Top Items:
The Politico:
The GOP's special failure — All the evidence pointing to monster Republican House gains this fall—the Scott Brown upset win in Massachusetts, the scary polling numbers in once-safely Democratic districts, the ever-rising number of Democratic seats thought to be in jeopardy—was contradicted Tuesday.
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
‘WHERE IS THE WAVE?’.... Arguably the most important election yesterday wasn't a primary race, but rather, the congressional special election in Pennsylvania's 12th — a contest to fill the vacancy left by the late Rep. Jack Murtha (D). — Observers in both parties considered the race something of a bellwether.
Discussion:
American Thinker, Hot Air, American Power, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Impolitic, CBS News, Discourse.net, Eschaton and The Note
New York Times:
Specter Defeat Signals a Wave Against Incumbents — WASHINGTON — Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who left the Republican Party a year ago in hopes of salvaging a 30-year career, was rejected on Tuesday by Democratic primary voters, with Representative Joe Sestak winning the party's nomination …
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, Time, The Faster Times, The Note, Boston Globe, Kentucky Politics, Politics Daily, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Main Justice, Philly.com, Newsweek Blogs, pa2010.com, Wall Street Journal, The Politico, Left Coast Rebel, The Fix, The BLT, DISSENTING JUSTICE, msnbc.com, Outside The Beltway, Slate, Plain Dealer, Breitbart.tv, Firedoglake, No More Mister Nice Blog, Bloggasm, ABCNEWS and BBC
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Resultsblogging II: PA-12 — Former John Murtha staffer Mark Critz's win in the PA-12 House election is just straight-up embarrassing for Republicans. The Democratic strategy was straight out of the 2006/2008 playbook. Find a moderately conservative House district and run a somewhat heterodox Democrat.
Reuters:
Activists seize control of politics — For any politician with the usual instincts for self-protection, the lessons of Tuesday's primaries could not be more clear: This could happen to you. — Arlen Specter lost in Pennsylvania even though the party-switching Democrat was recruited and backed by a sitting president.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Washington Post, The Politico, Commentary, Taegan Goddard's … and Associated Press
Thomas M. Defrank / NY Daily News:
Sen. Arlen Specter's primary loss continues bad 2010 for President Obama, Democrats
Sen. Arlen Specter's primary loss continues bad 2010 for President Obama, Democrats
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
PA-12 LIVE Election Results; UPDATE: Democrat Wins; Burns Concedes
PA-12 LIVE Election Results; UPDATE: Democrat Wins; Burns Concedes
Discussion:
National Review, Right Now, Big Government, Gateway Pundit, alicublog, Conservatives4Palin.com and American Spectator
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Sestak, Paul score wins as Lincoln faces runoff — Upstart Senate candidates claimed two stunning victories in primary elections Tuesday night as Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak denied incumbent Democrat Arlen Specter renomination to a sixth term and Kentucky insurgent Rand Paul easily bested …
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Is Rand Ron's Son? Or the Most Powerful Republican in the Woooorld? — Rand Paul is in the spotlight tonight. He's enjoying Scott Brown-like status as the Most Powerful Republican In The World. And look: he says he represents the Tea Party movement. So that must be the end of it, right?
Washington Post:
Sen. Arlen Specter loses Pennsylvania primary; Rand Paul wins in Kentucky
Sen. Arlen Specter loses Pennsylvania primary; Rand Paul wins in Kentucky
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Ezra Klein, The Hill, Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, What's New, The Plum Line, USA Today, Courier-Journal, The Faster Times and Wall Street Journal
Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
After 30 Years and Party Switch, Career Curtain for Specter
After 30 Years and Party Switch, Career Curtain for Specter
Discussion:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
New York Times:
Blumenthal's Vietnam Claims Grew in Time, Colleague Says — Former Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut found it puzzling: over time, his friend Attorney General Richard Blumenthal kept revising how he talked about his military service during the Vietnam War. At first, in the 1980s, he was humble.
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Larry Pressler / New York Times:
The Technicality Generation
The Technicality Generation
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Questions and Observations, Newsweek Blogs, Vox Popoli, The Daily Beast and The Plum Line
Alex Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times:
Pakistan arrests army officer linked to Times Square bomb suspect — The major's involvement with Faisal Shahzad remains unclear, but authorities say the two met in Islamabad and were in cellphone contact. — Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — Investigators have arrested …
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Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
HOUSE PASSES BEER RESOLUTION — While most of Washington was focused on Tuesday's election results, the House was busy doing something else: Passing a resolution about beer. — House Resolution 1297, sponsored by Rep. Betsy Markey, supports “the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week.”
New York Times:
Thesis Is Window on Roots of Kagan's Legal Creed — WASHINGTON — As a young graduate student, Elena Kagan wrote that it was “not necessarily wrong or invalid” for judges to “try to mold and steer the law” to achieve social ends, but warned that such rulings must be rooted in legal principles to be accepted by society and endure.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Caucus, CNN, The Politico, Law Blog, Main Justice, Liveshots, ABCNEWS, Political Punch, Lynn Sweet and Balkinization
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Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Crotchety Progressive Rant — I am outraged by this, because this is outrageous. — And yet, where are the street protests in response to this outrage? No, not those protests—we need bigger ones. There should be hundreds of thousands of people out there protesting this. Every day.
Jane Horwitz / Washington Post:
Theater J pulls Madoff play after objections from activist Elie Wiesel — Bowing to objections from Elie Wiesel, the author, human rights activist and Holocaust survivor, Theater J has canceled its first production of the coming season — a play in which Wiesel is a character.
Bloomberg:
Conspiracy of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash — A telephone call between a financial adviser in Beverly Hills and a trader in New York was all it took to fleece taxpayers on a water-and-sewer financing deal in West Virginia. The secret conversation was part of a conspiracy stretching across …
Discussion:
naked capitalism, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice, The Glittering Eye, Clusterstock, Suburban Guerrilla and DealBook
Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:
Why We're Having an Everybody Draw Mohammed Contest on Thursday May 20 — The deadline for submitting work to Reason's Everybody Draw Mohammed contest has passed; winners will be shown on Thursday, May 20. — All that remains is anticipation, both of the artwork that will be displayed …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:
Campbell Brown Leaving CNN After Network Grants Release From Contract (UPDATE) — Mediaite has learned CNN has granted anchor Campbell Brown's request to be let out early from her contract. — She has agreed to stay on and anchor the 8pmET hour until a replacement is found. Updated with statements.
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J.P. Freire / Beltway Confidential:
DOJ Voting Rights attorney resigns over Black Panthers stonewalling — A trial attorney with the Department of Justice's Voting Rights Section has resigned, citing concerns about the government's refusal to prosecute a case involving voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Scandals in the House Republican Class of 1994 — When was it, exactly, that the Republican revolution merged with the sexual revolution? — With each passing year, the class notes for the famous House Republicans Class of '94 get more lurid. The latest entry was submitted Tuesday morning by Rep. Mark Souder (Ind.).
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: The most depressing commencement address ever? — I'm posting this for one reason only: If Specter wins, the blow will fall so heavily on some of us that it could prove fatal unless we're prepared for it first. Consider this preparation. After you watch, you'll be so bummed …