Q & A: ‘Joe the Plumber’  —  Samuel Wurzelbacher was launched into the public arena after Senator John McCain used him as an example of an average American during a presidential debate last fall.  “Joe the Plumber” quickly became a celebrity because he questioned then-candidate Barack Obama …

Hatch: W.H. may reveal name this week  —  After talking to President Barack Obama on the phone today, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch says he believes the White House will move swiftly on its Supreme Court nominee, perhaps making an announcement by the end of this week.

Obama official Kareem Dale confirms White House's love for MSNBC  —  (UPDATED: A second video has been added below.)  —  For some inexplicable reason having to do with who knows what, a widespread impression has grown among many politics fans that MSNBC and its crowd of talkers …

U.S. denies letting troops convert Afghans  —  KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military denied Monday it has allowed soldiers to try to convert Afghans to Christianity, after a television network showed pictures of soldiers with bibles translated into local languages.

Is Sarah Palin Snubbing GOP's New Relaunch Effort?  —  The GOP has launched a major new effort to remake the party and cast it as forward-looking and constructive, but one person may not be all that interested in participating: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  —  Sources in the office of GOP …

Criminal charges filed against ACORN, two employees  —  Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller announced Monday that voter registration fraud charges have been filed against an organization that works with low-income people and two of its employees in its Las Vegas office.

Emanuel: Thwarting Iran hinges on Israeli-Palestinian talks  —  Article's topics: Rahm Emanuel, Iran, AIPAC  —  Thwarting Iran's nuclear program is conditional on progress in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

A VERY WEIRD FORM OF CONSISTENCY.  —  Not to fill the blog with Arlen Specter related content this morning, but this bit from Meet the Press deserves to be quoted. … The thing about the Wyden-Bennett plan — the aspect that actually makes it different from virtually every other plan on offer …

I Like Gloats!  —  The MSM is sick.  John Edwards runs an entire presidential campaign based in large part on his character as shown by his loyalty to his brave, ill wife—when in reality he's cheating on her, practically setting up a second family—and the press doesn't care (or, rather …

More Banks Will Need Capital  —  Stress Tests Identify About Ten; Wells, BofA, Citigroup Face Order to Refill Coffers  —  WASHINGTON — The U.S. is expected to direct about 10 of the 19 banks undergoing government stress tests to boost their capital, according to several people familiar with the matter …

Hackers Break Into Virginia Health Professions Database, Demand Ransom  —  Hackers last week broke into a Virginia state Web site used by pharmacists to track prescription drug abuse.  They deleted records on more than 8 million patients and replaced the site's homepage with a ransom note …

Chace Crawford to Attend White House Correspondents Dinner  —  Mr. Crawford is going to Washington!  —  Usmagazine.com has exclusively learned that Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford has been invited to be the guest of the Fox News Channel at Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C.

Obama celebrates Cinco de Mayo a day early  —  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is celebrating Cinco de Mayo a little early.  —  On the eve of the Mexican holiday, Obama on Monday had an event in the East Room of the White House with Mexico's Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan (sahr-oo-KHAN').

Libertarian Democraphobia  —  If you're a new-school classical liberal (neoclassical liberal?) like me, you like democracy just fine.  This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the post-Rawlsian vein who tend toward not-actually-very-liberal Rousseuvian romanticism about democracy and …

Specter hints Kemp died of GOP agenda  —  Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Democrat, said part of the reason that he left the Republican Party last week was disillusionment with its health-care priorities, and suggested that had the Republicans taken a more moderate track, Jack Kemp may have won his battle with cancer.

Ammo hard to find as gun owners stock up  —  AURORA, Colorado (CNN) — Gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures.

Amazon Plans Kindle for Textbooks  —  Amazon.comInc. on Wednesday plans to unveil a new version of its Kindle e-book reader with a larger screen and other features designed to appeal to periodical and academic textbook publishers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Obama criticism shuts down conversation  —  Parties were more fun when George W. Bush was president.  You could debate, argue even, praise and condemn, throw darts and laurels and solve the world's problems over a bottle of wine.  —  No more.  At least not in my circles.

MONSTERS, INC.  —  Amid the blizzard of economic data that the government puts out every week, last Tuesday's report analyzing G.D.P. industry by industry got little notice.  But it contained one very interesting piece of data: in 2008, for the first time in sixteen years, the finance and insurance industry shrank.

Michele Bachmann: Obama Led Spending “Orgy,” Government “Spent Its Wad” (VIDEO)  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann is on a roll.  Less than a week after suggesting a link between the swine flu outbreak and Democratic control of the U.S. government, the Minnesota Republican penetrated a heretofore unseen zone …

James Carville: If GOP Abandoned Christian Right, “Their Party Would Crumble”  —  Democratic strategist James Carville warned on Monday that if the Republican Party were to abandon its decades-old alliance with the Christian Right, it would only cement major losses in party identification and vote totals for the GOP.

What George Will missed: The decrepit state of the California GOP  —  George Will's latest column on the sagging economy of California and the upcoming slate of massive tax-hike initiatives on the ballot only scratches the surface of what's rotten in the formerly Golden State.  —  The state GOP is a basket case.