CRUZ GOES TO WAR: “Cruz said last fall he wouldn’t raise money for a controversial group attacking fellow Republicans. But the Texas senator has since written a fundraising missive for another conservative group that’s backing the primary challengers to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others.” (Politico)
‘I THOUGHT IT WAS DONE’: “Vice President Biden said new voter ID laws in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas were evidence of “hatred” and “zealotry” during a Black History Month event at the Naval Observatory on Tuesday.The vice president said his votes to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act were among his proudest as a senator, and expressed frustration with a recent Supreme Court ruling striking down a crucial provision of the law.” (The Hill)
TIME TO LEGALIZE?: “America has been at the edge of marijuana legalization several times during the past half-century, but never as close to mass acceptance of the drug as the nation is today. Since the 1960s, the United States has traveled on a herky-jerky trip from hippies and head shops to grass-roots backlash by suburban parents, from enthusiastic funding of the war on drugs to a gathering consensus that the war had little effect on marijuana use. Now, for the first time, marijuana legalization is winning majority support in public opinion polls and a drug used by about 6 percent of Americans — and one-third of the nation’s high school seniors — is starting to shake off its counterculture reputation. It is winning acceptance even from some police, prosecutors and politicians.” (Washington Post)
ACTOR TURNED ADVOCATE: “In 2012, Mr. Rogen, who appeared in the film comedies “Knocked Up” and “Superbad,” and his wife, Lauren Miller, founded Hilarity for Charity, a group dedicated to raising awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and raising money for research. Ms. Miller lost a grandmother and a grandfather to the disease, and her mother received a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s when she was 55.” (New York Times)
Programming note: Seth Rogen will play Hardball tonight on msnbc at 7p ET.
IN OTHER NEWS…
- QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m not going to worry about politics anymore everybody.” –Gov. Chris Christie at a town hall on Wednesday
- POLL OF THE DAY: A new New York Times/CBS News poll revealed that the majority of Republicans don’t want Chris Christie to run for president in 2016.
- NUMBER OF THE DAY: $10 million–that’s the estimated worth of a pile of gold coins unearthed by a California couple this week
- TWEET OF THE DAY:
.@GovBrewer: veto of #SB1062 is right.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 25, 2014
Hardball staff