Republicans Sag in New Poll  —  Bush and Congress  —  Get Perilously Low Marks  —  As Gas Prices Rise  —  Rising gas prices have intensified discontent with Washington and handed Congress a frightening midterm election backdrop: a deeply pessimistic electorate, despite a robust economy.

United 93  —  The filmmakers got it right.  —  The calendar says it's April 25, 2006.  At noon, my wife, Peggy, and I are walking around Battery Park—near the Tribeca area—in New York.  It is our first time.  The flowers are blooming; kids are fishing; people boarding the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Tension Over Press Leaks  —  Government Has a Right to Keep Secrets — but Also a Duty to Be More Open  —  Two events in the past week have thrown the spotlight on the troubled relationship between the Bush administration and the news media, raising questions that are worrisome on both sides of the divide.

The Gaping Hole In Rove's Defense  —  Yesterday, Karl Rove testified for almost four hours before a federal grand jury about his previous statements pertaining to the leak of an undercover CIA agent's identity.  Rove offered this stunning defense: … Rove wants the grand jury to believe …

Visit by Rumsfeld, Rice Sets Off Criticism in Iraq  —  Some leaders worry that the Americans' surprise trip could hurt talks on forming a government.  Analysts see an effort to shore up U.S. opinion.  —  BAGHDAD — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid …

Prosecutors May Widen Congressional-Bribe Case  —  Cunningham Is Suspected  —  Of Asking for Prostitutes;  —  Were Others Involved?  —  Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes …

Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks  —  Under proposal, every U.S. taxpayer would get one  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

Senate Panel Urge FEMA Dismantling  —  WASHINGTON, April 26 —The Federal Emergency Management Agency was so fundamentally dysfunctional during Hurricane Katrina that Congress should abolish it and create a new disaster response agency from scratch, according to a draft of bipartisan recommendations proposed by a Senate committee.

Joe Klein's Turnip Day  —  Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid, by Joe Klein.  Doubleday, 256 pages, $23.95.  —  Joe Klein is the flower of American political journalism, a sharp raconteur who shows traces of the gonzo style that was in vogue …

Solidarity without sentimentality  —  The power of one (woman) over history  —  But first, Tony Snow: The fun starts here and here and a few free comments from me, here on "Comment is Free."  (I'm not responsible for the "Yellow Snow" hed, for goodness sakes.)

Kennedy faces fight on Cape Wind  —  Key lawmakers oppose his bid to block project  —  WASHINGTON — As record oil prices turn attention to the need for renewable fuels, momentum is building in Congress to buck Senator Edward M. Kennedy's bid to block the proposed Cape Cod wind energy project …

AN ATTACK ON THE ROTC  —  The anti-military punks are at it again.  Reader Nora.  A. e-mailed me photos of vandalism yesterday at UNC-Chapel Hill's ROTC armory taken by her son, an ROTC cadet on campus:  —  This has got to stop.  (Hat tip: Sister Toldjah) Via the Raleigh News and Observer:

No Outcry About Lobby Scandal, Lawmakers Say  —  Republicans See Little Risk In Pushing Modest Ethics Bill  —  The scandal surrounding disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been a Washington obsession for months, but Republican lawmakers who returned from a two-week recess this week …

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman rebuffs attempts to interview Administration officials in pre-war Iraq probe  —  Powell's former chief of staff says he'll 'wait and see'  —  WASHINGTON - The Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has denied Democratic attempts …

Prof, others charged in cross case  —  Jacobsen, students accused of trashing NKU lawn display  —  HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - A professor and six students at Northern Kentucky University were charged Wednesday with misdemeanors related to the April 12 destruction of an anti-abortion display on campus.

Projected Iraq War Costs Soar  —  Total Spending Is Likely to More Than Double, Analysis Finds  —  The cost of the war in Iraq will reach $320 billion after the expected passage next month of an emergency spending bill currently before the Senate, and that total is likely to more than double …

Understanding Mobility in America  —  Executive Summary  —  This report discusses two aspects of economic mobility in the United States.  The first is the question of intergenerational mobility, or the degree to which the economic success of children is independent of the economic status of their parents.

In iTunes War, France Has Met the Enemy.  Perhaps It Is France.  —  THE French take pride in their revolutions, which are usually hard to miss — mass uprisings, heads rolling and such.  So, with the scent of tear gas in the air this past month from the giant protests against a youth labor law …

Religion may hinder Romney in '08  —  Mitt Romney, in his last nine months as governor of Massachusetts, was in Washington Tuesday to address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an early stage of his 2008 presidential campaign.  To a growing number of Republican activists, he looks like the party's best bet.