The Kremlin television network RT praised the supposed fairness of the Russian election after strongman Vladimir Putin won reelection in the rigged contest. RT's claim was that the election was the most transparent in history:
Reuters reports that the Obama administration will cut off birth control funding for low-income women in Texas because Texas has cut off the state's taxpayer-funding of Planned Parenthood:
A new regulation from the Justice Department will require “public-access swimming pools across the country to install handicapped-accessible ramps and lifts or face a fine of up to $100,000,” the Hill reports. This regulation could cost “hotels and other organizations . . . to spend up to $9,000 to stay in compliance with the rule.”
It has been a tough week for the president. Just as things were supposed to be getting better for him—as they were for the economy—his support and approval ratings took a severe hit in two important polls. And then there was a survey that indicated that 80 percent of the population does not consider itself better off than it was four years ago.
Earlier in the week we noted that Mitt Romney won 9 delegates from Guam, where only 215 people voted. That's impressive efficiency. But it's nothing compared with the work Romney's campaign did in American Samoa last night. Romney won 9 delegates from American Samoa, too. Want to guess how many voters caucused there? Go ahead. I'll wait.
On the occasion of the Official Visit, The President and Mrs. Obama gave the Prime Minister and Mrs. Cameron a one-of-a-kind Braten 1000 Series Grill hand made by Engelbrecht Grills and Cookers of Paxton, Illinois. Symbolizing the personal friendship between the President and Mrs. Obama and Prime Minister and Mrs. Cameron, the gift commemorates their May 2011 visit to 10 Downing Street where together they grilled and served food to American and British Armed Service Members.
With the Alabama and Mississippi primaries now complete, and with the Hawaii caucuses counted, more than half of the states (accounting for 41 percent of the delegates) are now in the books in the Republican presidential race. Through these first 26 states, Mitt Romney has won 52.7 percent (496 of 942) of the available delegates, a shade over the 50 percent rate he must eclipse in order to secure a majority of the delegates (1,144 of 2,286) before the GOP convention.
With 45 of 45 precincts reporting, Mitt Romney has won the Republican caucuses in Hawaii. Romney received 45 percent of the vote, Rick Santorum 25 percent, Ron Paul 18 percent, and Newt Gingrich 11 percent.
Rick Santorum won two surprise victories last night in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, and he did so by poaching voters from Newt Gingrich’s coalition. To appreciate this, let’s take a look at some data.
First, the topline numbers in the four Deep Southern states that have voted so far.
“Senator Santorum is at the desperate end of his campaign,” Mitt Romney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday. Oops. For weeks, Team Romney and many of its allies have been eager—one might even say desperate—to end this campaign. The Republican primary electorate has been resisting this, and the voters in Alabama and Mississippi engaged in massive resistance yesterday, giving Romney less than a third of their votes.
