Lots of coverage of Romney at last night's GOP fundraiser. "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Wednesday that his party needs to take a fresh approach to government regulations in the wake of the economic crisis that has rattled the U.S. and world economies."
 
Also, "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Wednesday that Republicans shouldn't oppose President Obama as a reflex and should praise him when he succeeds." 
 
Roll Call's lead: "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, widely viewed as a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, likened Republicans to the revolutionaries of 1776 in a political call to arms issued to Senators and high-dollar Republican donors at Wednesday's National Republican Senatorial Committee spring fundraising dinner."

And Todd Palin talks about the clothes. The AP: "The husband of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says the Republican Party's lavish spending on her wardrobe during the presidential campaign was 'out of our control.' In the May issue of Men's Journal, Todd Palin was asked about the more than $150,000 that the Republican National Committee spent on clothes, accessories and beauty services for the GOP vice presidential nominee. He defended his wife, saying she was focused on preparation for her debate with Joe Biden."

"'She never went to Saks, or any of that stuff,' he said. 'You come into a campaign late, you put all your trust into the team, you got people who are working on VP ops for a long time, and we're just focused on debate prep. I couldn't give a rat's (expletive) about clothes. Please. I mean these are my Sunday go-to-meeting jeans!'"

"Liberal groups targeting moderate congressional Democrats should 'beware of forming a circular firing squad' that could hurt the party in 2010 elections, says the head of Democrats' House campaign efforts," the AP writes. "Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wants to defuse heady expectations in his party for more gains in next year's midterm elections after too-close-to-call results in this week's election for a vacant Democratic seat in New York."

Meanwhile, the DCCC says it will be running new radio ads targeting Republicans who voted against the economic stimulus and its middle-class tax cuts. The targets: Mike Castle (DE), Ken Calvert (CA), Bill Young (FL), Thad McCotter (MI), Charlie Dent (PA), and Mike McCaul (TX).

NEW YORK: The Albany Times Union: "The too-close-to-call race in the 20th Congressional District between Republican Jim Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy just got considerably closer. Following a review of votes in Columbia County, Murphy still leads Tedisco — but only by 25 votes, 77,217 to 77,192. More: "The narrowing of the gap doesn't change the main fact: Thousands of absentee ballots will essentially decide the race — but not until after April 13." 

Per the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, Murphy "will win the special election in New York's 20th district by 210 votes after all outstanding absentee and military ballots are counted, according to projections made by Democratic Party officials… The projections -- based off of the county performances by Murphy and state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R) on election night -- show the Democrat gaining 115 votes in Warren County, 96 votes in Columbia County and 70 votes in Washington County as well as scoring smaller gains in several other counties. Tedisco's only major gain, according to the model, will be in Saratoga County where he will net an additional 116 votes. The Democratic projection puts the total number of absentee and military ballots at 5,584 with Murphy winning 2,864 and Tedisco taking 2,720."

Stu Rothenberg on NY-20: "And while both sides have reasons to feel good about the results, Tuesday night offered Republicans a small but important bit of evidence that they have turned the corner." He writes that the nature of this district being a conservative one is overwrought. "People in this district may be registered as Republicans, but many simply haven't been voting that way… What does this mean? It means much, though not all, of this talk about the huge Republican nature of the district is baloney. Second, talk of a stunning Murphy surge from far back is ridiculous and ignores normal campaign dynamics." And he says Dems shouldn't be so confident they will win once the absentees are all counted. "I don't know who will eventually win, but more Republican than Democratic absentee ballots have been received, according to GOP sources."

From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell
Sarah Palin's dinner date with Republicans in Washington may be off, but she's still planning a political trip in two weeks to Indiana to attend a Right to Life fundraiser.

Her political travel is likely to raise new questions. Her spokeswoman said she would not commit to a Senate-House GOP dinner in June because she was focused on Alaska state business -- not politics.

On April 16, Palin will be attending the Vanderburgh County Right to Life dinner in Evansville, IN, as well as a breakfast the next day for S.M.I.L.E., a nonprofit organization for people with family members who have Down syndrome. Palin's spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, said Palin will be taking a "36-hour vacation" to attend the events in Indiana. Palin's political action committee will pay for the travel.

Palin was replaced as the keynote speaker at the Republican dinner in Washington by Newt Gingrich. The event's organizers grew tired of waiting for her to commit to the party's big spring fundraising gala.

Stapleton said Palin would not agree to political events until after April 20, when the Alaska legislative session ends. "She is focused on Alaska," Stapleton said today.

And while Palin's camp claimed no hard feelings about being replaced by Gingrich, Stapleton said, "She probably would have said yes if they could have waited."

Stapleton could not explain why Palin would say yes to a political event in Indiana and not attend a political event in Washington. However, she did note that Palin wanted to honor her son Trigg, who has Down syndrome, at the S.M.I.L.E. event in Indiana.

It's possible there could be a huge increase in political travel by Palin after the legislative session in Alaska ends. "There are thousands of requests" for appearances across the country, Stapleton said.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Reacting to today's decision by the Justice Department to withdraw the indictment against Ted Stevens, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy says the move shows Attorney General Eric Holder "is committed to the rule of law, regardless of politics."

In a written statement, Leahy says, "the new Attorney General has sent an unequivocal message that prosecutions of any kind, whether against Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or others, must be done right, and in accordance with the law."

The chairman added that confidence in the justice system can only be preserved when prosecutors "adhere to the most stringent legal and ethical standards. This decision should give all Americans confidence that the Justice Department will pursue public corruption investigations and prosecutions aggressively but fairly."

From NBC's Courtney Kube
March 2009 saw the fewest number of U.S. casualties in Iraq since the beginning of the war.

Nine American men and women died in Iraq last month -- five of those troops were killed in non-hostile action.

And to add one more interesting fact, one of the four Americans killed in hostile action was a woman, who was serving at a Forward Operating Base in Mosul.

July 2008 was the second lowest month for casualties in Iraq, with 13 total. March 2009 was the first month where U.S. casualties were in the single digits since the beginning of the war.

From NBC's Pete Williams
Lawyers for Ted Stevens release this statement from him:

"I am grateful that the new team of responsible prosecutors at the Department of Justice has acknowledged that I did not receive a fair trial and has dismissed all the charges against me. I am also grateful that Judge Emmet G. Sullivan made rulings that facilitated the exposure of the government's misconduct during the last two years.

"I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed. That day has finally come.

Video: Stevens' attorney cites corruption and misconduct by prosecuters as reasons why the Justice Department dropped charges.

"It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair. It was my great honor to serve the State of Alaska in the United States Senate for 40 years.

"I thank my wife Catherine, as well as my family, friends, and colleagues in the United States Senate who stood by me during this difficult period. I also want to thank the great number of Alaskans who offered their prayers and support.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's written statement reacting to House GOP members unveiling their budget proposal:

"If you like this recession, you'll love the Republican budget. And if their plan sounds familiar, it's because it merely repeats the same mistakes of the past eight years -- mistakes that have cost millions of Americans their jobs and plunged our nation into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

"While the Democratic budget invests in health care, education and energy, the Republican budget will take cops off the streets and eliminate needed transportation projects that create jobs. While the Democratic budget cuts taxes for middle-class families, the Republican budget continues to give tax breaks disproportionately to multimillionaires and Big Oil companies. And while the Democratic budget is designed to help families keep their homes and get us out of this recession, the Republican budget will only make a bad situation worse.

"What America needs now is a serious and responsible plan that invests in our future, cuts taxes for the middle class and cuts the Republican Deficit -- which is exactly what the Democratic budget does."

From NBC's Mark Murray
In the essentially tied special congressional election in New York, two things will now happen:

1) Counties will begin recanvassing the vote on Friday, although some counties will begin that as early as today.

2) Counties will need to begin counting absentee and military overseas ballots. Absentee ballots -- as many as 10,000 were requested -- have to be postmarked by Election Day and received by April 7. Military overseas ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received by April 13. Some counties will wait to count these ballots until the April 7 and April 13 dates, while others will begin counting them as they come in.

Long story short, we probably won't know the winner until at least April 13.

Another thing: One vote count shows Democrat Scott Murphy leading Jim Tedisco by 59 votes (77,344 vs. 77,285), and the other one has him leading by 65 votes (77,344 vs. 77,279). The discrepancy is due to the hand count in one precinct giving Tedisco six more votes than the machine count. This will obviously be resolved during the recanvass.

From NBC's Pete Williams

The Justice Department has now filed court documents formally asking that the case against Ted Stevens be dismissed.

In these documents, the Justice Department says that it recently discovered another -- and very serious -- failure by prosecutors to turn over to defense lawyers information that could have helped Stevens during the trial. Prosecutors in any criminal case have a legal obligation to make such disclosures.

It turns out, DOJ says, that the prosecutors failed to tell the defense lawyers about an important inconsistency in statements by one of the key witnesses -- the CEO of the Alaska company that did the work on the Stevens house. Had the defense lawyers known about this, the government now says, they could have used this information to cross-examine the witness.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, "After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial."

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** All tied up: So where do we begin on this busy Wednesday? With President Obama in London? That NY-20 race? The fact that Sarah Palin will no longer be the featured speaker at that big GOP fundraiser in June? That Kathleen Sebelius had to pay about $7,000 in back taxes? That Ted Stevens' conviction has been dropped? Or what about the latest development in the never-ending recount in Minnesota? Whew... We'll start with last night's special election in upstate New York. After building this race as a battle over the economic stimulus, as a test case of the GOP's health in the post-Bush era, and as a measure of Obama's coattails, what we got was … a tie. That's right, with 100% of precincts reporting, Democrat Scott Murphy leads Republican Jim Tedisco by 59 votes (77,344 vs. 77,285), with thousands of absentee ballots remaining to be counted. So no one lost and everybody won -- at least for now. As for those absentee ballots, the AP reports that 10,000 were requested and about 6,000 have been returned. What's more, mailed ballots from overseas aren't due until April 13. A top White House official tells us that the model shows they'll win the absentees. The delay in results keeps both parties from losing. And more importantly for the eventual loser, the eventual victor won't be seen as some sort of canary in the coal mine.  

*** America's challenge: We're not going to pretend we've suddenly become global political experts, but it doesn't take a Ph.D. in international affairs to figure out that America's place in the world is being challenged on a number of fronts. There's the fact that every member of the G-20 (even Britain) is trying to blame America first for the economic crisis. There's Russia and China flirting with the idea of a new global currency. There's even Israel threatening that if the U.S. doesn't act on Iran, they will. The president dismissed this criticism early this morning, saying you can find examples 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and 30 years ago where similar predictions of America's decline were made. Still, the issue of American Exceptionalism is front and center, and it's one of those intangible challenges that this president won't know if he succeeded in dealing with until years or even decades after he leaves office.

Video: NBC's Brian Williams looks at Obama's first trip overseas and what it means for his image abroad.

*** Obama and Brown: Speaking of this morning, the most striking aspect of Obama's joint presser with British PM Brown was how quickly the British press put the president on the defensive. He had to answer the question of whether America's to blame -- a question he answered very carefully, to the point where he seemed to speak even more deliberately than normal. Then the president had to answer the question of America's place in the world, not exactly a chance to be pro-active. As for Brown, it's always easy to tell when a politician is worried about his poll ratings; it doesn't matter the country. Brown's enthusiasm for Obama was palpable, and in the end, he practically tried to claim he had a campaign endorsement from the more popular Obama. It was amusing for us politically sensitive journalists to watch… Also on Obama's agenda today: He has already met with Russia President Medvedev (a very carefully worded statement about a slew of issues the two countries will work on together; most interesting to us, the notable absence of the word "Taliban" in the Afghanistan paragraph of the joint statement), UK conservative leader David Cameron, and Chinese leaders; he and the first lady will meet the Queen of England at 12:35 pm ET; he'll host a reception for G-20 leaders at 12:50 ET; there's the G-20 "class photo" at 2:15 pm ET; and Obama participates in a G-20 working dinner at 3:30 pm ET.

Video: Obama and Brown say they and other G-20 leaders will announce an economic recovery plan today.

*** Palin replaced by Gingrich: So what was more embarrassing yesterday? The revelation that HHS nominee Kathleen Sebelius had to pay about $7,000 in back taxes, becoming the latest in a line of Obama nominees who have had tax problems? Or the news that Sarah Palin will no longer be the featured speaker at a big GOP fundraiser in June? Given its implications for the future, we're going to go with the Palin news. A little flashback: Two weeks ago, the NRSC and NRCC announced that Palin would be the featured speaker at their June 8 dinner. Then we learned that was news to Palin's governor's office. Later, we were assured that the governor's office hadn't been speaking to Palin's political team, and that the gig was still on. Now… Palin has been replaced by Newt Gingrich. What happened? "After initially confirming her attendance, Gov. Palin's team informed the committees that her gubernatorial responsibilities in Alaska prevented her from committing until the end of the legislative session," NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh said in a statement. Added the NRCC's Ken Spain: "We decided to go in another direction. Speaker Gingrich is a leader and an influential voice within the Republican Party and we are thrilled to have him."

*** Rule No. 35 -- don't make your own party angry: And here's the quote from Palin PAC spokeswoman Meg Stapleton, per the AP: "Enthusiasm during a scheduling meeting among SarahPAC members to discuss events that we thought the governor should consider attending was misinterpreted as a confirmation of attendance." But then why wasn't it until yesterday that Palin's PAC corrected the assumption that she was attending the fundraiser? We can tell you this: Republicans in DC aren't too pleased right now with Palin, who remains one of the party's biggest star attractions. And if you really want to run for president in 2012, don't you want to be collecting as much good will as possible? Meanwhile, speaking of fundraisers and good will, Mitt Romney keynotes an NRSC fundraiser in DC tonight, which begins at 8:00 pm ET. The NRSC says it hopes to raise about $2 million from the event. 

*** The never-ending recount: Yesterday in the Minnesota recount, the three-judge panel in ruled to open up 400 rejected absentee ballots on April 7 -- far fewer than Norm Coleman's camp had been hoping for. "The math becomes increasingly difficult as that universe of [uncounted] ballots becomes smaller," said Franken attorney Marc Elias. Indeed, per our math, Coleman is going to need to win nearly 57% of these 400 ballots to overturn Franken's 225-vote lead. (CORRECTION: As our readers have pointed out, our math was a bit wrong; he'll need 78.25%.) Coleman lawyer Ben Ginsberg disagreed with the ruling. "It will give us no choice but to go before the Minnesota Supreme Court," he said. No doubt that Coleman's camp might even take this all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and no doubt that Republicans will support that move every step of the way. But as we learned in 2000, it helps to be ahead in the actual count. And until Coleman is able to show an actual path to victory, then Republicans will take some P.R. hits for dragging out an election that has already lasted five months since Election Day 2008. Question: What does Harry Reid do now? His spokesman released this statement last night: "Sen. Reid is looking forward to the final resolution of this case by the Minnesota courts so that Al Franken can finally be seated as the new senator from Minnesota."

*** Ted Stevens a free man? And what about this news? Whoa. NBC's Pete Williams reports that the Justice Department will seek today to abandon its prosecution of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, according to a legal source close to the case. Attorney General Eric Holder has concluded that, "given the totality of the circumstances, it's in the interest of justice not to proceed," the legal source says. Government prosecutors will ask a federal judge today to drop the case. The news was first reported by NPR. The irony to all this: It was George Bush's Justice Department that was handling this case, which ended up putting a Democrat from Alaska in the Senate to replace Stevens.

Video: The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to drop all charges against Ted Stevens.

*** GOP budget rollout, take 2: A week after House Republicans held a press conference to unveil a budget alternative that had no hard numbers in it, they take another crack at it when Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, formally unveils the alternative at 10:30 am ET. But that is just on part of the GOP's budget activities today, NBC's Mike Viqueira reports. Already this morning, House and Senate Republicans joined in a grand show of budget unity when they met in a rate joint confab in the House chamber -- before the House was open for business. So the chamber was dark, Viq says, but the idea was for Republican members from both bodies to muster in historic Statuary Hall, where reporters could watch them march en masse into the House chamber. Afterward, they plan to hold a rally on the east front steps of the House. Meanwhile, the folks at Obama's Organizing for America say they'll be delivering more than 600,000 signed petitions in support of the president's budget. But this news from CongressDaily, courtesy of our former colleague Carrie Dann, might not be music to some Democrats' ears. "With President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget hitting the House and Senate floors this week, groups for and against the spending plan have issued strong appeals for citizens to pick up their phones and let their voices be heard on Capitol Hill. But, even in the offices of targeted Democrats whose budget votes may be up for grabs, the phones are not ringing off the hook."

Video: A look at the key points of the GOP's alternative budget.

Countdown to Obama's 100th day: 28 days 
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 62 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 69 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 216 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 580 days

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The score -- so far -- in NY-20: Scott Murphy (D): 77,344 (50%), Jim Tedisco (R): 77,285 (50%), a difference of 59 votes. The AP: "After a frenzied, bruising special election, a New York congressional race that became linked to President Barack Obama's economic recovery efforts won't be decided for at least two more weeks."
 
The Albany Times Union adds, "As of Monday, 5,907 absentee ballots were received by the state Board of Elections out of around 10,000 mailed, according to spokesman Bob Brehm. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by March 30 and received within seven days for regular absentee ballots or 13 days for military and overseas ballots."

"Despite the uncertainty of the outcome, both candidates struck an optimistic chord," the New York Times says. "'The people in Washington said it couldn't be done,' Mr. Murphy told cheering supporters in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday night. 'The people in this room and all across the 20th District tonight said something very different.' Mr. Tedisco took the stage at his own Saratoga Springs celebration with a joke: 'From now on, just call me 'Landslide Tedisco,'" he said. He added, with conviction: 'I believe that when the smoke clears, we will have won a tremendous victory.'" 

Here's the spin war…The statement from NRCC chairman Pete Sessions: "Jim Tedisco has closed the gap in a district that has come to exemplify Democratic dominance in the Northeast in recent elections… Less than 150 days ago, President Obama carried New York's 20th District, and former Congresswoman Gillibrand was handily reelected in this district by a margin of 62-38 percent, despite the fact that her Republican opponent spent $6 million trying to defeat her.  For the first time in a long time, a Republican candidate went toe-to-toe with a Democrat in a hard-fought battle over independent voters. This was hardly a common phenomenon in 2008, particularly in the Northeast."

Here's DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen: "From 21 points down to securing a majority of the vote tonight, congratulations to Scott Murphy who ran an extraordinary campaign focused on his record as a successful businessman who helped to create jobs and his strong support for President Obama's economic recovery act.  As votes continue to be counted, we're confident that Scott Murphy will expand his lead. Scott Murphy's strong showing in this district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 70,000 represents a rejection of the obstructionist agenda and scare tactics that have become the hallmark of House Republicans."

But isn't this a bit over the top? The NRCC sent out a fundraising e-mail a little after midnight with the subject: "Don't Let'em Pull a Franken." "Democrats have almost succeeded in stealing the election in Minnesota and seating Al Franken. We cannot allow them to manipulate electoral results to seat another tax-troubled liberal."

Politico chalks this up as a loss for the GOP: "The first election to take place during the Obama administration was a push, with neither side winning big or losing big. But that in itself ranks as a defeat of sorts for the GOP, which invested heavily in the race."

The AP: "As President Barack Obama sought to rally the world's powers to fix a lifeless global economy, the White House announced Wednesday that Obama and Russia's president were ready to negotiate on reducing both nations' nuclear arsenals. The flurry of diplomacy came as Obama stepped on the world stage for the first time as president, aiming to shore up both America's economy and its reputation across the globe. The White House confirmed that Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would announce new talks to limit the number of nuclear warheads, the first major negotiations in years over what Obama called the gravest threat to humanity."

The Guardian: "Barack Obama arrived in Downing Street this morning for talks with Gordon Brown as both the UK and the US faced demands from other world leaders calling for significant progress on financial regulation at tomorrow's G20 summit. The president, who was accompanied by his wife Michelle, was driven up to the door of No 10 shortly after 8am, where he was greeted by Brown and his wife, Sarah. Unusually, Obama was cheered by Downing Street staff as he went inside for breakfast and talks with the prime minister." 

The New York Times on the Obama-Brown newser: "President Obama denied there is a rift between America and the world on Wednesday and urged leaders of the Group of 20 countries to act in unison to find a way out of the global economic crisis."

The Obamas walking down the steps of Air Force One is the centerpiece photo on the cover of the Boston Globe.

"The president arrived in London on Tuesday night with his wife, Michelle -- who has generated almost as much interest in Europe as he has -- and was due this morning to plunge into what is sure to be a delicate and testing round of diplomatic meetings," The Hill writes. Obama has tea with the Queen this afternoon.

Whoops. "Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius recently corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding 'unintentional errors' -- the latest tax troubles for an Obama administration nominee. The Kansas governor explained the changes to senators in a letter dated Tuesday that the administration released. She said they involved charitable contributions, the sale of a home and business expenses." Pay your taxes correctly.

Uh-oh. "President Barack Obama's appearance two weeks ago before 1,100 people at a downtown school was advertised by the White House as free and open to the public," the AP reports. "It was free. But it wasn't exactly public. Far from being an open-doors forum, hundreds of tickets never made it into the public's hands. Instead, they were distributed to Democratic officeholders and their staffs, community leaders, people connected to Obama's 2008 campaign, Democratic fundraisers and others invited by the White House."

"Congressional Republicans have united on a budget message against President Obama's blueprint but are divided on their own spending plan."
 
Former First Read writer Carrie Dann writes in Congress Daily: "With President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget hitting the House and Senate floors this week, groups for and against the spending plan have issued strong appeals for citizens to pick up their phones and let their voices be heard on Capitol Hill. But, even in the offices of targeted Democrats whose budget votes may be up for grabs, the phones are not ringing off the hook."

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is under increasing pressure from conservative Democrats to provide political cover from GOP calls for an investigation into PMA Group, a now-defunct defense lobby under firm scrutiny for questionable campaign donations and earmarks."

This would be pretty big news on any other day… According NBC's Ken Strickland, Gen. David Petraeus will be on Capitol Hill today to discuss the president's new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy. He'll testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee in his role as the CentCom commander. Also testifying will be Michele Flournoy, the under secretary of Defense for Policy.

"The Democrats' two leading champions of action on global warming released a bill Tuesday that sets up a major legislative battle by seeking to reshape how the country produces and consumes energy," The Hill writes. "The 640-page-plus measure, introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.), leaves practically no issue relating to energy policy untouched."

MINNESOTA: The Star Tribune: "In a potentially decisive ruling, a panel of three judges today ordered up to 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than Republican Norm Coleman had sought in his effort to overcome a lead by DFLer Al Franken. The ballots also appear to include many that Franken had identified as wrongly rejected as well as ballots that Coleman wanted opened." 
 
"It's not looking good," said a GOP staffer close to Coleman told Politico.

The New York Times: "Ben Ginsberg, a lawyer for Mr. Coleman, disagreed sharply with the court's ruling. 'I just think they're wrong,' he said. 'I think it's wrong to disenfranchise voters. I think it's fundamentally wrong to sweep the problems of this election under the rug.' Mr. Ginsberg said the Coleman campaign planned to appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court, but he refused to speculate whether Mr. Coleman would take his appeal to federal courts." 

 The Hill calls the decision "a defeat" for Coleman.

"Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele lashed out at GOP infighting Tuesday and urged the party faithful -- some of whom have criticized his erratic statements -- to be more like him: "unconventional, unpredictable … to do from time to time the unexpected," the Baltimore Sun writes. "At a fundraiser for the Anne Arundel County Republican Party that raised $36,000, the former Maryland lieutenant governor jokingly acknowledged the rough road he has traveled since taking over the national party this year. "Someone told me this whole chairmanship thing would be a cakewalk," he told the crowd of more than 400, acknowledging that he has managed to 'tick off' many people. Still, Steele expressed frustration with the public airing of party doubts about his leadership that have dogged his first months as chairman." 
 
Todd Palin will be in the May edition of Esquire.