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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
White House official: ‘Organized labor just flushed $10 million down the toilet’ — A senior White House official just called me with a very pointed message for the administration's sometime allies in organized labor, who invested heavily in beating Blanche Lincoln, Obama's candidate, in Arkanas.
Discussion:
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Anti-Incumbent Rage Bypasses Arkansas — WASHINGTON — On a primary election night when the heralded anti-incumbency sentiment was expected to again demonstrate its strength, Senator Blanche Lincoln proved there were clear limits to its power. — Virtually written off as a likely victim …
Discussion:
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
The Meaning Of Arkansas, Regardless Of The Winner — It's a funny habit we political pundits have. If, say, 3,000 votes separate a winner from a loser, we forget that a small shift in some part of a state could have swung those votes the other way, and we tend to massively over-interpret the meaning of the tiniest of margins.
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Whitman and Fiorina Win in California — WASHINGTON — Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, who ascended to the top of the business world before turning to politics, prevailed on Tuesday in their respective battles for the Republican nominations for the United States Senate and governor in California …
Discussion:
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
AFL to White House: 'Labor isn't an arm of the Democratic Party' — The major labor federation AFL-CIO took sharp objection tonight to a White House official's assessment that they'd “flushed $10 million of their members' money down the toilet” in the “pointless exercise” …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
How Blanche Lincoln won — 1. Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Democratic runoff victory Tuesday night proved that conventional wisdom is often wrong. — Lincoln's political obituary was written in the days after she narrowly bested Lt. Gov. Bill Halter — 44.5 percent to 42.5 percent …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, The Caucus, The Nation, The Birmingham and Hotline On Call
First Read / msnbc.com:
First thoughts: Lincoln's surprise — A jubilant Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) celebrates her surprise primary victory last night. … From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg — *** Lincoln's surprise: So what was the most surprising story of the night …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
The June 8 elections: A verdict on incumbents, unions, and Democrats
The June 8 elections: A verdict on incumbents, unions, and Democrats
Jae C. Hong / Newsweek:
Sex Change — In an election season marked by voters' desire …
Sex Change — In an election season marked by voters' desire …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Lee Smith / Tablet Magazine:
Indispensable — Michael Oren, a 55-year-old U.S.-born historian of the modern Middle East and the author of two best-selling books, one on the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and another on the United States' 200-year-old experience in the Middle East, renounced his U.S. citizenship at an emotional ceremony …
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Eli Lake / Washington Times:
American Jewish community ends support of Turkish interests on Hill — In October 2000, the government of Turkey had a problem. — House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert had promised to bring a resolution commemorating the Armenian genocide to the floor for a vote, a move that Ankara said would be a slap in the face to a NATO ally.
TPMDC:
Reid Opponent Embraces Patriot Group That Warns Of ‘Giant Concentration Camps’ — The peculiar ideology of Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada, is perhaps no better illustrated than by her embrace of the patriot group Oath Keepers …
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Ed Barnes / Fox News:
Reuters Admits Cropping Photos of Ship Clash, Denies Political Motive — On the left, the uncropped photo. On the right, Reuters' released photo. (Reuters) — The British-based Reuters news agency has been stung for the second time by charges that it edited politically sensitive photos in a way that casts Israel in a bad light.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
LINDSEY GRAHAM PULLS AWAY THE FOOTBALL, AGAIN.... For the better part of a year, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) worked with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on a comprehensive climate/energy bill. It was poised to be a pretty strong package, that struck a grand bargain between parties and interests.
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kaus.sitebuilder.completecampaigns.com:
Concession Statement — Mickey Kaus claimed a form of victory Tuesday night after he apparently drew more than 5% of the Democratic primary vote against three-term incumbent Barbara Boxer: — STATEMENT OF MICKEY KAUS — I congratulate Senator Boxer on her primary victory.
Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
California Voters Back Election Overhaul — SAN FRANCISCO — Hoping to fix a system many Californians view as fundamentally broken, voters Tuesday moved to radically alter the way they pick their candidates for state and Congressional offices by eliminating traditional primaries in favor of a new, and largely untested, system.
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Dorothy Rabinowitz / Wall Street Journal:
The Alien in the White House — The distance between the president and the people is beginning to be revealed. — The deepening notes of disenchantment with Barack Obama now issuing from commentators across the political spectrum were predictable. So, too, were the charges …
Discussion:
Samizdata.net
Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
Looking ahead: Fiorina vs. Boxer — ANAHEIM, Calif. — U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and GOP candidate Carly Fiorina have already started sharply attacking each other and offering a preview of what could become one of the most compelling Senate races in the country this fall.
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The Page
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James Craven / The New Britain Herald:
‘Lying face to face’ — NEW BRITAIN — A member of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's staff, himself a former major and judge advocate in the U.S. Marines, is calling Blumenthal a liar and disgrace to the Marine Corps for representing himself repeatedly as having served in Vietnam.
The Hill:
Will anyone replace her? — In the end, Helen Thomas got the last laugh. Before anybody could throw her out of the White House briefing room, she denied them the pleasure by walking out on her own. — Thomas herself couldn't defend her latest comments about Israel — and she didn't try.
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Jon A. Krosnick / New York Times:
The Climate Majority — ON Thursday, the Senate will vote on a resolution proposed by Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, that would scuttle the Environmental Protection Agency's plans to limit emissions of greenhouse gases by American businesses. — Passing the resolution might seem to be exactly what Americans want.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Nancy Pelosi, the liberal House speaker, is heckled by liberals — For 17 months, anger at President Obama and congressional Democrats has been pooling on the left. On Tuesday morning, it spilled onto the floor of an Omni Shoreham ballroom and splashed all over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Discussion:
Don Surber, news.firedoglake.com, Naked Politics, Betsy's Page, Balloon Juice and The Politico
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Primaries — It's always dangerous to try to sum up a bunch of disparate events into a single trend, but I suppose yesterday's primary results on the Democratic side show that we're still in a world that's less interesting and less dynamic than journalists and activists alike want it to be.
Discussion:
A plain blog about politics
New York Times:
Keeping Politics Safe for the Rich — In a burst of judicial activism, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upended the gubernatorial race in Arizona, cutting off matching funds to candidates participating in the state's public campaign finance system. Suddenly, three candidates, including Gov. Jan Brewer …
Reuters:
Israel eases Gaza embargo to allow snack food — (Reuters) - Israel is easing its Gaza embargo to allow snack food and drinks into the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian officials said Wednesday, following an international outcry over Israel's raid on an aid flotilla.
Todd J. Zywicki / Washington Times:
Why aren't banks lending? — Because bureaucrats and politicians won't let them — Despite constant urging by Washington for banks to increase their lending, credit conditions remain tight. Small-business lending continues to lag, and credit card issuers have slashed credit lines and canceled thousands of accounts.