Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Close presidential race, for now, but then what?

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Mark Blumenthal:

None of the data reviewed in this article resolve the question of why the Gallup polls to date have been slightly more favorable to Romney than have other polls. But the data generally suggest a culprit other than the black and Hispanic composition of Gallup's samples.

Dan Balz:

The general election has begun with talk of who was or wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, a Twitter war over a strategist's comments and other catnip for the political class. The polls are a reminder that fundamentals are at the heart of this election and that both Obama and Romney have work left to do.

Annie Groer:

[Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat] Summitt's remarkable career reflects her rightful place in history as an unparalleled figure in women's team sports,' Obama said.

Honoring the supreme Lady Vol is a very smart move for Obama, who loves to shoot hoops with his inner circle and do his March Madness brackets. This is, after all, a campaign year, and at the moment the president is outpolling presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney among women.  

NY Times:

Wal-Mart dispatched investigators to Mexico City, and within days they unearthed evidence of widespread bribery. They found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million. They also found documents showing that Wal-Mart de Mexico's top executives not only knew about the payments, but had taken steps to conceal them from Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. In a confidential report to his superiors, Wal-Mart's lead investigator, a former F.B.I. special agent, summed up their initial findings this way: 'There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws have been violated.'

The lead investigator recommended that Wal-Mart expand the investigation.

Instead, an examination by The New York Times found, Wal-Mart's leaders shut it down.

Corporate greed gone wild. Will anyone care?

NY Times:

United States Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a six-term Republican who had been targeted for elimination by Tea Party groups, survived a test from nine challengers at his party's state convention here on Saturday, but failed to win the supermajority needed to avoid a primary race.

Your party thinks you're a flaming liberal, Orrin. Good luck with that.

The Yankees continue their celebration of their 100 years' war with the Red Sox.

Trailing by eight runs going into the seventh inning, the Yankees clobbered the Red Sox' beleaguered relief corps for 14 runs and came back to win, 15-9, leaving the already reeling Red Sox at the edge of desperation.

Thomas Friedman, who is, of course, THE ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE:

Has America gone from a system designed to prevent anyone in government from amassing too much power to a system in which no one can get enough power to do anything?

Usual centrist claptrap, without a hint of condemning the radical tea party Republicans that got us here.  This is a one sided problem, Tom. In a Friedman unit, things will get better or worse, but no thanks to you.