Illegal immigrants plan to leave over Ariz. law  —  PHOENIX (AP) — Many of the cars that once stopped in the Home Depot parking lot to pick up day laborers to hang drywall or do landscaping now just drive on by.  —  Arizona's sweeping immigration bill allows police to arrest illegal immigrant …

OBAMA & BIG SIS Call In Riot Police on Quincy Tea Party Patriots (Video)  —  TEAM OBAMA CALLS IN SWAT TEAM ON TEA PARTY PATRIOTS!  —  The SWAT Team was called in today at the Quincy Tea Party Rally.  Obama was speaking at the Oakley-Lindsey/Quincy Community Center this afternoon.  —  Unreal.

Crist to Run as Independent in FL Sen Race  —  Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided he will run as an independent in the race to fill the Florida U.S. Senate seat, Crist allies tell Fox News.  The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 5pm ET in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Republicans Agree to Debate on Financial Overhaul  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans ended three days of resistance on Wednesday and signalled that they are ready to allow debate of legislation to overhaul regulation of the nation's financial system.  —  The Republicans …

Will the Kentucky Derby end the Republican filibuster of FinReg?  —  Word is that the Democrats might make the Republicans actually filibuster FinReg tonight.  That is to say, stand on the floor and talk and talk and talk.  And if the Democrats are serious about forcing the Republicans …

Palin Accidentally Slams Fox News as ‘Lamestream Media’  —  Hats off to our friends at Media Matters for catching this one.  By “lamestream media,” did Palin mean Fox News?: … As they noted, unfortunately that “lamestream media” program she was talking about is Fox & Friends.

DNC chairman fights race-baiting charges  —  Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine said Wednesday that GOP accusations of Democratic race-baiting are dishonest.  —  He said Republicans have injected race into the election.  —  “They're just grasping at a whole lot of different stuff …

Survey Reports  —  Pessimistic Public Doubts Effectiveness of Stimulus, TARP  —  As the debate in Washington heats up over new regulations on financial markets, the public is divided evenly over whether the Republican Party or Democratic Party (36% each) can do a better job of dealing with banks and financial institutions.

NY Senator: ‘You Racist People In Here’  —  Sen. Kevin Parker Hurls Racism Accusations At Colleagues In Albany, Calls Republicans ‘White Supremacists’  —  ALBANY (CBS) ― It looks like the circus and childish antics are rearing their ugly head once again in Albany.

Justices' Ruling Blocks Cross Removal  —  WASHINGTON — A badly fractured Supreme Court, with six justices writing opinions, reopened the possibility on Wednesday that a large cross serving as a war memorial in a remote part of the Mojave Desert may be permitted to remain there.

Rep. Steve King says Rep. Grijalva's district has ceded to Mexico  —  And so it continues.  You can always count on Rep. Steve King to be the lowest of the low.  Here's his newest acute observation on Rep. Grijalva's plight. … Steve King should be the Governor of Texas at this point.

Brown's ‘bigot’ episode shows him acting not out of character, but in it |  Andrew Rawnsley  —  On the Brownout Scale of volcanic eruptions this was only a three or four  —  I would not have wanted to be the seat upholstery of Gordon Brown's car when he was told the radio microphone on his lapel was live.

A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right  —  Authored by Yochai Benkler, Aaron Shaw, Victoria Stodden  —  Abstract  —  Discussions of the political effects of the Internet and networked discourse tend to presume consistent patterns of technological adoption and use within a given society.

Your morning jolt: The woman who beat Sarah Palin in Alaska takes aim at the Georgia House  —  The woman who beat Sarah Palin for the beauty queen title of Miss Alaska in 1984 is aiming for the Legislature.  —  Singer and actress Maryline Blackburn of Smyrna, now a 24-year resident of the state …

GOPer: I Support Deporting American Citizens Whose Parents Are Illegal Immigrants (VIDEO)  —  Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) wants to start deporting American citizens.  —  Not all American citizens, mind you.  Just the natural-born American citizens that are the children of illegal immigrants.

Two Republicans co-sponsor campaign finance bill  —  Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has championed the legislative effort to minimize the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United campaign finance case, has lined up two Republican co-sponsors for the legislation …

Pima County Sheriff Calls Arizona Law “Stupid,” Will Not Enforce It (VIDEO)  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Columnist George Will is of the opinion that Arizona's police officers are capable of handling the task that the state's draconian new anti-immigration law drops into their laps.

The Night Beat: Sorry Charlie  —  What matters tomorrow...tonight.  Subscribe to @marcambinder  —  1. Gaggling on AF1 tonight, Obama sounds skeptical he'll see immigration bill this year; says there “may not be an appetite” in Congress ... praises Lindsey Graham by name... gives hints of new federal border protection measures. ...