U.S. Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP CEO for ‘$20 billion shakedown’  —  mmason@dallasnews.com  —  WASHINGTON - Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday morning for the “political pressure” his company is facing.  —  Barton condemned the White House's handling …

Check, Please  —  I was checking in tonight to see what was new, came across a diary trashing first me and my colleague Rachel, and scrolled through it shaking my head, sadly, until I got to one comment that leaped off the page. … “Can't verify”... “haven't checked” …

Tea partyers push back against ‘The Rise of the New Right’ with boycott  —  Tea party groups are reacting strongly and negatively to MSNBC's documentary “The Rise of the New Right,” hosted by Chris Matthews.  Yesterday, FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey expressed personal disgust with Matthews …

Language guru: Obama speech too ‘professorial’  —  (CNN) — President Obama's speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday.  —  Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House …

Election 2010: Arkansas Senate  —  Arkansas Senate: Boozman (R) 61%, Lincoln (D) 32%  —  Republican John Boozman now holds a near two-to-one lead over Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas' U.S. Senate race, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state.

Bullied into a £13bn cave-in: Obama forces BP to set up huge compensation fund for U.S. oil spill victims - and British pensioners will pick up the bill  —  The crisis engulfing BP plumbed new depths last night as President Obama bullied the company into depositing £13.5billion …

Armed revolt part of Sharron Angle's rhetoric  —  Candidate says trouble is brewing, but she believes in ballot box  —  Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 15, 2010, as she leaves the Republican party policy luncheon.

AP-GfK poll shows gains for health care overhaul  —  WASHINGTON - The patient is alive and kicking.  A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds public support for President Barack Obama's new health care law has risen to its highest point.  —  The nation remains divided, with 45 percent in favor …

Pollster Scott Rasmussen's numbers are firing up Republicans and Democrats  —  ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Here is a fun fact for those in the political polling orthodoxy who liken Scott Rasmussen to a conjurer of Republican-friendly numbers: He works above a paranormal bookstore crowded with Ouija boards and psychics on the Jersey Shore.

Puppy thrown at German biker gang  —  A German student “mooned” a group of Hell's Angels and hurled a puppy at them before escaping on a stolen bulldozer, police have said.  —  The man drove up to a Hell's Angels clubhouse near Munich, wearing only a pair of shorts and carrying a puppy.

The Pulpit of a Bully  —  Mike Allen broke this astounding bit of news yesterday: … The 51st Congress (1889-91) was tagged as the Billion Dollar Congress, a profligate Republican-run legislature that raided the Treasury in an effort to pay off all its supporters.

New Jersey Voters Split On Christie As Leader Or Bully, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Oppose Many Budget-Cutting Ideas  —  New Jersey voters give Gov. Christopher Christie a split 44 - 43 percent job approval rating and 44 percent describe him as a “leader,” while 43 percent call him a …

Crude Politics  —  The drilling experts speak out on the Obama deepwater moratorium.  —  Before the Obama Administration sweeps under the carpet the controversy over the drilling experts it falsely used to justify its moratorium, the incident bears another look.

End Is Seen to Free Checking  —  Bank of America Corp. and other banks are preparing new fees on basic banking services as they try to replace revenue lost to regulatory rules, in a push that is expected to spell an end to free checking accounts for many Americans.

The Boring Speech Policy  —  On Monday night in Ohio, a 62-foot-tall statue of Jesus got hit by lightning and burned to the ground.  (The adult bookstore across the street was unscathed.)  Less than 12 hours later, Gen. David Petraeus — who is not God, although certain members of Congress …

Can Republicans Take Back the House?  —  Editor's Note: These days the best D.C. parlor game is guessing November's House results.  We've recently made our own contribution, with a district-by-district analysis that projects—as of early June—a Republican net gain of 32 seats.

More Than 90 Banks Miss TARP Payments  —  More than 90 U.S. banks and thrifts missed making a May 17 payment to the U.S. government under its main bank bailout program, signaling a rising number of lenders are struggling to meet their obligations.  —  The statistics, compiled by SNL Financial …

Walpin-gate swings wide open  —  Two big new twists on anniversary of IG firing  —  One year to the day after illegally firing AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin, the Obama administration is scrambling to ward off further embarrassments related to the case.