Well, Rand Paul proved one senator with a good sense of timing and surprise can still dominate political news. But I fear the competition he may have spurred among media-hungry potential ’16 rivals.

Here are some relatively savory mid-day news items:

* Reid hints at possible turnaround on prior opposition to “talking filibuster” requirement.

* Meanwhile, McCain and Graham criticize Rand Paul and Republicans who joined him in yesterday’s “talking filibuster” of Brennan nomination.

* Ryan re-embraces “Obama’s Medicare Cuts” in his new budget, completing a nice 360-degree pirouette.

* Rothenberg notes big Dem opportunity in 2014 in four large-state gubernatorial contests: Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

* Yglesias compares Chavez to other petro-authoritarians, and suggests Venezuela could have done worse.

And in non-political news:

* WaPo weather team explains (or perhaps rationalizes) erroneous Snowquester forecasts.

Back within the hour.

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.