Republicans, however, can and should take partial credit for this. Obama is so moderate in part because the Republicans are so extreme. Politicians are ideological, of course, but they are also opportunistic. And the GOP, in closing ranks against almost every major initiative Obama has attempted, has taken away most of his opportunities to be truly liberal.

Ezra Klein, writing in the Washington Post in response to a new study that finds President Obama “is the most moderate Democratic president since the end of World War II, while President George W. Bush was the most conservative president in the post-war era.”

You’ve got to hand it to Rick Santorum —
We thought his sweater vest would just bore ‘em.
But in C-O, M-I and M-S,
They thought the Rickster was best.
Now, if he could just get someone besides teabaggers to vote for ‘im …

At the last possible moment to save his re-election, the economy is beginning to hum, as evidenced by Friday’s jobs report. And Obama’s Republican opponents are shaping up to be as formidable as, well, marshmallows. While Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are making each other unelectable, the president is singing Al Green, congratulating Super Bowl winners, playing with science projects, raising obscene amounts of campaign cash and watching his poll numbers soar.

— Dana Millbank, writing in the Washington Post, asserting that President Obama just might be the luckiest man alive.

Because right now, angry and almost broke, Newt is no longer the leading candidate to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. That man is Rick Santorum. And what makes Gingrich especially grumpy is that the man he is losing to was once just a pimply backbencher in the 1994 Republican Revolution… So for now Newt is left broke and unloved, facing the long road ahead with a raised fist. There probably will be better days ahead — Super Tuesday offers southern states, and Newt has already proven his ability to rise from the political dead. But Rick Santorum just had his best night of the campaign. For all his faults, he has none of the personal baggage of Newt that might offend the faithful.

— John Avlon, writing in the Daily Beast, noting that Newt Gingrich’s narrative of a two-man race collapsed under Rick Santorum’s trifecta win last night.

58%

Of Democrats were “very excited” about voting in this year’s election, as compared to 54% of Republicans, according to a recent DailyKos/Public Policy Polling survey. Six months ago, enthusiasm tilted towards Republicans, 54% to 48%.

14.7 million

Americans received food stamps when George W, Bush was president, a half-million more than are on food stamps under the Obama administration. Currently, one in seven Americans receives food stamp benefits.

One thing you can say about Barack —
He’s scary when he goes on the attack.
Now he’s picked a new fight
On behalf of what’s right —
He’s out to destroy SuperPACs … with his SuperPAC!

It’ll be a cold day in Gila Bend, Arizona, when I watch that movie.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in a CNBC interview, on “Game Change,” which premieres on HBO March 10 and is based on the best-selling book of the same name about McCain’s failed presidential campaign and Sarah Palin’s role in it.

3,000

Copies of Christine O’Donnell’s book, Troublemaker, have sold since its release in August — including copies purchased by her PAC for $19,912.

The only thing I have not been accused of in all these over-hyped descriptions of my relations with women, with the opposite sex, the only thing they have never accused me of is being gay. I have nothing against homosexuals, let it be clear. Quite the contrary. I always thought the more gay people around, the less competition.

— Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in an interview with The Atlantic.