By Eliot Nelson, Arthur Delaney & Dave Jamieson
SCOTT WALKER WILL SEE YOUR GROUNDSWELL OF POPULIST ANGER AND RAISE YOU AN INSANELY HUGE SUM OF MONEY - Ladies and germs, American politics, via Amanda Terkel: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) pulled in $13 million in the most recent three-month reporting period to fight off a Democratic attempt to recall him from office, an unprecedented sum of money for a gubernatorial race in the state. Walker's campaign announced on Monday that it has raised a total of $25 million since Jan. 1, 2011. It now has nearly $4.8 million on hand for recall and general election funds... Walker's campaign added that it received 125,926 donations during the most recent fundraising period, which lasted from mid-January to April 23, 2012. Of those contributions, 76.4 percent received, or 96,292, totaled $50 or less...The amount of money raised by the two Democratic frontrunners didn't even come close to Walker's fundraising total. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett raised $750,000 during the three-month period, while former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk raised $1 million." [HuffPost]
WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL DEFENDS AMERICA'S DROID ARMY - Andrea Stone: "Saying that President Barack Obama 'has instructed us to be more open with the American people' in the use of drones to kill suspected terrorists abroad, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Monday that the controversial strikes are 'ethical and just,' with each one being carefully vetted. 'As a matter of international law, the United States is in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces, in response to the 9/11 attacks, and we may also use force consistent with our inherent right of national self-defense,' Brennan said in prepared remarks at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars...Speaking as part of a media blitz to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALS at his hideout in Pakistan, Brennan explained why the use of unmanned aerial vehicles makes sense to target not only foreign terrorists but also those like American-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who are U.S. citizens. Brennan's speech was interrupted when a young woman stood up to 'speak out on behalf of those innocent victims killed by drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia,' she said." [HuffPost]
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R ) is taking credit for a better economy in Florida. "[I]f you look at the state numbers, about 230,000 people that were on unemployment when I took office are not on unemployment now." Politifact of Florida rated this comment "mostly true," but offered many reasons for why the brag is mostly hokum. The highlights are that Florida has fewer unemployment claims partly because Scott made the state's unemployment system the stingiest in the nation and that the claims numbers started falling before he took office. Heckuva job, guy. [Politifact]
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OBAMA CAMPAIGN UNVEILS NEW SLOGAN ('FORWARD') WITH BACKWARDS-LOOKING CAMPAIGN VIDEO - Naturally, the Romney campaign will have to devise a retaliatory slogan that both riffs on Obama's slogan and represents their candidate (our suggestion: "Maintain Present Coordinates"). Luke Johnson: "The Obama campaign released a seven-minute video entitled 'Forward.' The video begins with a recap of the 2008 financial crisis, and shows Obama taking office after the cascade of events during the fall of 2008. It then goes on to highlight the president's passage of legislative priorities, the Bin Laden raid and Republican obstructionism. According to the campaign, it will be played during the president's first campaign rallies next Saturday in Ohio and Virginia." [HuffPost]
Team Romney responded with their own video. The video features all the intense Hollywood-style musical accompaniment (a lot of Inception-style ***GONNGGGGGGGGGGGG***s) but this one has WAY MORE ominous storm clouds. Luke Johnson: "The Romney campaign released a darker video hitting Obama Monday, entitled 'Broken Promises.' It accuses the president of breaking a promise to eliminate government programs that no longer work, citing the recent revelation of excessive spending at the General Services Administration as proof." [Ibid.]
IF MONEY IS SPEECH, THEN AMERICA'S MONEY IS DRUNK AND IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INVECTIVE-FILLED RAGE BLACKOUT - Like, America's money is at that point in the evening where it's powered through 10 or 11 beers and has no problems making offensive jokes in front of, or to, other people. Paul Blumenthal: "Having made their debut in presidential primaries after two court rulings, most prominently the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, super PACs drove spending, particularly on attack ads, in the primary election like never before. Spending by independent groups like super PACs exploded by more than 300 percent from the 2008 primary season. In 2008, independent group spending in both the Republican and Democratic primaries totaled $26.11 million. That number reached $83.87 million in the 2012 primary, and that's with only the Republican nomination being contested...The largest growth in the spending by independent groups came in the form of attack ads and other negative expenditures. While spending in support of one candidate nearly doubled from $19.14 million in 2008 to $36.59 million in 2012, spending against other candidates by independent groups exploded by 680 percent, from only $6.97 million in 2008 to $47.28 million in 2012." [HuffPost]
Mitt Romney's autograph policy is Joe DiMaggio-esque in its hostility to the little guy. Christina Wilkie: "Back in February, when Santorum and Newt Gingrich were both running strongly, a photo-op at a 'policy roundtable' with Romney in Washington only cost donors $2,500. That price held steady through an April 18 fundraiser in South Carolina, the prices and hosts of which were organized before Santorum dropped out April 10. But this Wednesday in Washington, a photo with the newly-cemented nominee will cost donors a personal or bundled contribution of $10,000 or more, which is four times what it would have cost in February and the same amount President Obama charges for a photo." [HuffPost]
ROMNEY TRIES TO SHIFT CONVERSATION FROM OSAMA BIN LADEN'S DEATH TO, UH, JIMMY CARTER - We can't wait for Mitt to pivot from Detroit's revival by name-dropping Chester A. Arthur. Luke Johnson: "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hit back Monday against President Barack Obama's campaign's charge that he might not have ordered the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden as president. 'Of course,' Romney told reporters after speaking in Portsmouth, N.H. 'Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order'... The Bin Laden raid has become a central part of the Obama campaign's case for his re-election. The strategy has led to questions as to whether the president is politicizing the raid. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) slammed the Obama video Friday, saying, 'Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad.'" [HuffPost]
MITT ROMNEY TO APPEAR WITH RUDY GIULIANI: THE GUY WHO KILLED OSAMA BIN LADEN IN SPIRIT - CNN: "Rudy Giuliani will appear at an event with Mitt Romney on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the assault on Osama bin Laden, a campaign aide confirmed to CNN. The death of the former al Qaeda leader is currently a political talking point between the campaigns of the former Massachusetts governor and President Barack Obama, with both sides attempting to capitalize on the one-year anniversary." We hear that President Obama will counter Romney's appearance with 2001's TIME person of the year by appearing with "You." [CNN]
NPR has set up an ant farm webcam. In classic NPR fashion, it's endearingly boring.
WHCD: ALLEN WEST SPLASHES WATER ON WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL-MEDIA INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX - Each year, the Washington press corps tries to numb the pain of its dismal pay and disturbingly incestuous dating scene by dressing up all fancy-like and getting sloshed near important people. A critical part of this reality-avoidance ritual is the post-weekend tisk-tisk-tisking by a semi-righteous, semi-jealous, semi-disgruntled outside observer. Sadly, it appears that this responsibility has fallen to Allen West this year. The Hill: "Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) was one of the few members of Congress to snag a ticket to this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, but the Tea Party freshman was not impressed by the proceedings. The congressman took to Facebook on Monday to denounce those 'laughing and living it up' at the annual dinner while 'our Constitutional Republic is eroding.'" [The Hill]
DISCLAIMER: HuffPost Hill attended some of the soirees and thought the chandeliers and game-changing mini bacon strips at the MSNBC afterparty were TOTALLY FABULOUS.
OBAMA ORDERS SECOND HELPING OF DOG - When conservatives discovered that President Obama admitted to having eaten dog meat as a child when he lived in Indonesia, they vowed to bring it up any time the other side dared mention Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's mistreatment of his dog in 1983. At the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, Obama demonstrated that he would be happy to play that game. During his remarks, Obama said Sarah Palin's stint as guest host of "The Today Show" reminded him of an old saying: "What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pit bull is delicious." Check out HuffPost video guru Hunter Stuart's definitive mashup of Seamus Romney news coverage here: [HuffPost]
Is seeing Congresswoman Gwen Moore sing an anti-Scott Walker anthem on your bucket list? Well, friend, cross off that sucker.
AFGHANISTAN UPDATE - Josh Hersh reports that things in America's Eurasian annex are still blah-to-meh: "Atta Muhammad Noor, a former Northern Alliance warlord who many consider to be the strongest governor in Afghanistan, is the kind of longstanding ally American officials would love to comfortably count on as they plan their withdrawal from the decade-old war here. So it may sting a little to hear Noor lash out about the American exit strategy, and especially the U.S.-supported plan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, before a room full of American military officers...Noor's complaint may not be unexpected -- the idea that ex-Northern Alliance leaders would resist reconciliation talks with their ideological and military arch-enemies, the Taliban, is hardly surprising. But it also clashes with recent American policy, which has focused on working behind-the-scenes to bring the Taliban back to peace talks. The hope, analysts and officials say, is that if a political balance can be struck between the insurgents and the government of President Hamid Karzai, the U.S. may be able to draw down its military presence by the end of 2014 without precipitating a new round of civil conflict." [HuffPost]
CARO: HECKUVA JOB, HARRY - Harry Reid, as majority leader of the United States Senate, has done "a terrific job," according to the most celebrated historian of the institution in a generation. Robert Caro, author of "Master of the Senate," the Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of his Lyndon Johnson biography, said that Reid's opponents and their abuse of the filibuster have made running the upper chamber "near impossible." Caro sat down for an interview with The Huffington Post in conjunction with the release of the fourth volume of his biography, "The Passage of Power," which covers Johnson's vice presidency and some of his presidency. "Harry Reid as a majority leader operated in near impossible circumstances," Caro said. "The other side is intractable and it has the votes to stop legislation. That he has been able to get as much as he has -- as little as it is -- through the Senate is a tribute to him as majority leader. I think he's in near-impossible circumstances. I think he's done a terrific job." [HuffPost]
BELOVED LIBERAL THING SUFFERING FROM SERIOUS MONEY PROBLEMS, PT. 693,591,245,512,021,244,112 - It's going to take a lot of tote bags and/or a few politically engaged rich people to turn this ship around. Michael Calderone: "The American Prospect, an influential liberal politics and policy magazine, could shut its doors at the end of May unless the nonprofit publication raises a half million dollars to fill a current funding gap." [HuffPost]
But, yeah, donate to the Prospect here.
@AbuZilif: This is a pretty genius way to try to pull in younger readers. bit.ly/JZaf2l
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - This is a very sneaky dog.
NATIONAL ZOO HELPS PROVE THAT THE MAYANS WERE RIGHT - LiveScience: "Spring is in the air, and baby panda-making is in the minds of zookeepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo -- if not those of their panda charges. Zookeepers have decided to artificially inseminate female giant panda Mei Xiang, at the Washington, D.C., zoo today (April 30), and live tweet the proceedings. It's the second try, after a first insemination Sunday. 'One of our repro experts, Dr. Aiken-Palmer holds the next vial of 100,000 million sperm. 'It only takes one!' tweeted Dave Wildt, National Zoo reproductive scientist and head of the Center for Species Survival." [LiveScience]
NEWSFLASH: NO ONE CAN ESCAPE TIME - HuffPost DC: "Ian MacKaye "recently turned 50 years old. Don't know who Ian MacKaye is? Shame on you!"
COMFORT FOOD
By @bradjshannon!
- "5 Ways to Spot a B.S. Political Story in Under 10 Seconds" [http://bit.ly/IPD6DU]
- Jimmy Kimmel at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. [http://chzb.gr/JJsMei]
- We recognize this guy from somewhere. Patriot Games? Patriot something. [http://bit.ly/JJtfwZ]
- The TacoCopter update you were waiting for. [http://huff.to/JJuoET]
- The new trailer for Aaron Sorkin's forthcoming HBO series, "Newsroom." [http://chzb.gr/JJuqMT]
- A brief tour of English accents. [http://chzb.gr/JJuGLN]
- Life, from the perspective of a weiner (dog). [http://bit.ly/JJuTi4]
TWITTERAMA
@petridishes: Sad Obama campaign picked "Forward" over my initial suggestion, "Reply All."
@morningmoneyben: For the love of God can we STOP with the #whcd pics? OK, you were somewhere near Clooney. Here is your Medal of Freedom. Now shut it.
@bengreenman: Thank you, headline, for making no sense: "Invisible man casts shadow over US-China talks" bit.ly/KmUdct
ON TAP
By @christinawilkie
TONIGHT
3:30pm: Michelle Obama is serenaded by the dudes from Calexico at a Tuscon Obama fundraiser. This is a woman who isn't afraid to dance, so we've got high hopes for this shindig. [Tucson Ariz.]
7:00pm - 9:00pm: In the war between video games and the Obama administration's healthy lifestyle initiatives, video games just won. The administration teams with the video game lobby for a reception to announce a partnership for healthy vide games. [Smithsonian American Art Museum]
TOMORROW
6:00pm: New Orleans Musicians for Obama host a kick-ass fundraising concert in the Big Easy, while the president continues to dominate Romney in a tally of support among sweet bands, by a score of about 1,000 to zero. [New Orleans, La.]
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