Reports of GOP Being In Trouble

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Paper Trail

Time magazine reporter Jay Newton-Small described the Republican Party last week as "floundering," adding, "the GOP hasn't exactly thrived in its first few months as the party of opposition... the installation of a new party chairman, Michael Steele, could have gone a lot smoother."

Blogger Robert Elisberg at the liberal Huffington Post Web site said, "There is no one with any stature or guts in the Republican Party to tell Michael Steele how much damage he's doing to the Republican Party."

And an article by reporter Reid Wilson at The Hill newspaper declared: "Republicans Concerned Over RNC Fundraising." But under Steele's leadership, the party raised $6.7 million from individual donors in March. That gives the committee about $24 million cash on hand.

Democrats raised about $5.6 million from individual donors. That means they have just $9.7 million in the bank. The Democrats are also almost $7 million in debt.

Bringing Home the Bacon

Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha has played a major role in keeping an airport in his district operational despite questions about the facility's usefulness. The Washington Post reports Murtha has secured at least $150 million in federal funds for the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport over the past decade.

But the airport's passenger count has fallen by more than half during that period. The airport received $800,000 dollars in stimulus funds to repave its backup runway despite just three commercial flights on weekdays all to Washington Dulles airport.

Passenger Bill Previte says: "Doesn't it seem kind of ridiculous to have a motorized carousel for the baggage claim when 15 people get off the airplane?"

But Murtha's spokesman, Matt Mazonkey, defends the funding saying: "You don't attract additional business without having the infrastructure in place to do so."

Repeat Offender

And, we told you Friday that President Obama had repeated a now debunked claim that "more than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States."

We also told you the 90 percent figure is misleading because the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says it applies only to the fraction of guns seized by Mexican authorities that have been turned over to the U.S. for tracing.

Now the administration is defending itself, saying the word "recovered" does not actually apply to all guns recovered at Mexican crime scenes. National Security Council spokesman Denis McDonough tells FOX News: "By recovered he means traceable, guns tracked back to the United States. These are ATF numbers. These are guns submitted to the ATF for tracing. That's what we mean by recovered."

But a large percentage of the firearms recovered in Mexico are never submitted to U.S. officials for tracing because they lack the necessary serial numbers or other markings.

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.