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A fascinating tidbit from Taylor Branch’s history of the 42nd president’s term in office, The Clinton Tapes, drawn out in this review by Matthew Cooper: Who

Rasmussen Reports finds Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) clinging to a two-point lead over a possible challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.). Chris Simcox,

It was bound to happen some day. From Sarah Palin’s Facebook account, her newest epistle: Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the

The state of Ohio is moving toward implementing regulations on the air pollution caused by the practice of hydrofracking to mine natural gas deposits deep within the earth. Companies drilling for oil and natural gas in shale formations in Ohio might soon face air pollution limits on new wells. The practice of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in pursuit of gas can require multiple wells on a single site, creating a concentration of equipment that can leak hazardous airborne compounds, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

The 2012 ballot isn’t the only place where a raging debate on same-sex marriage is taking place in Minnesota. Three same-sex couples filed an appeal in July in their bid to overturn Minnesota’s Defense of Marriage Act, and groups on both sides of the issue have filed paperwork with the court offering strongly worded arguments on the issue of marriage equality. A Hennepin County district court judge dismissed a suit by the couples — Duane Gajewski and Doug Benson, Lindzi Campbell and Jesse Dykhuis, John Rittman and Tom Trisko– in March.

Take that, Washington Post poll! Ukraine has ponied up to the Nuclear Security Summit with a significant national contribution, as per a White House

Gov.

Tuesday, the nation’s largest community owned solar energy facility opened in Rifle. The Glenwood Post Independent reports that the array’s 3,575 solar energy panels are expected to produce more than 1,500 megawatt-hours of clean, renewable electricity each year for as many as 350 Holy Cross Energy customers who buy in to the project. Former Governor Bill Ritter, now head of Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy gave the opening remarks at the ceremony, attended by all manner of local politicos

The Democrats’ move to invoke cloture on the DISCLOSE Act this afternoon fell short of the necessary 60 votes. The official tally ended up at 57-41, with every

The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in March to beat economists’ predictions

Senate Democratic leaders won quick praise from seniors this week when they vowed to close the nettlesome coverage gap in Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, but left unmentioned was the looming battle.

I keep trying to get confirmation of what former Sen. Bob Graham has been been saying about the CIA keeping erroneous records of what it told Congress in 2002

Pic by adactio, via Flickr Despite recent reports suggesting the FDA’s screening process for gulf seafood contaminants leaves room for improvement, state officials remain confident in the product’s safety. Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonpartisan environmental advocacy group, filed a petition with the FDA, demanding that the agency “recognize the hazards posed by PAHs in seafood and set a health protective standard.” Researchers with the NRDC suggest that the FDA has failed to properly assess levels of PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) in seafood that was likely affected by last year’s gulf oil spill.

The third ballot: Michael Steele - 51 Mike Duncan - 44 Katon Dawson - 34 Saul Anuzis - 24 Ken Blackwell - 15 Patrick Ruffini’s nightmare of a

I noticed in Massachusetts that the idea of backroom deals and horse-trading to bring on extra votes in the Senate -- to get the bill to 60 -- was far more

This will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who watched the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in which her answers were careful

On Tuesday, two groups called on Sen. Amy Klobuchar to sign on as a cosponsor of a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) noting that she is the only Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee who has not taken that step

Mohammed Jawad, the Afghan boy seized for allegedly throwing a grenade at U.S. troops and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay ever since, may be on his way home to

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Former Denver Post editor Gil Spencer died in New York this morning at the age of 85.

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (Pic by Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons ) GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s recent call for a humane path to immigration enforcement makes him the most recent conservative voice calling for solutions that encompass something more than the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Color Lines , a daily news site “in service to racial justice ,” writes today that Gingrich’s”remarks were a reminder of how far the right has moved on immigration, and how twisted the immigration debate has become for both parties. It’s too soon to say, but Gingrich’s remarks could be a sign that Republicans are ready to heed growing calls from within their own party to temper the anti-immigrant rhetoric and stop alienating Latino voters.” At last week’s CNN GOP presidential debate focused on national security, Gingrich said, “I don’t see how the — the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century.

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain (Pic by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr) The GOP presidential candidates and Florida Republicans disagree on many issues, but they mostly agree that K-12 education policies should be designed at the local level and that the federal government should play a limited role. According to Education Week : The Republicans running for president may be working to stand out from the pack on some issues, but it already appears that most of the nine current candidates are largely united when it comes to K-12 policy: They want to dramatically shrink the federal role

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is scheduled to hold a briefing today on bullying and “peer-to-peer” violence in K-12 public schools . Specifically, the commission will concentrate on students targeted due to their race, national origin, religion, disability, gender or LGBT status and on what the appropriate federal response should be going forward, with a focus on student needs, programs and the enforcement efforts of the U.S