegations to the convention. Perennial candidate Jim Rogers had 14.17 percent, just short of qualifying for the 16 delegates decided on the statewide vote. Preliminary unofficial results showed Terry and Rogers over the 15 percent threshold in three of the state’s five congressional districts, potentially qualifying both for the 29 national delegates decided on a district level."

Tennessee. The Tennessean: "Rick Santorum has won the Tennessee Republican Party primary. With more than 80 percent of precincts reporting statewide, Santorum led Mitt Romney by 42,643 votes, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office. Santorum led in most counties, though he trailed Romney in Davidson County and Williamson County."

Virginia. NBC News: "NBC projects Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has won the Virginia primary, where Ron Paul was his only competition on the ballot. With 99 percent of the vote in, Romney had 59 percent. Forty-six delegates were at stake in the commonwealth."

Georgia. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This page has the county-by-county results. Newt Gingrich won with about 47.4 percent of the vote. Interactive feature.

Massachusetts. New York Times: Mitt Romney wins with about 72 percent of the vote, but the voters are as lukewarm about Romney as he is about them.

Vermont. Sore Winner. Burlington Free Press: "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won more votes in Vermont than his Republican rivals in Tuesday’s presidential primary, but apparently failed to win enough to snare all 17 delegates. The outcome so incensed the Romney campaign that it is calling for an investigation of the results, said Vermont Republican Party Chairman Jack Lindley, a Romney supporter."

New York Times: "In a primary faceoff between two veteran Democratic incumbents, voters in Ohio delivered a victory to Representative Marcy Kaptur, a progressive from Toledo, over Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, leaving him without a seat in Congress for the first time in 16 years.... The outcome was largely expected. Mr. Kucinich, an antiwar populist from Cleveland who has run for president twice, lost his district when state lawmakers redrew the electoral map after Ohio...." ...

... AP: "An Ohio plumber thrust into national politics during the 2008 presidential campaign has won the Republican nomination in his home state as he makes a bid for Congress. Samuel Wurzelbacher gained the nickname 'Joe the Plumber' for expressing working-class concerns about taxes to then-candidate Barack Obama during a stop to the region. The Toledo-area plumber defeated Steve Kraus, a Sandusky real estate agent, early Wednesday to grab the GOP nomination in Ohio's 9th Congressional District. He faces an uphill climb in the fall against veteran U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who won the Democratic primary."

Burlington Free Press: Miro Weinberger became Burlington's first Democratic mayor in a generation. CW: The article doesn't say so, but Progressives held the seat for 31 years. First Progressive to take the mayoral honrs: Bernie Sanders. Weinberger beat a Republican candidate, Kurt Wright.

The Commentariat -- March 7, 2012

My column in today New York Times eXaminer is titled "The Devil Is in the Details -- Ross Douthat's Vision." The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.

M. J. Lee of Politico: "Embattled conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday dismissed reports of dozens of advertisers pulling their commercials from his show.... Limbaugh, citing claims he had lost 28 sponsors, said that is 'out of 18,000. That’s like losing a couple of french fries in the container when it’s delivered to you in the drive thru. You don’t even notice it.'”

CW: Expect to see a lot of stories like this. Travis Waldron of Think Progress: "Paul Carroll, an 86-year-old World War II veteran who has lived in the same Ohio town for four decades, was denied a chance to vote in the state’s primary contests today after a poll worker denied his form of identification, a recently-acquired photo ID from the Department of Veterans Affairs." BTW, the story doesn't say what Carroll's party affiliation is; he not necessarily a Republican -- Ohio had some Congressional primaries yesterday because of redistricting. Thanks to Kay S. for the link. ...

... Carroll was offered a provisional ballot, which he did not accept because he couldn't read it. More insights on the "provisional ballot" scam from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a former Ohio Secretary of State, via Katy at Balloon Juice.

I meant to post a link to this the other day: Dean Baker has a very good, short post that illuminates what is awry in the deficit hawk's nest. I blame 95 percent of Washington politicians & punkdits (typo I'm letting stand) for this form of "morality" that urges "belt-tightening" in a recession.

President Obama's press conference Tuesday:

     ... Loose Nukes, Loose Cannons. Michael Crowley of Time: "In their speeches to AIPAC [Tuesday], the Republican presidential candidates made clear that they consider an Iranian nuclear weapon a nightmare that must be stopped at all costs. Yet however potentially dangerous Iran may be, there’s something askew about the emphasis on its nuclear program to the near-exclusion of the many other nuclear threats America faces–threats the GOP candidates have spent virtually no time addressing." ...

... Charles Pierce: "I don't think we should ever minimize the political value of carefully bridled contempt. The president ... held a press conference on (Super) Tuesday afternoon in which most of the questions were about the ongoing concerns about the Iranian nuclear program, the issue on which the Republican presidential candidates have become increasingly bellicose.... The president pretty much feels as though he's been pecked at by ducks who really don't have any skin in the actual game, and that he finds their bellicosity not only against the national interest, but also politically offensive. They don't have the courage to stand up against their own compulsion to demagogue the most serious job a president has. Who are the cowards now? ... This was a subtle, deft assault on the notion that anyone on the Republican side has any real idea of the gravity of the job they're running for...." ...

     ... "Feckless." Here Pierce, piece by piece, tears to shreds Mitt Romney's (or whoever's) Washington Post op-ed. The op-ed is here. ...

     ... AND. How Do Iranians Get Those Cute Little Boats to the Strait of Hormuz? Oh, Through Syria! Steve Benen:  "At the most recent debate for the Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney wanted to show off his understanding of international affairs, and told the audience that Syria is Iran's 'key ally' and Iranians' 'route to the sea.' Iran, of course, has 1,520 miles of its own coastline -- and doesn't share a border with Syria.... And yet, the former governor continues to feign expertise on the subject matter. Today he has an op-ed in the Washington Post, calling for Iranian sanctions (which Obama has already imposed); backing Israel (which Obama has also already done); and shaping a U.S. policy towards Iran that's "the same as Ronald Reagan's." Um, Mitt? The Reagan administration sold Iran weapons, in violation of an arms embargo, in order to help illegally finance the Contras in Nicaragua. Reagan also sought a check on Iranian power by cozying up to Saddam Hussein after he used chemical weapons against his own people." ...

     ... Benen has a good piece on President Obama's response to a question about the Limbaugh controversy. (See also Right Wing World.)

Frank Phillips of the Boston Globe analyzes the Massachusetts Senate contest between Sen. Scott Brown (R) (instead of hitting "R" there, I kept typing "$" -- just as appropriate) & his likely challenger Elizabeth Warren.

Right Wing World

I think it’s been the worst campaign I’ve ever seen in my life. I hate that people think compromise is a dirty word. It’s not a dirty word. I think the rest of the world is looking at us these days and saying, ‘What are you doing?’ -- Barbara Bush (R), former First Lady

Too Poor to Go to College? Get over It. -- Willard. David Firestone of the New York Times: Romney takes a question from a high school senior worried about rising college tuition costs: "... the advice was pretty brutal: if you can’t afford college, look around for a scholarship (good luck with that), try to graduate in less than four years, or join the military if you want a free education. That’s the face of modern Republican austerity. Don’t talk about the value of higher education to the country’s economic future, and don’t bother to think about ways to make it more accessible to strapped families. Tell students not to take on more debt than they can afford, wish them well, and move on."

Bomb First, Think Later. Maureen Dowd: with GOP warmongers -- i.e., most of the GOP --  hubris trumps humility.

Confessions of a Campaign Volunteer. Charles Pierce campaigns for Rick Santorum. Really. If you've ever worked on a campaign, you'll see yourself in Pierce's post.

"I'm Not Prejudiced, But...." Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times: Mitt Romney just doesn't click in the rural, religious South. CW: this is because the rural, religious South is full of well-informed, intellectual geniuses, to wit:

On Romney: Christ is the head of my church, and his was some Smith guy who claimed to be a latter-day prophet. I'm not prejudiced against a Mormon. It's just some of their beliefs that I'm against. -- Don Teikling, The Barber of Oneonta (Alabama)

On Obama: It's not that he's black, It's that he's not an American citizen. -- Don Teikling

On Obama: I got no use for Obama, and it's not because of the color of his skin. It's his socialist government and all the money he's throwing away. -- Leldon Thomas, Retired Truck Repairman, Tobacco Chewer, Wal-Mart Shopper & Savant

Paper Tigers. Gene Robinson: "Asked to comment [on Rush Limbaugh's slander of Georgetown Law stud Sandra Fluke], the leading Republican presidential candidates — who bray constantly about 'courage' and 'leadership' — run from the bully and hide.... These guys want us to believe they’re ready to face down Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Eun, the Taliban and what’s left of al-Qaeda. Yet they’re so scared of a talk-radio buffoon that they ignore or excuse an eruption of venom that some of Limbaugh’s advertisers ... find inexcusable." ...

... Upping the Stakes:

... Mizz Murkowski Regrets.... Julia O'Malley of the Anchorage Daily News: "Over the weekend, Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R-Alaska] learned the hard way not to get between women and birth control. Back from Washington, D.C...., the senator kept running into female voters who wrote in her name in the last election.... These women were coming unglued. The reason: Murkowski's support for a measure that would have allowed not just religious employers, but any employer, to opt out of providing birth control or other health insurance coverage.... Regrets are one thing, but real votes in the Senate are another. If she's a moderate, she should vote like one."

Murkoski: I have never had a vote I've taken where I have felt that I let down more people that believed in me.

O'Malley: If you had it to do over again, having had the weekend that you had with women being upset about the vote, do you think you would have voted the same?

Murkowski: No. ...

... Greg Sargent: Murkowski's vote "exposes yet again the hollowness of the complaints by GOP 'centrists' about how both sides are responsible for creating a polarized atmosphere in Washington that has made bipartisan compromise impossible."

Dreaming of the Moon??? --

News Ledes

Virginia Is for Lovers. CBS News: "Amid continued protests from Democrats, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell on Wednesday signed into law a controversial bill requiring Virginia women to undergo an ultrasound procedure prior to having an abortion."

New York Times: "President Obama has asked the Pentagon for military options on Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, told the Senate on Wednesday.But both General Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said the administration still believed that diplomatic and economic pressure was the best solution for protecting Syrians from the Assad regime."

New York Times: "The United Nations’s top relief official visited the ravaged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday as part of her assessment of emergency needs in swathes of the country devastated by a year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad."

Reuters: "The pace of job creation by private employers in the United States accelerated more than expected in February, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. The private sector added 216,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed, topping economists’ expectations for a gain of 208,000."

Guardian: "Six British soldiers are missing, believed killed, after an explosion hit an armoured vehicle in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. The five soldiers from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from the 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment were on mounted patrol when their Warrior armoured fighting vehicle was struck on Tuesday in Helmand province. If they are dead it will take the number of British service personnel killed in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 to more than 400 and intensify debate about the timetable for withdrawal of troops."

Guardian: "Allen Stanford, the Texan financier, knight of Antigua, Washington power player and billionaire benefactor of English cricket, has been found guilty of orchestrating a $7bn Ponzi scheme. After a six-week trial in Houston, Texas, a jury found him guilty of conspiracy and 12 other criminal charges including obstruction. He was acquitted of one wire fraud charge. Stanford ... faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced." ...

... Houston Chronicle: "Jurors in the R. Allen Stanford case return today to federal court, perhaps for the last time, to consider whether international accounts held by the one-time billionaire and cricket mogul’s Antigua bank should be forfeited. Yesterday, the same jury convicted Stanford on 13 of 14 fraud-related counts against him that accused him of masterminding a $7 billion Ponzi scheme through his offshore bank’s certificates of deposit, or CDs sold to customers worldwide. He now faces up to 230 years in prison." CW: hmm, not sure if that's 20 or 230 years.

AP: "President Barack Obama told business leaders Tuesday that the nation needs to reform its tax system to help boost the economy, saying the American people 'instinctually understand' that the U.S. needs a more balanced approach to solve its economic problems."

The Commentariat -- March 6, 2012

I'll have a column up on the New York Times eXaminer soon, on Stanley Fish's defense of Rick Santorum. It is not posted yet (at 12:30 pm ET), but there IS other good stuff linked on the NYTX front page. ...

     ... Update: here's my column. AND excellent stuff in today's & yesterday's comments sections!

The Rich Get Richer. Emmanuel Saez via Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "Top 1% incomes grew by 11.6% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 0.2%. Hence, the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery....It is likely that this uneven recovery has continued in 2011 as the stock market has continued to recover....This suggests that the Great Recession will only depress top income shares temporarily and will not undo any of the dramatic increase in top income shares that has taken place since the 1970s."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. asserted on Monday that it is lawful for the government to kill American citizens if officials deem them to be operational leaders of Al Qaeda who are planning attacks on the United States and if capturing them alive is not feasible." Holder made a distinction between "due process" and "judicial process," asserting that the Constitution guarantees the former, not the latter. The justification was pretty damned vague -- no footnotes, no case law. ...

... ** Adam Serwer of Mother Jones translates and elaborates. "Who decides when an American citizen has had enough due process and the Hellfire missile fairy pays them a visit? Presumably the group of top national security officials — that, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, decides who is targetable and forwards its findings to the president, who gives final approval." ...

... AND Glenn Greenwald: President Obama makes the case for preventive war.

The "Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011” has nothing to do with Mitt Romney's employment of undocumented workers to maintain the lawn on one of his estates, for Pete's sake. The bill -- which passed the House 388-3, with Ron Paul among the three dissenters, & which passed the Senate by voice vote, with no "nays" -- makes it a felony to remain in an area the Secret Service designates "restricted" and covers any person protected by the Secret Service (some presidential candidates). The President has not yet signed it. Some are calling it the anti-Occupy law; Paul says it "could make the First Amendment illegal." Well, that's a stretch; the Constitution trumps Congressional law, but of course it's up to the Supremes to decide whether or not the law is unconstitutional, and they won't be making any decision prior to the party conventions this summer....

     ... AND/BUT according to Gene Howington, a guest blogger on Jonathan Turley's blog, the language is so vague that "This would allow for the arrest of protesters just about anywhere. Outside political rallies, near the hotels of visiting foreign dignitaries, outside sporting or other public events like the Super Bowl." The bill has received somewhere around zero mainstream media attention. Just thought you'd want to know. Thanks to contributor Dave S. for the heads-up.

The State of Missouriogyny. CW: I don't usually link to Daily Caller stories, but this one by Caroline May is worth reading: "... the Missouri State Capitol will be honoring [Rush] Limbaugh with a bust of his likeness in the Hall of Famous Missourians.... Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill’s 2012 senate campaign penned and began circulating a petition to prevent Limbaugh from being inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians. 'No one who disrespects women in this way deserves such an honor. The State of Missouri should condemn this kind of language, not honor it,' read McCaskill’s statement." ...

Adam Peck of Think Progress: Twelve commercial sponsors "have pulled ads from [Limbaugh's] program, and several others are considering following their lead." ...

... Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: "Rush Limbaugh is really sorry that he had to apologize.... House Speaker John Boehner called Mr. Limbaugh’s language (just the language, not the substance) 'inappropriate' – a formulation that the columnist George Will later mocked as 'comical.' Mr. Will said: 'Using a salad fork for your entrée, that’s inappropriate.'" ...

... Open Salon: "... does Limbaugh's brand of misogyny really have a place on government-funded airwaves? Particularly when it's beamed to a military where some 30% of American servicewomen are sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers at some point in their deployment?" The post links to this White House petition, which I also linked the other day.

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Two polls out this past weekend show Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) pulling ahead of challenger Elizabeth Warren (D) in the Massachusetts Senate race."

Right Wing World

Here's the New York Times' quick guide to Super Tuesday, state by state.

We can be poor in spirit, and I don’t even consider myself wealthy, which is an interesting thing. It can be here today and gone tomorrow. How I measure riches is by the friends I have and the loved ones I have and the people that I care about in my life, and that’s where my values are and that’s where my riches are. -- Ann Romney

Seriously, Platitudes mean more than Cadillacs. And yes indeedy, Mrs. Williard, a Platitude is a very interesting thing. Even if you can't drive your Platitutde to your lousy job. -- Constant Weader

When Even Billions Are Not Enough. Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: the Cato Institute, a libertarian "think" tank bought & paid for by Charles Koch, et al., is resisting his & Bubba's "attempts to install their own people on the institute’s 16-member board and to establish a more direct pipeline between Cato and the family’s Republican political outlets, including groups that Democrats complain have mounted a multimillion-dollar assault on President Obama. Tensions reached a new level with a lawsuit filed last week by the Kochs against Cato over its governing structure." CW: It is a joy to see the jester turn on the king. Of course, the king(s) may win the round, but the cracks in their kingdom are beginning to show. ...

... Alex Pareene of Salon: "Cato is mostly antiwar, decidedly anti-drug war, and sponsors a lot of good work on civil liberties. That … is basically what the Kochs don’t like about them, because white papers on decriminalization don’t help Republicans get elected. As Jonah Goldberg complains in a post that otherwise resolutely refuses to come to a conclusion or have a point, Cato has an annoying habit of not always seeing itself as a natural member of the glorious Republican coalition. (Current Cato headline: 'It’s Not Obama’s Fault That Crude Oil Prices Have Increased.)'”

News Ledes

New Jersey Star-Ledger: "U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, the elder statesman of New Jersey's congressional delegation, died after a months-long battle with colon cancer today, according to his office. The longtime politician was 77."

President Obama will hold a press conference at 1:15 pm ET today. AP: "In his first full news conference of the year Tuesday, Obama was to announce plans to let borrowers with mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration refinance at lower rates, saving the average homeowner more than $1,000 a year." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "President Obama challenged his Republican critics to make a case to the American people for a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities if they really believe that is the right course to follow, throwing down an election-year challenge to the men who are vying to succeed him and who say that his Iran policy has been too weak." Washington Post: "President Obama sharply criticized his Republican presidential rivals Tuesday for talking 'casually' about going to war with Iran, saying that when such decisions are made for political reasons, 'we make mistakes. What is said on the campaign trail — those folks don’t have a lot of responsibilities,' Obama said during an afternoon news conference. 'They are not commander in chief. When I see the casualness with which those folks talk about war, I am reminded of the costs involved in war'.” See Wednesday's Commentariat for video of the full presser. ...

     ... AND Washington Post: "President Obama on Tuesday unveiled two new housing initiatives intended to assist Americans with government-insured loans and members of the military.... Obama announced a new plan to cut refinancing fees for any loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The president also outlined a new agreement with banks to review foreclosures for members of the military that have taken place since 2006 and provide compensation to anyone who wrongfully lost a home. Neither proposal requires Congress's approval."

Today is the GOP's Super Tuesday. Here is the New York Times story about it. Here is the Washington Post story, which I am leaving in single-page mode so you can see the accompanying dorky video in which hyperactive Chris Cillizza explains voting to dummies. ...

     ... NBC Update: here's absolutely everything you could possibly want to know about Super Tuesday. And then some. Oh, and it's a pdf.

Reuters: "Iran said it will give the U.N. nuclear watchdog access to its Parchin military complex, ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday, a site where the agency believes Tehran pursued high explosives research relevant to nuclear weapons." ...

... Guardian: "Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, invoked the spectre of Auschwitz as he chided those who question whether Iran is in pursuit of a nuclear weapon and warned that 'none of us can afford to wait much longer' to act against Tehran. In an address to the powerful pro-Israel lobby [AIPAC] in Washington, Netanyahu derided the effectiveness of sanctions hours after a meeting with Barack Obama at which the US president appealed for time for diplomacy to pressure Iran to open up its nuclear programme to inspection."

Reuters: "Dozens of protesters> angry over fee hikes and budget cuts at California's public universities were arrested on Monday night during a boisterous but peaceful demonstration inside the state Capitol building. The arrests capped a day in which hundreds of students and others marched on the statehouse and rallied outside the Capitol before many of the activists moved the demonstration inside the building, clogging hallways in and around the rotunda." The Sacramento Bee story is here.