Lotta froth in the news this morning. A quick and surprising papal election would sure make a lot of news folk happy.

Here are some mid-day bites:

* Bolling renounces any intention to run as indie for Virginia Governor this year. Very good news for Ken Cuccinelli.

* Limbaugh siding with Rand Paul against his neocon critics.

* Salon reports Koch brothers may be in the market to buy the parent company of the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Baltimore Sun.

* TNR’s Nate Cohn not real bullish on Ashley Judd’s chances in Kentucky.

* TAP’s Paul Waldman assesses latest state of Paul Ryan’s ambitions.

And in non-political news:

* CBS sporting a Vatican Smoke Cam as papal election conclave gets formally underway.

Back after a food break of my own.

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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.