National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 1st quarter 2012 (advance estimate)  —  Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 …

FLASHBACK: Obama Campaign Accused Clinton Of Using Bin Laden To ‘Score Political Points’ In 2008  —  ABC News' Michael Falcone reports:  —  The Obama campaign opened up a new line of attack on Mitt Romney Friday, suggesting that as commander-in-chief Romney might not have made the same decision …

Strassel: The President Has a List  —  Barack Obama attempts to intimidate contributors to Mitt Romney's campaign.  —  Try this thought experiment: You decide to donate money to Mitt Romney.  You want change in the Oval Office, so you engage in your democratic right to send a check.

Why Jeb Bush doesn't want veep  —  He's the GOP vice presidential pick that Democrats fear most — a brassy choice who would likely deliver his crucial home state, boost the ticket with Hispanics and Catholics and appeal to both conservatives and independents.  —  The problem: Jeb Bush apparently doesn't want the job.

Club for Growth urges Republicans in House to vote against student-loan bill  —  The well-funded, fiscally conservative Club for Growth has urged House Republicans to vote against legislation that would extended lower interest rates on federal student loans, a move that could complicate Speaker John Boehner's …

Arizona Is (Probably) Not a Swing State  —  Two polls released this week show the presidential race essentially tied in Arizona, with one giving Barack Obama a lead of two percentage points and the other giving Mitt Romney a lead of two percentage points.  The Obama campaign has suggested …

'80s Band Contemplating Legal Action Against Rove Group  —  An Obama-bashing commercial by Karl Rove's Super PAC appears to sample from an '80s electronica hit — but Yello did not approve this message.  —  Swiss band Yello  —  Source: s3-ak.buzzfed.com  —  Swiss electronica band …

Death of a Fairy Tale  —  This was the month the confidence fairy died.  —  For the past two years most policy makers in Europe and many politicians and pundits in America have been in thrall to a destructive economic doctrine.  According to this doctrine, governments should respond …

Martin attorney: Put Zimmerman in jail  —  (CNN) — George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer accused of wrongly killing Trayvon Martin, will not immediately have to turn over donations made to his website, a Florida judge said Friday.  —  Zimmerman collected about $204,000 …

Obama administration scraps child labor restrictions for farms  —  The Labor Department withdrew a proposed rule Thursday that would have limited the work that children can perform on farms.  —  The proposal drew heavy criticism from rural-state lawmakers and agricultural leaders …

Spanish economy in “huge crisis” after credit downgrade  —  (Reuters) - Spain's sickly economy faces a “crisis of huge proportions”, a minister said on Friday, as unemployment hit its highest level in two decades and Standard and Poor's weighed in with a two-notch downgrade of the government's debt.

At 92, Bandit to Hollywood but Hero to Soldiers  —  MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — One of the world's most prolific bootleggers of Hollywood DVDs loves his morning farina.  He has spent eight years churning out hundreds of thousands of copies of “The Hangover,” “Gran Torino” and other first-run movies …

Secret Service probing foreign hard-partying allegations going back to 2000  —  (CBS News) WASHINGTON - The Secret Service sex scandal is getting wider.  —  The dispute over payment to a prostitute in Cartagena, Colombia, by a Secret Service agent has triggered new charges of hard partying and impropriety by agents around the globe.

Anheuser-Busch Warns UFC About Fighters' Sexist, Homophobic Comments  —  Major Sponsor Threatens Action ‘If Incidents Continue’  —  Anheuser-Busch, a major sponsor of Ultimate Fighting Championship, has reprimanded the mixed-martial arts organization for remarks made by some fighters.

Republicans seek to hold attorney general in contempt over Fast and Furious  —  House GOP leaders draft a citation accusing Eric H. Holder Jr. and the Justice Department of hindering their inquiry into the ATF gun-tracking operation.  —  Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. says he and his Justice Department …

Tucker Carlson's downward spiral  —  Once a promising young magazine writer, the bow-tied Daily Caller pundit has come to epitomize right-wing hackdom … In many ways Tucker Carlson's a better symbol of the pathetic state of what passes for conservative journalism than even Glenn Beck …

Scott Brown releases tax returns; Dems cry foul on his ‘everyman’ image  —  Six years of tax returns released Friday by Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) showed that his income has grown significantly since becoming a senator in 2010, prompting Democrats to cry foul on the “everyman” image Brown has promoted.

Is Our Adults Learning?  —  In 2009, we had a big debate about whether to pass a stimulus package.  Many esteemed and/or Nobel Prize-winning economists like Joseph Stiglitz, Larry Summers and Christina Romer argued that it would help lift the economy out of recession.

Nebraska battle complicates GOP effort to retake Senate  —  The Senate Republican primary in Nebraska has turned into a proxy war between conservatives and establishment Republicans that could complicate efforts to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats.

ALEC Has Special Exemption In South Carolina's Lobbying Law … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Video, ALEC Stand Your Ground, Alec, Alec Common Cause, Alec Lobbying, Alec Lobbyists, Alec South Carolina, Alec Voter Id, American Legislative Exchange Council, Common Cause, Politics News

Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote  —  Update: Several people have asserted that Quayle's amendment actually made CISPA better, not worse.  I've now posted my thoughts on that.  —  Up until this afternoon, the final vote on CISPA was supposed to be tomorrow.

Gamechanger: Romney once saved a dog's life  —  You can thank BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski for the front-page thumbnail.  In all seriousness, this is a “gamechanger” in the literal sense of that term.  Axelrod and his pals are playing a breathtakingly stupid game with the “dog wars” …

Elizabeth Warren Isn't the Only One  —  Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren finds herself in a bit of a quandary.  In the mid-90s there was a minor kerfuffle over the lack of diversity on Harvard Law's teaching staff.  At the time, 54 of Harvard Law's 71 professors were white males.