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1.) Condi for VP? Not happenin’ captain — Matt Drudge, the proprietor of what is arguably the most influential news website, The Drudge Report, is reporting that Mitt Romney is seriously considering Condoleezza Rice as his running mate. TheDC’s Paul Conner reports:
“In a story that cited anonymous sources, the conservative news aggregator Drudge wrote that the former Massachusetts governor has narrowed his list of choices and that Rice, who currently runs the political action committee ShePAC, is a leading candidate. ‘It was Condi who received two standing ovations at Romney’s Utah retreat a few weeks ago, and everyone left with her name on their lips,’ the report reads. ‘Rice made an extended argument for American leadership in the world.'”
The Romney campaign could be putting her name out there to see how conservatives react. But it is hard to see how Romney, who himself was once avowedly pro-choice, could pick a pro-choice running mate for the presidential ticket of what is still a staunchly pro-life party.
2.) What should Romney do about the Bain pain? — Political analysts can’t agree on what Mitt Romney should do about Obama’s Bain Capital attacks. Matt Pitchford reports for TheDC:
“Dr. Larry Sabato, political scientist at the University of Virginia, sums up the conflict. He told TheDC that he is ‘not sure which approach is best.’ Romney could prepare for a strong defense on Bain Capital, or he could refuse to spend time competing on Obama’s preferred ground and instead ‘focus entirely on Obama’s weak economy and other failures as president. Take your pick.'”
Maybe he should just trot out Obama advocates (and Bain defenders) Bill Clinton and Cory Booker? One has to believe that this ad is already made and will hit the airwaves sometime soon.
3.) Liberal ‘Newsroom’ — No, we’re not talking about MSNBC. Or NBC. Or CBS. Or ABC. Or just about any other newsroom. We’re talking about the new HBO show, which TheDC Morning hears is comically liberal and preachy. Now we learn that the left-wing activist blog ThinkProgress is a major source of material for the writers of the show. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“A writer for HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’ — a show accused of being unfair in its portrayal of conservatives — is admitting that the television program’s writers relied on the liberal blog ThinkProgress to do research for the series. ‘Your reporting and archiving was vital to the research we did,’ Gideon Yago, a writer for the show, said on Twitter this week to ThinkProgress staffer Adam Peck … The show’s most recent episode spent a great deal of time criticizing tea partiers and Republicans for being too far outside the mainstream during the 2010 elections.”
How about more Curb Your Enthusiasm and less ideological drivel masquerading as entertainment, HBO. That would be swell.
4.) Meet the ‘teavangelicals’ — The Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody has termed Christian evangelicals aligned with (or in) the tea party movement teavangelicals, though it isn’t clear if anyone else but him is using that term. Brody says that though the tea party itself does not have an articulated position on foreign policy, teavangelicals are generally a hawkish bunch. Brody talks to TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!):
“While teavangelicals don’t bring up foreign policy too often at tea party events, they are most definitely hawkish on foreign policy and their love for Israel is off the charts. As the Israelis know, conservative evangelical Christians are their biggest friend and so Teavangelicals have a true heart for Israel. They believe Iran is not only a direct threat to Israel but also so much so that they believe stopping the regime at all costs is a non-negotiable. The good news for Romney here is that he sees the issue the same way.”
5.) Poll of the Day: Romney has narrow lead in North Carolina — RealClearPolitics polling average of North Carolina: Mitt Romney 47.2%, President Obama 46%.
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — CJ Ciaramella: So The Newsroom is based on Keith Olbermann, lauded by Dan Rather and backed by Think Progress research? I’m sold!
VIDEO: New Romney ad says ‘Obama lied … How can you trust him to lead?”