Happy Passover!

++Gallup reports President Obama hit 50% approval with 43% disapproval.


++Morning Joe's statement that none of the Republican establishment believe Romney can win seems borne out by a Pew poll where 59% of voters expect Obama to win,and 30% of Republicans agree.


++The Romney campaign's hiring of Ed Gillespie , the former head of the RNC, indicates establishment worries that Romney is not ready yet for prime time and doesn't have the structure in place for the general election. The GOP points out that Romney has burned through over $100 million trying to beat a fairly far-out candidate who wears sweater vests. They also note that while the Obama campaign has been laying down organizational structures all over the country, the Romney people are engaged in slash-and-burn tactics that leave nothing left behind for the general election.


++Gallup's Economic Confidence Index reported consumer confidence was at its highest since a year before Obama took office.


++The mediocre jobs report--120,000 private sector gained--brings the unemployment rate down to 8.2%. But this might not hurt the President as much as people think. A McCatchy poll shows that 57% believe the economic woes are still those inherited by President Obama, while 38% were caused by him.


++Quinnipiac, which generally assumes a larger Republican portion of the electorate than is real, reports that in a head to head Obama beats Romney in Florida by 49-42%, while Rasmussen has him up by 3,46-43%. In Ohio,it's Obama by 8 and in Rasmussen by 6.


++The Romney campaign claims they will not release anymore tax returns when pressed by the Obama campaign. The Washington Post reports that they use an ethics loophole so as not to report the extent and nature of his holdings. Locally within the Beltway, commentators are finally picking up that Romney's vast offshore accounts will become an issue for him. This is the first time I've heard reporters recognize that offshore accounts might be a delicate issue for the general election.


++David Frum has written that Obama has adroitly tied Romney to the Paul Ryan budget and wrapped the Republicans up in it as the Republican agenda. For reasons that escape me, the Romney people think embracing the Ryan budget is a winner, despite polls that show over 60% of Americans oppose each and every one of its points. David Brooks thinks this has made Obama look terribly partisan.


++RNC chairman Preibus denied the Republicans were waging a war against women. He likened it to a war against caterpillars. Romney says he gets all the feedback he needs on women's issues from his wife who talks to a lot of her friends. So no need to be concerned. Meanwhile President Obama hosted a woman's conference at the White House today and the audience was cheering,"Four More Years!"