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Walker Still Leads Nationally, Clinton Over 60% — PPP's national Republican poll for May continues to find Scott Walker leading the field, but it's tightly clustered and his support has actually dropped two consecutive surveys now. — Walker's at 18% to 13% for Marco Rubio …
Discussion:
Politico, Hinterland Gazette and Daily Kos
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Being Moody: This question stumps Republicans — Being Moody: Who's the greatest living president? — Greenville, South Carolina (CNN)It's a simple question, but one that stops Republican presidential hopefuls in their tracks: Who do you think is the greatest president alive today?
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Mediaite and FishbowlDC

On the trail, Jeb Bush faces hostile questions about Iraq war — RENO, Nev. — In his most confrontational exchange to date with voters, presumed Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush faced sharp questions about his support for the Iraq war. — The most hostile question came …
Discussion:
Yahoo Politics, NBC News, RealClearPolitics Videos, Hot Air, Daily Kos and OnPolitics


Jeb Bush: Iraq Questioning Is Disservice to Slain Soldiers — Likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday that questioning about how he would have handled Iraq War authorization “does a disservice” to military service members killed in action.


Jeb Bush, in apparent slip, says 'I'm running for president' — Republican Jeb Bush appears to have unintentionally announced his candidacy for president in 2016 in a conversation with reporters on Wednesday that was caught on video. — Speaking in Nevada, the former Florida governor seemed …
Discussion:
Political Wire and The PJ Tatler

Jeb Bush Inadvertently Says He's Running for President
Discussion:
Liberaland and Talking Points Memo


Gov. John Kasich says U.S. shouldn't have attacked Iraq
Discussion:
Fox News, Washington Post, CNN, Bloomberg Business, ABC News, Talking Points Memo and The Hill

Jeb: Answering That Iraq Question Would Be A ‘Disservice’ To The Troops
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Addicting Info

Yes, I Would Have Ousted Saddam from Power
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story, Hot Air, alicublog and Weekly Standard


Excessive Speed Probed in Amtrak Train Crash in Philadelphia — At least 7 people dead after train heading from Washington to New York derails — PHILADELPHIA—An Amtrak train involved in a fatal crash here appears to have been traveling at more than 100 miles an hour as it entered …
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House panel votes to cut Amtrak budget hours after deadly crash — “Starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel,” Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said. — House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers said the cuts are needed to stay in line with the caps imposed …
Discussion:
Power Line, Reuters, Mediaite, Booman Tribune, Twitchy, Big Think and The Week


Amtrak Train Derailed Going 106 M.P.H. on Sharp Curve; at Least 7 Killed — PHILADELPHIA — An engineer jammed on the emergency brakes just seconds before Tuesday's fatal Amtrak derailment, but the train — traveling at 106 miles an hour, more than twice the speed limit — slowed only slightly …


Sources: Train reportedly speeding; engineer mum
Discussion:
CBS Philly, Fox News Insider, The PJ Tatler and Eschaton

“Democrats in Disarray,” Part II — I complained this morning about the permanent audience for “Democrats in Disarray” stories like Robert Draper's piece turning the Maryland Senate primary into a microcosm of a party torn apart by dissension between dirty hippies and centrist pragmatists.
Discussion:
CNBC, USA Today and Washington Post
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House Votes to End N.S.A.'s Bulk Phone Data Collection
Discussion:
Truthdig, Common Dreams, The Stranger … and Washington Post


Martin O'Malley to top progressives: Warren's not running, I am
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Associated Press and Liberal Values

Scenes from the Democratic meltdown
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Washington Post, Mediaite, Bloomberg Business, DownWithTyranny!, The Week, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Moe Lane, The Federalist, POLITICO and The Huffington Post

White House on Sherrod Brown: 'He'll find a way to apologize'
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Washington Post, CNN, Weasel Zippers, BREITBART.COM, The PJ Tatler, Weekly Standard, Bloomberg Business, Reuters and American Spectator

10 questions for Mitch McConnell
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh and Washington Times


Text images between Missouri House Speaker John Diehl and intern reveal sexually charged exchanges — Screenshots of text messages obtained by The Star — › — ‹ — Text messages obtained by The Star reveal a sexually charged relationship between House Speaker John Diehl …


Student Suing Misericordia University Officials After Failing to Pass Course … DALLAS TOWNSHIP — A nursing student is suing some Misericordia University officials after she failed to pass a course twice. — Jennifer Burbella of Stroudsburg said school officials failed to abide by federal law.


House Approves Revised Measure Banning Most Abortions After 20 Weeks — WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday voted to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, approving a revised version of a bill that Republican leaders had abruptly pulled in January amid objections from some of their own members.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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WH: Abortion ban's treatment of rape victims ‘disgraceful’
Discussion:
Hot Air, Daily Kos and Common Dreams


China Lashes Out Over U.S. Plan on South China Sea — Pentagon proposal to use aircraft and Navy vessels in region prompts swift response: ‘We are severely concerned’ — Beijing condemned on Wednesday a proposed U.S. military plan to send aircraft and Navy ships near disputed South China Sea islands …
Discussion:
The Diplomat, BarbWire.com, Reuters and Fox News
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10 members of Congress took trip secretly funded by foreign government — The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference at Baku on the Caspian Sea in 2013 for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members, according to a confidential ethics report obtained by The Washington Post.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Business Insider, OnPolitics, Trail Blazers Blog and The PJ Tatler

The Rubio Doctrine — Strength, globalization and core values should guide American foreign policy — I'd like to begin my remarks today by quoting from the closing of another set of remarks—from a speech that echoes across history due to its proximity to tragedy, but that stands more importantly …
Discussion:
Washington Post, ThinkProgress, The American Conservative and BuzzFeed


College students told to report ‘hurtful statements’ to campus authorities — If someone says anything mean-spirited at the University of Colorado Boulder - campus administrators want to know about it. Not only that - they want to know the offender's name, age, email address and more.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and Chicks on the Right


Google Comms and Policy Head Whetstone Takes Over That Job at Uber — Rachel Whetstone, the longtime head of Google's public policy and communications unit, is taking on that job at Uber as SVP of policy and communications. — That position has been held by David Plouffe …
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, Business Insider, New York Times and The Verge


As women take majority on Austin City Council, staff warned to expect more questions, longer talks — The new 10-1 City Council has meant all sorts of changes at City Hall, from a bigger dais to more meetings. — But there's one change the new system has brought to City Hall that city staff needed extra training to cope with:
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, KXAN-TV, dallasmorningviewsblog …, KVUE-TV, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Raw Story