memeorandum: Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob? (David Cay Johnston/Politico)

1:45 PM ET, May 22, 2016

Top Items:

Poll: Election 2016 shapes up as a contest of negatives — The coming presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump begins in a virtual dead heat, a competition between two candidates viewed unfavorably by a majority of the current electorate and with voters motivated as much by whom …

Discussion: Politico, RedState and Hot Air

Gary Langer / ABC News:

A Post-Primary Rally Boosts Trump, Albeit with Challenges Aplenty (POLL) — A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows a close contest in presidential election preferences, with Republicans lining up behind Donald Trump as their party's presumptive nominee while the continued Democratic race …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and The Last Refuge

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Begrudging WaPo poll: Trump 46%, Clinton 44% — It's not the headline, and it takes 219 words to get there, but a new Washington Post poll on the presidential race reveals that Republican Donald Trump leads Democrat Hillary Clinton among registered voters 46 percent to 44 percent.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Althouse and Prntly

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Clinton's Lead Over Trump Shrinks to 3 Points: New NBC News/WSJ Poll — Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Clash over Gun Control 2:10 — Hillary Clinton's advantage over Donald Trump has narrowed to just three points — resulting in a dead-heat general-election contest with more than five months …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Hullabaloo, Washington Free Beacon, The Gateway Pundit and AOL

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:

Sanders: Clinton can beat Trump in November — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — said he believes front-runner Hillary Clinton — could beat presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump — in November, but that his campaign brings more excitement that could help …

Dan Merica / CNN:

Clinton: Trump is in the pocket of the gun lobby — Fort Lauderdale, Florida (CNN)Hillary Clinton on Saturday slammed Republican rival Donald Trump as a politician beholden to the gun lobby and said a Trump presidency would mean “more kids at risk of violence and bigotry.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Daily Mail and Clash Daily

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

Sanders: Voters see Clinton as ‘the lesser of two evils’ — American voters should not be forced to pick between “the lesser of two evils” this November, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says. — Asked in an interview airing Sunday on ABC's “This Week” if that's how he'd describe a possible match …

Discussion: Washington Post

Sarah Wheaton / Politico:
NRA facing member backlash over Trump endorsement

Discussion: The Hill, miamiherald, AOL, Infowars and RedState

Meg Gatto / WVUE-TV:

Five-year-old shoots, kills self while playing with gun — A five-year-old in Laplace gets her hands on a gun, and accidentally shoots and kills herself. The accident happened Saturday at 9:45 a.m. at the girl's home on Country Club Drive. — Many residents on Country Club Drive …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jennifer Crockett / WDSU-TV:

St. John sheriff: 5-year-old kills self with father's gun — Haley Moore died at the hospital Saturday — Five-year-old Haley Moore was spending the weekend at her dad's house with her older sister and brother. The family was supposed to go see a movie Saturday.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and AOL

ABC News:

‘This Week’ Transcript: Sen. Bernie Sanders — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR ‘THIS WEEK’ ON May 22, 2016 and it will be updated. — STEPHANOPOULOS: And Senator Sanders joins us now. Senator, thank you for joining us again today. — SANDERS: My pleasure.

Discussion: Politicus USA

New York Daily News:
KING: Here's why I'm leaving the Democratic Party after this presidential election and you should too

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Hill

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Weakend at Bernie's — WASHINGTON — HILLARY CLINTON is the Democratic nominee.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite and No More Mister Nice Blog

Yamiche Alcindor / New York Times:
Bernie Sanders's Feud With the Democratic Leadership Heats Up

Discussion: New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, alan.com and WTVR-TV

Kristen East / Politico:
Sanders backs DNC chair's primary opponent

Discussion: Raw Story

David Cay Johnston / Politico:

Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob? — In his signature book, The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump boasted that when he wanted to build a casino in Atlantic City, he persuaded the state attorney general to limit the investigation of his background to six months.

Discussion: alan.com

Salon:

We beat Donald Trump by mocking Donald Trump: What Bill Maher and Barack Obama understand about whipping a bully — Trump's weakness is ridicule. Even if Jon Stewart is sitting this one out, Democrats need to embrace serious satire — Donald Trump's absurd yet frighteningly real campaign …

Erik Brady / USA Today:

Exaggerator wins the 141st Preakness Stakes — BALTIMORE — Exaggerator won the Preakness Stakes on a sloppy track Saturday, ending a Triple Crown bid by Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, who lost for the first time in nine career starts. — Cherry Wine finished second, with Nyquist third.

Mike Stewart / Baltimore Sun:
Preakness 2016: Horses Pramedya and Homeboykris die at early Preakness Day races

Discussion: CNN, NPR, Slantpoint and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Emily Shapiro / ABC News:
Preakness Day: 2 Horses Die, Jockey Injured in First Few Races

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Mediaite

Henry Bodkin / Telegraph:

Elijah Wood: ‘Hollywood in the grip of child abuse scandal similar to Jimmy Savile’ — Hollywood is in the grip a child sexual abuse scandal similar to that of Jimmy Savile in Britain, Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood has claimed. — The 35-year-old former child actor said paedophiles …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Washington Post:

Primed to fight the government — A fast-growing U.S. movement armed with guns and the Constitution sees a dire threat to liberty — B.J. Soper took aim with his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and fired a dozen shots at a human silhouette target. Soper's wife and their 16-year-old daughter practiced drawing pistols.

Sabrina Siddiqui / Guardian:

Trump and Clinton on guns: two visions of race, justice and policing in the US — Amid a national discussion of police violence and a series of high-profile shootings, the 2016 election has seen a rare focus on the fight for gun control — For years seen as a losing battle …

Discussion: Mediaite and Raw Story