The Daily Digest

The Thompson tsunami has begun. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who's been backing Mitt Romney, announced yesterday that she will defect to Fred Thompson (when, not if, he announces). (On the other hand, Ted Welch, a Tennessee-based fund-raiser for Thompson who's supporting Mitt Romney, has indicated he intends to stay put.)

NR senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru likes to kvetch about his fellow right-wingers. He does so not as a gadfly but because he's sincere. In January 2006, he argued that earmark reform, a newfound pet cause among conservatives, is largely symbolic and its effects on spending negligible. Recently, he elaborated, prompting a counter op-ed from porkbuster in chief, Senator Tom Coburn. The exchange was civil and reasoned, but, as Dave Weigel notes, Ponnuru is more convincing.

Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry, both of the Personal Democracy Forum, champion the rise of the "netizen," or citizens whom the Internet empowers.

Continuing to debase himself, Tommy Thompson campaigns to an audience of seven.