THE VETTING: BEN SMITH RELEASES SELECTIVELY EDITED OBAMA RACE VIDEO  —  Earlier today, Buzzfeed's Ben Smith announced on Twitter that video researcher Andrew Kaczynski had released “the mysterious Harvard/Obama/race video that the Breitbart folks have been talking about.”

Republican Split Decision  —  Romney had a good night but Santorum has cause to fight on.  —  If Republican poohbahs were hoping that Super Tuesday's 10 contests would settle the Republican primary contest, they woke up Wednesday disappointed.  While Mitt Romney had a good night and stretched …

Bill Maher Defends Rush Limbaugh  —  Last night on Twitter, Bill Maher defended Rush Limbaugh and attacked liberals for not accepting Limbaugh's apology after he spent three days relentlessly attacking law student Sandra Fluke.  —  Notably, Limbaugh only apologized for “two words,” after attacking Fluke dozens of times.

Maine Miscellany  —It looks like Maine voters will reverse their 2009 decision and legalize gay marriage in the state this fall.  54% think that gay marriage should be legal to only 41% who think it should be illegal.  And when we asked about the issue using the exact language voters …

Obama loses Dem primary in 15 Oklahoma counties  —  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — President Barack Obama collected the most votes in the Oklahoma Democratic primary, but lost in 15 counties.  —  With 98 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday, Obama won 57 percent of the vote.

Racial incident mars high school game  —  School district, students apologize  —  SAN ANTONIO -  —  A local school district is apologizing after an apparent incident of racism at a boys high school basketball game this past weekend.  —  When the final whistle blew Saturday …

Rep. Dennis Kucinich suffers primary defeat in Ohio  —  Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), the two-time presidential candidate and icon of the antiwar left, suffered a bruising primary defeat Tuesday as a new Republican-drawn congressional map threatened to end the career of one of the most colorful figures in Congress.

$1B of TSA Nude Body Scanners Made Worthless By Blog — How Anyone Can Get Anything Past The Scanners  —  This video is here to demonstrate that the TSA's insistence that the nude body scanner program is effective and necessary is nothing but a fraud, just like their claims that the program is safe …

TPMDC  —  Senate Republicans Backing Off Contraception Wars  —  From one top GOP senator openly lamenting the fallout of the ongoing fight over contraception, to the author of the controversial legislation at the heart of that fight effectively conceding defeat in the upper chamber …

It Ain't Over  —  Out here, in the dark quiet of the winter suburban night, it's startling to hear the harsh sounds piercing through the cold air from the direction of Washington, D.C. It takes a while to recognize the sound as the gnashing of thousands of D.C. GOP power brokers' teeth.

Apple next-generation iPad liveblog!  —  March 7, 2012.  Hard to say if it's a day that'll live long in terms of historical significance, but you can bet it'll be an important milestone in the history of Apple's iPad family.  The next iPad (iPad 3? iPad HD? iPad 2S?) is due to be unveiled …

Channel 4 booting anchorwoman Sue Simmons after 32 years  —  After more than three decades, WNBC/Channel 4 is tossing anchorwoman Sue Simmons overboard.  —  Last week, the station gave her the bad news that her contract would not be renewed — and come June, she's history.

Audit: Part of $11M grant for Detroit job seekers only aided 2  —  Detroit — Part of an $11 million grant intended to provide business attire to 400 low-income job-seekers instead helped only two people, an audit of the city's Department of Human Services has found.

RFK Jr.: Inhofe is ‘call girl’ for Big Oil  —  Leave it to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to one-up Rush Limbaugh in the name-calling department.  —  “Speaking of prostitutes, big oil's top call girl Sen Inhofe wants to kill fuel economy backed by automakers, small biz, enviros, & consumers,” …

Why Rick Won't Quit  —  The cost is high.  But it's not about logic, or even winning, any more.  —  There comes a point in a presidential campaign — and in the lore, it's always 3 a.m. when this happens — where the candidate finds himself staring at the ceiling, contemplating financial ruin.

Antonio Villaraigosa backs gay marriage plank  —  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — the chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention — said on Wednesday that he favors a gay marriage legalization plank in his party's platform.  —  Villaraigosa publicly announced he backs …