Newt Gingrich’s national favorability rating.
(Click the TPM logo to see full-sized graph.)
What stands out to me is that he seems to have been significantly less popular since he stepped up his public profile late last year in expectation of a presidential run.
Important new developments in the Japan nuclear crisis which suggest that the situation at the most stricken plant has spiraled out of control, forcing the evacuation of workers who were trying to regain control of the reactors, according to the New York Times.
Live English language coverage from NHK World here.
Susan Crabtree has the latest on the turmoil in the House Ethics Committee.
Will enough House conservatives defect from their party leadership to kill the next stopgap spending measure? Brian Beutler previews today’s vote in the House.
The world seems to be reeling from one crisis and confrontation with history to another. The unfolding disaster in Japan, understandably, has everyone’s attention. And before the earthquake this weekend, the shambling and chaotic situation in Libya had everyone’s focus. But something else just happened that while not momentous or dramatic in the moment — or compared to everything else that’s happening — seems like a very big deal, and an event the implications of which may be vast.
One of the more protracted mass protests in the Arab world over the last two months has been in Bahrain, a small emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf with close ties to the United States and a Sunni royal family presiding over a majority Shi’a population. The regime has rocked back and forth between violence and accommodation. But over the weekend the Bahraini royal family invited 1000 Saudi troops into the country to help control unrest. (Any number of these verbs might well belong in single quotes.) Read More
We’ve focused a lot on Gov. Walker (R-WI) in the last few weeks because his own battle with state senate Democrats has been more colorful and cartoonish than any of the others around the country. But former Rep. and now Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) has been in a similar battle with Democrats in his state over budget cuts and union organizing rights. And the polls at least now have a verdict. His popularity has dropped dramatically in recent polls and a new one shows that if he had to run again against Ted Strickland, the guy he narrowly beat last November, he’d lose by a whopping 15 points.
Back in January, the FBI arrested more than 120 suspected mobsters in what was billed as the biggest mafia bust ever. Our crime and justice reporter Ryan Reilly has been wrangling with the Feds with FOIAs to get more info and the mugshots. And they just coughed up the first round of documents and pictures. Click here to see our Slideshow of mugshots from the bust.
How well prepared are US states for a radiation emergency? Here’s the answer.
A stopgap continuing resolution to fund the federal government for another three weeks just passed the House, 271-158.