CNN Poll: No frontrunner in GOP 2012 presidential race  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll of Republicans suggests that there's no front runner at this extremely early moment in the next race for the White House.  —  Three possible candidates are all bunched at the top of a CNN/Opinion Research

The Sotomayor PR offensive  —  Senate Democrats turned the usually staid meet and greet for President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee into a full blown PR offensive Tuesday, defending Judge Sonia Sotomayor's record while offering her first public defense of her controversial comments about race.

Bad News for Franken?  —  I hope I'm wrong.  But Gov. Tim Pawlenty's (R) apparent decision not to seek reelection does not bode well for Al Franken's ability to get seated in the senate any time soon.  That's because the most probable next step in the endless Franken-Coleman drama …

Obama to Name N.Y. Congressman the Army Secretary  —  Representative John M. McHugh, a Republican congressman from New York, will be nominated by President Obama to be secretary of the Army, according to officials, as the administration continues to reach into the ranks of the opposition for executive appointments.

The Emergence of President Obama's Muslim Roots  —  ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: The other day we heard a comment from a White House aide that never would have been uttered during the primaries or general election campaign.  During a conference call in preparation for...

Likud: US meddling in Israeli politics  —  Article's topics: Barrack Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Rahm Emanuel, Moshe Ya'alon  —  US President Barack Obama's administration's criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies has crossed the line into interfering in Israeli politics, top Likud ministers and MKs said Tuesday.

Obama says Iran's energy concerns legitimate  —  LONDON — President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.  —  In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans …

‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ for Monday, June 1  —  Guest: Bob Graham, Frank Schaeffer, Jonathan Turley, Susan Wicklund, Kent  —  RACHEL MADDOW, HOST: And thank you at home for staying with us for the next hour.  —  We will have former Senator Bob Graham of Florida here with us this hour …

Palin links Tiller, Long slayings  —  Sarah Palin today picked up a widely heard theme on the right, using the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller to call attention to the murder of an army recruiter in Arkansas, allegedly by a self-styled Islamic militant:

The 10 Hottest Liberal Women In Politics  —  After the debacle that was Playboy's Hit Piece On Conservative Women, I thought, “Someone should do this right.”  I mean, can't we simply admire the female form without being jerks about it...ehr, much?  —  So, I thought about doing a list …

Guantánamo Detainee Kills Himself  —  A Yemeni detainee at Guantánamo apparently committed suicide late Monday, military officials said in a terse announcement Tuesday.  —  The death was the first at the prison since President Obama took office, and detainees' lawyers …

Cheney Edges Away From Claim That CIA Docs Will Prove Torture Worked  —  There's a very revealing moment buried in an interview that Dick Cheney gave to Fox News last night that really gives away his game plan on torture.  —  Specifically: Cheney seemed to edge away from the claim …

A Conspiracy of Euphemism  —  The eight a.m. NPR news update today included word of the fatal shooting of one soldier and the wounding of another outside an army recruiting station in Arkansas.  The news reader, Nora Raum, outlined the incident and stated that the shooting appeared to have “religious motivations.”

The Quagmire Ahead  —  On Jan. 21, 1988, a General Motors executive named Elmer Johnson wrote a brave and prophetic memo.  Its main point was contained in this sentence: “We have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our ability to execute.”

Seventh Circuit Rules That, Under Supreme Court Precedent, the Second Amendment Is Not Incorporated Against the States: The case is NRA v. City of Chicago, the challenge to the Chicago handgun ban.  The core argument: … I don't think this reasoning (from Judge Frank Easterbrook …

Turning Japanese  —  Japan's post-bubble policies produced a “lost decade.”  So why is President Obama emulating them?  —  The scenario was eerily familiar.  A long real estate bubble that had expanded extra rapidly for the previous five years suddenly burst, and asset prices came crashing back down to earth.

ON SOCIALISM.  —  Jon Henke highlights a few people wondering “why everybody is afraid to use the S-word” to describe the government's investment in General Motors.  The easy joke is, doye, Saul Anuzis already decided that socialism was played and conservatives have to call Obama's policies “fascist.”

Chinese Company Said to Be Buyer of Hummer  —  GUANGZHOU, China — General Motors has reached a preliminary agreement for the sale of its Hummer brand of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks to a machinery company in western China with ambitions to become a carmaker …

New poll results are devastating for Obama's Gitmo plan  —  I've gotten a look inside the Gallup poll numbers showing that a majority of Americans oppose shutting down the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.  The numbers are stunning.  They show a strong and virtually across …

AP: tech coming to stop “wholesale theft” on 'Net  —  It looks like the Associated Press is getting pretty close to deploying that ‘anti-misappropriation’ technology the news agency has been talking about.  Ars got an AP editor to give us some details.  —  Ever since the Associated Press warned …

A Question for War on Terror Hawks  —  The attack on Dr. Tiller is widely referred to as “terrorism” in the blogosphere.  Agree or not, it is easy to image an ongoing terrorist campaign run by fringe pro-lifers to shut down abortion clinics.  Heaven forbid that this recent murder is followed …

The Deadly Toll of Abortion by Amateurs  —  BEREGA, Tanzania — A handwritten ledger at the hospital tells a grim story.  For the month of January, 17 of the 31 minor surgical procedures here were done to repair the results of “incomplete abortions.”  A few may have been miscarriages …

A Whole Lot Of Yiffing Going On In The Office Of Pennsylvania GOP Senate Whip, Jane Orie— Gay Yiffing... With A Minor  —  It was like a cross between an episode on MSNBC's Dateline: To Catch A Predator With Chris Hansen and a re-enactment of those heady days in 2006 when Republican Congressman Mark Foley …

IN WHICH I APPARENTLY MAKE MEGHAN MCCAIN ANGRY.... I had an item yesterday noting that Dick Cheney's remarks on gay marriage may have a role in the party's debate over gay rights.  I added what seemed like a pretty uncontroversial idea — while Meghan McCain and Steve Schmidt were other Republicans …