memeorandum: U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years (Jeanna Smialek/Bloomberg)

10:15 PM ET, June 25, 2014

Top Items:

It Looks Like African-Americans Really Did Help Thad Cochran Win — Tuesday night, Republican Sen. Thad Cochran defied the polls and defeated tea party challenger Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi Senate primary runoff by a 51 percent to 49 percent margin. Cochran couldn't have done …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, BREITBART.COM, Washington Post, American Spectator, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, Democratic Strategist, The Right Scoop, The PJ Tatler, Daily Kos and The Huffington Post

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Conservative Freakout Blames ‘Uncle Tom’ And Voter Fraud For McDaniel Loss — Some conservatives aren't happy that their preferred candidate, state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) lost to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the runoff of the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Mississippi.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Capital New York, Daily Kos, Business Insider and Political Insider blog

Patrick Brennan / National Review:

The Flier That Got Thad Cochran Elected? — It's generally agreed that Thad Cochran squeaked out a win in Mississippi last night in part by getting Democrats, especially African Americans, to turn out. Here's a flier that was distributed in heavily black precincts suggesting how he accomplished this:

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo, NationalJournal.com and New York Times

Erick Erickson / RedState:

The Marionettes Remain Uncut — “At some point there will be more people with knives out to cut the strings than there will be puppeteers with checkbooks.” — Having been an elected Republican and someone who routinely takes the position of supporting conservatives in primaries and Republicans …

Discussion: Ajc Blogs, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, The Dish and Booman Tribune

Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:

CHRIS MCDANIEL TO CHALLENGE ELECTION RESULTS — HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — State Sen. Chris McDaniel will challenge the results of the Tuesday runoff election where 41-year incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran won by about 6,400 votes, he announced to a room of supporters here at his victory party …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, National Review, alicublog, The Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, The Clarion-Ledger, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and protein wisdom

David Weigel / Slate:
Thad Cochran Defeats the Tea Party — And So Does Everyone Else

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, The Dish, New York Times, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

Anna Palmer / Politico:
Defiant Chris McDaniel declines to concede in speech to supporters

Discussion: Washington Times, CNN, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Right Wing Watch, Balloon Juice, Wall Street Journal, Taylor Marsh, Washington Monthly, BillMoyers.com, The Hill, DownWithTyranny!, Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, msnbc.com, The Daily Beast and New York Times

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Sarah Palin hits Thad Cochran ‘shenanigans’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Power Line

Alexander Burns / Politico:
How Cochran bounced back from disaster

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Gateway Pundit, Right Wing Watch and Outside the Beltway

Alec MacGillis / The New Republic:
Black Voters Saved Thad Cochran and the GOP Establishment. Here's What Republicans Owe Them In Return.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Obsidian Wings, Lawyers, Guns & Money, BuzzFeed, Guardian and Washington Post

Alexander Burns / Politico:
How Cochran bounced back from disaster

Discussion: Business Insider

Domenico Montanaro / PBS:
Establishment order restored in midterm elections

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, Business Insider, CBS DC and CNN

Annalyn Kurtz / CNNMoney.com:

3 reasons not to freak out about -2.9% GDP — Well, this picture keeps getting uglier. — Gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic growth — contracted at a 2.9% annual rate in January through March, according to the latest revision from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Discussion: msnbc.com, NewsBusters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, AEIdeas and Washington Monthly

Sean Davis / The Federalist:

The Economy Tanked Last Quarter And It's Everybody's Fault But Obama's — The U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 2.9 percent during the first three months of 2014, government bean counters announced this morning. That matches the worst non-recession contraction of the U.S. economy in over 40 years.

Discussion: Twitchy, Ed Driscoll and Shot in the Dark

Jeanna Smialek / Bloomberg:

U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years — The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter by the most since the depths of the last recession as consumer spending cooled. — Gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annualized rate, more than forecast …

Discussion: Bloomberg View, Washington Post and Weekly Standard

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:

Jeannine Aversa: (202) 606-2649 (News Media) — National Income and Product Accounts — Gross Domestic Product: First Quarter 2014 (Third Estimate) — Corporate Profits: First Quarter 2014 (Revised Estimate) — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced …

Discussion: The Week, Hot Air, White House.gov Blog, BizzyBlog, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Danny Vinik / The New Republic:
Today's GDP Number Is Not as Bad as it Sounds. But the Recovery Is Still Weak.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

jaredbernsteinblog.com:
Whoa! Whassup With That Big Negative Q1 GDP Revision?

Discussion: Daily Kos and ThinkProgress

Eric Katz / Government Executive:

EPA Employees Told to Stop Pooping in the Hallway — Environmental Protection Agency workers have done some odd things recently. — Contractors built secret man caves in an EPA warehouse, an employee pretended to work for the CIA to get unlimited vacations and one worker even spent …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Weasel Zippers, TheBlaze.com, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Hit & Run, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, The Jawa Report, The Right Scoop and Gawker

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo: EPA Memo To Employees: Please Stop Pooping In The Hallway

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Says Phones Can't Be Searched Without a Warrant — WASHINGTON — In a major statement on privacy rights in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest.

Discussion: Washington Times, Cato Institute, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, Above the Law, SCOTUSblog, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, Election Law Blog and Balloon Juice

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Opinion analysis: Broad cloak of privacy for cellphones

Discussion: USA Today, National Review, Taylor Marsh and TalkLeft

New York Times:
Supreme Court Rules Against Aereo, a TV Streaming Service

Discussion: The Verge, SCOTUSblog, Capital New York and Outside the Beltway, more at Mediagazer »

Orin Kerr / Washington Post:
The significance of Riley

Discussion: American Prospect, The Verge, Mashable, emptywheel and The Moderate Voice

Politico:
SCOTUS rules warrants needed for cell phone search

Discussion: Daily Kos

waysandmeans.house.gov:

REVEALED: GOP Senator Targeted by Lerner Ways and Means investigation uncovers push to audit Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — f t # e — Washington, DC - Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) announced the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) targeting of conservative individuals includes …

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, The Federalist, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard and RedState

Stephen Ohlemacher / Associated Press:

EMAILS: IRS OFFICIAL SOUGHT AUDIT OF GOP SENATOR — WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators say they uncovered emails Wednesday showing that a former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the tea party investigation sought an audit involving a Republican senator in 2012.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Fox Host Yells At Michele Bachmann For Trying To Sue Obama: 'You're Being Silly' — “Fox Host Yells At Michele Bachmann For Trying To Sue Obama: 'You're Being Silly'” Share: — Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto blasted Republicans on Wednesday for preparing to file a federal lawsuit challenging …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Raw Story

Lauren French / Politico:

John Boehner: President Obama hasn't ‘faithfully’ executed laws — House Speaker John Boehner said he plans to move forward with a lawsuit against President Barack Obama for misusing executive powers. — “The Constitution makes it clear that a president's job is to faithfully execute the laws.

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Lauren French / Politico:
Nancy Pelosi: John Boehner lawsuit is ‘subterfuge’

Discussion: The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Weasel Zippers and Washington Post

The Indianapolis Star, Indystar:

Judge throws out Indiana ban on same-sex marriage — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Indiana's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, immediately allowing same-sex couples across the state to receive marriage licenses. — U.S. District Judge Richard Young did not issue a stay on his ruling.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, ACS Blog, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, The Dish, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

Salt Lake Tribune:
10th Circuit Court upholds same-sex marriage

Discussion: New York Times, SCOTUSblog, Liberal Values and ca10.uscourts.gov

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

US: SYRIA MAY HAVE LAUNCHED AIRSTRIKES IN IRAQ — WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say there are indications that Syria launched airstrikes into western Iraq Tuesday in an attempt to slow the al-Qaida-inspired insurgency fighting both the Syrian and Iraqi governments.

Discussion: Hot Air and The PJ Tatler