Romney takes the lead in Pennsylvania  —  Mitt Romney's taken the lead in PPP's newest poll of Rick Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania.  Romney has 42% to 37% for Santorum with Ron Paul at 9% and Newt Gingrich at 6%.  The numbers represent a dramatic turnaround from when PPP polled the state a month ago.

White House in damage control over Obama Supreme Court remarks  —  (Reuters) - The White House was forced on the defensive on Wednesday as it sought to explain controversial remarks President Barack Obama made earlier in the week about the Supreme Court's review of his signature healthcare reform law.

Boycotts Hitting Group Behind ‘Stand Your Ground’ … Two of America's best-known companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, have dropped their memberships in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a low-profile conservative organization behind the national proliferation of “stand your ground” gun laws.

Bay State not buying ‘war on women’  —  Political analysts shocked by Republican Scott Brown's 2010 victory to replace Ted Kennedy as Massachusetts senator should brace themselves.  This year's contest between Sen. Brown and Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren remains a key battleground …

The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin  —  The absurdity of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton is that they want to make a movement out of an anomaly.  Black teenagers today are afraid of other black teenagers, not whites.  —  Two tragedies are apparent in the Trayvon Martin case.

Rocket fired from Egypt hits Israeli city of Eilat  —  A Grad rocket has landed in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, but has caused no damage or injuries, Israeli security officials said.  —  District police chief Ron Gertner told Israeli radio the rocket had been fired from Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

Sky News admits hacking emails of ‘canoe man’  —  Broadcaster says accessing of emails of John Darwin, who faked own death, was authorised by executives and in public interest  —  Sky News has admitted that one of its senior executives authorised a journalist to conduct email hacking …

Student removed from contest for pro-gay remark  —  Fullerton Union High School student says he hopes gay marriage will be legal and is removed from Mr. Fullerton competition.  —  Text: Next Article »  —  / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER  —  FULLERTON - Students …

Waukesha County clerk needs to step down  —  Upcoming elections - from the gubernatorial recall to the presidential - are too important to leave in the hands of Kathy Nickolaus.  —  Imagine this: It's 9 p.m. on June 5, recall election day, and the polls have been closed for an hour.

On the stump, Dems split with Obama over Keystone XL pipeline  —  President Obama has steered clear of taking a firm stance on the Keystone pipeline, but many Democrats running for Senate don't have the same luxury.  —  Eight of the 18 non-incumbent Democrats running for Senate surveyed …

CIA Committed ‘War Crimes,’ Bush Official Says  —  A top adviser to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned the Bush administration that its use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading” interrogation techniques like waterboarding were “a felony war crime.”

Exclusive: Scott Walker on Recall: “God's Got A Plan”  —  In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says prayer has gotten him and his family through this recall effort and that God has it all under control.  “All this is just a temporary thing and God's got a plan for us,” Walker tells us.

GOP version of Dream Act holds promise  —  Young Latino protesters hold placards outside Mitt Romney' s Nevada campaign headquarters in Las Vegas in February  —  Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a CNN.com contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist

Lawrence O'Donnell, Bigot  —  I am announcing the creation of a new award, which I will call the Golden Ass, to be presented to those who resort to anti-Mormon bigotry in their campaign against Mitt Romney.  Today's Golden Ass is Lawrence O'Donnell, an asinus aureus if ever there was one, an ass of exceptional asininity.

WANKER OF THE DECADE - 8th Runner Up  —  Richard Cohen.  —  Cohen's different than most of the people who will likely receive this honor.  Most of the people on this illustrious list will be notable by the fact that they're pretty much wrong about everything all the time.

Down the Insurance Rabbit Hole  —  ON the second day of oral arguments over the Affordable Care Act, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., trying to explain what sets health care apart, told the Supreme Court, “This is a market in which you may be healthy one day and you may be a very unhealthy participant …

If Justice Kennedy Wants to Play Solomon  —  If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate, must it throw out the entire health care law?  Or is there a way to perform a salvage operation, rather than a wrecking operation, as Justice Ruth Bader Gisburg suggested at oral arguments?

Appeals Court Hears Arguments on Gay Marriage Law  —  BOSTON — A federal appeals court panel heard arguments Wednesday on whether to uphold a lower court's finding that a section of the 1996 law banning federal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Ryan, Architect of G.O.P. Budget, in Election Focus for Romney Ties  —  WASHINGTON — With Mitt Romney on a steady march to the Republican presidential nomination after a sweep of three primaries, both he and President Obama are seizing on the Republican House budget, and its ambitious young architect …