The courts had better stay away from this guy.

I have to respectfully dissent. There are a multitude of issues at play here, but Obamacare places relatively few minimal requirements on states who set up their own exchanges (for example, the "Utah model" would be allowed, which is very open-ended and market oriented). If the feds set up an exchange for a state that doesn't set up their own, there will almost certainly be mandated abortion coverage, not to mention numerous other evils. If a state sets up their own, as long as it meets the minimum coverage requirements, it will be allowed to function under state law.

All of this could change, of course, if the federal law changes. But, in the short term, governors and state legislators who punt to the federal government might be making a valid political point, but they are not serving the citizens of their state well.

Dave, just for future reference: If you type the letters on your Blackberry (I think you hit Alt or something similar to switch from letters to numbers), it will dial the correct numbers. As in, instead of trying to remember which number M is associated with, just put an actual M.

I used to have a Blackberry and it was months before I realized I could do that, but it works.

Actually, that would be an awesome opportunity for a Ricochet meet up! We could take our own coin and make him a member of the Ricochet city council, just to make him feel better.

Oh man, that coin flip is going to be intense! I might, as the Unofficial Ricochet Kentucky Correspondent, have to make a trip up to Northern Kentucky to witness that.

"Hey, Honey, heads, I win; tails, YOU LOSE!!!"

I've heard Molly Ball's point being made elsewhere, and one thing concerns me. Republicans have typically had a good performance on Election Day itself at least in part because fewer Republicans voted early. But, if those hardcore Republicans are voting early, that just means the GOP will have fewer votes on Election Day itself. Right? Overall turnout is important, yes, but it seems to be a fatal error to assume that you can do a better job turning out your base to vote early and still have the same advantage on Election Day you normally do.

Well said.

Cardinal Dolan's remarks are included in the video on c-span.org.

Let it be written. Let it be done.

We can have our own meetups where people drive for hours just to watch political events with us.

As the volunteer Ricochet Kentucky correspondent, allow me to report that the administration of Centre College practically threw themselves at the debate commission. They hosted the VP debate in 2000 (that Rob mentioned in the podcast)
and thought that would lead them to get a presidential debate in the next cycle or two. Since it is very doubtful there will ever be a presidential debate in Danville, the College went all out to woo another VP debate. Since they did an excellent job hosting the last one, they got another one. The only way I can imagine that worked is that there must not be too many venues really fighting to host a debate. And, considering that Rob remembers the 200 VP debate so well, but not that it was hosted at Centre, I'd say it's probably a waste of effort and money.

The Democrats spent three days last week firing up supporters of abortion and same-sex marriage. Growing businesses like Hobby Lobby are facing millions of dollars in fines because they refuse to give a pinch of incense to Caesar and offer up a few innnocents to Moloch. Meanwhile, Mrs. Romney is assuring voters that a Romney Administration wouldn't really care about any of that because those issues are just "distractions." For many of us, those are the only issues that cause us to even care about politics at all.

Paul Ryan said some good things about those issues today, but there is a clear problem with mixed messages. 

I love this podcast, and Jonah, Rob, and John make an excellent trio. However, may I offer one bit of constructive criticism, in the spirit of charity and edification? I believe J-Pod mentioned last time in the comments that he felt he was Bogarting the mic a bit. Well, I felt he was still doing so, and as others have said, his Bogarted mic wasn't of high audio quality. I love what he has to say, but I'd like to hear a bit more from Jonah, too.

As others have said as well, I'm mostly looking forward to President Clinton. I anticipate phrases like the following to make it into the speech, possibly multiple times:

"It may seem that the last four years have been a failure, but..."

"Mitt Romney is an incredibly impressive guy, one of  the most qualified to ever seek the office, but..."

"Our opponents are good people with serious plans to help the country, but..."

If we limit it to presidential memoirs, this first sentence is easily in the Top 40. It might even be the best ever, if your criteria is the amount of meteorological and geographic information contained therein:

"Early on the morning of August 19, 1946, I was born under a clear sky after a violent summer storm to a widowed mother in Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, a town of about six thousand in southwest Arkansas, thirty-three miles east of the Texas border at Texarkana."

I'll let you guess the source.

Senator Ayotte is a "New England Republican" only in the literal sense, that she is a Republican from New England. Lamontagne and DeMint did try to paint her as establishment, of course, but the areas in which Lamontagne and Ayotte disagreed were minor in the extreme. If Kelly Ayotte is not conservative, then half the people on Ricochet are socialists.

There may be good reasons, such as experience, to choose someone else, but her political philosophy is not such a reason.

I couldn't agree more. Last week, after Mollie filled in for Honorary Texan Pecos Peter Robinson on the flagship podcast, I thought it would be great if Mollie could do more podcasts. And then, a week later, it happens. Just another Ricochet miracle!