Poll: For the midterms, a tilt to the GOP … LEANING REPUBLICAN OBAMA'S IMPACT  —  IMPORTANT ISSUES  —  VIEWPOINTS  —  Source: USA TODAY/Pew Research Center poll taken April 23-27 of 1,501 adults.  Margin of error: +/-3 percentage points.  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats hoping improvements …

The Benghazi-Industrial Complex  —  Will the pseudo-scandal be enough to stop Hillary from running?  —  Perhaps if the Republicans can't beat Hillary Clinton fairly in 2016, they can make her so disgusted by the prospect of running that she'll stay out of the race.  —  That's where the Benghazi-Industrial Complex comes in.

Gary Becker, RIP  —  Nobel Prize winner Gary Becker, one of the greatest economists of the last century, passed away on Saturday.  Gary Becker did pathbreaking work on numerous issues, including the economics of discrimination, criminal behavior, the family, and the dynamics of political interest groups.

Inventing a Failure  —  Last week, House Republicans released a deliberately misleading report on the status of health reform, crudely rigging the numbers to sustain the illusion of failure in the face of unexpected success.  Are you shocked?  —  You aren't, but you should be.

U.S. Uninsured Rate Drops to 13.4%  —  Uninsured rate down nearly four percentage points since late 2013  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate for U.S. adults in April was 13.4%, down from 15.0% in March.  This is the lowest monthly uninsured rate recorded since Gallup and Healthways began tracking it in January 2008.

E.J. Dionne Jr.: The Hillary difference  —  There are two majorities in the country right now.  One disapproves of President Obama.  The other is still inclined to vote Democratic.  The key question for the 2014 elections is whether voting this fall — and Obama's approval ratings …

At Derby Day With Murdoch, Rand Paul Goes Through His Paces  —  LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On the afternoon of the Kentucky Derby, Rand Paul, the state's junior Republican senator and likely presidential candidate, spilled out of an elevator in the exclusive Jockey Club Suites of Churchill Downs …

GOP candidate booted from editorial meeting after calling out ‘blah blah’ dis  —  A Republican Senate candidate was kicked out of a local Oregon newspaper's editorial board meeting after daring to challenge a reporter who dissed a fellow candidate by writing “blah blah blah” in his notes instead of her actual quotes.

May primaries to test GOP establishment clout  —  The month of May will go a long way toward answering one of the overriding questions of Election 2014: Can the Republican establishment finally quell the tea party and retake the Senate?  —  A month-long series of primaries …