And the award for the most ridiculous poll sampling goes to ...  Move over, CBS.  Hang up the kid-leather gloves, WaPo/ABC.  There's a new sample-skewing sheriff in town, and it's the Associated Press.  In a new definition of “outlier,” the AP reported that its latest poll …

House GOP freshmen conveniently forget 2010  —  A wide variety of House Republicans, especially freshmen in competitive districts, heard from their constituents over the recent two-week break, and discovered that voters aren't impressed with the GOP plan to end Medicare.

Catholic Academics Challenge Boehner  —  A group of prominent Catholic academics have signed a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, on the occasion of his forthcoming commencement address at the Catholic University of America.  I will provide commentary later today …

NJ State Police “Outraged” Over Rapper Invite to White House  —  Common at the 2011 Common Ground Foundation gala fundraiser at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago last month.  —  The invitation of rapper Common to the White House this week is drawing the ire of the union representing New Jersey state police.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Dead, Vader Says  —  CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday.

Reid defends labor board's decision  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday defended the National Labor Relations Board, which has come under heavy criticism from Republicans.  —  Reid said the NLRB “acts as a check on employers and employees alike” and is consistent with the …

Romney backed a *federal* individual health care mandate in 1994  —  Bumped, for Seamus. - promoted by david  —  We're all positively breathless with anticipation over what Mitt Romney might have to say about health care tomorrow in Michigan.  He's tried so many times to explain …

White House backs down after subpoena threat from Rep. Issa  —  The Obama administration will send an official to testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing after Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) threatened to issue a subpoena.  —  The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) …

President to Renew Muslim Outreach  —  WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S.

Same-sex marriage and the '16 nomination  —  It's basically self-parody here at POLITICO to write about the 2016 presidential campaign, and I don't plan to do it much.  But I thought it was worth passing on a point Bob Shrum made to me yesterday about one of the three or four Democrats already operating …

Peace Corps Volunteers Speak Out on Rape  —  WASHINGTON — Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and “helping the world.”  She left six weeks later a rape victim after being brutalized in an alley by a knife-wielding gang.

As Breitbart and Loesch Cover Their Tracks, Professors Cleared By University Officials  —  You may recall this video.  It was the first of two posted on Big Government's site two weeks ago alleging that UMSL Professor Don Giljum and UMKC Professor Judy Ancel were teaching impressionable young college students …

Donald Trump Lets His Hair Down  —  A conversation with the host of The Celebrity Apprentice  —  Like you, we've always wondered what's inside Donald Trump's wallet.  So, on a recent visit to his office at the top of Trump Tower in Manhattan, the epicenter of his vast real estate empire …