memeorandum: Mars appears at its biggest, brightest as planet moves into opposition (Alle McMahon/ABC)

3:35 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: New York Times, Mediaite, Politico, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and RedState

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, Scared Monkeys, Althouse and Prntly

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

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: ABC News, Washington Post and Guardian

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: Daily Mail, ThinkProgress and Clash Daily

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, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, AOL, Washington Free Beacon and Politico

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill: Sanders: Clinton can beat Trump in November

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: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and AOL

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

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

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: The New Civil Rights Movement, Politicus USA, Raw Story and Politico

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, No More Mister Nice Blog and Mediaite

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

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

Alle McMahon / ABC:

Mars appears at its biggest, brightest as planet moves into opposition — Mars is at its biggest and brightest in over a decade, as it comes into a particularly close opposition. — Mars comes into opposition — the point when Mars and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of the Earth — once every two years.

Discussion: Slantpoint

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 …

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:

Trump: I Don't Want Guns In Classrooms, But Some Teachers Should Have Guns — GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump said Sunday that he doesn't want guns to be in classrooms, but that “some teachers” should have guns. — Trump was asked to respond on Fox & Friends to criticism …

Jim Brunner / The Seattle Times:

Washington state GOP convention backs Cruz over Trump — Donald Trump may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but Washington state's GOP convention awarded 40 out of 41 elected delegate slots to Ted Cruz. However, delegates are bound by party rules to cast national-convention ballots based …

Discussion: RedState

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:

Libertarian VP candidate doubles down on comparison of Trump, Nazis … William Weld, a Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate, is doubling down on his comparison of Donald Trump — 's plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants to Nazi Germany. — “I'm absolutely certain that …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Mediaite and Jewish Insider

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.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and ABC News