Beth Reinhard points out: “While Republican governors elected during the party's historic wave in 2010 have drawn criticism for their unabashedly conservative agendas to restrict abortion, rein in labor unions and slash state spending, a number of Democratic governors are just as aggressively pushing liberal policies like gay marriage and gun control. Emboldened by President Obama's re-election, a younger and more diverse electorate, and an increasing number of state governments under one-party control, these Democratic governors are crusading on issues the party steered clear of until recently. It's happening not just in solidly-Democratic states like New York, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut but also in more competitive battlegrounds like Colorado, where new gun laws are fueling two recall elections and threats of secession from some rural counties.”
KENTUCKY: Embracing the Tea Party… “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell played host to the Tea Party caucus on Tuesday, embracing a movement that for years the Washington Republican establishment was hesitant to warm up to. That seemed to change on Tuesday, as even Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was dragged into the gathering by activists,” Politico writes.
NEW YORK: “Former congressman Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said he would not quit his race for mayor of New York City, despite acknowledging that he continued to send women inappropriate online messages after a sexting scandal forced him to resign from Congress in 2011,” USA Today writes. " ‘I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have,’ Weiner said in a hastily arranged news conference with his wife by his side. Weiner acknowledged that some of the inappropriate texts were sent after he had resigned. ‘Some of these things happened before my resignation, some of them happened after,’ Weiner said.”
Said his wife Huma Abedin, a former aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "Anthony has made some horrible mistakes both before he resigned from Congress and after. I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him."
It lands Weiner on the front page of the New York Times: “Weiner admits explicit texting after House exit.”
And of course the cover of the New York Post with the headline, “Meet Carlos Danger.” The Post’s lede: “The other shoe dropped yesterday for Anthony Weiner, who was forced to admit he engaged in a months-long sexting affair with a woman — a year after he resigned from Congress in disgrace — using the bizarre online alias Carlos Danger. Weiner copped to the pathological behavior after the Web site thedirty.com reported that he had exchanged dozens of sexually explicit messages, phone calls and photos with a then 22-year-old Indiana woman.”
The New York Daily News dubs Carlos Danger Weiner’s “nom de perv.”
VIRGINIA: The Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday that he has repaid $124,115 to a wealthy donor and expressed sorrow for ‘embarrassment’ brought upon the state. ‘I am deeply sorry for the embarrassment certain members of my family and I brought upon my beloved Virginia and her citizens,’ McDonnell said in a statement released by a spokesman for his private legal team. ‘I want you to know that I broke no laws and that I am committed to regaining your sacred trust and confidence. I hope today’s action is another step toward that end.’”
Politico: “Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli once suggested that society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws, according to a report dating to the Republican’s days as a state senator. Speaking to Richmond’s Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions ‘ought to stay on the books.’ “Frankly it wouldn’t hurt to enforce them more,” Cuccinelli is quoted saying. The magazine paraphrased Cuccinelli drawing a comparison to ‘perjury inasmuch as the occasional prosecution or two would get people thinking twice.’”