Top story: Republicans are licking their wounds in Charlotte. And the one plan that seems to have the most support to win the White House in 2016 has nothing to do with winning and everything to do with changing the rules.
- Reach out to minorities and young people to broaden the base? Pfft. That’s hard. Why not just change the rules on how states award electoral votes? (First Read)
- The Virginia plan is the most obnoxious. But similar plans are in the works in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, too. (The Washington Post)
- “Despite Obama’s comfortable margin in the national popular vote, a system that awarded one electoral vote for each House district plus two votes for the statewide winner would have resulted in a Romney victory by 276 electoral votes to 262 electoral votes.” (Sabato’s Crystal Ball)
- “So GOPers face this dilemma: Do they accept the Electoral College system as it currently stands, or do they want the popular vote?” (Mark Murray)
- Never mind that about 200,000 didn’t vote in Florida last year due to its long, voter-suppressed lines. (The Orlando Sentinel)
More GOP bright ideas
- One female lawmaker in New Mexico wants to send women who have abortions after a rape to jail. (Salon)
- Oh, and the Ryan budget is back. “Ryan’s promise to balance the budget in a decade with no tax increases implies cuts in federal spending unseen since the U.S. disarmed after World War II.” (Tax Policy Center)
- The NRA has released what it calls a “national scientific poll” (so you know it’s quality) that says all NRA members believe no new gun laws are needed. Riiiight. Most striking? About 1 in 10 do not support laws keeping guns away from the mentally ill. (NRA)
Bobby Jindal’s really bad speech, part deux
- Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave a bad rebuttal to President Obama’s speech last night. (The Atlantic Wire)
- At one point Jindal said the GOP needed to “stop being the stupid party.” Not something presidential hopefuls typically say. (The Hill)
- And then there was this comment: We should “replace most of [Washington] bureaucracy with a handful of good websites.” What? (Molly Ball)
And in other news …
- Romney’s chief strategist has asked The Washington Post’s fact checker to take another look at that infamous Chrysler Jeep ad and “stress test it for accuracy away from the heat of a campaign.” Verdict? Still 4 Pinocchios. C’mon, give it up, guy. (Fact Checker)
- And His Mitt-ness and Ann are back in D.C. (The Fix)
John Flowers