I generally start my day by reading the New York Times Online. Today was no different. But I looked at it from a different perspective -- what in the news today would have an effect on the election and what would that effect be?

Here''s what I found today - Egyptians vote for President in First for Arab World. What of this? Election itself a slight positive for Obama but not really important. Just part of the sheen of a perceived successful foreign policy. Facebook IPO Raises Regulatory Concerns. A story about how insiders get better information than average investors. But Facebook is sort of tied to Obama in an image way (and probably in a monied way as well.) A wash. Global Powers Resume Talks With Iran. Good for Obama, especially if Romney feels compelled to appease the neocons who want war with Iran.

But here is the news that matters politically - Stocks Fall as EU Leaders Gather In Brussels. It is in Europe where the big story is today. The adoption of the most senseless economic policy in some time - austerity in the face of economic recession, threatens the world economy. And in fact, threatens Obama's reelection. I'll explain why on the flip.

CNN reports Illinois Republicans have chosen Mitt Romney. CBS reports the same. Santorum is now far behind in delegates.

Drudge has Romney leading in both according to the 5 pm exits. That is hard to square with the actual reporting on the exits - 80% evangelical vote:

Around 8 in 10 Mississippians participating in Tuesday's contest were white evangelical or born-again Christians, the largest share measured in any state so far. Those same voters accounted for nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in Alabama, a proportion reached previously only in Tennessee and Oklahoma.

In South Carolina, Newt and Santorum carried 2/3 of the evangelical vote. Assuming an even split, Romney has to carry 2/3 of non- evangelicals to win. Seems far fetched.

Mitt Romney basically won the GOP nomination last night. He now has a very sizable lead among GOP delegates (better than 3-1 over his closest challenger Santorum), the GOP Establishment support (all the GOP super delegates will go his way) and challengers with no money and no paths to the nomination. In essence, the race is really over.

But a funny thing has happened - the Media, demonstrating its basic incompetence on even the thing they like to cover - the horse race - has declared the issue "wide open." See Ed Kilgore. This is a good thing for Democratic prospects and the prospect of President Obama's reelection. Instead of immediately pivoting to recover ground lost with independent voters, Romney will be forced continue the grovel to the wingnut voters of the GOP. Contrast this with the impatience to end an actual close race in 2008, when Obama and Clinton were never separated by nearly the number of delegates Romney leads Santorum by (with a larger pool) - and yet the "it's over" started even before the March 4, 2008 Ohio and Texas primaries. Chuck Todd is not being trotted out to discuss the "delegate math" and Nate Silver is not being used to ask "why won't they drop out?" More . . .

Looks like Mitt Romney does okay, winning 3 states so far (VA, VT, MA). Newt Gingrich won Georgia. Santorum took Tennessee. Ohio is still out.

Santorum takes North Dakota and Oklahoma.

Update: Romney takes Idaho. The AP just called Ohio for Romney. [More...]

Bump and Update, 8:25 p.m.: Romney has taken both states.

Update, 7: 30 pm MT: Romney takes Arizona and leads in Michigan.

Results should start coming in shortly for the Michigan and Arizona Republican primaries. Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum? Who would you rather see Obama face in November? [More...]

Mitt Romney today proposed raising the Medicare eligibility age in 2022. He also proposed restrictions on future social security benefits.

Romney said his proposals for Medicare and Social Security would begin in 2022, meaning no current or near-retirees would be affected. He also said he favors adjustments to curtail the growth of future benefits for the relatively well-to-do, so "lower-income seniors would receive the most generous benefits.

Beginning in 2022, Romney said, "we will gradually increase the Medicare eligibility age by one month each year. In the long run, the eligibility ages for both programs will be indexed to longevity so that they increase only as fast as life expectancy."

That's not as bad as the plan Obama was considering, which would have implemented the age increase in 2013, giving those approaching age 65 insufficient time to make plans to pay for another two years of private medical insurance. [More...]

What if Santorum wins the GOP nomination? Doesn't Trump have to launch his much clamored for run (according to him)?

Oh BTW, how's that Trump endorsement working out for Romney?

Here's Trump on Santorum:

Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It’s unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh ‘okay’ I just lost by the biggest margin in history and now I’m going to run for president. Tell me, how does that work? ... That’s like me saying I just failed a test. Now I’m going to apply for admission to the Wharton School of Finance. Okay? He just failed a test.... And now he’s going to run for president. So, I don’t get Rick Santorum. I don’t get that whole thing.”

Tonight's the night for Republican caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have all been actively campaigning in Colorado.

Mitt brought out 3,000 at a rally last night in Arapahoe County, just south of Denver. The size of Newt's crowd at a rally yesterday afternoon in Jefferson County, just west of Denver: 200.

Republicans are expecting a big turnout. Santorum is expected to do better than Newt. It doesn't seem to matter much, as the votes are non-binding at the Republican Convention. Colorado results will be available here and Minnesota here. [More...]

Looks like Newt Gingrich fizzled in Nevada and Mitt Romney will win the state's Republican caucusesby double digits.

Here's the makeup of voters: 4 of 5 are Conservative, 3 out of 4 said they were tea partiers, and 1 of 4 are Mormons.

Where's Romney today? In Colorado Springs, campaigning for Coloradans' votes in the caucuses which will be held Tuesday.

The short fingered vulgarian and charlatan Donald Trump, the celebrity for folks who find the Kardashians too refined for their tastes, endorsed Mitt Romney today at a hotel in Las Vegas that carries his name (what his ownership percentage of the the hotel is, is not clear.)

Trump has previously stated that if the "right candidate" does not win the GOP nomination, he would launch an independent bid. Presumably then, if Newt Gingrich miraculously wins the nomination, the short fingered vulgarian and charlatan will launch his own bid, right? Of course not. Trump is a charlatan and a clown.

Speaking for me only

A funny thing has happened on the way to the November election - Mitt Romney has become a clown car of a candidate. It's one thing to be "inauthentic," it's another to make the mistakes Romney is now making on a regular basis. Gail Collins writes:

On the morning after the Florida primary, Mitt Romney bounded out of bed, inhaled the sweet air of victory, donned his new cloak of invulnerability ...

... and went on CNN to announce that he doesn’t care about poor people. “I’m not concerned about the very poor,” he told a slightly stunned-looking Soledad O’Brien.

Whenever the topic turns to wealth, or the lack thereof, some inner demon seems to make Romney say something that sounds ridiculous, offensive or ridiculously offensive.

(Emphasis supplied.) Erick Erickson and his cohorts are engaged in a slash and burn against Romney, but the fact is Romney is the guy who is self destructing. Of course, Newt remains a Democrat's dream Republican nominee, Erickson's silly statements about how Romney dooms the GOP slate notwithstanding. It's a pretty shocking development that at this stage Romney is incapable of discussing fairness issues without putting two feet in his mouth. Are you telling me that his expensive team can't write a vanilla paragraph for him to repeat ad nauseum on the subject?

Speaking for me only

The Florida Republican primary has been called by the news outlets for Mitt Romney.

Mitt's speaking now. He says they will win in November. He says it's time for President Obama to get out of the way. He's ready to lead the party and the nation. He will begin a new era of prosperity. He will save the soul of America. He will balance the budget without raising taxes. He will repeal Obamacare. He will strengthen religious rights.

"I will insist on a military so powerful no one would ever think of challenging it."

What's your prediction for the outcome of today's Florida Republican primary?

Time Magazine says Newt Gingrich is bracing for a loss and in the process of reinventing himself as a grass-roots insurgent. It says Newt is floundering because he was outstumped and outspent.

Gingrich is unlikely to get the chance to implement this vision. But he is shaking things up within his schizophrenic campaign. After skipping from message to message in recent days, he has apparently decided his best shot at knocking off Mitt Romney is to embrace Tea Party populism. And so he has reinvented himself as a grassroots gadfly, ready to dog the GOP “all the way to the convention.”

CNN says the latest polling which includes the 600,000 voters who voted early has Mitt Romney ahead. [More...]

Q Poll - Romney 43, Gingrich 29.

PPP - Romney 39, Gingrich 32.

SUSA - Romney 41, Gingrich 26.

NBC/Marist poll - Romney 42, Gingrich 27.

I like the Insider Advantage/NewsMax poll, that says Newt is surging to within 5 points and has the momentum.

Go Newt! I don't believe it, but I like it. Now, if only Trump decides to run, this would be perfect.