Conan O'Brien made this mistake while emceeing the White House Correspondents Dinner. "You know, I was worried with the sequester that we would be forced to hold this event at less prestigious hotel than the D.C. Hilton -- then I was told that's not possible," O'Brien said in a riff mocking the aging mid-century modern hotel in Washington's Dupont Circle.

Allen was not pleased. The scribe whose odd obsession with "influence" and Washington power inspired a legendary Mark Leibovich profile cried in Playbook Monday, "Conan O’Brien hurt his buzz" by making "four baseless, elitist cracks about the Hilton, acting as if it were a Motel 5." Allen returned to the subject in today's Playbook, adding that on top of Conan's "bizarre, elitist attack on his hosts at the Washington Hilton," the comedian also eschewed the free room provided by the hotel to instead stay at the Four Seasons.

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1). Lots of partygoers adopt the adorable term "nerdprom" for the night -- which you should roll your eyes at and be appropriately skeptical of:

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2). People who most feel left out invariably throw a snit about the whole thing:

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(Greg Mitchell posted four photos of Palin from 2011’s “nerdprom.” Did she not get an invite this year? )

3). Conan O’Brien, a funnyman, was funny! Best joke:

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(Watch entire video of O'Brien here)

4). Barack Obama: Even funnier -- maybe because a slight contempt for the proceedings seems to come through:

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In his press conference, White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed that a letter with a suspicious substance had been sent to President Obama but referred further questions to the FBI. He also referred questions about the Boston attack investigation to the FBI.

UPDATE 4/17 11:36 a.m.

The AP is reporting that authorities have a suspect in mind but didn’t say much more:

Police have a suspect in mind as they investigate a letter mailed to Sen. Roger Wicker that tested positive for poisonous ricin, a Senate colleague said.

“The person that is a suspect writes a lot of letters to members,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Tuesday as she emerged from a classified briefing.

UPDATE: 4/17 11:28 a.m.

The president may have received one as well:

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UPDATE: 4/17 10:50 a.m.

ABC News' Terry Moran tweeted:

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UPDATE No. 2: Politico is now reporting that a suspect in the case has been identified.

From Glenn Thrush:

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This new plan got a big rollout sponsored by Politico, whose Mike Allen hosted and interviewed the pair this morning in Washington -- supporting Simpson-Bowles is not considered "biased" or "partisan" according to the usual rules of traditional journalistic objectivity -- but some mean hecklers interrupted them. In a worrying sign for people for whom deficit reduction via earned benefits program cuts is a moral crusade, the heckler got a lot more attention on Twitter than the new Simpson-Bowles plan did. Can they recapture the magic? Or will this be like whatever gross stunt food product KFC put out after the Double Down, a pale imitation of a genuine phenomenon, doomed to be forgotten?

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In a vacuum and without actual evidence, Politico declared that Warren has a "quiet plan" to become a "silent senator" - one who refuses to speak out on controversial issues and therefore creates an image for herself that is "a sharp departure from her rousing campaign and outspoken consumer advocacy." Yet, that very week, Warren showed she will likely be the opposite of a "silent senator." She did this by slamming Republicans obstructing the nomination of a consumer regulator, publicly grilling negligent bank regulators and generally mustering a dominating performance at her very first committee hearing, thus generating national headlines.

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Clinton has chosen Harry Walker Agency (the same group who represent her husband to represent her) and is expected  to command fees well within the six-figure range — making her among the best-paid speakers “in the history of the circuit,” Allen reported.

Via Allen:

Secretary Clinton will likely do some speeches for no fee for causes she champions, and expects to occasionally donate her fees for charitable purposes. Clinton, who will maintain her homes in Washington and Chappaqua, is also beginning to make decisions about the book she has said she will write, an account of her four years as secretary of State. Non-profit work will be another component of her new life, perhaps through her husband’s foundation or one of her own.

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While there’s no guarantee that "Rodham" will be made (and while its existence isn’t exactly new — Slate reported on Young Il Kim’s screenplay last month), the Politico brief is evidence of a level of public interest in Secretary Clinton that's high even by the usual standard.

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Surprise! It's Politico.

I have written tens of thousands of words on what, precisely, is wrong with Politico. But I can put the case much more simply here: It's Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei.

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Don’t believe that for an instant.

It’s true their political investments didn’t exactly pay off this time around.

“Right now there is stunned disbelief that Republicans fared so poorly after all the money they invested,” said Brent Bozell, president of For America, an Alexandria-based nonprofit that advocates for Christian values in politics.

“Congrats to @KarlRove on blowing $400 million this cycle,” Donald Trump tweeted. “Every race @CrossroadsGPS ran ads in, the Republicans lost. What a waste of money.”

Rove’s two giant political funds — American Crossroads (a Super PAC) and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (a so-called nonprofit “social welfare organization” that doesn’t have to report its donors) — backed Mitt Romney with $127 million spent on more than 82,000 television spots. Rove’s groups spent another $51 million on House and Senate races. Ten of the 12 Senate candidates they supported lost.

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Here’s the agenda:

…tax reform that goes way beyond individuals and rates; much deeper Social Security and Medicare changes than currently envisioned; quick movement on trade agreements, including a proposed one with Europe; an energy policy that exploits the oil and gas boom; and allowing foreign-born students with science expertise to stay here and start businesses.

Do this and there could be not an economic recovery — but a boom, many argue.

Really?  I gotta say, I don’t see it.  In fact, pretty much everything on that list is a) conventional wisdom in DC and b) largely a distraction from where I think the evidence is actually pointing, as I’ll stress in a moment.  To be clear, raising more tax revenues and slowing health care costs are critical in terms of getting our long-term debt situation under control, and immigration reform that provides a path for folks here to stay is also a great idea.  A domestic energy boom is already underway and trade agreements do squat for growth (which doesn’t mean they’re not worth it—but their growth potential is hugely overhyped).

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In an appearance on Bill Simmons' The BS Report podcast today, Silver took aim at the site, which dismissed him as a "one-term celebrity" in an article prior to the election. (Turns out Silver correctly called all 50 states for the second presidential election in a row.)

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To most observers, this narrow majority of voters represents a broad cross-section of the country. To Politico’s Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, it’s a dangerously limited coalition. Why? Because it doesn’t include enough white people, and particularly, downscale white men:

If President Barack Obama wins, he will be the popular choice of Hispanics, African-Americans, single women and highly educated urban whites. That’s what the polling has consistently shown in the final days of the campaign. It looks more likely than not that he will lose independents, and it’s possible he will get a lower percentage of white voters than George W. Bush got of Hispanic voters in 2000.

A broad mandate this is not.

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Nate Silver does not actually need his army of defenders. He is a wildly successful author and New York Times contributor with a huge audience, and he is smart and witty enough to fight his own battles. I also realize that any defense of Silver plays into the savvy politico notion that liberals are irrationally "clinging" to his projections because they are terrified of uncertainty and Mitt Romney's ineffable momentum.

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As the use of Twitter has exploded in the 2012 campaign, coupled with more expansive use of Facebook and other social networks, the rumble of extreme partisans propagating strange conspiracy theories is getting louder.

Those silly partisans and their silly conspiracy theories! The resolutely nonpartisan and hence perfectly clear-eyed reporters at Politico have your number. You are all claiming that bad things will happen if the "other guy" wins the election, when everyone knows that no matter who wins things will be fine, that is what American history has taught us. (??) Also conspiracy theories spread because of "Twitter" and "Facebook." (???)

Hey, what is the best way to make sure this column reads like it was written by an old person a decade ago and then buried underground until this week? Something like this, probably:

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vScientific issues can be just as vulnerable to misinformation campaigns. Plenty of people still believe that vaccines cause autism and that human-caused climate change is a hoax. Science has thoroughly debunked these myths, but the misinformation persists in the face of overwhelming evidence. Straightforward efforts to combat the lies may backfire as well. A paper published on September 18 in Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI) says that efforts to fight the problem frequently have the opposite effect.

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At the Weekly Standard, Daniel Halper gets very sarcastic with Politico, as does the Weasel Zipper person. Conservatives on Twitter are similarly unimpressed. The "Fox Nation" headline: "Left-Wing Politico Calls Biden a 'Sex Symbol.'"

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Within hours, the White House had contacted Politico (without solicitation) to confirm but downplay the report.

The Free Beacon suggested that the hack may have compromised sensitive information that could be used "during a future conflict to intercept presidential communications, locate the president for targeting purposes, or disrupt strategic command and control by the president to U.S. forces in both the United States and abroad."

However, the White House volunteered to Politico that no harm had been done:

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They explicitly say so. The new story is about Mitt Romney's new plan to rescue his campaign with more personal appearances and ads. (His previous strategy, I guess, was just not do any campaigning.) At the end of the story there is a recap of bad things that have happened to the Romney campaign over the last 10 days, divided into "What Does Matter" and "What Doesn't Matter." Here is my favorite entry in "What Doesn't Matter":

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As Politico's Maggie Haberman reported Thursday:

The spot is the work of a c4 called Secure America Now - which, thanks to its tax status, doesn't have to disclose its donors.

A Republican involved with the project said its airing in Miami, West Palm Beach and Ft. Myers. The flight is ultimately going to be $1 million, the official said - a media-tracking source said about $400,000 has been placed so far. Those markets house some of the state's largest Jewish communities.

The ad, setting Bibi's apocalyptic predictions against ominous music, makes no reference to Mitt Romney, for whom the Israeli P.M. showed support earlier this year but "distanced himself a bit from" during U.S. television appearances last weekend, noted Haberman.

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Allen and VandeHei, Politico's mascot and co-founder, have yet another one of their bizarre, needlessly lengthy (especially needless because they just repeat the same points over and over again ...) news articles that are also lengthy throat-clearing "state of the race" pieces that rehash the very obvious observations of D.C. reporters covering this race. (Some of these articles also double as opinion pieces about how mean and unfair the press and the Democrats are being to Mitt Romney.)

So, sure, it is at this point a truism that this election resembles 2004 in that the incumbent president has an advantage on "national security" issues and the challenger is perceived as rich and out of touch. So obviously the Democrats are now doing exactly what they accused the Other Side of doing, before:

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