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March 20, 2012 | | OTHER HALF Behind 15 points in Illinois polls, the Santorum campaign brought out Karen Santorum to go to bat for her husband. On CNN’s Piers Morgan on Monday night, Karen Santorum said that “women have nothing to fear when it comes contraceptives. [Rick Santorum] will do nothing on that issue.” She insisted that her husband would “absolutely not” encroach on women’s access to birth control, and he would not allow his personal religious beliefs to impact his decisions on the matter. Plus, Howard Kurtz on the muddled message that could hurt Mitt Romney in Illinois. AFTERMATH The wife of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the man accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, issued a statement Monday night, in which she called the incident a “heartbreaking tragedy.” “Please respect me when I say I cannot shed any light on what happened that night, so please do not ask,” Karilyn Bales said in a statement. “I too want to know what happened.” Bales and his family have been thrust into the national spotlight after the shooting, with reports surfacing on Tuesday that he joined the Army in 2001 after being found liable for $1.4 million in a financial fraud relating to his handling of a retirement account of an elderly client in Ohio. Bales’s attorney, John Henry Browne, said Monday that Bales has “no memory” of the shooting. The sergeant is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the Army’s only maximum-security prison. LAND OF LINCOLN It might not be Super Tuesday, but this Tuesday could be crucial to Mitt Romney. The Republican candidates face off in Illinois on Tuesday, with 54 delegates at stake—a victory Romney desperately needs after being pounded last week in Alabama and Mississippi. “Illinois presents a must-win for Romney as the state’s more moderate makeup and urban population set up better for Romney than Santorum,” GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak told CNN. By some polls, Romney has a 15-point lead over his nearest challenger, Rick Santorum. Romney and Santorum plan to blitz the state with last-minute pitches on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the candidates released their February fundraising numbers, with Romney reporting $11.5 million raised and Santorum hot on his heels with $9 million. President Obama reported $45 million in campaign contributions in the same period. RIGHT STEP The Department of Justice and the FBI will investigate the killing of Trayvon Martin of Sanford, Fla. Critics have blasted the case as a “botched investigation.” Trayvon, 17, was on his way home from a 7-Eleven with Skittles and iced tea when a neighborhood-watch volunteer spotted him and thought he looked “drugged” and acted suspiciously. The man, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, said that Trayvon attacked him from behind and that he was forced to shoot Martin, who was unarmed. Witnesses, however, say they heard a boy pleading, then silence after two gunshots. Trayvon’s family thinks Sanford police are tampering with the investigation, and Zimmerman has not been charged. PAY UP House Republicans will release their $261 billion deficit-reduction plan on Tuesday, with a focus on tax cuts. The plan, written by Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, would simplify the tax code by collapsing the current system of six tax brackets down to two marginal rates, Republican aides said Monday. Personal-income rates will be cut to a 25 percent top rate and a 10 percent lower rate; the plan would also lower the top corporate tax rate to 25 percent and scrap the Alternative Minimum Tax. The budget is meant to avoid the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts that will go into effect next January, about which half will come from the Defense Department. The plan also sets up the Republicans’ election-year strategy with President Obama, who has proposed increasing taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year. | | 
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