Why Marco Rubio Is Rooting for Florida over Florida Gulf Coast

Image credit: Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Say you’re the junior senator from Florida, it’s late Friday night, and you’re voting on a long list of budget amendments. It’s prime viewing time for the first round of the NCAA tournament, and you want to know how your bracket has fared. What do you do?

Just sneak a peek at the TV, along with the rest of your Senate colleagues.

“Everybody was in the Cloak Room watching the games in between the votes,” Sen. Marco Rubio told ABC News, recounting the scene in an ante-room off the Senate floor as the upper chamber held its late-night “Vote-a-Rama” on 40 amendments, resolutions and motions between noon Friday and 4:30 a.m. Saturday. ”You have 10 minutes between votes, so [you] go vote and you come back in, and everybody’s watching the Georgetown game.”

For college basketball fans, late March is the best time of the year. Rubio joined in the Madness, releasing a bracket through his political organization, Reclaim America PAC. Unlike President Obama, who picked mostly favorites, Rubio’s bracket was filled with upsets.

But don’t expect him to root for this year’s Cinderella.

“I think Florida Gulf Coast has ruined everyone’s bracket,” Rubio told ABC, joking that he should have picked the Eagles’ upsets, given that he’s the senator from Florida and all.

Florida Gulf Coast University (15) defeated Georgetown (2) before the senators gathered in the Cloak Room, becoming the first 15-seed ever to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. But although they hail from Rubio’s home state, he’s pulling for his undergraduate alma mater–the University of Florida (3)–when the two teams square off this Friday.

“They’re fully capable of winning that game,” he said of Florida Gulf Coast’s matchup with his Gators.

Rubio predicted Ole Miss's defeat of Wisconsin. Like everyone else, he got a lot of other picks wrong. Image credit: Reclaim America PAC.

“That’s a game where I can’t lose, right? Whoever wins, wins. I want Florida to win, but it’s hard to root against those guys from Gulf Coast ’cause of what they’re doing. I would say that the only think I would tell you is that the Florida teams are more aware of them than everybody else,” Rubio said.

“Miami (1) lost to Florida Gulf Coast (back in November), and they got beat up over that. People were making fun of them, ‘How could you lose to those guys?’ And their attitude about it was, ‘Wait till you see them play–that’s a good team.’ So now people are realizing that. If you’re in Florida, you know the University of Florida, you’re aware of those guys. Miami’s aware of those guys, so to them it’s not as surprising,” Rubio said.

Related: Obama Picks Indiana to Win NCAA Tournament

A graduate of Florida and the University of Miami law school, Rubio stays true to the Gators. This year, he’s predicted Florida will beat Miami in the Final Four.

“I don’t root against Miami,” Rubio said. “All things being equal, I want them to win. I’m a Florida fan, but if they have to play against each other, I know who I’m for.”

Rubio hasn’t been able to watch many games this year–his only “extensive” tournament viewing, ironically, happened during the late-night votes–but he explained his bracketological philosophy to ABC News.

“The problem with the tournament is, first of all, you’re dealing with 18- and 19-year-old kids, so the likelihood of them walking into a place and underestimating the other team they’re playing against, like a Harvard or like a Florida Gulf Coast, is high,” Rubio said. “Number two, it’s winner take all. It’s not like a series. If you have a five- or seven-game series, usually the cream will rise to the top in something like that, but one night, in one game, anything can happen, especially in a streaky game like basketball where someone goes nuts and starts hitting every shot.”

The advent of “one-and-done” programs, like the University of Kentucky, has not been lost on the Florida senator. “Most of the teams are freshman and sophomore teams, sometimes redshirt sophomore teams, ’cause the good guys are heading to the pros fairly quickly,” Rubio said. “So there’s no continuity.”

Rubio says he’s not in a bracket pool this year. Good thing, too, because Forbes recently noted that some NCAA pools appear to violate federal laws.

“I’ve done them in the past. I’ve never won one,” Rubio said. “It’s almost like betting on horses, in the sense that you think you know what you know, and there’s some stuff to study, but you just can never predict, and there’s almost always a Cinderella team. Without fail, every year gives you some team that makes it to the 16, maybe even to the eight, that wasn’t supposed to  get there.”

Super Bowl Champ Interning for Rep. Cummings

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Torrey Smith is a man of many hats, or maybe helmets. Not only is he a star wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens and a new Super Bowl champion, he is also an intern for Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.

That’s right, an intern.

Smith is interning for Cummings in the Baltimore office of Maryland’s Seventh Congressional District. Smith, who is a graduate of the University of Maryland, is interning for a constituency that spans more than half the city and most of Howard County, as well as some of Baltimore County.

Smith, 24, dedicated his 2013 off-season to politics when he began his month-long unpaid internship in early March. He could not be reached for comment.

The Super Bowl winner is not getting any special treatment in the district office.

Smith, a native Virginian whom the Ravens drafted in 2011,  went from catching passes to filing papers, according to the Baltimore Ravens website.

“I was handling files, reading letters, relaying them, typing up what sponsors say, printing stuff,” Smith said. “I was the office guy.”

Although such grunt work seems tedious, the pro athlete said that he enjoyed it and learned a lot.

“I learned that there are really politicians that do a lot for their community – [Cummings] being one of them,” Smith said. “You can literally call your congressman and any issue you have, they can basically point you in the right direction if they can’t help you. I never really knew that.

“Being on that side and seeing how they work, it’s pretty cool. Their staff, they actually care. That says a lot when it comes to a city like Baltimore. You need people who are leaders and taking care of your area who really care.”

The Ravens will pay Smith upwards of $700,000 next season, according to Spotrac.com.

Marriage Equality: Too Much, Too Soon?

This week,  gay rights advocates will head to the Supreme Court to hear Theodore Olson, a lawyer opposing Prop 8, argue for marriage equality at the Supreme Court. Olson’s argument is as broad as can be, asking the court to recognize a right to gay marriage.

But many gay rights advocates, who have worked behind the scenes for years,  initially disagreed with Olson’s strategy to take a challenge to a state ban (Prop 8, California) on gay marriage to the Supreme Court. They thought he was asking for too much too soon.

Last week Linda Greenhouse, who won a Pulitzer prize for her New York Times coverage of the Court, said  Olson was right, that his lawsuit has in fact had the effect of “speeding and enhancing public understanding” and support for marriage equality. She says this is due in part to the fact that the lower court held a trial on the issue and gave people the time to think through the issues.

When asked about the early schism between gay rights advocates on a conference call last week, Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign said the disagreement “is really water under the bridge.”

Read more about Olson’s involvement with Prop 8 and gay rights here.

The Note: The Supremes Tackle Gay Marriage

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone)

NOTABLES

ON THE DOCKET:  Two potentially transformative cases about gay marriage will be argued at the Supreme Court this week. Justices have set aside two days to hear arguments and will release audio arguments the same day, reports ABC’s Ariane De Vogue. Both cases will be decided by the end of June. First up is a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, the controversial ballot initiative that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Although the court could rule more narrowly, this case asks the big question of whether there is a fundamental right to gay marriage. The Supreme Court will also hear a challenge to a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that defines marriage as between one man and a woman. The law denies federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married in their states. Unlike the Prop 8 case, the DOMA challenge does not address whether there is a fundamental right under the Constitution to gay marriage. http://abcn.ws/15Kp51STHE PROP. 8 HURDLE: The original sponsors of Prop 8 — a group called Protectmarriage.com — are defending the law because California officials refused to do so. The Supreme Court will explore whether the proponents have the legal right to be in court. If the court finds that the original sponsors have no “standing,” then the case comes to a screeching halt, and the court will not reach the merits of the case. Opponents of Prop 8 argue that “standing” requires an injury and proponents of Prop 8 cannot show they will be harmed if same-sex couples marry. “Proponents have never contended — and do not contend before this Court — that they would personally suffer any injury if gay men and lesbians were permitted to marry in California,” write lawyers Theodore B. Olson and David Boies on behalf of gay couples who are challenging Prop 8. More details on the merits of the Prop. 8 case http://abcn.ws/15Kp51S and DOMA  http://abcn.ws/YP8mXb from ABC’s Ariane De Vogue.KARL ROVE: ‘I COULD’ IMAGINE A GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SUPPORTING GAY MARRIAGE. Former George W. Bush deputy chief of staff Karl Rove told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday on “This Week” that he can imagine a future Republican presidential candidate supporting gay marriage. When asked, “Can you imagine the next presidential campaign, a Republican candidate saying flat out I am for gay marriage?” Rove responded “I could.” The vast majority of Republicans in Congress do not support same-sex marriage. Portman is the only sitting Republican senator to support same-sex marriage. http://abcn.ws/11AD5yFTHE BACKDROP: An ABC News-Washington Post poll released last week found that 58 percent of Americans support legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian couples, and in the past month, two heavy hitters in politics — former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio – announced their support of same-sex marriage.

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC’s RICK KLEIN: There’s no use trying to take the real world out of the high court this time. Added to the fact that the nine justices themselves have quintessentially modern American families — divorces, single life, adopted kids — is the Los Angeles Times’ report that Chief Justice John Roberts’ lesbian cousin will be attending this week’s hearings on gay marriage cases. Then there’s the real political world, with Karl Rove saying on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday that he can see a Republican candidate for president endorse gay marriage in time for 2016. The public has been dragging political leaders along on the issue for years now; recall it was less than a year ago that President Obama himself still opposed gay marriage. The Supreme Court is more insulated from societal shifts, but it’s not immune from them, either. More of my analysis on the gay marriage issue: http://abcn.ws/16Slm5K

ABC’s ARIANE DE VOGUE: This week gay rights advocates will head to the Supreme Court to hear Theodore Olson, a lawyer opposing Prop 8, argue for marriage equality at the Supreme Court. Olson’s argument is as broad as can be, asking the court to recognize a right to gay marriage. But many gay rights advocates, who have worked behind the scenes for years,  initially disagreed with Olson’s strategy to take a challenge to a state ban (Prop 8, California) on gay marriage to the Supreme Court. They thought he was asking for too much too soon. Last week Linda Greenhouse, who won a Pulitzer prize for her New York Times coverage of the Court, said  Olson was right, that his lawsuit has in fact had the effect of “speeding and enhancing public understanding” and support for marriage equality. She says this is due in part to the fact that the lower court held a trial on the issue and gave people the time to think through the issues. When asked about the early schism between gay rights advocates on a conference call last week, Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign said the disagreement “is really water under the bridge.” http://abcn.ws/11CbQUr

ABC’s DEVIN DWYER: The coffin has been opened; autopsy performed. Now it’s time for the Republican Party to start aggressively amassing new Twitter followers and Facebook friends like there’s no tomorrow. So say two millennial conservatives and high-tech entrepreneurs leading the charge on the GOP makeover after Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 campaign. “Whether it’s Facebook, whether it’s Twitter, whether it’s something that isn’t even popular yet, sort of augmented reality glasses — doesn’t really matter what the tool is, it has to go toward the strategy of educating people and then getting them to the polls,” Bret Jacobson, 33, a co-founder of the digital strategy group Red Edge, a  told ABC News/Yahoo! News “Power Players” series.   “I think it’s really going to come down to the next presidential candidate,” he added. “Probably the fastest way to reinventing a party is through sort of an insurgent candidate.” Who is that candidate? Get their take: http://yhoo.it/ZkzDEk

ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Over the weekend I spoke to Tomas Young and his wife Claudia Cuellar. After being paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq nine years ago Young has decided to end his life in the next few weeks. They are both astonishingly open and at peace with the process, only hoping to change attitudes about death and dying as well as continue to shine a light on their anti-Iraq war activism. A 33-year-old who has served his country bravely is not the type of person who should be out of options, but after nine years of struggling, he is simply sick of suffering. It was a heartbreaking interview, Young’s voice is quite blurred and his wife jumps in when needed, but it is an incredibly important story about the aftermath of war.

WHAT WE’RE READING

“CHIEF JUSTICE’S LESBIAN COUSIN WILL ATTEND PROP. 8 HEARING,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Maura Dolan. Jean Podrasky, 48, a lesbian who wants to marry her partner, will be at Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Proposition 8 in seating reserved for family members and guests of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ‘I am so excited,’ said Podrasky, an accountant and the first cousin of the chief justice on his mother’s side. ‘I feel quite honored and overwhelmed.’ Roberts is a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005. Podrasky, who is more liberal, said she rooted for his nomination to be approved by the U.S. Senate. ‘He is family,’  she said. Podrasky lives in San Francisco and usually sees Roberts only on family occasions. His mother is her godmother, whom she adores. She said Roberts knows she is gay and introduced her along with other relatives during his Senate confirmation hearing. She hopes he will meet her partner of four years, Grace Fasano, during their Washington visit. The couple flew to Washington on Sunday. ‘He is a smart man,’ she said. ‘He is a good man. I believe he sees where the tide is going. I do trust him. I absolutely trust that he will go in a good direction.’” http://lat.ms/YyPvU8

“THIS WEEK” WEB EXTRAS:

–JIM MESSINA REFLECTS ON ‘WHITE KNUCKLE’ MOMENTS OF 2012 OBAMA CAMPAIGN. Jim Messina, President Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, sat down with ABC News’ MICHAEL FALCONE and answered viewer questions from Facebook in a Web exclusive after his appearance on the “This Week” roundtable yesterday. Messina looked back at the “white knuckle” moments of the 2012 campaign, reports ABC’s Kaye Foley. “I think [it was] after the August debt-limit crisis, and August 2011 where our numbers were, you know, historically low, and then of course after the first debate when everyone was very, very concerned,” he said. “Even then I believed we would win, both times, but there were definitely some white knuckle moments.” Even as he reflects on the past year, it’s clear he’s also keeping an eye on the next presidential campaign and the potential Republican contenders. Watch the full Q&A with Messina: http://abcn.ws/16RJvJC

ABC NEWS: Looking ahead to 2016, do you think Republicans have a deeper bench to work with in terms of potential presidential candidates than the Democrats?

MESSINA: ”I don’t. I think their bench is problematic. If you look at the current standing of the Republican Party nationally, it’s the lowest it’s been in 30 years, in part because of positions they’ve taken on the issues. If you look at the 2012 primaries, Governor Romney was forced to go so far right in the primaries because of who the base of the Republican Party is that by the time he got to the general election, he couldn’t get to the center. He took positions on immigration reform, on social issues like contraception that were incredibly damaging to him. And I think until the Republican Party deals with its internal fights, their nominees are going to have real problems.”

–KARL ROVE SUGGESTS STEPHEN COLBERT MAY NEED ‘ANGER MANAGEMENT. Karl Rove, Fox News contributor and former deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush, says of comedian-satirist Stephen Colbert’s interactions with Rove’s bespectacled canned-ham likeness, “Ham Rove,”: “He’s an entertainer so he gets to be funny and exaggerate things and so forth. Though I have to admit, when he took out the knife and started stabbing it, I think he might need a little bit of professional counseling on his anger management issues.”Rove joked “I don’t know whether that was working out his inner feelings, or encouraging maybe someone to maybe mimic him or just sort of being funny.  But there was a little bit of anxiety in his stabs there.” Before joining the “This Week” roundtable, Rove sat down with ABC News’ BENJAMIN BELL, answering a variety of viewer questions from Facebook, including what he thinks of George W. Bush’s paintings, his career and his thoughts on the Iraq War 10 years later. Watch the full Q&A with Rove: http://abcn.ws/16RR0Al

ABC: What do you think of President Bush’s paintings?

ROVE: ”I have one.  I have one of the original, first forty-threes.  He painted my wife and our dogs.  And he’s pretty good.  Particularly, I called him when Barney died.  And he’d painted a picture of Barney, which I thought was really, you know, clearly from the heart.”

MONDAY FOLLOW: The team behind the “This Week” web extras: Ben Bell (@BenjaminBell) and Kaye Foley (@KayeFoley)

BUZZ

DISSECTING OBAMA’S ‘EVOLUTION’ ON GAY MARRIAGE: In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts in May, President Obama stated his personal support for same-sex marriage, becoming the first president to back marriage publicly for gay and lesbian couples. “For me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts in May of 2012. While voicing his support at the time, the president said that he had no intention to “nationalize” the issue and hoped it would be left up to the states. In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos earlier this month, the president said he hopes the Supreme Court will grant same-sex couples the right to marry. When asked whether he could think of a compelling reason for states to bar same-sex marriage, he said “I can’t, personally. I cannot.” More from ABC’s Arlette Saenz: http://abcn.ws/10cd43u

BLOOMBERG, NRA BRACE FOR SENATE SHOWDOWN ON GUNS. With the U.S. Senate slated to consider comprehensive gun legislation next month, two powerful voices on different sides of the gun debate – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre – are bracing for the upcoming legislative showdown on guns, notes ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ. Bloomberg’s gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, announced this weekend that it will pour $12 million into advertising in 13 key states to convince potentially persuadable Democratic and Republican senators to vote in favor of gun legislation, specifically focusing on the controversial universal background checks; a measure that an ABC News-Washington Post poll found is supported by 91 percent of the public. “We’re trying to do everything we can to impress upon the senators that this is what the survivors want, this is what the public wants,” Bloomberg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”  “If 90 percent of the public want something, and their representatives vote against that, common sense says, they are going to have a price to pay for that.” http://abcn.ws/ZhlszU

WOUNDED IRAQ VET PREPARES TO DIE. Tomas Young is “ready to go” as he puts it. After nine years of suffering and with his body quickly deteriorating he has decided to end his struggle. ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE reports that Young, 33, was paralyzed from the chest down by a sniper’s bullet in a battle in Sadr City, Iraq on April 4, 2004, less than a week after he got to the country. He had joined the Army just two days after September 11, 2001 and assumed he would be sent to Afghanistan. Now nine years after that battle he is choosing to end his suffering. He is in hospice care and getting ready to die. “I just decided that I was tired of seeing my body deteriorate and I want to go before it’s too late,” Young said in phone interview with ABC News from his home in Kansas City, Missouri. “I’ve been doing this for the past nine years now…and I finally felt helpless every day and a burden to the people who take care of me and that’s why I want to go.” Young and his wife Claudia Cuellar are receiving guests for a few more weeks. During that time, Young will say goodbye to friends and family and then will stop receiving medications, nourishment and water. They don’t know how long it could be after that time he will die, but they believe it will be one to three weeks, but it could be as long as six weeks. Young and Cuellar have decided to go public with their story. First, in an article in the Kansas City Star because they want to change the perception on death and dying in this country as well as continue to shine a light on the anti-Iraq war activism Young has been focused on since becoming paralyzed. http://abcn.ws/10ctZmt

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: ASHLEY JUDD HINTS AT SENATE RUN. Ashley Judd made a rare reference to her possible political aspirations today, saying her mother, country star Naomi Judd, can’t wait to turn her garage into campaign headquarters. According to Cincinnati station WXIX-Fox 19, Judd spoke about her future while giving the keynote address at the American Counseling Association’s 2013 conference at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, which borders Kentucky. Judd also tweeted about her speech, saying, “Heartfelt thanks to American Counseling Assoc for having me as your Keynote Speaker today. Thank you for your dedication to hope & healing.” According to the station, Judd referred to her potential campaign against Mitch McConnell and what is likely to be a large budget of attack ads, saying when she started counseling she didn’t like to hear criticism, which she said was ironic because she’s “about to get $40 million worth of it.” http://abcn.ws/14i1xp1

IN THE NOTE’S INBOX

“JOBS PACKAGE A GOOD DEAL FOR ALL NEW MEXICANS,” an Op-Ed by The Albuquerque Journal by GOP New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez. “At the beginning of the session, I called on the Legislature to pass reforms making New Mexico more competitive with neighboring states. The mandatory cuts in Washington, D.C., will disproportionately hurt our state and while we will always fight to protect our labs and bases, we must simultaneously work to diversify our economy by building a stronger private sector.  I’m pleased that by passing the New Mexico Jobs Package, we reached a bipartisan compromise that will help our economy grow by leveling the playing field with surrounding states. The New Mexico Jobs Package cuts the business tax rate from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent. The 7.6 percent rate is the highest in the region and at 5.9 percent, New Mexico will be more in line with neighboring states. This will help attract new job-creating businesses to our state and help existing businesses grow.” http://bit.ly/14iSDY7

WHO’S TWEETING?

@BenSherwoodABC: Auspicious day for @ABC. Roone Arledge: NYT crossword clue. @RobinRoberts: taxi Jeopardy clue.

@aterkel: Will Portman talks about his dad’s evolution on marriage equality http://huff.to/16ThiCe  via @samsteinhp

@kakukowski: Interesting read from WaPo and the RNC report being start of new beginning http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/can-republicans-learn-from-the-democrats/2013/03/22/ed980f40-9312-11e2-ba5b-550c7abf6384_print.html …

@CrowleyTIME: Feels like we’re seeing more and more leaked stories about US/CIA assistance to Syrian rebels–without much real escalation of involvement.

@ThePlumLineGS: Is Senator Inhofe going to build an igloo outside the Capitol again? RT @noltenc Total white out here. Is Al Gore coming to speak?

Obama Pushes Congress To ‘Finish The Job’ On Immigration Reform

President Obama today called on Congress to pass an immigration bill in the coming weeks, saying lawmakers need to “work up the political courage” to fix the nation’s broken immigration system.

“I expect a bill to be put forward. I expect the debate to begin next month,” the president said at a naturalization ceremony at the White House. “I want to sign that bill into law as soon as possible.”

Welcoming new citizens to the United States, the president argued “immigration makes us stronger. It keeps us vibrant. It keep us hungry. It keeps up prosperous.”

The president praised lawmakers for the bipartisan progress that has been made so far. “We’ve seen some real action in Congress,” he said. “There are bipartisan groups in both the House and the Senate working to tackle this challenge, and I applaud them for that. We are making progress. But we’ve got to finish the job.”

During the ceremony 28 people representing 26 countries, including 13 service members, took the oath of allegiance and became naturalized U.S. citizens.

“The promise we see in those who come from all over the world is one of our greatest strengths,” Obama said. “It’s helped to build the greatest economic engine that the world has ever known. And you think about the drive and the determination that it took for each of these 28 men and women to reach this moment. Imagine how far they’ll go from here, the kind of difference that they’ll be making on behalf of this country.”

Sen. Portman’s Son Writes About Coming Out

Office of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman/AP Photo

Two weeks after his Republican senator dad announced his support for gay marriage and one day before the Supreme Court is to hear arguments on the issue, 21 year-old Will Portman penned an editorial in the Yale Daily News describing how he came out as gay.

“In February of freshman year, I decided to write a letter to my parents. I’d tried to come out to them in person over winter break but hadn’t been able to. So I found a cubicle in Bass Library one day and went to work. Once I had something I was satisfied with, I overnighted it to my parents and awaited a response,” Portman writes.

“They called as soon as they got the letter. They were surprised to learn I was gay, and full of questions, but absolutely rock-solid supportive. That was the beginning of the end of feeling ashamed about who I was.”

Read More at the ABC News Gay Marriage Topics Page.

In his piece Will Portman discusses the difficulty of coming out about his sexuality as his father was being vetted for the vice presidency. Though he admits that his coming out prompted he and his father to begin talking about the policy issues surrounding marriage for same-sex couples, Portman writes that he did not want his sexual orientation to become an issue during the presidential campaign.

“My dad told the Romney campaign that I was gay, that he and my mom were supportive and proud of their son, and that we’d be open about it on the campaign trail.”

Portman continues, “When he ultimately wasn’t chosen for the ticket, I was pretty relieved to have avoided the spotlight of a presidential campaign. Some people have criticized my dad for waiting for two years after I came out to him before he endorsed marriage for gay couples. Part of the reason for that is that it took time for him to think through the issue more deeply after the impetus of my coming out. But another factor was my reluctance to make my personal life public.”

That “rock-solid support” that Will attributes to his father was made evident earlier this month when Sen. Portman publically reversed his opposition to gay marriage.

“I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married,” Portman wrote in an op-ed that ran in the Columbus Dispatch.

Portman came out in support of gay marriage at a crucial time. This week the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Proposition 8 and DOMA, two potentially transformative cases regarding the very issue that Portman’s son had been urging the senator to consider since he came out during his freshman year of college.

Justice Roberts’ Lesbian Cousin to Attend Gay Marriage Arguments

When the Supreme Court listens to arguments about same sex marriage Tuesday in what is expected to be an historic case, sitting in the audience as a guest of Chief Justice John Roberts will be his lesbian cousin.

In an open letter distributed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights,  Jean Podrasky writes, “Tomorrow, my cousin, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, will begin considering the fate of two of the most important cases impacting the rights of the LGBT community ever to go before the Court—the challenges to California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). ”

“I want nothing more than to marry my wonderful girlfriend,” states Podrasky, who lives in the San Francisco area.

“I know that my cousin is a good man. I feel confident that John is wise enough to see that society is becoming more accepting of the humanity of same-sex couples and the simple truth that we deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality under the law.

“I believe he understands that ruling in favor of equality will not be out of step with where the majority of Americans now sit. I am hoping that the other justices (at least most of them) will share this view, because I am certain that I am not the only relative that will be directly affected by their rulings,” Podrasky wrote.

Podrasky is the latest gay or lesbian person revealed to be related to or  friends with a powerful politician, and the sense that everybody knows someone who is gay is affecting the political debate over gay rights and gay marriage.

Facebook/jumpagain

When President Obama endorsed same-sex marriage on May 9, 2012, he said, “You know, Malia and Sasha, they’ve got friends whose parents are same-sex couples. And I -you know, there have been times when Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table. And we’ve been talking about their friends and their parents. And Malia and Sasha would—it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently.”

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced earlier this month that he had changed his position on gay marriage in light of his relationship with his gay son.

“Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way. Two years ago my son, Will, then a college freshman, told my wife, Jane and me that he is gay,” he said.

Before the Portmans, there was Dick and Mary Cheney, though that did not change much policy-wise in the Bush White House.

Cheney and his wife on the day of their daughter’s wedding in June 2012 issued a statement that read, “Our daughter Mary and her long time partner, Heather Poe, were married today in Washington, DC. Mary and Heather have been in a committed relationship for many years, and we are delighted that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to have that relationship recognized…Mary and Heather and their children are very important and much loved members of our family and we wish them every happiness.”

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has advocated for rights for same-sex couples, knowing his daughter, Katherine, was a lesbian.

“First of all, we’ve had so many people in our lives whom we love who are gay or lesbian, so that’s not that unfamiliar to us…You know, I can still — because we live in Massachusetts — I can still imagine what Katherine’s wedding is going to be like,” Patrick said in June 2008.

The effect of the modern family stretches beyond blood relatives to the politicians friends.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., explained Sunday why she has switched her stand.

“My views on this subject have changed over time, but as many of my gay and lesbian friends, colleagues and staff embrace long term committed relationships, I find myself unable to look them in the eye without honestly confronting this uncomfortable inequality,” McCaskill said.

President Obama Criticized for Designating New National Monuments

Rep. Richard "Doc" Hastings, R-Wash., speaks at a news conference on the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act, June 6, 2012. Chris Maddaloni/Getty Images

President Obama today unilaterally designated five new national monuments, sparking criticism from at least one Republican who is questioning the timing and cost of the decision.

Obama used his executive authority under the Antiquities Act to create Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico; First State National Monument in Delaware; Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland; Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio; and San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington state.

“These sites honor the pioneering heroes, spectacular landscapes and rich history that have shaped our extraordinary country,” Obama said in a written statement. “By designating these national monuments today, we will ensure they will continue to inspire and be enjoyed by generations of Americans to come.”

In a statement released Friday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., criticized Obama for “unilaterally ordering the National Park Service to spend scarce dollars” while the nation faces harsh budget cuts as a result of the sequester.

“The Obama administration not only sees the sequester as an opportunity to make automatic spending reductions as painful as possible on the American people, it’s also a good time for the president to dictate under a century-old law that the government spend money it doesn’t have on property it doesn’t even own,” he said in the statement, which was recirculated today by House Speaker John Boehner’s office.

“Over one hundred years ago the Antiquities Act was passed to allow a president to act when there was an emergency need to prevent destruction of a precious place – yet President Obama is acting on simple whim as no imminent threat of destruction or harm is posed at any of these five locations,” Hastings added.

In response, the White House said the designations will have a positive, stimulative impact on the local economies and are an important way to commemorate the country’s history.

“It’s my understanding … that a lot of the land for these new national monuments was either land that was already owned by the federal government or it was donated,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “And in terms of the immediate costs, in terms of the management of the land, I think they’re pretty minimal in the early stages.”

According to a 2006 National Parks and Conservation Association study circulated by the White House, each federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars of economic value to the public.

Obama Administration Pushes For Assault Weapons Ban Vote, But Says No National Gun Registry Needed

Despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control, President Obama still supports the ban.(George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Obama Administration says despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control for lack of votes, the President still supports it and urges the Senate to vote publicly on the proposal to eliminate “military-style weapons” from American streets as an amendment.

Speaking in today’s White House Briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said “it will be a question for all 100 members of the Senate to ask themselves about whether or not they think that voting for and supporting an assault weapons ban would actually do something to reduce gun violence in communities all across the country. So, we’re — – going to have that — we’re going to have that debate.” 

Related: Reid Pulls Assault Weapons Ban from Gun Legislation

Earnest also made clear that despite NRA fears, the President does not support a National Registry of legal gun owners.

“That is not something that the president has supported”, said Earnest.   He said the White House has no intention of taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.  ”What we want to make sure is that we’re keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, but without interfering with the ability of law-abiding citizens to get their guns that they would like to buy.”

The President does support background checks, but asked if those could be carried out without a national list of all those owning weapons in the United States, Earnest said, “He’s not seeking a registry.”

Over the weekend Republican strategist Karl Rove insinuated otherwise on ABC’s This Week.  Rove told George Stephanopoulos “if there’s one thing that scares a lot of people who believe in the Second Amendment, is the federal government keeping a national registry of gun sales, and gun purchasers, and gun owners.”

Related: Karl Rove on ‘This Week‘

The Senate is expected to debate and vote on extending background checks to gun dealers and private sales when it returns from Easter recess.  The NRA opposes the measure with Wayne LaPierre saying on NBC’s Meet the Press, “It slows down the law abiding and does nothing to anybody else”. 

Still the White House indicated today it not only wants the Senate to vote on “universal background checks,” it wants members of the Senate and House to vote publicly on the now-dead assault weapons Ban.

Related: Bloomberg, NRA Brace for Showdown on Guns

Senators Abandon ‘Discriminatory’ DOMA Before Supreme Court Arguments

Three Democratic senators have reversed their stance on the Defense of Marriage Act in the past three days before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the law that limits marriage to one man and one woman.

Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., John “Jay” Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said today and Sunday that they no longer support a federal law banning gay marriage. The Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments in a case challenging that law Wednesday, after it considers a law banning same-sex marriage in California Tuesday.

McCaskill made the announcement on her Tumblr blog Sunday.

“I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love. While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry,” McCaskill wrote. “Good people disagree with me. On the other hand, my children have a hard time understanding why this is even controversial. I think history will agree with my children.”

McCaskill refused to take a hard stance on the issue in response to President Obama’s coming out in favor of gay marriage in May, according to the Springfield, Mo.-based News Leader. The paper reported that she supported civil unions but had expressed opposition to same-sex marriage.

She was in good company. Only two Democrats in competitive Senate races publicly supported the president after his announcement.

Rockefeller was not facing re-election in 2012, but he would be next year if he were running again. The senator from West Virginia said in January that he plans to retire at the end of his term, leaving him just shy of three decades in office.

His statement today largely echoed McCaskill’s.

“Like so many of my generation, my views on allowing gay couples to marry have been challenged in recent years by a new, more open generation. Churches and ministers should never have to perform marriages that violate their religious beliefs, but the government shouldn’t discriminate against people who want to marry just because of their gender,” Rockefeller said in a statement emailed to ABC News today.

“Younger people in West Virginia and even my own children have grown up in a much more equal society and they rightly push us to question old assumptions – to think deeply about what it means for all Americans to be created equal. This has been a process for me, but at this point I think it’s clear that DOMA is discriminatory. I’m against discrimination in all its forms, and I think we can move forward in our progress toward true equality by repealing DOMA.”

Rockefeller voted for DOMA when it passed under President Clinton in 1996. But in 2004, he voted against an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage, saying both his state and federal government already had laws limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

“I have heard from many West Virginians who are worried about morality in America,” Rockefeller wrote after that vote. “They want to be sure that marriage is protected for themselves and for their children.  I myself am not comfortable with same-sex marriage, and I want to assure every West Virginian that our definition of marriage – and our right to define marriage as we believe it — is not in jeopardy.”

Sen. Warner announced his change of heart in a statement on his Facebook page.

“I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do,” he reportedly wrote. “Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone.

“I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans.”

The three Senate Democrats join a long list of Republicans who have changed their minds about DOMA, many of whom now embrace the concept of gay marriage.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced that he supports gay marriage, which followed his son’s saying that he is gay. Several other politicians have referenced personal encounters with gay and lesbian family members as leading them to rethink their stances on the issue.

More than 80 upper-level Republicans also signed their support for same-sex marriage in an amicus brief for the Supreme Court last month.

Mark Sanford Campaign Rising From Disgrace

Mark Sanford could get a head start in his primary runoff.

The scandalized former South Carolina governor won Tuesday’s 16-way primary for his old House seat, but there’s some confusion about whom he’ll face in Round 2, a GOP runoff slated for April 2.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, former Charleston County councilman Curtis Bostic led state Sen. Larry Grooms by 493 votes, which would trigger an automatic recount. With the runoff  between the top-two finishers two weeks away, Sanford, 52,  could enjoy some lead time in campaigning while his eventual opponent is sorted out.

The South Carolina GOP, meanwhile, has declared that Bostic will advance.

“Mark Sanford and Curtis Bostic both understand that to get our country back on track, we must get our fiscal house in order. South Carolina would be well served by having either man in Congress,” state party Chairman Chad Connelly said today in a written statement, congratulating them as the top finishers.

The state party has scheduled a runoff debate for Thursday, March 28.

The South Carolina Election Division lists Sanford and Bostic as the unofficial runoff candidates on its website. But the commission confirmed to ABC News that a recount is scheduled to begin as early as Friday to determine Sanford’s runoff opponent. Grooms, a Commission official said, can waive the recount if he notifies the Election Commission in writing.

Grooms, meanwhile, is not conceding, his campaign confirmed to ABC News, despite a Facebook post earlier today in which Grooms had written that his House bid had “ended.”

The winner of the April 2 runoff, be it Sanford, Bostic or Grooms, will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the general election May 7.

This post has been updated.

Senate Passes Stopgap Bill to Fund Gov’t

The Senate did its part today to stave off a government shutdown by passing a continuing resolution in order to keep the government funded.

The continuing resolution, known in Washington shorthand as the CR, is a stopgap appropriations measure. Congress is up against a March 27 deadline this time around to keep the government funded through September, the end of the fiscal year.

The bill passed with a vote of 73-26 and now heads over to the House of Representatives for final passage.

Important to note, especially in context of Senate Democrats’ stripping out the assault-weapons ban within their gun legislation this week, is that the CR’s base bill includes making four longstanding gun protections permanent.

Also included in the Senate’s updated CR are many amendments that help alleviate the impact of budget cuts resulting from the so-called sequester. One bipartisan amendment passed today will shift money in the budget to avoid furloughs of food-safety inspectors because of the sequester.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., had an amendment that aimed to force the White House to reopen White House tours. The amendment would redirect $6 million in funds toward preserving visitor services and maintenance activities at national parks such as the White House and Yellowstone.

The amendment failed and Democrats argued that it would not have helped reopen White House tours, anyway.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said today, “those tours are governed by the Secret Service budget, which is not part of this amendment. So that would not be affected.”

The Senate bill keeps the same spending levels as the House bill, setting the top-line overall rate of spending at $982 billion, down from $1.043 trillion the previous fiscal year, but adds three appropriations measures: for homeland security and commerce; agriculture; and justice and science funds.

Since the bill was tweaked by the Senate, it now must be passed again by the House of Representatives.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said that so far it does not look as though the Senate’s changes to the CR will cause much of an uproar in the House of Representatives, meaning the bill as produced by the Senate could be easily and swiftly passed to President Obama for his final signature.

“I’ll wait and see what the Senate produces once it comes off the floor,” Boehner said last week of the Senate’s bill. “So far, so good.”

Santa Fe Goes Rogue on Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage is already legal in New Mexico, if Santa Fe city officials are to be believed.

Citing an ABC News-Washington Post poll this week that showed growing support for gay marriage nationally, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, City Attorney Geno Zamora and Councilor Patti Bushee announced their support for gay marriage Tuesday and recommended that city clerks begin doling out marriage licenses to couples, regardless of gender.

“Marriage law in New Mexico is gender-neutral and does not define marriage as between a man and a woman,” Zamora said in a statement from Santa Fe city government. “New Mexico already recognizes valid marriages performed in other states between same-sex couples; it would violate our state’s constitution to deny equal rights in our own families.”

Coss is a Democrat, but his coming out in favor of gay marriage echoes the sentiments of  Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, because he, too, has a gay child. Portman announced his support for marriage equality last week, saying he wanted his gay son to enjoy the same opportunities as his other children.

Some marriage-equality activists see the Santa Fe mayor’s declaration as a positive step forward and others worry it could end in heartbreak for the couples that heed the mayor’s call to marry.

Gregory T. Angelo, executive director of pro-gay rights Republican organization Log Cabin Republicans, compared Santa Fe to San Francisco in 2004 when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered county clerks to give marriage licenses to gay couples, resulting in more than 3,000 marriages that were invalidated by California Supreme Court six months later.

“I think this could be a mess,” Angelo said today. “It’s also unfair, I think, to gay and lesbian couples who might obtain marriage licenses through this initiative, because they would not have the guarantee of protections that would be afforded to them if this was handled on the state level.”

But law professor Andrew Koppelman of Northwestern University believes this is a straightforward case. For county clerks to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples would be illegal discrimination, in his view.

“For a long time, this argument was a loser because people presupposed without any legal authority to support it that same-sex marriage was impossible. But that has changed,” Koppelman said today. “This argument that same-sex couples already have a right to marry under existing law as a legal argument could very well be a winner in court.”

Stuart Gaffney of Marriage Equality USA is cautiously optimistic about Mayor Coss’ call to county clerks.

Gaffney recognized the connection between the San Francisco case, but said those invalidated marriages all paved the way for the Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage being heard next week.

“Whether people are able to finally say, ‘I do,’ in Santa Fe or across New Mexico at this moment, I can’t say for sure. But it’s part of the process that is bringing marriage equality closer every day,” Gaffney said.

But Gaffney, who married his husband in California before the 2008 passage of Proposition 8,  warned that couples who take the mayor up on his offer are opening themselves up to more than just the bliss of married life.

“It can be heartbreaking for couples to see their marriages come and go, so I certainly would not advise anyone to enter into a marriage that may become a test case, unless they’re ready to make that part of their marriage vows,” Gaffney said. “I would ask them to consider it very carefully.”

Gaffney told ABC News in February that activists “have never been more hopeful” about the future of same-sex marriage in America. He reiterated that optimism today.

“There’s no question that we’re going to see it in our lifetimes, it’s just how much longer do we have to wait,” he said.

Ultimately, same-sex marriages in New Mexico could face opposition from New Mexico Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

Martinez has gone on record against legalizing same-sex marriage, as recently as late February.

Tree Obama Planted in Jerusalem May Be Uprooted for Inspection

It’s an old gospel song: Just like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved. But if you’re the magnolia tree the president of the United States planted today in Jerusalem, there’s a chance you might be moved.

Obama planted a tree on Wednesday in Israeli President Shimon Peres’s Jerusalem garden. It’s a gift for a man Obama said has planted “the seeds of progress, the seeds of security, the seeds of peace — all the seeds that have helped not only Israel grow but also the relationship between our two nations grow.”

The tree was meant to signify the strong roots of the relationship between the United States and Israel. But before these American roots can take hold, the Israeli government will inspect them.

An Israeli official tells ABC News that the magnolia tree will be tested and possibly removed in a week by the Israeli Agriculture Department. The roots of the tree were apparently kept in a plastic covering during the planting. As in the U.S., Israeli law forbids plants and trees from other countries from entering Israel. The White House and the Israeli government were aware of the limitations ahead of the visit.

A White House official confirms that the tree given to Peres was grown from a set of seeds from the original Jackson Magnolia alongside the Rose Garden on the South Lawn of the White House. It was planted in the 1830s by President Andrew Jackson. An official says it is the oldest known presidential tree on the grounds of the White House.

During remarks at Peres’s official residence, Obama mentioned the story in the Talmud of Honi and the Carob Tree: A man sees an older man planting a carob tree and tells him that it will take 70 years before the tree grows fruit. Obama told the crowd the older man’s reply: “When I came into the world, I found carob trees. As my forefathers planted for me, so will I plant for my children.”

There’s good news for Obama’s magnolia tree: If removed for testing, it is expected to be replanted in the same spot. It’s currently near a tree given by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during his May 2009 trip to the Holy Land. An Israeli official says Benedict’s tree didn’t undergo any testing because it was purchased in Israel.

Obama’s Limo Breaks Down

Agence News 24

A limo shipped from Washington, D.C. to taxi President Obama around Israel failed and had to be towed in Jerusalem.

The president hadn’t yet arrived in the country when the malfunction occurred. He arrived in Tel Aviv Tuesday.

White House Downplays Expectations for Obama’s Trip to Israel

“One of our vehicles is experiencing mechanical problems. This is why we bring multiple vehicles and a mechanic on trips,” according to a Secret Service spokesman, Agent Edwin Donovan.

The Secret Service ships a number of limos for each presidential trip.

CNN reported the limo suffered a case of auto indigestion because a driver filled it up with gasoline instead of diesel.

But the Secret Service would not discuss the nature of the break-down.

Obama is clearly pleased with the opportunity to get outside the beltway. Upon landing in Tel Aviv he joked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it was “good to get away from Congress.”

Earlier in the week he told an Israeli TV station he sometimes fantasizes about putting on a fake mustache and hanging out at a café in Tel Aviv.

But the trip won’t be quite so relaxing.

Obama and Netanyahu have a busy day planned and will take part in a press conference later Wednesday before a working dinner.

24 Guantanamo Detainees on ‘Hunger Strike-Lite’

Twenty-four of the 166 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba are said to be on a hunger strike, but maybe not in the truest definition of the phrase.

In a briefing with Pentagon reporters today, Gen. John Kelly, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, described it more as “hunger strike-lite.”  He labeled as “nonsense” claims by some of the detainees’ attorneys that the hunger strike is in response to the mishandling of Korans at the facility.

“Generally speaking, we think about 24 of them are on, say, hunger strike-lite, where they’re eating a bit but not a lot,” Kelly said.  “But they’ve declared that they’re not eating.”

He said Guantanamo handlers define a hunger strike as missing nine meals in a row.

Kelly says the 24 detainees have declared they are on a hunger strike either because they have decided “that they need to be heard perhaps more than they have been” or in a bid to “regain some attention.”

He explained that detainees at Guantanamo are held in individual cells or in a communal setting.  The detainees housed in the cells receive individual meals but those in the communal setting receive food provided in bulk.

“Often, it’s semi-prepared, sometimes not prepared, they prepare it themselves to their own taste and whatnot,” Kelly said.  “So it’s kind of hard for us to say that, you know, detainee number one, two, whatever, is not eating nine meals in a row. And we have observation into the communal area and into the cells and we can see what they’re up to and all.”

Of the claims that Korans were mishandled by Guantanamo personnel in recent weeks, Kelly said, “It’s nonsense.  There’s absolutely no mishandling of the Korans.”

He said there is nothing wrong with non-Muslims handling a Koran. He described how several times during his deployments to Iraq he was presented with copies of the Koran as gifts.

That said, he said Guantanamo officials ensure that the only personnel who can touch a Koran are the Muslim translators who work there.   “No way has a Koran in any way, shape or form been in any way abused or mistreated, so their claims are nonsense,” he said.

Kelly seemed to attribute the detainees’ actions to a combination of factors, namely that Guantanamo is not mentioned publicly by the Obama administration these days. Other than participating in the hunger strike, he said, the detainees did not seem to be “acting out in any way that’s really unusual for them.”

There are eight detainees who are routinely force fed but don’t seem to be on real hunger strikes, he said.   “We have eight of the detainees that present themselves daily, calmly and in totally cooperative way to be fed through a tube.

“We also know they’re eating when they’re in the cells. And I think that’s just in their cases, just their attempt at some level of resistance to demonstrate their displeasure at what’s going on. So that’s the way we see it.”

Foundation to Cover Sequester Cuts to Iraq, Afghanistan Scholarships

A Florida-based charity announced today that it will cover the funding cut from scholarships for children of military members who died fighting in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because of sequestration.

ABC News reported Tuesday that scholarships were being cut by as much as $2,133.81 per recipient this year because of automatic budget cuts to the Department of Education included in the sequester legislation.

The Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, a Jacksonville Beach organization that helps children of military members who perished while on active duty to finance their education, said it will use funding from private donations to cover the gap left by sequester cuts.

“We work with our children any way to find them all available funding and grants towards college,” Executive Director John Coogan told ABC News today.

Coogan said the organization dedicates every dollar of donations to identifying children of the fallen, advising them on how best to find grants and scholarships for higher education, and covering whatever costs are left over.

The foundation is nonpartisan, but Coogan said the announcement about sequestration triggered an increased sense of responsibility to help out in this respect.

“I think, generally speaking, it’s important for us to stay focused that the children of these fallen patriots aren’t affected by policy disagreements,” Coogan said.

The challenge for the organization is finding these children – be they infants or just reaching college age – so they can help. Coogan said the organization had already enrolled 1,800 children, but he estimated there were about 15,000 who had lost a parent in the line of duty.

“We’re really looking to increase the number of children that we’ve identified so that we can be sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing as an organization,” Coogan said.

In speaking this afternoon, Coogan said the group had already begun the process of reaching out to families of those Marines killed in a training exercise in Nevada Tuesday.

The Note’s Must-Reads for Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Note’s Must-Reads are a round-up of today’s political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News’ Carrie Halperin, Amanda VanAllen and Will Cantine

POTUS IN ISRAEL
ABC News’ Mary Bruce and Jonathan Karl: “In Israel, Obama Vows To Prevent Nuclear Iran” Seeking to reassure the United States’ primary ally in the Middle East, President Obama today told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his administration remains committed to doing “what is necessary” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Charles Levinson and Colleen McCain Nelson: “U.S., Israeli Leaders Seek To Bridge Divide” President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged hearty back pats, smiles and jokes as they sought to showcase a mended relationship on the first day of a visit by the American president. LINK

The Boston Globe’s Bryan Bender: “Kerry Expected To Play Pivotal Role In Any Mideast Talks” Secretary of State John F. Kerry is playing a backstage role as President Obama meets this week with senior Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the first foreign trip of his second term. But once the initial excitement of the presidential trip subsides, it will be up to Kerry – who has a deep reservoir of credibility with both adversaries in one of the region’s most intractable disputes – to try to build momentum and jump-start long-stalled peace talks, according to American, Israeli and Arab specialists. LINK

The Washington Post’s Scott Wilson: “Obama and Netanyahu show unusual solidarity” President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed an unusual degree of solidarity Wednesday on a set of shared national security concerns that have divided them in the past, signaling either a turn in their vital, if volatile, relationship or a cool tactical display of diplomatic theater. The leaders’ joint appearance concluded a tone-setting first day of Obama’s first presidential trip to Israel, a visit celebrated with military ceremony, children’s serenades and a rare personal chemistry with a hard-line Israeli leader with whom Obama has often bickered publicly. LINK

ECONOMY
USA Today’s Susan Davis: “Senate Approves Funding Bill To Avoid Shutdown” The U.S. Senate approved a $984 billion spending bill Wednesday, ensuring the federal government will not shut down next week but also cementing in place $1.2 trillion in unpopular across-the-board spending cuts affecting most reaches of the federal government. LINK

The Hill’s Ramsey Cox and Erik Wasson: “Senate avoids shutdown, looks to wrap up budget soon” The Senate on Wednesday approved legislation to prevent a government shutdown and set up a series of votes on what would be the first Senate Democratic budget in four years. In a 73-26 vote, the Senate approved a $984 billion continuing resolution that will keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. Twenty-five Republicans voted against the measure, along with Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). LINK

The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan and Seth McLaughlin: ” Senate votes to keep White House closed, slaughterhouses open“Senators voted Wednesday to make the first significant changes to the budget sequesters, shifting money to keep slaughterhouse inspectors on the job full time but refusing to rearrange money to reopen the White House for public tours. The votes came as the Senate debated and passed a bill to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year — sending it back to the House for final expected approval later this week and averting a government shutdown. Read more: LINK

The Los Angeles Times’  E. Scott Reckard: “Audit faults Freddie Mac’s oversight of mortgage servicers” At least eight big providers of mortgage customer service have failed to properly track and resolve serious complaints about servicing fraud, according to an audit of Freddie Mac, the home finance giant that has been propped up by the government since the financial crisis.Freddie Mac needs to enhance its oversight of the servicers by testing their performance and establishing fines for noncompliance, the audit says. LINK

Politico’s Jonathan Allen: “Conservative House budget fails” House Republican leaders beat back conservatives’ effort to substitute more drastic spending cuts than those contained in Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s fiscal blueprint, as Democrats forced the issue by voting present on the floor. The Republican Study Committee budget would slash domestic accounts much faster than Ryan’s plan and freeze Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program funding at fiscal 2012 levels. LINK

Bloomberg’s Brian Faler: “Senate Passes Legislation to Avoid U.S. Government Shutdown” Congress is set to clear a measure to avoid a partial U.S. government shutdown, in a rare example of bipartisan and bicameral cooperation on federal spending.  The Senate voted 73-26 yesterday to forward to the House legislation that would keep agencies’ lights on through Sept. 30, the end of the 2013 fiscal year. LINK

SYRIA
The New York Times’ Mark Landler and Rick Gladstone: “Chemicals Would Be ‘Game Changer’ in Syria, Obama Says” Showing solidarity with Israel’s growing concern about chemical weapons in neighboring Syria, President Obama stated bluntly on Wednesday that if an investigation he had ordered found proof that the Syrian military had used such weapons it would be a “game changer” in American involvement in the civil war there. LINK

GUN CONTROL
The New York Daily News’ Daniel Beekman, Larry McShane and Dan Friedman: “Show some guts: As fury mounts over the decision to strip the assault weapons ban from gun control legislation, top Democrats say Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid merely bowed to political reality” The only thing politicians could offer the dead in Newtown, the anguished survivors and the rest of the country longing for a change is this lame excuse: Because of politics, we can’t pass an assault weapons ban.Amid outrage from Connecticut to Colorado, Senate leaders circled the wagons Wednesday around Majority Leader Harry Reid, insisting he was simply responding to political reality when he announced Tuesday that he would allow the ban to die.  LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO
“Gerard Butler And Aaron Eckhart Bring Action To DC In Olympus Has Fallen” LINK
“Study Reveals 1 in 50 Schoolchildren Have Autism” LINK
“President Obama Makes 1st Presidential Trip To Israel” LINK
“President Obama, Israeli P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu Hold Press Conference” LINK

BOOKMARKS
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PM Note: Barack n Bibi, One Step Closer to Funding the Govt, GM is Alive But One Beast is Dead

Remember when there was some question about whether these two would be seen together?

Today there were jokes, declarations of commitment, first names and nicknames. They moved a missile defense shield to the airport and put it at the end of a long red line on the tarmac so Obama could see what U.S. aid pays for.

A presidential limo broke down. But it was okay; they had some spares.

“I think that people should get to know President Obama the way I’ve gotten to know him,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he was asked why Israelis haven’t warmed to this president like they did to the last two.

Obama kept calling him Bibi in a friendly way. Bibi said Obama was the most supportive U.S. president of Israel’s right to protect itself. period.

“I appreciate the fact that the president has reaffirmed, more than any other president, Israel’s right and duty to defend itself, by itself, against any threat,” said Netanyahu.

Earlier Netanyahu said, “I’m absolutely convinced that the president is determined to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. I appreciate that.”

They saved the sticky subject of Palestine for tomorrow, when they make some time for Mahmoud Abbas.

Today they mutually pledged to keep nukes out of the hands of Iran.

Obama said the international community has to deal with Syria, “because I think it’s a world problem, not simply a United States problem or an Israel problem or a Turkish problem.”

He said the U.S. would investigate claims that chemical weapons were used, but, “I am deeply skeptical of any claim that in fact it was the opposition that used chemical weapons.”

The wrap from Jon Karl and Mary Bruce – http://abcn.ws/ZKBa5D

Peres – US Would Have to Lead Strike on Iran – “The one that can decide that and the one who has the capacity to implement it clearly is the United States of America,” Peres tells Politics Confidential about the possibility of a military assault against Iran, continuing on to say that “other options will not fly.” – Israeli president Shimon Peres interviewed by Jonathan Karl – http://yhoo.it/ZvdJOt

Obama’s Open Mic – Great to get away from Congress – More hot mic moments – .http://abcn.ws/15rNSHY (Amy Bingham and Jilian Fama)

Obama’s Limo Breaks Down-A limo shipped from Washington, D.C. to taxi President Obama around Israel failed and had to be towed in Jerusalem. http://abcn.ws/WDPoGh(Ann Compton)

Senate Passes Stopgap Bill to Fund Gov’t- The Senate did its part today to stave off a government shutdown by passing a continuing resolution in order to keep the government funded. The continuing resolution, known in Washington shorthand as the CR, is a stopgap appropriations measure. Congress is up against a March 27 deadline this time around to keep the government funded through September, the end of the fiscal year. http://abcn.ws/11gYjxD (Sunlen Miller)

Santa Fe Goes Rogue on Gay Marriage-Same-sex marriage is already legal in New Mexico, if Santa Fe city officials are to be believed. http://abcn.ws/100BSLO (Sarah Parnass)

Mark Sanford Campaign Rising From Disgrace-Mark Sanford could get a head start in his primary runoff. http://abcn.ws/Y6xsY8 (Chris Good)

US Amb. Robert Ford Says ‘No Evidence’ Syria Using Chemical Weapons-U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford testified today that the Obama administration has not uncovered any evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but he warned that if the Assad regime uses or loses any of its stockpile, “there will be consequences.” http://abcn.ws/YoQk1M(John Parkinson)

Obama Picks Indiana to Win NCAA Tournament-President Obama filled out his March Madness bracket Tuesday and picked the Indiana Hoosiers as the team to take it all in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament. http://abcn.ws/WV7tSG (Arlette Saenz)

Have the Clintons and Gay Activists Made Up?-For the Clintons, it’s been a big month in gay politics. With the Supreme Court set to take up gay marriage, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered her public support for gay marriage for the first time in a six-minute YouTube video posted by Human Rights Campaign, the most established gay-rights political group in the U.S. http://abcn.ws/147gt9b (Chris Good)

US Amb. Robert Ford Says ‘No Evidence’ Syria Using Chemical Weapons

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford testified today that the Obama administration has not uncovered any evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but he warned that if the Assad regime uses or loses any of its stockpile, “there will be consequences.”

“So far we have no evidence to substantiate the reports that chemical weapons were used yesterday,” Ford testified during an ongoing hearing at the House Foreign Affairs committee in Washington. “But I want to underline that we are looking very carefully at these reports. We are consulting with partners in the region and in the international community.”

RELATED: Drumbeat Grows Louder for Obama to Act on Syria

Ford said officials in the administration “have been very clear” since the beginning of the unrest “about our concern that as the Assad regime’s military situation deteriorates … it becomes ever more beleaguered that it might be tempted to use chemical weapons.”

He reiterated today President Obama’s “very clear” position about the use of chemical weapons in Syria: “If [President Bashar] Assad and those under his command make the mistake of using chemical weapons, or if they fail to meet their obligation to secure them, then there will be consequences, and they will be held accountable.”

Ford was recalled from Syria in October 2011 after “credible threats against his personal safety in Syria,” according to the State Department.

The precise scope of Syria’s stockpile is unclear but, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it has the biggest reserve of chemical weapons in the Middle East, and is thought to have the fourth-largest arsenal on the planet.

Rep. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, called on the United States to “organize and empower,” including arming, the Free Syrian Army.

“We have let them down, and let down our strategic interests.” Royce, R-Calif., said of the Syrian opposition. “Everything should be considered, but the U.S. could have the greatest impact through training, intelligence and logistics.”

House Intelligence committee Chairman Mike Rogers Tuesday told CNN: “I have a high probability to believe that chemical weapons were used. … We need that final verification, but given everything we know over the last year and a half, I would come to the conclusion that they are either positioned for use, and ready to do that, or in fact have been used.”

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who have also pressed the administration to become more engaged in Syria, wrote a joint statement Tuesday that if the purported chemical weapon attacks are verified, President Obama is compelled to respond.

“If today’s reports are substantiated, the president’s red line has been crossed,” the duo wrote, “and we would urge him to take immediate action to impose the consequences he has promised.”

L'amour et des lignes de ramassage ayant échouées à CPAC 2013

(Photo de Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

WASHINGTON-La Conférence d'Action politique conservateur a lancé des branchements, des dates et des mariages même, mais pour certains, la Conférence annuelle des sympathisants conservateurs — dont beaucoup sont des étudiants des collèges et la vingtaine — romance peut être environ aussi difficile à trouver ici comme une copie de « L'audace de l'espoir ».

« Je suis venu ici pour rencontrer une jolie fille prudente, mais je pense que je vais rencontrer des filles folles conservateurs, » un jeune homme lovelorn, porte une cravate rouge, a fait remarquer à son ami le jour de l'ouverture de CPAC.

Le rassemblement annuel de CPAC, qui s'est tenu jeudi au samedi au Gaylord National Resort à National Harbor, MD., est la partie stade grave pour les stars de GOP qui livrent les grands discours, expo de partie de groupes d'activistes et partie conciliabule réseautage pour les consultants et les acteurs dans les coulisses du pouvoir de GOP.

Mais c'est aussi parti de la partie et flirtfest, bien fréquenté par les jeunes, âge universitaire conservateurs de toute l'Amérique, qui se réunissent à happy hours tous les soirs, parée dans en costumes et robes, tous de rester dans le même hôtel.

« Il y a beaucoup d'accrocher cette passe, » dit un stratège républicain, qui a rencontré sa future épouse, organiser un voyage CPAC dans sa jeunesse.

Pour les jeunes femmes de CPAC, la vie est rude, aussi maladroites des avances et des lignes de ramassage ayant échouées abondent.

« Il a été un long week-end, » a déclaré Marianne Smith, 23, yeux révulsés et son visage au repos dans sa main. « Quelqu'un m'a demandé de rejoindre leur « Club de la capitale. » »

Demandé pour les lignes de ramassage pires qu'ils avaient entendu lors de la Conférence, plusieurs jeunes femmes CPAC a révélé exceptionnellement mauvaises.

"" Pourquoi ne vous me donnez votre numéro donc je peux vous donner des informations sur mon émission de radio?' ", a raconté Evelyn, une jeune femme affiliée avec le groupe Network of Women éclairé, qui ne voulait pas son nom de famille à imprimer. « J'étais comme, 'oh', » dit-elle, en imitant sa propre déception. « C'était inefficace. »

« « Alors qui est votre favori pour 2016? » — c'est [la ligne] tous les utilisateurs [est], » dit Megan Roberts, 23, qui a assisté à CPAC avec les étudiants du groupe pour la liberté. « Je reçois beaucoup de, « Alors où vous vont à l'école? » Dont je n'ai pas, je suis diplômé. »

"Je ne sais pas quelqu'un qui a reçu une note écrite à la main, sans aucune observation, cela dit, ' vous avez regardé vraiment mignonne dans cette tenue. Texte moi,' » dit Emily, 27, qui a demandé de ne pas être identifiés par nom de famille, de peur de son employeur ne serait pas approuver. "Elle dit que le gars attend environ 19, trop. Il n'a pas remarqué la bague de fiançailles. Pour sa défense, elle a fait regarder vraiment mignonne dans cette tenue. »

Une jeune femme, a déclaré qu'un prétendant jeune espoir tempêté sur combien il aimait Hillary Clinton.

Pas de toutes les interactions romantiques vont si mal. Ce qui se passe pour le jeu à CPAC peut surprendre.

« Je ne me considérer comme un frère de la fraternité, » un homme jeune, sa cravate desserré et le col de son blazer bleu, tourné vers le haut, a dit une jeune femme qui sourit et se mit à rire à ses plaisanteries près de salon du Comité National républicain au hall d'exposition de CPAC. Il a ajouté aussitôt, « Je conduis une Jeep. »

Obama ouvre la porte à la reprise des visites de la maison blanche pour les groupes scolaires

Quatre jours après le coffrage de la maison blanche au public afin de réduire les coûts, le président Obama a dit qu'il demande les services secrets américains sur la possibilité de reprendre les visites guidées pour les groupes scolaires, qui ont commencé à descendre sur la capitale pour la relâche scolaire.

"Ce que je leur demande est y a-t-il des façons, par exemple, pour nous d'accueillir les groupes scolaires... qui peuvent avoir voyagé ici avec quelques ventes de pâtisseries," Obama a déclaré à ABC News George Stephanopoulos dans une interview sur « Good Morning America ». « Pouvons-nous garantir qu'enfants, potentiellement, peuvent encore venir à tour? »

Contrairement aux déclarations précédentes de l'administration, commentaires de Obama a suggéré que la décision d'abandonner les tournées tombait uniquement pour les services secrets.

« Je dois dire que ce n'était pas une décision qui montait vers la maison blanche, » Obama a dit dans l'interview. "Mais ce qui nous a expliqué les services secrets, c'est qu'ils vont avoir à certaines personnes d'un d'ancienneté.

"La question pour eux est, vous le savez, comment profondément ont-ils à leur personnel d'un d'ancienneté et il vaut la peine de s'assurer que nous avons des visites de maison blanche qui veut dire que tu as tout un tas de familles qui dépendent d'un chèque de règlement, qui voient tout à coup une réduction de 5 % ou 10 % de leur salaire, » dit-il.

Une administration officielle, cherchant à clarifier les remarques du Président, a souligné que la décision d'annuler les visites n'est jamais venu dans le bureau ovale, tombant personnellement à Obama, mais qu'il a été finalement effectuée par le personnel de la maison blanche.

"Afin de permettre les services secrets pour mieux remplir sa mission fondamentale, la maison blanche a pris la décision que nous le ferions, malheureusement, ont à suspendre temporairement ces tours," porte-parole que Jay Carney a déclaré aux journalistes la semaine dernière.

Services secrets officiels de ABC News qui a décidé d'annuler les visites de la maison blanche, a également dit bien que l'Agence a proposé tout d'abord le déménagement par mesure d'économie possible.  Les services secrets doit couper 84 millions $ en raison de la prétendue séquestration ; annulation des visites publiques enregistre 74 000 $ par semaine, a indiqué l'Agence.

"Je suis toujours amusé quand les gens disent d'une part que le séquestre ne veut pas dire n'importe quoi et l'administration a exagéré ses effets ; et puis quelles que soient les effets spécifiques sont, ils crient et crient et dire, « Pourquoi faites-vous cela? » Eh bien, il y a des conséquences au Congrès n'avoir pas venu avec un moyen plus raisonnable de réduire le déficit,"Obama a déclaré.

Un groupe d'élèves de sixième année de Waverly, Iowa, qui avait prévu de visiter la maison blanche plus tard cette semaine, a lancé un grassroots lobbying campagne aux législateurs de la pression et l'administration d'ouvrir les portes à 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Un nouveau site Web produit par les élèves - "The White House is OUR HOUSE » – exhorte les gens à appeler et envoyer l'administration afin de rétablir les visites et dispose d'une vidéo web accrocheur qu'ils espèrent ira virale.

La tactique qu'ils utilisent à la maison blanche de pression est les mêmes que ceux que Obama a souvent tenté d'exploiter contre le Congrès.

Connexes : Obama dit Partisan fracture pourrait être trop grande pour l'accord budgétaire

Connexes : Obama dit il n'y a pas crise de la dette

Transcription : Le président Obama interviewé par George Stephanopoulos

Ted Cruz: ‘Count Me a Proud Wacko Bird’

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he’s willing to embrace the “wacko bird” label given to him by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., if it means he is defending the Constitution.

“If standing for liberty and standing for the Constitution makes you a wacko bird, then count me a proud wacko bird,” Cruz said as he delivered the keynote address today at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md.

In an interview with the Huffington Post earlier this month, McCain singled out Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., as “wacko birds” when asked whether he felt they are a “positive force” within the Republican Party.

“They were elected, nobody believes that there was a corrupt election, anything else,” McCain said. “But I also think that when, you know, it’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.

“I think it can be harmful if there is a belief among the American people that those people are reflective of the views of the majority of Republicans. They’re not,” he said.  McCain apologized for the remark Friday in an interview with Fox News.

As he closed out the three-day conservative convention, Cruz took pride in joining Paul’s 13-hour filibuster over the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the CIA, and without naming names, he criticized the senators who refrained from participating in the filibuster.

“There were more than a few senators who were not there with us that have had their manhood cheapened as a result,” Cruz said.

The filibuster marked Cruz’s first time speaking on the floor of the Senate, a moment to which Cruz said, “to my grave, I will owe Rand Paul a debt of gratitude.”

Even though the Republican Party experienced a loss in the presidential election last November, Cruz argued that it’s the conservative movement that’s heading towards success.

“For the last three weeks, conservatives have been winning, and we’re winning because of you,” Cruz said.

Cruz, who is in his first term as a senator, tied for seventh place in the CPAC straw poll with Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, at 4 percent. Paul narrowly won the straw poll. Cruz’s keynote address occurred after straw poll balloting concluded.

Rand Paul Narrowly Defeats Marco Rubio to Win 2013 CPAC Straw Poll

Rand Paul 2016?

The Kentucky senator emerged as the potential 2016 presidential candidate preferred by the largest share of those who participated in a straw poll at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Paul commanded 25 percent of straw poll voters, but another possible GOP contender, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, was close on his heels with 23 percent, according to the results of the survey announced today.

None of the other Republicans whose names appeared on the straw poll ballot managed to break double digits. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who tried but failed to win the Republican nomination in 2012, finished third with 8 percent of the vote. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was right behind Santorum with 7 percent, followed by last year’s vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, at 6 percent.

Paul’s win comes a little over a week since his attention-getting, 13-hour filibuster of CIA director nominee John Brennan. And it was clear at the gathering this week that Paul was a crowd favorite.

“Now I was told I only get 10 measly minutes. But just in case I brought 13 hours of information,” Paul joked as he opened his remarks to the conference on Thursday, holding large binders in his hands.

Many attendees donned T-shirts and held up signs emblazoned with the slogan, “I Stand With Rand.”

“The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered. I don’t think we need to name any names here, do  we?” Paul said in his remarks. “The new GOP — the GOP that will win again — will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and personal sphere.”

Like all straw polls, this one was a non-scientific measure of preference, in this case, of 2,930 of the attendees at the three-day annual conference that took place outside Washington, D.C. More than half (52 percent) of those who participated were between the ages of 18 and 25.

Notably, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who spoke to CPAC on Friday night, asked that his name not be included on this year’s straw poll ballot. Twenty-three other names did appear, however, including at least two governors — Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell — who were not invited to address the gathering.

Mitt Romney won the CPAC straw poll in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Ron Paul won in 2010 and 2011. Romney won again in 2012. This year’s poll was sponsored by The Washington Times and conducted by the GOP firm, Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates.

Here’s a rundown of the top 2013 CPAC straw poll finishers:

Ky. Sen. Rand Paul — 25 percent

Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio — 23 percent

Other/Write-in — 14 percent

Former Pa. Sen. Rick Santorum — 8 percent

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie — 7 percent

Wis. Congressman Paul Ryan — 6 percent

Wis. Gov. Scott Walker — 5 percent

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson — 4 percent

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — 4 percent

La. Gov. Bobby Jindal — 3 percent

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — 3 percent

Undecided — 1 percent

2013 CPAC PresidentialStraw Poll ballot:

N.H. Sen. Kelly Ayotte
Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
Former Ind. Gov. Mitch Daniels
S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley
La. Gov. Bobby Jindal
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
N.M. Gov. Susana Martinez
Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
Ky. Sen. Rand Paul
Ind. Gov. Mike Pence
Texas Gov. Rick Perry
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman
Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio
Wis. Congressman Paul Ryan
Former Pa. Sen. Rick Santorum
S.C. Sen. Tim Scott
S.D. Sen. John Thune
Wis. Gov. Scott Walker
Other/Write-in
Undecided

Towns Consider Mandatory Gun Ownership in Homes

Should every homeowner in America be required to own a firearm?  A few towns across the country have considered measures to determine just that.

On Monday night, voters in the small town of Byron, Maine, home to about 150 people, struck down a proposal that would require all homeowners to own a gun.  The proposed article said, “Shall the town require all households to have firearms and ammunition to protect its citizens?”

Over 50 voters gathered at the town’s annual meeting and voted nearly unanimously against the proposal. Anne Simmons-Edmunds, head selectman for Byron, said the measure failed because it was billed as a requirement, not a suggestion or recommendation.

“I think really people got hung up on the word ‘required’ and there are some people in town that even though they have guns, they didn’t want it mandated to them that they had to be ready to protect its citizens,” Simmons-Edmunds told ABC News.  “For me, it was to make a statement.  For me, I’m very much in favor of our Second Amendment rights and they’ve worked for so long. I really don’t want to see them changed.”

In Nelson, Ga., a town about 50 miles north of Atlanta, the town council gave initial approval last week to a similar ordinance, which includes exceptions for convicted felons, the physically disabled, mentally ill, conscientious objectors, and people who the council describes as “paupers.” Councilwoman Edith Portillo said she expects it to become law at the council’s meeting next April, though it will likely not be enforced because it allows people to refuse to have guns, based on their beliefs or religion.

“We thought that for the city of Nelson this would be a good thing. It’s a preventative measure so our citizens could feel safe if, God forbid, anything should happen and they had to use their firearms that they would be protected by law in the city of Nelson,” Portillo told ABC News. “We have been called big government, which is laughable… I am totally against big government infringing in our lives, this is not the case.”

“Whoever wants a gun can have one in their homes, and if they don’t, God bless,” she added.

While these measures have sprung up in a few towns since Congress has started considering new gun proposals in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, one town enacted such a rule over 30 years ago.

In 1982, the town of Kennesaw, Ga., passed an ordinance requiring “every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition.” Kennesaw acted in response to a law passed in Morton Grove, Ill., which banned guns in its city limits.

While the law still exists today, the town of Kennesaw says on its website that the law “has never been enforced and many current residents are probably unaware of it.”

Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, said that such measures would be of “doubtful constitutionality.”

“Although Congress in the 1790s required all able-bodied men to purchase and keep a firearm for militia purposes, state or local laws forcing every homeowner to own a gun would be of doubtful constitutionality today,” Tribe told ABC News.

“The reason, ironically, is the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment holding in Heller and McDonald [two Supreme Court cases], grounding the right to keep and bear arms in each individual’s right to self-defense as a core facet of personal liberty,” he said. “Especially given the ample data that guns in the home are most often turned against the homeowner herself, the right to self-defense probably includes a right to rid one’s home of firearms if that is one’s choice — just as the right to speak one’s mind includes a right not to express a view one does not hold.”

A Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday found that 48 percent of gun owners cite protection as their primary concern for obtaining a firearm, but nearly six in ten of those who did not own guns in their homes said they  would be uncomfortable with the presence of a firearm in their household

42 percent of adults reported that they or someone in their home owns a gun, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday.

De Contradictions et de compromis (la Note)

By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone)

NOTABLES

OBAMA WON’T BALANCE BUDGET ‘JUST FOR THE SAKE OF BALANCE’: President Obama sat down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive interview yesterday and rejected calls to balance the federal budget in the next ten years, instead arguing that his primary concern was growing the economy. “My goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance. My goal is how do we grow the economy, put people back to work, and if we do that we are going to be bringing in more revenue,” he said. And Obama rejected a proposal put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan yesterday that would balance the budget in ten years. “We’re not going to balance the budget in ten years because if you look at what Paul Ryan does to balance the budget, it means that you have to voucher-ize Medicare, you have to slash deeply into programs like Medicaid, you’ve essentially got to — either tax — middle class families a lot higher than you currently are, or you can’t lower rates the way he’s promised,” the president told Stephanopoulos. http://abcn.ws/15L1XSUTHE GOP RESPONSE — ‘DISMISSIVE,’ ‘ASTONISHING’: A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner tells the Note: “The president’s dismissive attitude toward balancing the budget — a goal the American people overwhelmingly support — is astonishing,” the spokesman, Michael Steel, said in a statement. “A balanced budget means a healthier economy, more jobs, and brighter future. It’s a means to an end, and that end is ensuring our kids and grandkids have the same opportunities we did – the same shot at living the American dream.”PARTY’S OVER, MR. PRESIDENT: ABC Pollster Gary Langer notes that the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll out today shows President Obama’s overall approval rating slipping at the same time that he is relinquishing his advantage over congressional Republicans in trust to handle the economy. The president’s job approval rating overall has lost 5 points, from nearly a three-year high of 55 percent in January to his more customary 50 percent. Meanwhile, the automatic budget cuts now in effect are unpopular, if not overwhelmingly so — Americans disapprove by 53-39 percent. But concerns about their impact are broad, and, by a 14-point margin, more put responsibility on the Republicans in Congress than on Obama for the sequester. That said, it’s Obama’s economic stewardship that’s taken the bigger hit. Last December, still enjoying a post-election glow, he held an 18-point edge over the Republicans in Congress in trust to handle the economy. Today, with the latest budget impasse in full force, that’s now shrunk to an insignificant 4 percentage points. More from the poll: http://abcn.ws/Wls3sJ

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Witness the presidency, with all its exquisite contradictions. President Obama breaks bread with Republican lawmakers, and digs in for battle against the House Budget Committee chairman who joined him for lunch last week. He launches a fresh search for a “grand bargain,” but says there will be no “debt crisis” if it isn’t achieved. He meets privately with House Republicans today, then meets publicly (and also privately) with his army of partisan backers tonight. It’s a complicated job that requires one to play multiple angles. But it’s those contradictions that Republicans love to cite in explaining why they can’t work with this president. Candidate Obama has a tendency to make his way back toward the spotlight.

ABC’s DEVIN DWYER:  President Obama today cast blame on the Secret Service for that decision to cancel all White House tours because of sequester, telling George Stephanopoulos that the agency’s first priority was to protect agents and their families, who otherwise would have seen a reduction of pay. Never mind that the agency says it was a White House call, Obama told George he’s now “asking them” about the possibility of reversing course at least for school groups descending on the capital for spring break. The crack in the door is a welcome sign for one group of 6th graders in Waverly, Iowa, who today launched a new grassroots campaign: ”The White House is OUR HOUSE.”  They’re deploying the same tactics against the White House that President Obama has often tried to leverage against Congress:  urging people to call and email, and producing a catchy web video they hope will go viral.  http://bit.ly/13VncmM

ABC’s GARY LANGER:  Eighty-eight percent of Democrats approve of the president’s job performance while 87 percent of Republicans disapprove. The partisan gap in approval matches the sharpest of his presidency. To be fair to Obama, it’s not uncommon for a second-term president to see some slippage in approval after his second inaugural, as the to-and-fro of politics returns to the fore. That said, he’s alongside George W. Bush with a lower-than-usual rating at this point. And as views of Congress also indicate, the country clearly is displeased with current politics. Perhaps more troubling to Obama is the recent trend among independents, often the fulcrum of national politics: His approval rating in this group has lost 10 points since January, to 44 percent.

ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Mitch McConnell will run an ad this week in Lexington and Louisville ahead of his re-election contest in Kentucky, which is 20 months away. The ad features McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao looking directly at the camera criticizing “far left special interests” for “attacking her ethnicity” and McConnell’s “patriotism.” The backstory here is that a group called Progress Kentucky (a super PAC focused on defeating McConnell) posted tweets last month highlighting Chao’s Chinese descent. After criticism from both sides of the aisle, they apologized and deleted the tweets. The six figure buy will be up for a week. Campaign manager Jesse Benton predicts that “liberal special interest groups across country are sure to try every dirty trick in the book to tear him down, but our campaign will fight as hard as Mitch fights for us.” But, in an interview with ABC News Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky. said the ads show that “clearly Mitch knows that he is in very deep water with women in Kentucky.” Yarmuth is also Ashley Judd’s most vocal supporter in the state and he says “everything” McConnell “has done over the last month or so has indicated that he’s panicked about an Ashley Judd candidacy.” So will she get in? “Everything that I’ve seen her do and the things that she’s said to me indicates to me that she is going to make a race,” Yarmuth said. WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_3B697UwNM

CUP OF JOE: ABC’s Arlette Saenz notes that Vice President Joe Biden made a secret stop at the Alexandria Police Department in Virginia last Friday to show his support for Officer Peter Laboy, who was shot in the head last month while performing a routine traffic stop. Biden visited with Laboy’s unit and signed a “Get Well Soon!” poster for the officer who is still recovering, according to the Alexandria Police Department’s Facebook page. He also came bearing gifts — fittingly carrying two Dunkin’ Donuts “Box O’ Joe” coffee cartons for the officers. http://on.fb.me/ZJzDys

VIDEO OF THE DAY

LANNY DAVIS’S ADVICE TO SEN. MENENDEZ. Crisis management expert Lanny Davis, famous for advising former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, has some advice for public figures who find themselves wrapped up in a scandal: “Tell it all, tell it yourself, tell it quickly.” Davis, whose new book “Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping With Crisis in Business, Politics, and Life” hits bookshelves today, says one of the biggest mistakes that people and corporations make in dealing with public relations crises is to try and hide ugly truths. “While the instinct is hide the bad facts, what I’m advising is, the worse the facts are, the earlier you should put them out yourself, get them out, and then address them yourself,” says Davis, who points to the ongoing scandal facing Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) as a present case study for the need to come out with the whole truth early. Watch the latest installment of “Top Line” hosted by ABC’s Rick Klein and Yahoo’s Olivier Knox: http://yhoo.it/YmCr3f

BUZZ

OBAMA: GAP BETWEEN PARTIES MAY BE ‘TOO WIDE’ FOR A GRAND BARGAIN. Before meetings with GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate today and Thursday, President Obama signaled pessimism about the prospect of reaching a grand bargain in the ongoing budget negotiations. He told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that there is not an “immediate debt” crisis and that, ultimately, there might just be too much space between the two parties to reach a deal. “Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide. It may be that, ideologically, if their position is, ‘We can’t do any revenue,’ or, ‘We can only do revenue if we gut Medicare or gut Social Security or gut Medicaid,’ if that’s the position, then we’re probably not going to be able to get a deal,” the president told me. “That won’t … create a crisis,” he said. ”It just means that we will have missed an opportunity.  I think that opportunity is there and I’m going to make sure that they know that I’m prepared to work with them.  But, ultimately, it may be better if some Democratic and Republican Senators work together.” http://abcn.ws/ZJqOon

More from George Stephanopoulos’ interview with President Obama:

ON NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS: Stephanopoulos asked the president whether he believed North Korea could now make good on its threats of nuclear action against South Korea and the United States. “They probably can’t, but we don’t like margin of error,” he began. But when pressed on whether it was really that close, the president rephrased his response. “It’s not that close.  But what is true is … they’ve had nuclear weapons since well before I came into office.  What’s also true is missile technology improves and their missile technology has improved,” he said. “Now, what we’ve done is we’ve made sure that we’ve got defensive measures to prevent any attacks on the homeland.  And we’re not anticipating any of that.  But we’ve seen out of the North Koreans is they go through these periodic spasms of … provocative behavior.”

ON THE NEXT POPE: Turning across the Atlantic to the papal conclave happening this week, President Obama rejected the notion held by some cardinals that a U.S. pope would be too closely aligned with the U.S. government, an argument frequently used against U.S. cardinals who might be considered contenders for the papacy. “I guarantee you … the conference of Catholic bishops here in the United States don’t seem to be taking orders from me,” he said.

ON RESTORING SOME WHITE HOUSE TOURS: “What I’m asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups … who may have traveled here with some bake sales.  Can we make sure that — kids, potentially, can … still come to tour?” he said. “But… I’m always amused when people on the one hand say, the sequester doesn’t mean anything and the administration’s exaggerating its effects; and then whatever the specific effects are, they yell and scream and say, ‘Why are you doing that?’” he said. “Well, there are consequences to Congress not having come up with a more sensible way to reduce the deficit.”

MORE ON THE TOURS: ABC’s Devin Dwyer reports that Obama’s comments suggested, contrary to previous statements by the administration, that the decision to scrap the tours fell solely to the Secret Service. “I have to say this was not a decision that went up to the White House,” Obama said in the interview. “But what the Secret Service explained to us was that they’re going to have to furlough some folks. “The question for them is, you know, how deeply do they have to furlough their staff and is it worth it to make sure that we’ve got White House tours that means that you got a whole bunch of families who are depending on a paycheck, who suddenly are seeing a 5 percent or 10 percent reduction in their pay,” he said. An administration official, seeking to clarify the president’s remarks, stressed that the decision to cancel the tours never came to the Oval Office, falling personally to Obama, but that it was ultimately made by White House staff. http://abcn.ws/Yatc43

Full transcript: President Obama’s Exclusive Interview With George Stephanopoulos: http://abcn.ws/W9KoKE

ON THE PRESIDENT’S AGENDA: President Obama meets with the House Republican Conference on Capitol Hill this afternoon. ABC’s Mary Bruce notes that for those keeping score, today marks the fourth time the president has sat down with the House GOP. They last met at the White House in June 2011. Afterward, Obama meets with CEOs in the Situation Room to discuss cybersecurity. Later, he sits down with business leaders to discuss his proposals for immigration reform, closed press. This evening, Obama delivers remarks and answer questions at the Organizing for Action Founders summit in Washington, DC.

TOWNS CONSIDER MANDATORY GUN OWNERSHIP IN HOMES. Should every homeowner in America be required to own a firearm?  ABC’s Arlette Saenz reports that a few towns across the country have considered measures to determine just that. On Monday night, voters in the small town of Byron, Maine, home to about 150 people, struck down a proposal that would require all homeowners to own a gun.  The proposed article said, “Shall the town require all households to have firearms and ammunition to protect its citizens?” Over 50 voters gathered at the town’s annual meeting and voted nearly unanimously against the proposal.  In Nelson, Ga., a town about 50 miles north of Atlanta, the town council gave initial approval last week to a similar ordinance, which includes exceptions for convicted felons, the physically disabled, mentally ill, conscientious objectors, and people who the council describes as “paupers.”  While these measures have sprung up in a few towns since Congress has started considering new gun proposals in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, one town enacted such a rule over 30 years ago. In 1982, the town of Kennesaw, Ga., passed an ordinance requiring “every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition.” Kennesaw acted in response to a law passed in Morton Grove, Ill., which banned guns in its city limits. Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, said that such measures would be of “doubtful constitutionality.” “Although Congress in the 1790s required all able-bodied men to purchase and keep a firearm for militia purposes, state or local laws forcing every homeowner to own a gun would be of doubtful constitutionality today,” Tribe told ABC News. http://abcn.ws/ZHKffd

WHY HAVE SO MANY STATES BANNED ABORTIONS? Abortions are becoming illegal in America at a rapid clip, notes ABC’s Chris Good. Last week, Arkansas passed the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, enraging abortion-rights supporters and sparking plans for a court challenge. But that law followed a wave of legislation in the last three years: Since 2010, 10 states have passed outright bans on abortions for women who have been pregnant for more than 20 weeks, and in some cases earlier. Abortion-rights activists are worried about a ban under consideration in North Dakota, plus a continuing wave of regulations on abortion clinics that, activists say, have forced clinics to close by making it impossible for them to operate. These new curbs come four decades after the nation’s landmark Supreme Court case legalizing abortion was decided. Why is that? The short answer is that during the last two elections — big years in national politics, marked by a wave of Tea-Party House and Senate gains in 2010, and by President Obama’s reelection over Mitt Romney in 2012 — Republicans have taken over more state legislatures and governors’ mansions across the country, turning some red states redder and flipping some purple states into their column. It’s not that abortion bills are new, according to activists on both sides of the issue: It’s that GOP gains in state politics have cleared the way for pro-lifers to advance their agenda. http://abcn.ws/W5mmQV

SANTORUM FOR PRESIDENT, AGAIN. No, not that one. Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s eldest son John is taking up the family business and running for president of the Citadel, where he is a student. ABC’s Shushannah Walshe reports that according to a “Santorum for Class of 2016 President” Facebook page, the veracity of which was confirmed with a Rick Santorum aide, the younger Santorum is indeed running. His slogan? “Help Me Finish What My Dad Couldn’t.” The page shows the freshman at the Charleston, S.C. military academy standing next to his father with the tongue in cheek slogan as well as a photo of Santorum shooting an assault rifle with the words “I love America & I Love Guns” written across the image. He also touts his “A+” rating from the NRA. The platform seems a lot like his father’s and John Santorum’s graduation will be the same year his father is back in the election year spotlight if he decides to make a second run for the presidency. John Santorum was a constant presence on the campaign trail with his father, along with his sister Elizabeth. They both took time off of college to help their father’s campaign, stumping alongside him all over the early states, especially the first caucus state of Iowa. http://abcn.ws/ZGOjfv

WHO’S TWEETING?

@davidaxelrod: Digital delusion: Mired on it’s own 20 yd line, GOP says all it needs is better field goal team… http://politi.co/ZIWXfP  1/2

@barneykeller: Club for Growth Leads Conservative Charge, Sometimes at Republicans http://nyti.ms/ZJIAI9 

@joshgerstein: Meant to tweet: Scathing IG report on Civil Rights/Voting unit at DOJ to complicate Obama nomination for Labor Secy http://politi.co/Wa0nIu 

@PounderFile: What happens when you set up a group to sell access to the Oval Office but no one wants to buy http://is.gd/1dbziX 

@jdickerson: I know there’s some debate about this, but the First Vatican Council did in fact prohibit papal conclave jokes on Twitter.