Why is Team Romney so focused on making clear that Mitt Romney’s positions on abortion trump Paul Ryan’s? Just take a look at Ryan’s.

The big lie of the 2012 cycle is Medicare. Most people don’t understand well enough how the program works and what the implications of the major reform proposals are to be able to wade through the disinformation coming out of the Romney camp. And most political coverage is not up to the task — a fact the Romney camp is depending on. But it’s actually not that complicated. Take for instance this fact: Romney’s plan would hasten the insolvency of Medicare.

A candidate for sheriff in New Hampshire cites common law mumbo jumbo for the proposition that sheriffs have the power to use deadly force against doctors to stop legal abortions.

The 5.8 magnitude Mineral, Va., earthquake that rocked DC and startled folks across a large swath of the country east of the Mississippi was a year ago today. There was a lot of scoffing at the time from West Coasters (although I distinctly remember the look of fear on the face of one Southern Californian in our DC office as the shaking kept going and going and going), but with the Washington Monument still closed, scaffolding still marring the gothic lines of National Cathedral, and repairs ongoing at Union Station, the quake has earned cred in the last year. A look back.

Greg Sargent’s take on the new Bill Clinton ad and what it suggests about Obama’s re-election strategy in the face of a still very mediocre economy.

Todd Akin making things miserable for the RNC’s pre-convention platform writing process, too.

McCaskill: Don’t believe that poll that shows me kicking Akin’s butt!

Mike Huckabee has moved into full-out support for Todd Akin, lashes out at GOP for trying to throw him under the bus.

Denver TV reporter Shaun Boyd talks about Romney camp’s interview condition: no questions about Akin or abortion.

Mitt Romney’s campaign acknowledged that it deviated from standard operating procedure in declaring abortion and Todd Akin off-limits in a recent interview.

“This is not how we operate,” a campaign official told TPM. “The matter is being addressed.”