PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS ASKING for some pictures of the campus in springtime. Here are a couple I managed to snap at lunchtime today. It’s a beautiful spring day.

OVER AT THE HOTLINE BLOG, Marc Ambinder is tracking all the presidential-candidate fundraising news.

DON SURBER: “Could we please stop arguing and go back to fighting this war?”

Maybe once the Democrats get back in power. Until then, not so much.

TM LUTAS HAS THOUGHTS on what to do about Iran.

“CLEAN AIR DAY” at the Supreme Court. Jonathan Adler has thoughts.

MICHAEL WARE DENIES HECKLING MCCAIN: Well, sort of.

Ware’s sort-of-denial isn’t winning over Paul Mirengoff: “Ware’s appearance with Soledad O’Brien, as quoted by Scott, is enough to condemn him as unfit to cover the war. . . . When a reporter becomes this much of an advocate, he should no longer cover the story. If CNN were a credible news organization, it would reassign Ware.”

UPDATE: Ware’s got video, and I’m convinced.

IN LIGHT OF ALL THE ROSIE O’DONNELL CONSPIRACIST NONSENSE that has been floating around over the weekend, it’s worth mentioning the Popular Mechanics folks’ book on the subject, Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up to the Facts.

You can hear our podcast interview on the subject here, too.

TIM MONTGOMERIE: Tony Blair is no Margaret Thatcher.

A LOOK AT THE AUTOMOTIVE X-PRIZE:

The race is on to develop a commercially viable car that can travel 100 miles on a gallon of gasoline.

The same group that awarded $10 million to a team that built the first private spacecraft to leave the earth’s atmosphere is expected to announce today the rules for its automotive competition.

The group, the X Prize Foundation, says that the automotive contest, expected to carry a prize of more than $10 million, could have a significant effect on the automobile industry by speeding up efforts to use alternative fuels and reduce consumption. The average fuel economy of vehicles sold in the United States has remained nearly stagnant — around 20 miles a gallon — for decades.

“The industry is stuck, and we think a prize is perfect to disrupt that dynamic,” said Mark Goodstein, executive director of the Automotive X Prize. “Failure is frowned upon in this industry, and that doesn’t make for big advances. It makes for incrementalism.”

You could get a 100 mpg car now (“”If you combine a clean-burning diesel with a hybrid electric drive system in a lightweight car, I think 100 mpg is doable.”) but we need better. Plus, there’s this spinoff: “However, working out the requirements of a 100-mpg car makes it clear just how feasible it would be to build, say, a 75-mpg car–for far less money.”

UPDATE: This isn’t quite what the X-Prize is looking for, but it’s pretty cool.

PROFITING FROM DISCRIMINATION at Yale? Yale doesn’t need the money, though.

HILLARY CLINTON’S STAGGERING FUNDRAISING INCLUDES a lot of small-donor money from the Internet.

Meanwhile, Kos was bashing Obama yesterday. Is it “Lieberman cooties” or has the wind shifted?

UPDATE: Don Surber comments: “Seems to me, Obama is the Ned Lamont, Hillary the Lieberman in this scenario. After all, he always opposed the war that she voted for.”

HOWARD KURTZ: “At this early stage of the 2008 race, the media have been unusually focused on marriages.”

DECEPTIVE EMINENT DOMAIN “REFORM” in California.

ACCORDING TO THE IRS, the five most overlooked items in 2006 tax returns.

SURPRISE SHIFTS IN THE TENTH WEEK OF THE Pajamas Media straw poll: “On the Republican side, newcomer Fred Thompson emerged in first with 34.9% followed by Ron Paul at 29.00%. Previous winner Rudy Giuliani fell back to third with 12.7%. (On the Democratic side, results remained the same: Bill Richardson far ahead of runner-up Barack Obama).” Follow the link for more numbers and analysis.

A PARTY-AFFILIATION SHIFT? Michael Barone looks at the polls.

MICKEY KAUS: “I’m not sure honorable people talk in public about how they might just be the type to do mission work in Africa. They either do it, or they don’t.”

BEYOND CATBLOGGING: To catbookblogging.

WHAT IF THEY HAD AN ANTIGUN RALLY AND NOBODY CAME: Well “dozens” pretty much counts as nobody in this context.

FRED THOMPSON JUST AFTER 9/11: I’m getting spammed with this video all of a sudden.

UPDATE: A.C. Kleinheider is still skeptical about Thompson.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The video has been pulled from YouTube — if you click on it, it says “no longer available.” I don’t know why.