memeorandum: Exacting but inspired — Mr. Clark was quick to emphasize … (Tennessean.com)

7:25 PM ET, May 17, 2016

Top Items:

Sanders Statement on Nevada — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday issued the following statement: — “It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans …

Discussion: New York Times, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, LasVegasSun.com, Washington Post, Common Dreams, Shadowproof, The New Civil Rights Movement, Shakesville, Washington Free Beacon and Ralston Reports

Steven Yaccino / Bloomberg:

A Small Group of Superdelegates Could Close the Deal for Hillary—But Won't — In the interest of unity and fairness, a small group of crucial voters are staying on the sideline until more votes are cast. — stevenyaccino — Jason Rae learned about the pressures of being a superdelegate in 2008.

Discussion: Politico, Infowars, Mediaite and National Review

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

More Sanders staffers exit campaign — A handful of high-level staffers have left Bernie Sanders' campaign in recent days, including his director of technology and three of the four members of his original senior leadership team in California — a state his team has said is critical to his bid for the Democratic nomination.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Jon Ralston / Ralston Reports:

NV Democrats file complaint against Sanders campaign to DNC — The state Democratic Party has filed a stinging complaint with national Democrats over the “explosive situation” and “paranoid fantasy of fraud and delegate theft” created by Bernie Sanders supporters at Saturday's state convention …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, The New Civil Rights Movement, New York Times, Let's Talk Nevada and Washington Post

Harper Neidig / The Hill:
Defiant Sanders says campaign was denied fairness in Nevada

Discussion: Political Wire

Jon Ralston / Ralston Reports:
Sample of voicemails left for state Democratic Chairwoman Roberta Lange

Discussion: The Atlantic, Roll Call, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Guardian, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Let's Talk Nevada, Politico, The Week and New York Times

Manu Raju / CNN:
Dems' new fear: Sanders revolt could upend Democratic convention

Discussion: Vox, The American Spectator, RedState and WHNT-TV

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Reid urges Sanders to condemn violence in Nevada

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Harry Reid: Nevada unrest is ‘test of leadership’ for Bernie Sanders

Discussion: Bloomberg, NV Dems, Mediaite, Business Insider, Guardian, The Nation and LawNewz

Mickey Rapkin / DuJour:

Lady and the Trump — Donald and Melania Trump live in a 30,000-square-foot triplex at the top of his namesake tower on Fifth Avenue, and as the race toward the presidency gets shorter and more frenzied, the ratings-hungry cable news networks have started coming to them.

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Truth Revolt, Politico, Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, Washingtonian, Business Insider, NBC News, Independent Journal …, Jewish Insider, The Week, Joe.My.God. and Washington Free Beacon

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Melania Trump: ‘Unbelievable’ Chris Matthews commented on me — Melania Trump says she is shocked by Chris Matthews's recent remarks about her physical appearance. — “Unbelievable,” she said in an interview with Du Jour published on Tuesday. “That's what I'm saying — I'm not only a beauty, I'm smart.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Hullabaloo

Al Weaver / Washington Examiner: Melania Trump: My husband is ‘not Hitler’

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Jeb Bush Has Some Thoughts On Trump's Cinco De Mayo Tweet — He also thinks the Republican Party may no longer be relevant. — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush hasn't been coy about the scars he bears from the Republican primary. He won't be voting for his bete noire, Donald Trump …

Discussion: USA Today, RedState, Talking Points Memo, The Ring of Fire Network, AOL, Politico, Mediaite, BizPac Review, The Week and Hot Air

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Speaker Ryan: Voters are right to trust Trump more than me — (R-Wis.) on Tuesday said he agrees with a new poll showing that GOP voters trust Donald Trump — rather than himself to lead the Republican Party. — “I hope it's Donald Trump. He's getting the nomination,” Ryan …

Discussion: CNNMoney, Independent Journal …, USA Today, Hullabaloo, RedState, Page Six, First Draft, LawNewz, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and AOL

Grant Stinchfield / The Federalist:
The Never Trump Movement Is Anti-American And Hypocritical

Discussion: RedState

NBC News:

Hillary Clinton Holds Slim National Lead Over Donald Trump: Poll — Race between Clinton, Trump narrows 5:50 — Over the past couple of weeks, Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton has continued to inch closer to the magic number of delegates she needs to lock up the Democratic contest.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Daily Mail, FOX News Radio, Washington Post, TPNN, Infowars, The Daily Caller, National Review and AOL

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
McCain In Deep Trouble in GOP Primary; Trump, Clinton Close in AZ

Discussion: Politicus USA and Political Wire

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Poll: Trump narrows Clinton's lead nationally to 3 points

Discussion: Morning Consult, Common Dreams, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, Political Wire, Shakesville and The Week

NBC News:
Majority of Republican Voters Trust Trump Over Ryan to Lead Party

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, BizPac Review and HYPELINE

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

NOLAND, MARY ANNE — NOLAND, Mary Anne Alfriend. Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68. Born in Danville, Va. …

Discussion: Raw Story, WWBT-TV, Daily Mail, AOL, Heat Street, Mashable, Washingtonian, Mediaite, The Week and Washington Times

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo: Obituary: Virginia Woman Died Rather Than Have To Vote For Clinton Or Trump

Reuters:

Exclusive: Trump willing to meet North Korea's Kim, wants to renegotiate Paris climate accord — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, Trump told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Washington Times and Mediaite

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:

Donald Trump Is Not Expanding the GOP — Donald Trump likes to say he has created a political movement that has drawn “millions and millions” of new voters into the Republican Party. “It's the biggest thing happening in politics,” Trump has said. “All over the world, they're talking about it,” he's bragged.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, ABC News, neo-neocon, Hot Air, RedState, New York Magazine, Daily Kos and The Resurgent

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Trump's plan to rehabilitate his image: Explain past controversies — NEW YORK — In the face of a brutal new Democratic advertising assault, Donald Trump said he plans to rehabilitate his battered image in the coming weeks by publicly addressing head-on some of the most controversial episodes of his campaign.

Discussion: Vox, Politico, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Washington Times, ThinkProgress and FiveThirtyEight

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:

Bernie Sanders Is Poised to Make a Very Weird Kind of History Tonight — Bernie Sanders can make history in Tuesday night's Kentucky Democratic primary. No, he can't clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, nor is he likely to score a big win that convinces superdelegates to switch their allegiances en masse.

Lindsey Ellefson / Mediaite:

Audio of Donald Trump Saying Model ‘Looks Like a Third-Rate Hooker’ Resurfaces — Back in 2004, a model named Victoria Zdrok gave an interview to a guy named Chaunce Hayden. In it, she detailed the way that Donald Trump had called up her bosses at Playboy and requested to meet her under …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and RedState

David Wasserman / FiveThirtyEight:

Why Pennsylvania Could Decide The 2016 Election — When most people think of battleground America, they think of Florida and Ohio, two of only three states (along with Nevada) that have voted for the winner of every presidential election since 1996. They tend not to think of Pennsylvania as a classic …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Washington Post:

U.S. judge strikes down D.C. concealed-carry gun law as likely unconstitutional — For the second time in as many years, a federal judge in Washington ordered the city to halt enforcement of its new, concealed-carry law that requires applicants to state “good reason” to carry a weapon in order to obtain a permit from police.

Discussion: Townhall.com, RedState, The Federalist Papers, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Liberty Unyielding and Independent Journal …

Sir Elton John / The Hill:

North Carolina governor's ignorance of trans identity — North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has doubled down on his support for H.B. 2, the discriminatory bill requiring public school students to use restrooms for the gender they were assigned at birth. Recently, he filed a lawsuit …

Discussion: Human Rights Campaign, Heat Street, Advocate and Towleroad

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Alex Jones: ‘Michelle Obama Is A Man’ Who Murdered Joan Rivers To Cover It Up — InfoWars broadcaster and Donald Trump ally Alex Jones is back to claiming that First Lady Michelle Obama is secretly a transgender woman, but this time he's adding a new twist to his conspiracy theory …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Raw Story

NBC News:

Eric Fanning, First Openly Gay Army Secretary, Confirmed by U.S. Senate — The Senate has confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service. — The voice vote approval on Tuesday came after Kansas …

Discussion: WCMH-TV, The Week and Joe.My.God.

Libertarian Party:

Libertarian Party — Smaller Government - Lower Taxes - More Freedom — You are here — Platform — Click for Spanish language version (Plataforma en Español) — LIBERTARIAN PARTY PLATFORM — As adopted in Convention, June 2014, Columbus, Ohio

Discussion: RedState

Matt Coughlin / Morning Call:

Substitute teacher at Easton High arrested for sex with teen in cemetery, police say — Of The Morning Call … EASTON — A married 49-year-old substitute teacher was interrupted by Easton police while she was having sex with a 17-year-old boy in the Easton Cemetery earlier this month, police said.

Discussion: Fox 59 and fox13now.com

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

Fundamentally Speaking, Hillary Clinton Won't Blow It — The election won't be decided by gaffes and personality. — In 2012, liberals worried that Barack Obama would fumble the election to Mitt Romney. “With 100 days left in the presidential campaign, perhaps the two most vexing questions …

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

Beltway Conservatives Need To Get Out Of Their Bubble On Trump — There's a scene in “Moonstruck” where Cher's Loretta Castorini is frustrated at Nicolas Cage's Ronny Cammareri. The two have fallen for each other, and that's not a good thing since Loretta is engaged to Ronny's brother.

Wall Street Journal:

A Cheese Glut is Overtaking America — Rise in production comes just as exports are hit by strong dollar; can you eat three pounds more? — America has built up a glut of cheese so big that every person in the country would need to eat an extra 3 pounds this year to work it off.

Discussion: Guardian, The Week and Da Tech Guy Blog

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Is Traditional Polling Underselling Donald Trump's True Strength? — Hillary Clinton's lead in general election polls has faded over the last few weeks. One reason might be that a growing number of Republicans are coalescing around Donald Trump's candidacy. — Another part of the explanation?

Discussion: Althouse