Visual Source: Newseum
NY Times:
Mr. Obama, who is to meet at the White House with the bipartisan leadership of Congress in an effort to work out an agreement to raise the federal debt limit, wants to move well beyond the $2 trillion in savings sought in earlier negotiations and seek perhaps twice as much over the next decade, Democratic officials briefed on the negotiations said Wednesday.
The president’s renewed efforts follow what knowledgeable officials said was an overture from Mr. Boehner, who met secretly with Mr. Obama last weekend, to consider as much as $1 trillion in unspecified new revenues as part of an overhaul of tax laws in exchange for an agreement that made substantial spending cuts, including in such social programs as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security — programs that had been off the table.
EJ Dionne:
Here’s why getting to a deal on the debt ceiling is so complicated.
President Obama’s main goal is to get through this fight with the government still running and his support from the political center intact, even if this means substantial concessions to Republicans.
House Republican leaders want to get by without inciting a revolt among right-wing Tea Partyers, which means they’re having trouble accepting Obama’s concessions.
And the Senate — well, the Senate resembles the Balkans without a peacekeeping force.
WaPo:
To their credit, Romney’s senior aides were up-front about his fundraising for the quarter — they said he would come in between $15 and $20 million — but still struggled beneath the heightened fundraising expectations for the nominal frontrunner in the race.
“I think they learned an organizational lesson here,” said one senior Republican strategist. “Pledges are meaningless, and they need to pick up the collection efforts...
“I think it is relative,” said Mike Murphy, a Republican media consultant who has worked for Romney in the past but is not affiliated with him this time around. “It’s less than 2008, but the competition he faces is the crowd he has now, not then.”
Politico:
Mitt Romney fundraising sparks Republican fears
Ah, cutting to the chase.
The Hill:
Former Bush political guru Karl Rove said Wednesday that he thinks Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) will run for president.
Rove, who enjoys longstanding and deep ties to Texas Republican politics, said he expects Perry to jump into the race for the GOP nomination — and raise big bucks if he does so.
"I think you're right that he's going to run," Rove said on Fox Business Network.
Politico:
Former President Bill Clinton Wednesday compared GOP efforts to limit same-day voter registration and block some convicted felons from voting to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes.
In a speech to liberal youth activists Wednesday, the former president called out proposals in battleground states like Florida and Ohio that could limit the voter rolls.
Now, that'll make for some competition for both Romney and Bachmann, even if he doesn't win. Also-rans Pawlenty and Huntsman will be starved for media oxygen and we might actually see more stories written that their campaigns don't measure up and they won't be winning.
This was from Matt Bai last month:
Republicans talk about something called “Bush fatigue.” It almost always comes up in relation to Jeb Bush, the brainy and politically talented brother of George W. Bush, who was himself the popular governor of a pretty sizable state. It’s a common theory in conservative circles that while Jeb (everyone calls him Jeb) might be the most formidable candidate out there to challenge President Obama, he is nonetheless cursed by his last name.
That’s because a lot of Americans, and no small number of Republican primary voters, reminisce about the last Bush presidency the way they might about, say, once having contracted shingles. The sullied family brand is thought to be a deal breaker, at least for the moment.
When I interviewed Jeb Bush last year, he told me that he didn’t worry about the brand and wouldn’t hesitate to run for president if he really felt like it. And I’ve never been entirely sold on the Bush fatigue theory, either. Jeb Bush bears little resemblance to his older brother physically or temperamentally, and you can imagine him dominating Republican debates in a way that would quickly differentiate him.
In Mr. Perry’s case, however, the biographical and visceral similarities to Mr. Bush might actually prove harder to ignore.
So what's changed? Nothing. A combo of blind ambition and wariness of Romney will likely prove those predicting a Perry run to be correct. And that Perry might run is more evidence of Romney's weakness than his fund raising.
NY Times on Rupert Murdoch's problems in the UK:
Line-skirting has always been part of doing business for Rupert Murdoch, but a voice-mail hacking scandal poses a new type of threat to News Corporation’s image.
Not all the news is bad.
Connecticut has become the first state to require companies to provide employees with paid sick leave with legislation signed into law by Gov. Dan Malloy (D), who announced his action Tuesday.
The measure requires businesses in the service industry with 50 or more employees to allow workers to accrue one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked. Backers estimate that between 200,000 and 300,000 workers will benefit. Opponents said the law will make Connecticut less competitive.
The Onion:
Final Minutes Of Last Harry Potter Movie To Be Split Into Seven Separate Films
Warner Bros. will recut the last four minutes of "The Deathly Hollows: Part 2" and stretch it into seven films so fans can enjoy the Harry Potter franchise for another decade.
Rumor has it Harry, Ron and Hermione have already destroyed the first three, but the last four will be harder to find.