With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's beloved Louisville Cardinals playing in the Sweet 16 this week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is up with a radio ad hitting the Kentucky Republican for being a Washington insider.

"And we're back... It's tournament time, but Sen. Mitch McConnell is playing for the Washington Special Interests against Kentucky," says the announcer in the ad, imitating a play-by-play sportscaster.

The ad comes one day after Ashley Judd announced that she would not mount a challenge against McConnell.

Democrats have since turned their attention to getting Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes to run.

Jeb Bush said on CNN that President Obama hasn’t been as respectful of his brother George W. Bush “as he should have been.” His brother "is like the most focused, disciplined guy — to imagine being a former president and not having an opinion on anything over the last four years? … Really? I mean, to have that discipline, to be respectful of the president that hasn't been as respectful of him as he should have been? Man, I could have never done that."

The AP: “Vice President Joe Biden will headline major Democratic fundraisers in South Carolina and Michigan, two states that could play a major role in the 2016 presidential election. … Biden will travel to Detroit in April to address the Michigan Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner. He’ll go to Columbia in May when South Carolina Democrats hold their dinner.”

USA Today: “Joe Biden's speaking schedule isn't going to quell talk of his presidential ambitions.”

Jonathan Martin: “What the heck has happened to Paul Ryan? Just months removed from being on the GOP ticket, he has faded from the national political conversation in a way that’s remarkable for a politician possessed with youth, fame and ambition.” But: “Sources close to Ryan caution that his congressional focus at the moment ought not be confused with lack of interest in 2016 but seen, rather, in the context of somebody with a demanding day job.”

And: “In conversations with scores of Republicans in Washington and beyond, it’s striking how little organic support or even interest there is for a Ryan presidential bid so soon after Mitt Romney elevated the Wisconsin wonk to the highest levels of national political stardom.”

Pass the Cheetos, man… Rand Paul on FOX Sunday said he doesn’t promote pot use, but doesn’t support putting people in jail for it, either.  “I don't want to encourage people to do it,” he said. “I think even marijuana is a bad thing to do. I think it takes away your incentive to work and show up and do the things that you should be doing. I don't think that it's a good idea. I don't want to promote that but I also don't want to put people in jail who make a mistake.”

He also made this point: "Look, the last two presidents could have conceivably been put in jail for their drug use and I really think - look what would've happened, it would've ruined their lives. They got lucky. But a lot of poor kids, particularly in the inner city, don't get lucky and they don't have good attorneys and they go to jail for some of these things and I think it's a big mistake.”

KENTUCKY: Ashley Judd made reference to the Senate race, joking in a speech over the weekend that her mother wanted to “turn her garage into a campaign headquarters,” according to a local affiliate in Cincinnati. 

MASSACHUSETTS: Senate Democratic and Republican hopefuls debate separately on Wednesday. Republicans will debate again Thursday.

MICHIGAN: Ex-Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) won’t be running for the open Senate seat.

Yesterday at CPAC, the GOP identity crisis was on full display, and it likely will be again today. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul were the highlights, speaking back to back. Rubio said the Republican Party doesn’t need new ideas. But he didn’t talk about immigration reform, something he is championing in the Senate and shift to the left for the party. Paul criticized the GOP as “stale and moss covered,” but only received tepid applause for his foreign-policy views.

Today’s lineup features Mitt Romney, Wayne LaPierre, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, and even Donald Trump.

Romney speaks at 1 pm ET. How he’s received will be the thing to watch. Since his loss in 2012, the right has roundly criticized Romney and his campaign not understanding demographics better but also for not standing more firmly for conservative principles. CPAC is where Romney announced his dropout of the 2008 presidential race and where last year, he called himself a “severely” conservative governor, despite staking out a moderate image in Massachusetts. Romney has finished first or second in every CPAC straw poll over the last six years. Romney’s emergence is one some are questioning.

“What can he offer them?” Reagan biographer Craig Shirley told NBC’s Michael O’Brien. “Based on his interview I saw last weekend, not much. When he ran, he didn’t seem to understand much of this country.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, one of Romney’s rivals for the 2012 nomination took a not-so-subtle swipe at Romney (and John McCain), as NBC’s Kasie Hunt reported: "The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideas, as evidence by the last two presidential elections. That’s what they think, that’s what they say. That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012."

NRA chief Wayne LaPierre speaks at 10:45 am ET, a day after a Senate committee passed an assault-weapons ban along party lines.

Santorum is set to hit at noon ET, Jindal at 2:25 pm ET, Ryan in the morning at 9:30 preceded by Trump at 8:45. Others of note: Mitch McConnell 9 am ET, Kelly Ayotte 9:15 am ET, Eric Cantor 3:35 pm ET. There will also be a panel on the November 2012 autopsy at 9:45 am ET.

USA Today: “Paul and Marco Rubio, Republican senators being measured as 2016 presidential possibilities, gave campaign-style speeches at the annual conservative gathering: soaring rhetoric and a quick rundown of policy positions. Paul attacked wasteful government spending, advocated a flat tax and suggested eliminating the Department of Education. … In an implicit rebuke to former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's dismissal of 47% of the electorate, Rubio said the country doesn't have ‘too many people who want too much from government.' At a gathering with a heavy focus on improving Republican appeal to Hispanic voters, Rubio avoided the topic of immigration. Instead, he touched on energy policy, school choice and economic rivalry with China, and he defended social conservatism.”

Yahoo: “As part of an ambitious plan to make the Republican Party more competitive in future elections, the Republican National Committee is working with outside groups to build a platform that will allow the party to share its massive warehouse of voter data with GOP vendors, campaigns and committees.”

MARYLAND: The AP reports that Maryland is on track to end its state death penalty. “It's been eight years since Maryland executed a convicted killer, but that could be the last time if the General Assembly, as expected, gives final passage this week to a bill to abolish capital punishment.Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has been pushing for the change since his first year in office. Now the Democratic-controlled legislature seems poised to make Maryland the 18th state in the nation to do away with the death penalty. A repeal bill has already been approved by the state Senate and it was expected to win final passage from the House of Delegates on Friday.”

MASSACHUSETTS: The SEIU endorsed Ed Markey.

MISSISSIPPI: National Journal tells the story of a black, gay mayoral candidate who was killed. “[B]ecause this is Clarksdale, a haunted town with an unclean past, and because McMillian was black, gay, running for office, and cut down in his prime, the speculation [of his death] has run wild and fierce. The story people tell often says more about the teller than the subject.”

The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter warns Democrats that they have some advantages heading into 2014 and beyond -- the history that a president’s party traditionally loses seats in midterm elections, the slowly growing economy, and the Democrats thin bench beyond Hillary Clinton. 

Just a day after his filibuster, Rand Paul says he’s “seriously” considering a 2016 bid. (Reality check: This is nothing news. It’s been basically a done deal since before his dad retired.)

ILLINOIS: “Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan spoke with several of the nation’s top progressive groups during a visit to Washington D.C. last week, further fueling expectations that the popular Democrat will run for governor in 2014,” Politico reports. “Madigan is weighing a campaign for the state’s top office even though the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Pat Quinn, has said he plans to seek another term.” 

INDIANA: The Indianapolis Star: “Koch group turns up heat on GOP state lawmakers.” From the story: “Gov. Mike Pence will get a little help from his conservative friends to push his tax cut through the Republican-dominated Indiana General Assembly. So far, the proposed 10 percent cut to individual income taxes has received a lukewarm reception from Pence's fellow Republicans in the legislature. But the conservative Americans for Prosperity group announced Thursday it will launch an aggressive media campaign to back the governor -- and browbeat reluctant GOP lawmakers. The national group was founded by the billionaire Koch brothers of Kansas and is known for opposing President Barack Obama and some of his programs. But Thursday, group President Tim Phillips said the organization and its 32 local chapters would be focusing more attention on state governments.” 

KENTUCKY: “Sen. Rand Paul’s almost 13-hour filibuster generated a massive amount of attention from conservative activists Wednesday, and many were asking why Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t on the floor cheering him on,” Roll Call writes. “Paul admitted on CNN that he declined to notify his fellow Kentucky Republican or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., about his spontaneous plan to hold up Senate action on the nomination of John O. Brennan to be director of the CIA. But grass-roots conservatives helped push behind the scenes to get more Republican senators to join the protest of the Obama administration’s drone program.” 

MASSACHUSETTS: Mark your calendars for March 27 – it’s the first Democratic primary debate between Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch.

MICHIGAN: “Democratic Sen. Carl Levin's decision to not seek re-election in 2014 has set the stage for a wide-open race to replace the longest-serving senator in Michigan history,” AP writes, adding, “Levin is the sixth member of the Senate to announce his retirement, creating an open seat for Democrats in a state that has backed President Barack Obama twice but where Republicans hold the governor's office and the power in the rest of state government.” 

More: “Just one Republican has won a Michigan Senate seat in 40 years, Spencer Abraham in 1994, a non-presidential year.” Abraham was defeated by Debbie Stabenow in 2000. 

Talk about potentially CROWDED fields in the Michigan Senate open seat primaries. The names of 21 people have surfaced as possibilities, including six Democrats and 15 Republicans.

Democrats: Rep. Gary Peters, Rep. Mark Schauer, ex-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, ex-Gov. James Blanchard, attorney Geoffrey Fieger, and Debbie Dingell.

Republicans: Rep. Mike Rogers, Attorney General Bill Schuette, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, University of Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon, Rep. Candice Miller, Rep. Justin Amash, ex-Gov. John Engler, Detroit charter school founder Clark Durant, billionaire Dick DeVos, state Sen. Roger Kahn, state Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, University of Michigan regent Andrea Fischer Newman, former Secretary of State/RNC committeewoman Terri Lynn Land, Rep. Fred Upton.

Peters is the Democrat most Democrats point to.

And a GOP official pointed to the following Repubicans: Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intelligence committee; Bill Schuette, the state attorney general and former three-term 1980s U.S. congressman. Ironically, Schuette gave up his House seat to run for the Senate against Carl Levin and lost; Brian Calley, the 35-year-old lieutenant governor. He’s the youngest lieutenant governor in the country; Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, and Dave Brandon, the University of Michigan’s athletic director.

The Detroit News says Rogers and Rep. Candice Miller would be two top possibilities. And it has this quote from Schuette’s spokesman: "Bill will continue on serving the citizens of Michigan as their attorney general," Schuette spokesman John Sellek said.

Republicans need to net six seats to take control of the Senate. Democrats currently are defending 21 seats of their 55, with seven in states won by Mitt Romney. They are defending open seats so far in West Virginia, Iowa, and New Jersey. In addition to West Virginia, the South Dakota seat is also a top GOP target – whether or not incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson retires or seeks another term.

SOUTH CAROLINA: For his opposition to Rand Paul’s filibuster, the hashtag on twitter #PrimaryGraham began.

“Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, launched her first television advertisement Thursday as she seeks the Democratic nomination in South Carolina’s 1st District special election,” Roll Call writes.

Odd closing line, though: “I approve this message because I’m not going to talk about the jobs that we lost. I know what it takes to create new jobs.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, D, a mainstay of the upper chamber since 1979, will not seek re-election next fall, he said Thursday.

Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced in a statement that he would not seek a seventh term in 2014. Levin is currently 78-years-old.

"As Barbara and I struggled with the question of whether I should run again, we focused on our belief that our country is at a crossroads that will determine our economic health and security for decades to come," he said. "We decided that I can best serve my state and nation by concentrating in the next two years on the challenging issues before us that I am in a position to help address; in other words, by doing my job without the distraction of campaigning for re-election."

Levin was the fifth-most-senior Democrat remaining in the Senate, a legislative body that's undergone tremendous turnover in recent years following the deaths and retirements of some of its most senior members.

Late Thursday President Barack Obama thanked Levin in a statement, praising his work on behalf of the blue-collar workers he represented not only in the Wolverine State, but throughout the country.

"If you've ever worn the uniform, worked a shift on an assembly line, or sacrificed to make ends meet, then you've had a voice and a vote in Senator Carl Levin," read the statement. "No one has worked harder to bring manufacturing jobs back to our shores, close unfair tax loopholes, and ensure that everyone plays by the same set of rules."

Democrats are regarded as having an advantage in holding onto Levin's seat, since Michigan is a state that has tended toward Democrats in statewide and national elections in recent cycles. Moreover, Republicans' bench in the state is regarded as relatively thin.

Levin's older brother, Sander, is a high-ranking congressman from Michigan.

Hillary Clinton tops the presidential 2016 field in hypothetical matchups with Chris Christie (45%-37%), Paul Ryan (50-38%), and Marco Rubio (50-34%), according to a Quinnipiac poll. By contrast, Christie would beat Joe Biden (43-40%). Biden, however, beats Rubio (45-38%) and Ryan (45-42%). Andrew Cuomo loses badly to Christie (45-28%), ties Rubio (37%-37%), and loses to Ryan (42-37%).

Stu Rothenberg says Democrats have a chance to pick up governorships in some key states come 2014.

How many times can Newt Gingrich jump the shark? He says he’d be open to being on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice.

GEORGIA: “One likely candidate called Todd Akin ‘partially right’ about ‘legitimate rape.’ Another said evolution and the Big Bang theory are ‘lies straight from the pit of hell.’ A third accused the Obama administration of practicing ‘shakedown politics’ after BP set aside $20 billion to compensate victims for damage from the Gulf oil spill,” Politico writes. “The Republican primary for the open Senate seat in Georgia is shaping up to be a free-for-all, drawing interest from some of the most conservative members of the House and raising concerns that a race to the right could put in play what should be a safe seat. It comes as the party tries to head off the problem that cost it dearly in 2012: nominating candidates who say things so off-putting to mainstream voters that they blow the election.”

SOUTH CAROLINA: Lindsey Graham doesn’t seem to be sweating a tea party threat? Why? Jill Lawrence notes: “One of the most marked trends in South Carolina politics is the fade of the tea party. Only 5.5 percent of registered voters in the state said they considered themselves tea party members in the Winthrop poll, down from 19.2 percent in October 2010. Back then, about half of registered voters said they agreed with tea party principles. In last month’s poll, only 24.1 percent said they approved of the movement.”

CALIFORNIA: In the L.A. mayor’s race, as expected, it’s Garcetti vs. Greuel who advanced to a May 21 runoff. The L.A. Times says they “will face off in what is expected to be a bruising May 21 runoff. Only 16% of the city's 1.8 million registered voters cast ballots in the election.”

The New York Times notes Garcetti was ahead of Greuel 33%-29%: “The elections will usher in the biggest change in city politics in nearly a decade – in addition to a new mayor, voters were picking a city attorney, controller and eight of the fifteen seats on the City Council. Still, polling places reported low turnout throughout the day. Ms. Gruel has emphasized that she would be the first woman elected mayor in the nation’s second-largest city, while Mr. Garcetti, the son of the former district attorney Gil Garcetti, has played up his family’s Mexican heritage” [via Italy].

MASSACHUSETTS: Ed Markey leads Stephen Lynch in the Democratic primary for Senate, 42%-28%, in a poll conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang for the League of Conservation Voters.

NEW JERSEY: The Star Ledger: “It was Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s second-to-last State of the City address, but could easily have been the first campaign speech of his 2014 U.S. Senate run. In the past, the mayor’s speeches have been filled with lofty goals and bold initiatives aimed at improving the lives of city residents. But as Booker looks to become the first mayor to leave City Hall for higher office in more than 160 years, his 75-minute address tonight largely looked back as he extolled his record as chief executive of the state’s largest — and often most troubled — city, a record his primary opponents are likely to challenge.”

The money line, sure to be challenged, "Ladies and gentlemen, the state of Newark, New Jersey, is strong and roaring forth.”

Ben Dworkin, a political scientist at Rider University and director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics told USA Today: "Booker's tenure at the helm of Newark has changed public perceptions. But it's still a very challenging city."

Booker will speak at a “Pink Slip Rick Scott” breakfast in Palm Beach, FL, for the Palm Beach Democratic Party March 23.

Booker won’t make his announcement of a run for the Senate until after the governor’s race.

The New York Times: “Mayor Cory A. Booker has earned about $1 million from public speaking engagements during his seven years in office, as he has built his position at City Hall into a national brand.” And this sounds very Phil Mickelson: “Even though I am entitled to keep it, after Uncle Sam takes his share and after I’ve given away hundreds and hundreds of thousands, I’ve kept very little of it, if any.”

(Of course, that he gave away hundreds of thousands is going to be checked when he fills out his financial disclosure.)

“Jeb Bush will not be ignored. He is releasing a provocative book on immigration this week, addressing conservative leaders next week and is brutally outspoken in an interview with USA TODAY about the self-inflicted wounds he thinks cost Republicans a winnable presidential race in 2012. In the process, he says, the GOP managed to sour its standing with fast-growing demographic groups that should be natural allies.”

More: “At the moment, Republicans project an angry tone ‘that says, 'I'd love to have your vote but you can't be on my team,' he says. ‘Man, just close your eyes and listen. There is not a lot of positive messaging going on.’”

Of his relationship with Marco Rubio: "We haven't talked about 2016," Bush says. "But I'm a huge Marco fan and I'm inspired by him and I think he's doing a great job as a senator, and we're friends. That's the level of our relationship. I've always been a fan of him from when he was, like, 26 years old and a city councilman in West Miami. I knew he had a gift."

Liberal site Think Progress points out Bush’s shifting position on path to citizenship: “Bush (R) told MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday that he would support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants ‘if you can craft that in law where you can have a path to citizenship where there isn’t an incentive for people to come illegally’ — a position that puts him at odds with his new book, out today from Simon & Schuster. In Immigration Wars, co-authored with immigration lawyer Clint Bolick, Bush argues that denying a path to citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrations is ‘absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences.’ Those who enter the country illegally, Bush contends, should ‘start the process to earn permanent legal residency’ after pleading guilty to breaking the law and paying ‘applicable fines or perform community service.’ But they should not have access to ‘the cherished fruits of citizenship.’”

More: “In promoting the book today, Bush justifies his change of heart by explaining that ‘we wrote this book last year, not this year’ — after a bipartisan consensus has formed in favor a path to earned citizenship — suggesting that his position on the issue is guided by the political winds within his own party and that he would have included a path had he known that a bipartisan group of Republicans would endorse it in their reform principles.”

Beth Reinhard: “Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s new book was aimed at nudging a reluctant Republican Party toward reforms that would allow illegal immigrants to live and work without fear of deportation.

But by recommending only legal residency and backing off his past support for citizenship, Bush is throwing cold water over a fledgling deal in the Senate, denting his own reputation as a bold policymaker and stoking speculation that he will run for president in 2016. … In other words, Bush's party unexpectedly moved a lot faster than the book publishing world.”

CALIFORNIA: “City Hall is nearly broke - and for many, is broken,” AP writes. “The airport is an embarrassment. Freeways are clogged. And potholes, cracked sidewalks and untended trees infest many neighborhoods. There are plenty of problems to solve in Los Angeles, but voters have been mostly indifferent about Tuesday's race for mayor. No single issue or candidate has seized their attention, much less their imaginations, in the contest to succeed outgoing Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa. The likely outcome in the heavily Democratic city will send two City Hall regulars, Eric Garcetti, 42, and Wendy Greuel, 51, to a May 21 runoff, since it's unlikely any candidate will clear the majority needed to win outright Tuesday. But in a race with little drama, a turnout that could dip below 20 percent could produce surprises, possibly opening the way for Democratic Councilwoman Jan Perry, 57, or former prosecutor Kevin James, 49, a Republican, to slip into the two-person runoff. Former technology executive Emanuel Pleitez, 30, is a longshot.”

GEORGIA: Rep. Tom Graves (R) won’t run for the Senate. “Republican Rep. Paul Broun is the only declared candidate in the Senate race. GOP Reps. Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey and Tom Price are considering bids, along with a number of current and former state elected officials,” Roll Call writes. “Democratic Rep. John Barrow is also considered a potential candidate for the seat currently held by retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss.”

LOUISIANA: Rep. Charles Boustany (R) won’t run against Mary Landrieu (D).

MASSACHUSETTS: “Brace yourself for more anonymous political ads: The three Republican candidates in the US Senate primary Monday rejected a Democratic proposal to bar outside groups from running TV ads or sending mailers in the special election campaign,” the Boston Globe writes.

NEBRASKA: Jon Bruning (R) won’t run for the Senate.

NEW JERSEY: Here’s Chris Christie (on camera) sounding off on the sequester and Washington: “We’ve done much harder things in NJ in a much shorter period of time and dealt with our budgetary problems, and the federal government should get real about starting to deal with their budgetary problems. The worst thing about sequester in my view is that you know they’re not spending any time talking about entitlement spending, which is where we really need to focus on over the long haul to make a big difference in terms of our fiscal health as a country. … I don’t have the first damn idea of what they’re doing down there. … I don’t understand why they haven’t fixed it already. It seems to me that it should be pretty easy to fix. Real leadership would get this fixed. Get everybody in the room and you FIX it. And you don’t let them leave until you fix it. That’s what real leadership is. Not calling a meeting two hours before the thing’s going to hit to have a photo-op in the driveway at the White House.  That’s not real leadership. Fix it.”

SOUTH CAROLINA: Stu Rothenberg says it would take a “perfect storm” for Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) to win in SC-1. 

ILLINOIS: Political Wire: “Republican voters picked ex-convict Paul McKinley (R) as their nominee to run for the seat recently ceded by former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr, the Chicago Tribune reports. McKinley, a convicted felon who served nearly 20 years in state prison for burglaries, armed robberies and aggravated battery, declared victory, beat businessman Eric Wallace (R) by 23 votes.”

MASSACHUSETTS: Republican Gabriel Gomez officially launched his Senate bid.

NEW JERSEY: Seriously, Cory Booker helped a guy from New York with a marriage proposal. The man contacted him on Twitter. Booker replied: "I am a romantic. Sounds fun."

NEW YORK: “Mayoral front-runner Christine Quinn came under fire Thursday night as fellow candidates criticized her refusal to allow the City Council to vote on a bill to require paid sick days for workers,” the New York Daily News writes.

Mark Shields, the veteran political analyst for PBS, yesterday asked Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), House Judiciary chairman, whether the problem with his party was the “pizza” or the “box.” As First Read reported, Goodlatte responded this way: “It’s primarily our inability to communicate our message in a variety of ways. … Our message still resonates with a lot of people; we have to figure out how to get it to resonate with more.”

Translation: It’s the box.

It’s a view held by many in the party. But Rich Lowry today says it’s the pizza, too. “Republicans should prepare for more discontent,” because they have no leader and it’s the message – not just the messaging – that’s the problem: “At times, it seems as if “we have a $16 trillion debt” is the sum total of the party’s argumentation. When party leaders say that they have to become the party of growth again, the policy they invariably advance to that end … is reducing the $16 trillion debt. This necessary, but hardly sufficient message is almost all we hear from Republicans in Congress, where their majority in the House gives them responsibility without decisive influence.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed yesterday that the Illinois special election, in which he spent $2.5 million to defeat a Democrat with ties to the NRA: "Is it a harbinger of what's to come? I think so."

But Stu Rothenberg’s unimpressed, dismissing the win as one in a heavily Democratic district.

What’s with all the butt talk this week? Karl Rove on why he started a group to take out fringe conservatives: “My posterior was shredded a little bit by donors wondering why we are writing checks for people who then turn around a run such lousy campaigns.”

And this kind of thing just keeps on happening to the GOP: Minnesota state Rep Glenn Gruenhagen (R) said this of being gay: "It's an unhealthy, sexual addiction."

And this: Louie Gohmert (R-TX): "Slavery and abortion are the two most horrendous things this country has done but when you think about the immorality of wild, lavish spending on our generation and forcing future generations to do without essentials just so we can live lavishly now, it's pretty immoral."

ARKANSAS: “The Club for Growth will launch a television advertisement in Arkansas on Friday targeting Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, who is up for re-election in 2014,” Roll Call writes.

MASSACHUSETTS: Five candidates qualified for the ballot in the April 30 Senate special election – two Democrats and three Republicans. “According to the Central Voter Registry at the secretary of state’s office, Democratic US Representative Edward M. Markey led the field by day’s end, with 33,799, followed by his rival for the party nomination, US Representative Stephen P. Lynch, whose tally was at 25,104,” the Boston Globe writes. “Former US Attorney Michael Sullivan, using only volunteers, led the Republican field, with 18,812, followed by Cohasset businessman Gabriel E. Gomez, whose count was at 16,937, and state Representative Daniel B. Winslow, at 13,406. Winslow and Gomez paid signature-gathering firms to help their signature drive.”

NEW JERSEY: Ex-Sen. Scott Brown’s holding a fundraiser for Chris Christie in Boston Friday.

Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) released a letter on Wednesday signaling that he would not run for Iowa's open Senate seat in 2014, which was vacated by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA).

"The opportunity to serve Iowa in the U.S. Senate is appealing to this farm kid who grew up here, raised a family here, and helped grow a family business in Iowa. I love Iowa," Latham wrote.

"However, only 56 days ago I took an oath to 'faithfully discharge the duties' of an office with which the people of Iowa's Third Congressional District entrusted to me. I cannot in good conscience launch a two-year statewide campaign that will detract from the commitment I made to the people who elected me, at a time when our nation desperately needs less campaigning and more leadership."

With Latham not running, that would potentially give fellow Iowa Congressman Steve King a clear shot to win the GOP nomination, if he decides to mount a Senate bid.

Several weeks ago, the Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads operation said it was creating an additional outside group -- called the Conservative Victory Project -- in an effort to help the GOP nominate more electable Senate candidates.

One of the chief examples the organization cited: making sure the conservative King didn't become Iowa's GOP Senate nominee.

"We're concerned about Steve King's Todd Akin problem," Steve Law, president of American Crossroads, told the New York Times. "This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he's said are going to be hung around his neck."

King is known for his right-wing positions and statements, and Latham's decision potentially increases the chances for Democrats to hold the Senate seat. However, King last year won a competitive House contest against Christie Vilsack, wife of Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

It's also possible that other Republicans might decide to run for the vacated Senate seat. One name that has surfaced: Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds is very serious about running,” an Iowa source tells NBC News.

“Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus will head west this week to hear from minority voters and technology experts as a part of his committee’s efforts to rebuild and modernize the GOP,” Roll Call reports. “Priebus’ four-day swing is scheduled to take him to Denver on Monday for a listening session with Hispanic voters and GOP activists, then to Los Angeles on Tuesday for listening sessions with Hispanic and Asian voters. On Wednesday, Priebus will be in San Francisco for meetings with technology experts; a visit to Facebook is included on the chairman’s itinerary. Priebus will then travel to Seattle for a meeting focused on early voting, an aspect of voter turnout where Republicans continue to trail the Democrats significantly.”

Mitt Romney will do his first post-election interview (with his wife Ann) on FOX March 3.

ARKANSAS: There’s speculation that Rep. Tom Cotton (R) might run for the Senate.

ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune: “The complexities of a special primary contest to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. in Congress gave way the final weekend before the election to more traditional campaigning as candidates spent Sunday visiting churches and restaurants in search of votes. The three top contenders for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd District — Robin Kelly, Debbie Halvorson and Anthony Beale — each displayed optimism that they would cross the finish line first after the voting is finished Tuesday.”

More: “Several diners told Kelly they recognized her from the TV endorsement ads run by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super political action committee. Halvorson has been attacked in many of those ads for opposing an assault weapons ban.” Kelly’s the favorite. Here’s Halvorson: "The first thing out of people's mouth is, 'We're voting for you. We're sick of those commercials. We don't want a mayor from New York coming in and trying to buy a seat in Congress.’”

KENTUCKY: The liberal group Progressive Change Campaign Committee is targeting Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on guns with a new ad, spending about $100,000 online and on TV, USA Today notes. A former Vietnam vet in the ad says, “I only shot my rifle one time this last season. One shot. One deer. But I'd be a pretty bad hunter if I needed an assault rifle to shoot that buck. I support the plan to ban assault weapons and keep 'em out of the wrong hands. Because I know these guns. I know what they can do."

And Planned Parenthood is running an ad against McConnell, too. “Think Mitch McConnell's listening to you? Listen to this,” an announcer says. “McConnell voted to let your boss pay women less for the same work. And he wants to let your boss deny you birth control coverage while men get their Viagra covered. McConnell would cost Kentucky women up to an extra $600 a year for our health care. Call Mitch McConnell. Tell him that with birth control, we all benefit.” (h/t: New York Daily News)

MASSACHUSETTS: Republican Gabriel Gomez, a private equity investor, is out with a video showing him gathering signatures. He mentions that he was a Navy SEAL three times and throws in a little Spanish. Feb. 27 is the deadline to submit the 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot. The primary’s April 30^th.

NEW YORK: “Gov. Cuomo has quietly been seeking to raise $5 million to finance an array of television ads promoting his agenda — and he is doing it apart from a secret lobbying outfit that sparked controversy in the past,” the New York Daily News’ Lovett reports. “Donors are being asked to contribute to the Cuomo-controlled state Democratic Party, which technically is responsible for running the ads, sources said. The fund-raising arrangement is a departure from his first two years as governor, when much of the coin used to push his initiatives came from the Committee to Save New York, a private lobbying group that was not subject to state campaign finance law.”

TEXAS: Rick Perry on the prospect of Texas becoming a blue state. “The University of Texas will change its colors to maroon and white before Texas goes purple, much less blue,” he told the Wall Street Journal. (H/t: Political Wire.)… But as one of your Longhorn authors notes, things can always change. Who knew that a Texas A&M football program that struggled MIGHTILY over the past decade would switch conferences and have a Heisman Trophy winner? Things can change.

VIRGINIA: “For the first time in more than a year, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is riding high,” Politico writes. “With a successful weekend vote in Richmond to enact sweeping transportation reform, the popular Republican set himself on a path to leave office on an upbeat note – and turn the page on a string of state-level controversies that have clouded the second half of his tenure.”