Benioff, Emanuel, Daley Join Obama Campaign as Co-Chairmen
Bloomberg // Hans Nichols
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama named 35 co- chairmen to his presidential campaign, tapping business leaders, elected officials, veterans and volunteers to advise the campaign and help it raise money.  “The president’s national co-chairs will be tremendous assets on the ground as we build the biggest grassroots campaign in history,” Jim Messina, the Obama for America campaign manager, said in an e-mail. “They each share the president’s vision for a future where every American can have a fair shot at success, where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.”

Don’t allow auto rescue critics to rewrite the truth about how workers sacrificed and Obama saved jobs
Detroit Free Press // Bob King
For most Americans, cars are a way to get around. For most of Detroit, they’re a way of life.  Generations of autoworkers grew up trusting that if we worked hard and played by the rules, we would be able to live the American dream. Not long ago, that way of life almost ended.  I have been stunned at the recent debate about what really happened here in 2009. Choices have been scrutinized, other paths imagined, and the road we took to get to this point has been studied from every conceivable angle.

The state of Obama’s swing states
The Hill // Jonathan Easley
President Obama’s national approval numbers have risen steadily with the brightening economy, but he may be vulnerable in the swing states that will be critical in determining the outcome of the 2012 election.  Obama will likely need to win about half of the electoral votes supplied by Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Hampshire if he is to secure a second term.  The president won all of those states in 2008, but some of those 12 have been among the hardest hit by the recession.

President Obama as an alien
Washington Post // EJ Dionne
They say that President Obama is a Muslim, but if he isn’t, he’s a secularist who is waging war on religion. On some days he’s a Nazi, but on most others he’s merely a socialist. His especially creative opponents see him as having a “Kenyan anti-colonial worldview,” while the less adventurous say that he’s an elitist who spent too much time in Cambridge, Hyde Park and other excessively academic precincts.  Whatever our president is, he is never allowed to be a garden-variety American who plays basketball and golf, has a remarkably old-fashioned family life and, in the manner we regularly recommend to our kids, got ahead by getting a good education.

DNC beat RNC by about 3M
Politico // Robin Bravender
The Democratic National Committee outraised its Republican counterpart by about $3 million last month, according to reports released Monday.  The DNC raked in $13.3 million in January, compared to the Republican National Committee’s haul of $10.5 million. The Democrats’ report includes $6.2 million in contributions to the committee, as well as $7 million channeled through the Obama Victory Fund, a joint committee set up by President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign and the DNC.

Obama’s Iran options
Washington Post // Michael Gerson
Anyone who has worked at the White House is keenly aware of two gaps.  The first is the gap between the obsessions of the media and the challenges of the country. So Rick Santorum explains his views on the pill and Satan, while nuclear inspectors leaveIranin failure and the president again enters the Situation Room to clarify his flawed options.   The second gap is between the classified knowledge possessed by the White House and the confident cluelessness of commentators. The people making difficult choices on Iran know things we don’t.

Is Virginia’s ultrasound bill the future of abortion regulation?
Washington Post // Sarah Kliff
A Virginia law that would mandate ultrasounds prior to an abortion is gaining steam — and coming under intense criticism — as it heads to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s desk. Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate have both passed the bill, while the governor has spoken favorablyof the provision.  The Virginia law (full text here) would do two things: First, it would require a woman seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound at least 24 hours prior to the procedure. Second, it would require the professional performing the sonogram to offer the woman an opportunity to see the ultrasound image. The state’s draft legislation has been met with protests and outrage from reproductive health advocates, who note that ultrasounds would be particularly invasivein the early stages of pregnancy.

Romney, Seeking Traction, Duels With Santorum
New York Times // Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg
Mitt Romney challenged Rick Santorum’s credentials as a fiscal conservative in a fiercely combative debate on Wednesday, trying to redefine Mr. Santorum as part of the problem in Washington and regain his footing in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination.  With the Arizona and Michigan primaries only six days away, followed quickly by a dozen more contests, Mr. Romney arrived here at a critical moment of his candidacy armed with a detailed indictment of Mr. Santorum’s record in Congress. Mr. Romney sought to dismantle his rival’s claim to be the authentic conservative in the race.

Santorum Says Obama Beholden to Environmentalists Elevates Earth Above Man
Bloomberg // David Lerman
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorumsays President Barack Obamais beholden to “radical environmentalists” and has “a world view that elevates the earth above man.”   Santorum, who has emerged as the main challenger to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the Republican race, sought over the weekend to explain his statement that Obama practices “a different theology” that is “not a theology based on the Bible.”