8:53 PM: Mitt is walking the only line available on birth control: This isn’t about contraception; it’s about religious freedom.
8:55 PM: No debate complete without Newt invoking “tyranny.”
Clearly, Newt doesn’t give a crap about competing in Michigan. But Romney just took his position on the auto bailout even further into total incoherence. He opposes the auto bailout. But now he only opposes the money given before the bankruptcy phase. And what happened when they put the companies through a managed bankruptcy was what Mitt wanted all the time. So they actually figured out what to do from Mitt. Only that wasn’t good either because it was a sell out to the unions. In a Rube Goldberg kind of way it sort of makes sense. But having tried to pander in every possible way at the time and doing the same thing now, the whole thing just comes out as an incomprehensible jumble.
It looks like the Romney campaign did a good job getting the audience stacked with his supporters. But Mitt’s getting testy. We’re seen this before. It usually doesn’t go well for him.
8:07 PM: Wow, Mitt goes for semi-current cultural reference — George Costanza. Actually sort of surprised Mitt came up with that.
8:13 PM: Santorum hits Romney on aping Occupy Wall Street rhetoric. This is what he’s referring to.
8:16 PM: Did Newt just say that getting rid of the Civil Service system would save $500 billion a year?
8:28 PM: Actually thought that was a very strong answer for Santorum. But the zero clapping and the handful of guffaws sort of suggests the audience didn’t see it the same way.
8:29 PM: We’re moving into people getting under Mitt’s skin phase.
The smell of sulfur and the heat of hellfire waft around today’s Day in 100 Seconds.
There are more questions than answers in the strange case of Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu and his estranged lover. Nick Martin has been sniffing around one of the bigger unknowns of the case.
Romney camp says they edited out negative parts of Detroit News endorsement because they didn’t want to violate copyright. Top 1st Amendment lawyer says that’s total malarkey.
Our interview with Russ Feingold this afternoon, newly minted as one of the co-chairs for President Obama’s reelection campaign but still highly critical of the President’s Super PAC decision, reminds me of the old LBJ line: “It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) moves to strip transvaginal ultrasound provision from state’s controversial anti-abortion bill.