Voters Shifting to GOP  —  Republicans have solidified support among voters who had drifted from the party in recent elections, putting the GOP in position for a strong comeback in November's mid-term campaign, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Arizona tourism loses more business in wake of immigration law vote  —  Arizona took another hit Wednesday as Republicans cast a vote for the home of their 2012 convention.  Phoenix made the short list but lost out to Tampa.  —  It was little surprise to tourism officials in Arizona.

SC Gov. Sanford saw Argentine lover in Florida  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Wednesday he spent last weekend in Florida with his Argentine lover, hoping to rekindle the affair that wrecked his marriage and his political future and brought a formal rebuke from legislators for embarrassing the state.

Broad Approval For New Arizona Immigration Law  —  Democrats Divided, But Support key Provisions  —  The public broadly supports a new Arizona law aimed at dealing with illegal immigration and the law's provisions giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.

1,000-page climate bill is unveiled  —  Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Wednesday unveiled their nearly 1,000-page climate change bill, flanked by environmentalists, religious and ex-military leaders and energy industry officials.  —  But the glaring absence …

Cuomo Is Said to Question Banks' Influence on Ratings  —  The New York attorney general has started an investigation of eight banks to determine whether they provided misleading information to rating agencies in order to inflate the grades of certain mortgage securities, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.

Galbraith: The danger posed by the deficit ‘is zero’  —  James Galbraith is an economist and the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. chair in government and business relations at the University of Texas at Austin.  He's also a skeptic of the prevailing concern over America's long-term deficit.

HOW THEY DO IT  —  In 1993, Elena Kagan wrote an article for the University of Chicago Law Review that included this sentence:  —  I take it as a given that we live in a society marred by racial and gender inequality, that certain forms of speech perpetuate and promote this inequality …

Iraq violence delays US withdrawal  —  Withdrawal of first large phase of combat troops likely to be delayed for at least a month due to Iraq's instability  —  The White House is likely to delay the withdrawal of the first large phase of combat troops from Iraq for at least a month …

Questions surround Kagan's handling of White House eco-terrorist controversy  —  In 1995 and 1996, future Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was involved in a bizarre controversy in which the Clinton White House was accused of siding with an eco-terrorist group locked in a standoff with federal agents deep in the woods of Oregon.

The Contrast in Mood Between Today and 1983  —  The most astonishing and surprising thing I find about Washington DC today is the contrast in mood between DC today and what DC was thinking a generation ago, in 1983, the last time the unemployment rate was kissing 10%.

VAT ‘will rise’ under coalition  —  VAT is set to rise under the new coalition government, according to a BBC survey of influential economists.  —  Of 29 independent economists currently used by the Treasury to assist its forecasts, 24 said they expected the rate to rise in the coming parliament.

The banality of weasels  —  They could toss in more, but FoxNews and Goldline  —  Oh dear, I hope it's okay to refer to Oil Executives (and clearly my betters) with a derisive name.  But after failing to contain an oil spill by dropping something they picked up from PODS …

Statement by President Obama on Financial Reform  —  Throughout the debate on Wall Street reform, I have urged members of the Senate to fight the efforts of special interests and their lobbyists to weaken consumer protections.  An amendment that the Senate will soon consider would do exactly that …

Arrest of 13 CIA Agents Sought in Spain  —  Prosecutors attached to the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid are reportedly requesting that Judge Ismael Moreno issue an order for the arrest of thirteen CIA agents involved in an extraordinary rendition operation from 2004, the newspaper El País reports …

The New Poor: The Economy Shifts, Leaving Some Behind  —  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many of the jobs lost during the recession are not coming back.  —  Period.  —  For the last two years, the weak economy has provided an opportunity for employers to do what they would have done anyway …

U.S. posts 19th straight monthly budget deficit  —  (Reuters) - The United States posted an $82.69 billion deficit in April, nearly four times the $20.91 billion shortfall registered in April 2009 and the largest on record for that month, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Stupak: Oil well's blowout preventer had leaks, dead battery, design flaws  —  A senior House Democrat said that the blowout preventer that failed to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a “useless” test version …

It's official: Charlie Crist won't give campaign refunds  —  Gov. Charlie Crist told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on April 30 that he would “probably” give refunds to donors who don't approve of him leaving the GOP.  Some donors to his U.S. Senate campaign were told before the switch …

Books of The Times: ‘The Promise: President Obama, Year One’ by Jonathan Alter  —  With relentless 24/7 media coverage of President Obama and a floodlet of books about him, the reader might well ask: Why another study of him and his White House, when his presidency is less than a year and a half old?

Oil Spill, Smoke Screen?  BP's Stranglehold on Underwater Leak Footage  —  Message Control A Key Industry Focus During Oil Disaster Drills  —  During a series of dry-run exercises, where the U.S. Coast Guard, other agencies and oil companies practiced their response to major oil spill disasters …

PM Netanyahu's Jerusalem Day speech at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva  —  No other people has the connection the people of Israel have with Jerusalem and Zion.  But there was also no other people that allowed other religions freedom of worship and freedom of access to the holy places other than the people of Israel.