memeorandum: Obama official says he pushed a ‘narrative’ to media to sell the Iran nuclear deal (Paul Farhi/Washington Post)

1:10 PM ET, May 7, 2016

Top Items:

Mitt Romney met privately with William Kristol, who is leading the effort to draft an independent candidate — In spite of his insistence that he will not run, Mitt Romney is being courted this week by a leading conservative commentator to reconsider and jump into the volatile 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate.

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, Western Journalism, Outside the Beltway, The San Diego Union …, Political Wire, The Last Refuge, Althouse, Politico, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Independent Journal …, New York Times and FiveThirtyEight

Los Angeles Times:

Obama to Republicans: Like it or not, you're stuck with Trump — President Obama speaks Friday in the White House briefing room. — If Republican leaders won't line up behind Donald Trump, President Obama is trying to lash them together himself. — Obama seized on the deepening fracture …

Discussion: New York Times, Post and Courier, Politico, Washington Post, Donald J. Trump, The Week, RedState, The Gateway Pundit and WSPA-TV

Bloomberg:

Masters in Politics Podcast: Adviser Says Trump Is ‘Very Much’ Like Bill Clinton — “When they talk to you they just own you. They're staring right into your soul,” says Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to Trump. — haddadmedia — In an interview on Bloomberg's Masters in Politics podcast Friday …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Examiner, Politicus USA and Mediaite

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

Top House Republicans Speak Out Against Paul Ryan: “I Don't Understand What He's Thinking” — On Thursday Republican Speaker Paul Ryan told Jake Tapper on CNN he was “not ready” to endorse Donald Trump yet. — Today top Republicans in the House of Representatives spoke out against Paul Ryan.

Alexandra Jaffe / NBC News:

Trump Ramps Up Attacks On Clinton Over Husband's Affairs — EUGENE, Ore. — An unrestrained Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton an “unbelievably nasty, mean enabler” who “destroyed” the lives of her husband's mistresses during a rally in Oregon on Friday night. — Trump: Hillary Clinton was a nasty enabler 4:54

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CBS New York, Scared Monkeys, TheStreet.com, ABC News, CBS Boston, Politicus USA, Western Journalism and Red Alert Politics

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
No, a Conservative Third-Party Candidate Can't Steal the Electoral College

Discussion: USA Today, The Hayride, AOL, National Review and Reuters

Jeremy Diamond / CNN: Trump: Hillary Clinton a ‘nasty, mean enabler’

Doug McKelway / Fox News:
Elizabeth Warren going on Trump attack for Dems

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, BizPac Review and The Last Tradition

Jeb Bush / Facebook:
I congratulate Donald Trump on securing his place as the Republican …

Greg Bluestein / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Gingrich could be on short list for Trump running mate

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Atlantic

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
Jeb Bush: I won't vote for Trump or Clinton

Discussion: Politico, Instapundit, Guardian, NBC News and Washington Post

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Ryan-Trump Breach May Be Beyond Repair

Discussion: Washington Post, CANNONFIRE and NPR.org

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Sanders leaves door open to Clinton VP spot … Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders — on Friday left the door open to being Hillary Clinton — 's running mate if she were to offer him the position after the party's convention this summer. — “Right now, we are focused …

Discussion: ABC News, CNN, The Daily Caller, Towleroad and Raw Story

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

Clinton wins Guam caucuses — Hillary Clinton won the Guam Democratic caucuses Saturday, defeating Bernie Sanders four days after his surprise victory in Indiana. — Guam's results don't make a significant difference in terms of the overall delegate chase, but a Sanders win would have allowed …

Discussion: pacificnewscenter.com, Politicus USA and The Week

Shauna Johnson / WV MetroNews: Overwhelming support for Trump, small lead for Sanders in MetroNews West Virginia Poll

Caleb Howe / RedState:

LYIN' DON: Trump Just Totally Made Up the Story that he Talked to Marco Rubio Recently — In case you missed it, on Thursday, Donald Trump told Bret Baier that he spoke with Marco Rubio and that Rubio was very supportive of him and even open to a VP spot. Late Friday night …

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Top allies break with Ryan over Trump

Discussion: Hot Air and RedState

Brandon Morse / RedState:
Rubio Compares Trump to 3rd World Strongman

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Why Hillary Clinton Is Uniquely Suited To Take On Donald Trump

Discussion: Daily Kos

Campbell Robertson / New York Times:

Roy Moore, Alabama Judge, Suspended Over Gay Marriage Stance — An Alabama judicial oversight body on Friday filed a formal complaint against Roy S. Moore, the chief justice of the state's Supreme Court, charging that he had “flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority” …

Discussion: Southern Poverty Law Center, RedState, Outside the Beltway, Friendly Atheist, The Last Tradition and Joe.My.God.

Kyle Whitmire / al.com:

Roy Moore suspended from office: Alabama chief justice faces removal over gay marriage stance — For the second time in his career, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore faces charges before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary and potential removal from office. — Until that court hears and rules …

Discussion: Vox, ThinkProgress, Southern Poverty Law Center, Washington Post, Raw Story, Gay Star News, Outside the Beltway and Balloon Juice

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

Ivy League economist ethnically profiled, interrogated for doing math on American Airlines flight — On Thursday evening, a 40-year-old man — with dark, curly hair, olive-skinned and an exotic foreign accent — boarded a plane. It was a regional jet making a short, uneventful hop from Philadelphia to nearby Syracuse.

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Week

Joanna Walters / Guardian:

How to use a urinal like a lady: a trans woman's rebel tour of North Carolina — In defiance of North Carolina's ‘absurd’ new bathroom law, trans actress Shakina Nayfack is staging a piece of renegade performance art in men's toilets — Apparently it's really quite difficult to use a urinal - if you're a woman.

David A. Kessler / New York Times:

The Opioid Epidemic We Failed to Foresee — BEGINNING in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies selling high-dose opioids seized upon a notion, based on flimsy scientific evidence, that regardless of the length of treatment, patients would not become addicted to opioids.

David Brooks / New York Times: Clinton's Imagination Problem

Sara Ganim / CNN:

Sandusky victim: Joe Paterno told me to drop abuse accusation — Paterno family lawyers: That claim is inconsistent with the facts and how late football coach lived his life — (CNN)After four years of feuding over the legacy of Joe Paterno, with a few vague details about what he may have known …

Discussion: NBC News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Slate, The Big Lead, CollegeFootballTalk and Independent Journal …

Anis Shivani / Salon:

Our awful elites gutted America. Now they dare ring alarms about Trump, Sanders — and cast themselves as saviors — Both parties ignored workers, spewed hate, enriched themselves, hollowed out democracy. Now the problem's populism? — This week, on the night of the Indiana primary …

Discussion: Mashable

Washington Post:

Man arrested in Maryland killing spree allegedly menaced his wife, stepdaughters — When Gladys Tordil went to court in March to plead for protection against her husband, she portrayed him as a man who had menaced her and her two daughters for at least a decade.