Jon Stewart clearly had little interest in talking about the 2012 presidential race today. And who could blame him, when people are trying to mine asteroids and Neil DeGrasse Tyson is sitting backstage solving a Rubik’s cube? Stewart did, however, finally turn to yesterday’s primary and all it represented– from Newt Gingrich dropping out to President Obama “slow-jamming” the news with Jimmy Fallon.

With Newt Gingrich political life support system finally faltering this morning, the roller coaster of ideological frivolity that is the general election can begin in earnest in all its mommy-hating, dog-eating, slow-jamming glory. But before biting into all the delicious and philosophically unhealthy political junk food the campaigns throw our way, a reality check on the policies both candidates present the American people would serve us voters well. Unfortunately for both campaigns, even a cursory look at the Barack Obama presidency illustrates the tale of an assertive, steely-willed neo-conservative: the exact opposite of what both President Obama and Mitt Romney are banking on the American people believing.

House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged some upcoming challenges for the GOP on Monday. Holding on to the majority in the House, he said, isn’t going to be easy.

On Friday’s Now with Alex Wagner, Charlie Crist, former Florida governor, spoke quite highly of President Obama. He praised the president’s reaching across the aisle, expressing “admiration” — but not offering up an endorsement.

Jeb Bush talked to Newsmax about Mitt Romney and the upcoming general election, warning that we’re likely to see the “most negative campaign in modern times.” He advised Romney to stay “above the fray” — and he’d consider a VP offer, but doubts he’ll get one.

Libertarian techie nerds take heed! A Ron Paul video game is coming to your PC. Since the status-quo-loving political system makes it near-impossible for the Good Doctor to shake things up in Washington, you can finally put down that “End the Fed” poster and kick some virtual ass.

As soon as former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign last week, Gallup began its Daily Tracking Poll (despite the continued existence of Newt Gingrich), which tracks presidential preferences among registered voters daily, based on a rolling five-day average. The first such poll of 2012 is out today, showing Mitt Romney with a slight lead over the President, 47%-45% (within the margin of error). Embedded in that poll, though, is the frustration of every engaged voter.

President Obama’s reelection campaign announced its fundraising totals for March this morning in a web video to supporters, which is how they have been making these announcements since the campaign began. In this month’s edition, various grassroots donors talked about their own small donations, and the campaign’s $53 million total for March. Combined with the $29 million raised in January and $45 million in February, Obama For America has raised an impressive $127 million in the first quarter.

Steve King, a Republican congressman from Ohio, expressed concern on Wednesday about the effect the Supreme Court’s heath care decision would have on President Obama‘s re-election effort. Contrary to what many may think, King said if the court declared the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional, the decision would help the president win a second term.

President Obama took a shot at his opponents over their criticism of his energy policy during a speech at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland. “If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they probably must have been founding members of the flat earth society. They would not believe that the world was round!”

Perhaps because the topic is taking over so many headlines or perhaps because it is Ash Wednesday, Bill O’Reilly dedicated a segment of his program today to Rick Santorum‘s recent comments on religion, on Satan threatening America. For this topic, he had two men of faith on the program: Pastor Robert Jeffress and Father Edward Beck, and it was not the priest from Santorum’s church who supported his comments.

Although current Republican frontrunner Rick Santorum continues to use his mouth to weaken his general election prospects, he still remains a rock-hard target to attack from the right. As I’ve noted previously, the grounds on which former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney can safely attack Santorum are thinner than a Bayer Aspirin. The Romney campaign underscored that fact this morning by releasing an oppo memo that slams Santorum for…being in Congress?

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is just the latest in a long line of Republican presidential hopefuls to surge past former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney into the lead, and while every one of those other comers has withered for one reason or another, Santorum’s challenge is different. Setting aside his prospects in a general election, a review of Mitt Romney oppo memos against Santorum reveals a candidate with a hard shell to his right.

The 2012 Republican presidential race has seen more than its share of ups and downs, and continues to confound a slow-to-catch-on political media who have been sewing this thing up for Mitt Romney for months. Now, buoyed by last week‘s 3-state sweep, former Sen. Rick Santorum is decidedly up, taking a 15 point lead in the latest Public Policy Polling national survey of “usual Republican primary voters.”

The influence of independent expenditure groups like PACs and SuperPACs has become a major factor in this year’s presidential election. Consequently, the news that President Obama has decided to encourage donations to the Priorities USA Action SuperPAC is dominating political news today, with handwringing on the left and the right about the President’s prior vocal opposition to outside groups. Philosophically, he’s just taking a page from Ronald Reagan‘s book.

On Monday morning’s Fox and Friends, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney let out another one of those “I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake!” bursts of honesty which, like a burlesque revue at a leper colony, are revealing, but not in a good way. Asked if his father’s Mexican birthplace is helping him with Florida’s Hispanic community, Romney replied “You know, I wish I could claim that I’m Hispanic…”

There has been a lot of high-minded chatter among the political media elite deriding the proliferation of presidential debates this election cycle. As CNN prepares to air the 19th Republican Primary debate tonight, Starting Point anchor Soledad O’Brien wondered if this GOP reality show is a good thing. Roland Martin argued that the debates have been revealing, noting “If we didn’t have 19 debates, trust me, Rick Perry would still be in this race.”

A viral video featuring six Chinese soldiers playing “pass the grenade” is burning up the YouTubes, mainly because the grenade they’re passing around is, according to the video’s title, a live one. The soldiers pass some kind of smoking object around, then toss it into a pit, and hit the deck as something explodes. I don’t know why they’re doing it, but their routine is a near-perfect metaphor for the 2012 presidential election.

In recent days, the heat has been turned up on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, with pressure coming from rivals, allies, and revelations about his Cayman Islands investments. At Thursday night’s South Carolina Republican debate, Romney was put on the spot to release his tax returns before April, and when he balked, the crowd reacted disapprovingly.

Today is a big news day in Republican presidential politics. With the South Carolina primary just days away, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, still reeling from attacks on his record at Bain Capital, negative buzz surrounding his yet-to-be-revealed tax returns, now has to deal with an ABC News Nightline report on his financial holdings in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign has released a new web ad that features radio clips of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee defending Romney against the recent barrage of attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. Ironically, Huckabee was also featured in an anti-Romney SuperPAC ad last month that reminded voters of Romney’s propensity to go negative early, like he did against Huckabee in 2008.

During his victory speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney stuck to the script for the most part, rarely straying from the “prepared remarks” released by the campaign as the speech began. There was only one substantial change: Romney added an accusation that President Obama “wants to turn America into a European-style social welfare state,” whereas in the prepared remarks, the line read “entitlement society.”

Following wins in the first two Republican primary contests, the Romney campaign announced some more good news Wednesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised $24 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, finishing with a $56 million total for the year. That’s a big improvement over Q3, when his $14 million haul was eclipsed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s $17 million take. The bad news: the Obama campaign is expected to release a Q4 total north of $60 million.

At a campaign event in New Hampshire Sunday, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney made another ill-considered attempt to relate to the common man, telling the crowd that “I know what it’s like to worry whether you’re going to get fired. There were a couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink slip.”

The remark has drawn fire from many, but an oppo memo from Priorities USA Action‘s Bill Burton really brings the absurdity of Mitt’s alleged anxiety into stark relief.

On the heels of her distant sixth-place finish in the Iowa Caucuses, and the announcement that she had canceled a planned visit to South Carolina, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann held a press conference Wednesday morning to announce that she is ending her presidential campaign. With the likely end of Rick Perry‘s run, Bachmann’s move presents an opportunity for surging Rick Santorum to consolidate the social conservative vote.