The Page by Mark Halperin

Monday Candidate Schedule

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Santorum: Tacoma, WA
Gingrich: South El Monte, CA; Padadena, CA

See more details from the candidates' schedules here. »

In The Classroom

(Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)

POTUS visits Baltimore County's Parkville Middle School and Center of Technology on Mon. to lay out 2012 budget plans for the country; Parkville, MD, 10:15 a.m.

More: Obama awards the 2011 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal in the East Room. Michelle Obama also attends. 1:45 p.m.

Budget Battle

(Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Obama unveils his 2012 plan with a goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction over next decade.

See highlights here.

President-In-Waiting

China's Xi Jinping arrives in Washington Mon. for a crucial visit.

See more in TIME's international edition (available to subscribers).

Truth Team

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Obama's campaign team launches a trio of web sites focusing on the president's record and fending off GOP attacks.

Ethics Issue

Reuters

At least a dozen members of Congress are under investigation for ethical or potential criminal charges.

Syrian Crisis

AFP / Getty Images

Damascus rejects an Arab League peace mission proposal.

AND: Al-Qaida announces its support for Syrian revolt.

California Cash

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NYT: Gingrich heads West in search of money to keep his campaign going.

Global Gains

Asia stock, euro rises after Greek austerity vote.

More: TIME's Kakissis with all the details out of Athens.

The Next Big Battleground

WSJ: Romney, Santorum after Michigan momentum heading into March.

More: Politico on Santo's plan to derail Mitt.

Santo: "No Compromise" on Contraception Rule

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

On "Meet the Press," Pennsylvanian tells David Gregory administration's birth control decision is "deeply, morally wrong."

Santorum: "This is not what the government should be doing. This is not just Rick Santorum talking. You've got a lot of Democrats, you've got a lot of liberals, who are aghast this President is going to take on a fight saying government is going to force you to do things that are against your conscience."

Palin "Not Convinced" by Mitt

On "Fox News Sunday," Mama Grizzly-in-chief calls Romney a "great candidate" and/but warns he still needs to prove himself to conservatives.

Palin: "I trust that his idea of conservatism is evolving and I base this on a pretty moderate past that he has had, even in some cases a liberal past...He’s still in the 30 percentile mark when it comes to approval and primary wins and caucus wins. He still hasn’t risen above that yet, because we are not convinced."