https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_1M4u-M6LA

“John Edwards, move over. There’s a new standard bearer for the most unpopular person PPP has polled in any state: Levi Johnston in Alaska. Edwards’ 15/72 favorability on our January North Carolina poll had set the initial record for futility but Johnston matches the 72% unfavorable number while only 6% of Alaskans see him in a positive light.” [Public Policy Polling, via Political Wire]

“Incumbent Republican Jan Brewer said Thursday she has no intention of participating in any more events with Democrat Terry Goddard. She said the only reason she debated him on Wednesday is she had to to qualify for more than $1.7 million in public funds for her campaign.” [Arizona Daily Star]

Our guest columnist is the most clueless admissions office in the land.

At Drake, learning doesn’t just take place in a classroom. Nor is traditional learning the only goal. Sure you’ll get an excellent education here, but you’ll also be transformed by an experience that puts opportunity into action and gives purpose to your passion.

When we talk about D+, that’s what we mean. Every moment at Drake is one that has the power to educate, to transform, to open minds and to unleash potential – to introduce who you are, to who you hope to become.

Drake University Admissions

Great moments in collegiate marketing: Drake University’s ‘D+’ campaign [Yahoo]

Memo from the AP standards editor: “To begin with, combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials.” [Romenesko]

Stephen Hawking has a new book, and here’s all you need to know about it:

God did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator from physics.

Hawking says in his book “The Grand Design” that, given the existence of gravity, “the universe can and will create itself from nothing,” according to an excerpt published Thursday in The Times of London.

If we might digress — which is purely a formality, since we’ll do it anyway — we’re reminded of our early years in America’s Godless Public Schools, when both the Big Bang and plate tectonics were considered stoner science (fifth-grade requirement), worth an obligatory mention but not really to be taken seriously. There was just something suspiciously dooooood about them.

Read more »

We just can’t get the festive out of us today, and now Chicago dentist William DeJean is joining in the fun, blowing five grand to produce this Hillary 2012 television ad that will run in New Orleans, Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and maybe Houston.

When asked why he put the ad up, DeJean told CNN Thursday that “I’m a dentist and I don’t think this country is headed in the right direction.”

And really, America, you don’t want Angry Dentists messing around inside your mouth.

Hillary Clinton for president ad hits airwaves [CNN, via Weigel]