Shift on Executive Power Lets Obama Bypass Rivals  —  WASHINGTON — One Saturday last fall, President Obama interrupted a White House strategy meeting to raise an issue not on the agenda.  He declared, aides recalled, that the administration needed to more aggressively use executive power …

Jon Huntsman Trashes GOP, Expresses Campaign Regrets  —  Former Republican presidential candidate compares his party to Communist China.  Says Reagan would have trouble winning GOP primary in this political environment.  Regrets opposition to 10-1 spending cuts to tax increase deficit deal.

Obama to target foreign nationals' use of new technologies in human rights abuses  —  President Obama will issue an executive order Monday that will allow U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies …

The Amnesia Candidate  —  Just how stupid does Mitt Romney think we are?  If you've been following his campaign from the beginning, that's a question you have probably asked many times.  —  But the question was raised with particular force last week, when Mr. Romney tried …

HOW THE MEDIA COVERED THE 2012 PRIMARY CAMPAIGN  —  LESS HORSE RACE THAN 2008  —  By Tom Rosenstiel, Mark Jurkowitz and Tricia Sartor of PEJ  —  Mitt Romney needed 15 weeks once the primary contests began to gain a secure hold over his party's nomination for president.

Have Our News Organizations Gone Crazy?  —  I wrote here about MSNBC's campaign to tie the Koch brothers to George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin.  That effort was, it is fair to say, insane, but it apparently inspired one or more liberals to take MSNBC's theories a step farther.

At The NYT: Clueless Blue Deer Meet Onrushing Truck  —  Schadenfreude alert: readers, and especially those who don't much like the New York Times, should make sure they are not eating soup or holding hot liquids before viewing the video below.  Uncontrollable gales of laughter stemming …

28 military protesters arrested in DeWitt near Hancock Air Base  —  DeWitt, N.Y. — Twenty-eight people were charged Sunday after failing to obtain a DeWitt town permit to march into the town and protest the U.S. military's use of unmanned drones.  —  The gathering, which included members …

West says Muslim Brotherhood being allowed to influence strategy  —  Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) criticized the FBI on Monday for removing nearly 900 pages of training material it deemed to be offensive, saying it showed extremist Muslim groups were influencing national strategy.

George Zimmerman released on bond in Trayvon Martin killing  —  George Zimmerman enters court Friday for a hearing in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.  (Gary W. Green / Orlando Sentinel / April 21, 2012)  —  George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot an unarmed teenager …

A day will come when I stop enjoying this.  Today is not that day.  —  Here's Gary Eaton on Obama's dog-eatin' (with apologies to Hall & Oates):  —  At Knowyourmeme.com, the page for “Obama, the Eater of Dogs” is going strong, and the gallery is growing by the hour.

Poll: Just three percent have favorable view of John Edwards  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  (CBS News) With opening arguments in the trial of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate John Edwards set …

Book: GOP freshman class turned into ‘a monster’ for Boehner, other House leaders  —  Time and again last year, House Republican leaders faced a nearly in­trac­table opponent: the very freshman class that propelled them into the majority with the historic 2010 midterm elections.

1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.  —  A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.

Political Memo: Obama-Romney Race Could Help Pave Way to Deficit Deal  —  WASHINGTON — When television pundits and aging rock stars start commanding headlines in the presidential campaign, it is tempting to conclude that the election season will merely produce a long, painful case of cat scratch fever.