The big news, of course, is Obama’s budget—but we’ll give that a few days as politicians and strategists determine how it will affect upcoming campaigns.The focus of many campaigners, at least on the right, is still CPAC (which is also the reason for today’s late update). Cillizza offers a list of Republicans to watch for 2012 while bloggers left and right have been hustling to synopsize the speakers’ messages. Here’s a sampler:
techRepublican on the last night’s banquet.
Huffington Post on Huckabee, who attacked Chris Matthews and MSNBC.
Politico on Rep. Mike Pence, who claimed Republicans won the stimulus argument.
One of the more interesting speakers was Sen. John Cornyn, head of the NRSC, who said the GOP may have to find more moderate candidates for 2010 (The Atlantic notes that moderate Republicans seem to be a dying breed). The NRSC put up a video of Cornyn’s remarks.Other big political news includes the Senate’s approval of the bill granting D.C. a voting representative in the House, complicated a bit by an issue over gun control.Out in Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn thinks he can hold a special election to boot Burris. Their current special election—to replace Rahm Emmanuel—just finished early voting, but hasn’t seen much of a turnout.The ads keep rolling out: The NRSC has one targeting Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) while Americans United for Change and AFSCME and depicting Republicans as obstructionists.Finally, an acting coach offers one of the more interesting takes on Jindal’s botched Tuesday night speech.