The Note's Must-Reads for Monday, April 30, 2012
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 Jayce Henderson and Amanda VanAllen
PRESIDENT OBAMA: The New York Times' Michael D. Shear: " Obama Campaign Grapples With New Voter ID Laws" Field workers for President Obama's campaign fanned out across the country over the weekend in an effort to confront a barrage of new voter identification laws that strategists say threaten the campaign's hopes for registering new voters ahead of the November election. LINK
The Washington Times' Ben Wolfgang: " Obama's re-election strategists resurrect bin Laden" Osama bin Laden is dead, but that won't stop the 9/11 mastermind from playing a role in the 2012 presidential election. Nearly a year after U.S. forces killed bin Laden in Pakistan, President Obama's re-election team has rolled out a strategy to paint the Democratic incumbent as the stronger candidate on foreign policy issues, particularly when it comes to dealing with Islamic extremists. LINK
The Wall Street Journal's John D. McKinnon: " GOP Pricks President; He Needles Them Back" Republicans stepped up their accusations that President Barack Obama is handpicking issues to divide voters, while the White House over the weekend tried a comic touch amid an increasingly acrimonious political debate. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) blamed Mr. Obama for "picking fights" on a range of recent issues, from student-loan interest rates to taxes and gasoline prices. LINK
The New York Daily News: " Republicans way out of bounds attacking President Obama for ad on order to take out Osama bin Laden" The political party of the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in May 2003, the party that gave us George W. Bush as an adorable dressup fighter pilot, now accuses Barack Obama of "spiking the ball" because he runs an ad about the order to take out Osama Bin Laden in May 2011. LINK
The Boston Globe's Bryan Bender: " Obama's nuclear plan tangled in election policies" A review of President Obama's promised plan to substantially reduce America's nuclear arsenal is nearing completion, triggering a new phase of the deliberations: how to deal with the political consequences and whether the unveiling should wait until after the November election. LINK
The Hill's Ben Geman: " Obama's green team comes out swinging for election season" President Obama's top energy and environmental officials are casting their work as a core piece of White House efforts to boost the economy while using rough-and-tumble language to parry Republican attacks. LINK
MITT ROMNEY: ABC News' Rick Klein: "' World News' Political Insights: VP Contenders Help Romney Fill Cool Gap" Who needs to be cool when all your friends are? Welcome to the tryout stage of the veepstakes race. Monday brings Mitt Romney to New Hampshire - alongside Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who follows the close-to-Romney footsteps of other vice presidential contenders Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on the trail. LINK
USA Today's Jackie Kucinich: " Details of Romney's economic plan keep evolving" Surrogates for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney frequently point to a 59-point economic plan released last year in response to criticisms that the campaign has been short on specific proposals. However, some of Romney's economic policies have changed since the document - titled "Believe in America: Mitt Romney's Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth" - was released in September. The plan itself has not been updated. LINK
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: " Mitt Romney's road to presidency this fall looks narrow on electoral map" It's no secret that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has a narrow path to win the presidency this fall. Nowhere is that reality more apparent than when examining the electoral map on which Romney and President Obama will battle in November. LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Matea Gold and Melanie Mason: " As governor, Romney faced challenge on gay marriage" Ten months into his term as Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney was abruptly confronted with an emotionally charged issue: The state's highest court ruled that gays had the legal right to marry, thrusting the state into the forefront of the same-sex marriage debate. LINK
DEMOCRATS: Politico's Kate Nocera, Jonathan Allen and Zachary Abrahamson: " Dems mine Texas for their 2012 cash" Deep in the heart of Republican Texas, Democrats have rediscovered an ATM. It's stocked with contributions not only from old-school Texans like former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, who can remember the days when Lyndon B. Johnson and Sam Rayburn cast the biggest political shadows in the state, but also from a younger generation of trial lawyers and entrepreneurs who have moved into the cities - Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and, of course, Austin - from bluer turf around the country. LINK
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