Release Detail  —  May 30, 2013 - American Voters 4-1 Want Special Prosecutor For IRS, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Fixing Economy Is More Important, Voters Say 3-1  —  American voters say 76 - 17 percent, including 63 - 30 percent among Democrats, that a special prosecutor …

Holder runs into roadblocks on off-the-record meetings on leaks  —  Washington (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder's plans to sit down with media representatives to discuss guidelines for handling investigations into leaks to the news media have run into trouble.

EXCLUSIVE: LERNER INTRIGUE GOES BACK TO '96 DURBIN/SALVI U.S. SENATE RACE  —  CHICAGO - The IRS scandal may have its roots in Illinois politics.  Specifically, the 1996 U.S. Senate race between Democrat Congressman Dick Durbin and conservative Republican State Rep. Al Salvi.

The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System  —  A number of exclusions, deductions, preferential rates, and credits in the federal tax system cause revenues to be much lower than they would be otherwise for any given structure of tax rates.

Third Letter Sent to President Obama, Similar to NY Mayor Ricin Letters: Officials  —  Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun group received threatening letters sent from Shreveport, La.  —  A threatening letter was mailed to President Obama that is similar to two letters containing poisonous ricin sent …

Bobby Rush rips Mark Kirk's mass gang arrests proposal as ‘elitist white boy solution’  —  Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is highly critical of a proposal by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) for mass arrests of 18,000 Gangster Disciples, telling the Sun-Times on Wednesday that Kirk's approach is …

IRS's Shulman had more public White House visits than any cabinet member  —  Publicly released records show that embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president's Cabinet.

McCain Wasn't Posing With Rebel Kidnapper, Spokesman Says  —  “Regrettable” if true, McCain spokesman says.  —  Via: Handout/Reuter / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain's office is pushing back against reports that while visiting Syria this week he posed in a photo with rebels who kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims.

Republican Red Flags All Over in Bellwether States  —  The GOP's recruitment struggles in Virginia and Colorado don't bode well for the party's long-term health.  —  For all the lip service given by Republicans to the party's efforts to modernize its image, a quick look at the GOP's standing …

Rob Ford video scandal: Mayor Ford said he knew where video was, sources say  —  The mayor cited “our contacts” as the source of his information, according to insiders familiar with an unusual May 17 session in his office. … Toronto Mayor Rob Ford speaks during a press conference at City Hall …

Harvard 1, Strawman 0  —  To the delight of NY Times headline writers, some politicized Harvard scholars (from the Warren School?) provide an answer to a question nobody is asking:  —  For Medicare, Immigrants Offer Surplus, Study Finds  —  Medicare?  I thought the controversy …

MSNBC Lands In Fourth Place In May; Maddow Hits Ratings Lows  —  MSNBC got some very tough ratings news on Wednesday.  —  Another month of big crime and disaster news saw the network struggle to keep up with rivals CNN, HLN and Fox News.  MSNBC was presumably expecting some dropoff from its 2012 numbers …

One Way Obamacare May Already Be Working  —  There was a time when all anyone in Washington wanted to talk about was “bending the health-care cost curve.”  Forget covering the uninsured — the ultimate test of the Affordable Care Act would be the trajectory of health-care costs.

Officials: Man who knew Boston bombing suspect was unarmed when shot  —  A Chechen man who was fatally shot by an FBI agent last week during an interview about one of the Boston bombing suspects was unarmed, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.  —  An air of mystery has surrounded …

First quarter GDP revised slightly lower; austerity bites  —  (Reuters) - A drop in government spending dragged more on the U.S. economy than initially thought in the first three months of the year, a sign of increasing pain from Washington's austerity drive.

What's going on between the IRS and True the Vote?  —  Texas businesswoman Catherine Engelbrecht says she never had trouble with the government.  That is, until she founded two groups with conservative causes.  Now, she's telling a fascinating story of alleged harassment not only by the IRS …

Tea Partying Strip Club Mogul: The IRS Targeted Me, Too  —  Meet Selim “Sam” Zherka.  New York City strip club proprietor.  Westchester county newspaper owner.  And the self-described “loudest voice” for the Tea Party in New York state.  —  In the weeks since the revelation …

Chicago Sun-Times cuts entire photography staff  —  The Chicago Sun-Times and its sister suburban papers have eliminated their photography staff and will ask the papers' reporters to provide more photography and video for their stories.  —  Managers at Sun-Times Media Holdings LLC …

Conservative Icon Calls GOP's Need To Court Hispanics A ‘Great Myth’  —  Phyllis Schlafly of the pro-family group Eagle Forum called the GOP's need to reach out to Hispanic voters a “great myth” during a conservative radio program Wednesday.  —  “The Hispanics who have come …