• Heard on the Hill: Rep. Kartherine Harris was seen barefoot outside of her house, screaming into her mail slot, “Let me in”. . . Does Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) support the KKK?. . . “Lots of would-be Cabinet and high-level White House officials in a Gore administration” attended the reception for his film. [Roll Call]
• Washington Whispers: Democrats will scare voters about Republican plans for Social Security. . . Rumsfeld found “United 93″ to be “really tough to watch”. . . Democrats are concerned about a Speaker Pelosi. . . Harry Reid loves his iPod. . . Bill Frist’s wife is releasing a book about fathers and daughters. [USN&WR]
• Inside the Beltway: Dick Cheney: “I will consider a book when that time comes.” [WT]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Clarence Thomas thinks Bush is in “real trouble.” [NYDN]
• Names & Faces: Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks on Bush: “I don’t feel he is owed any respect whatsoever.”. . . Arianna Huffington: “You can smell the fear in Hillary Clinton. What happened to that fearless woman? Everything she does is poll-tested.” [WP]

• White House strategists believe the midterm elections offer Bush an opportunity to “rewrite” and “recover” his presidency. Republicans plan to focus on immigration, tax cuts, and homeland security and will “frame the election as a contest with Democrats, confident that voters unhappy with the president will find the opposition even more distasteful.” [WP]
• The GOP is seeing losses “in morale, in fundraising and in early election contests.” [LAT]
• Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) was caught on tape accepting $100,000 from an investor-turned-informant. [WP, NYT]
• Alberto Gonzales says the government can legally prosecute journalists for publishing classified information. [NYT, WP]
• Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to prove that Scooter Libby lied based on his knowledge of Valerie Plame’s classified status. [WP]
• Laura Bush is “leveraging her popularity” to boost Republican candidates where her husband can’t. [USAT]
• Senators expect immigration compromise this year. [LAT]

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• Reliable Source: Tipper Gore at the premiere of “An Inconvenient Truth”: “It ends with a message of ‘we can do it.’ [Al] doesn’t want people to go from denial to despair.” Moby, Lynda Carter, and Queen Noor were in the audience. . . Euan Blair is reportedly deciding between Yale and Harvard graduate programs. . . Ted Kennedy, Mary Cheney, Barack Obama, Tim Russert, Gary Hart, Pat Buchanan, Ariana Huffington, Karenna Gore Schiff, Cindy Sheehan, and Jim McGreevey are all making appearances at BookExpo 2006. . . Sean Penn to play Richard Clarke in upcoming film. [WP]

• Rush & Molloy: Halle Berry on Barack Obama: “I so love what he stands for and respect him so much that when I met him, I was a bit shaky.” [NYDN]
• Cindy Adams: Chelsea Clinton was seen paying for her dinner with a “tall, lean dude.” [NYP]

• At his confirmation hearing, Gen. Michael Hayden deflects specifics, defends NSA wiretapping, distances himself from Pentagon brass, and urges a focus on the future of the CIA: “It’s time to move past what seems to me to be an endless picking apart of the archaeology of every past intelligence success or failure.” [WP, NYT, NYT, WSJ]
• Senate votes 63 to 34 to make English the “national language”; vote continues “the conservative turn that a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws has taken since the Senate began debate this week.” [WP, NYT]
• Judiciary Committee approves constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) says “good riddance” to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who replies, “See ya.” [WP]
• Bush in Arizona: “It makes sense to use fencing along the border in key locations in order to do our job. We’re in the process of making our border the most technologically advanced border in the world.” [NYT, WSJ]
• BellSouth seeks a retraction from USA Today for “the false and unsubstantiated statements” about NSA phone logs. [WSJ]

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• Reliable Source: The Bushes gave Kenny Chesney special cowboy boots to commemorate his East Room performance. . . Alberto Gonzales says it’s “unclear” whether his parents entered the country illegally. . . Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is returning $23,000 to an indicted producer. [WP]
• Under the Dome: James Gandolfini thinks Bush should “reinstate the draft, send 500,000 troops and finish it.”. . . Two members of the Grateful Dead fundraise for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). . . John Edwards and Jack Kemp join forces to encourage people to save for retirement. [The Hill]
• Heard on the Hill: Euan Blair is no longer a Hill intern, and one question lingers: why? [Roll Call]
• Page Six: Former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey will be on “Oprah” in the fall. [NYP]

• Senate approves fences and barriers for the southern border as well as restrictions for the guest-worker program. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.): “Good fences make good neighbors. Fences don’t make bad neighbors.” [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• New details about Gen. Michael Hayden’s “highly classified world” are “forcing lawmakers to reexamine a man many of them have known for years”; last-minute briefings to lawmakers on the Intelligence Committees “have smoothed what might have been a contentious path toward confirmation” and a declassified list shows select members were briefed 30 times on surveillance programs since 9/11. [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT, USAT, WSJ]
• Tuesday’s election results may preview a “brewing unrest that could threaten incumbents of both parties in the November elections”; a “broader disaffection” is noted. [WP, NYT]
• Bush echoes past campaign themes in speech at RNC fundraiser: “We are the party of the future, and our candidates will be running against the party of the past — a party that offers no new ideas like the Republican Party, a party that can only offer opposition.” [NYT]
• Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) says Bush is not appropriately funding the National Guard order: “A lot are going to be sitting in cars that don’t run and planes that don’t take off.” [USAT]
• House ethics committee opens investigations of Reps. Robert Ney (R-Ohio), William Jefferson (D-La.), and Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.). [WP, NYT]
• Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are bidding for a multibillion-dollar contract to provide border security. [NYT]

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• Reliable Source: In the past year, Bush received $17,316 in personal gifts and Cheney netted $39,722 worth. . . Woody Harrelson and Kristin Scott Thomas are filming in Foggy Bottom. . . Dresses worn by “political ladies” hit eBay for Gulf Coast charity. . . Nancy Pelosi seen lunching with Zbigniew Brzezinski. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) calls CNN’s Joe Johns a “smartass”. . . Gore’s film premieres tonight at the National Geographic Society’s Grosvenor Auditorium. [Roll Call]
• Page Six: Advisors to Katherine Harris may be plotting a tell-all book and documentary. [NYP]
• Cindy Adams: Condoleezza Rice to the NFL?. . . St. Martin’s is throwing a party at the Cosmos Club for Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, and Terry McAuliffe [NYP]

• Democrats are now more trusted than Republicans to handle every key issue, according to new WP-ABC News poll; 69% believe the nation is “off track” and 56% want Democrats to win control of Congress yet 52% say Democrats “have not offered a sharp contrast to Bush and the Republicans.” [WP]
• House Republicans hold back the Senate’s advancement of immigration proposals. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio): “I understand what the president’s position is. I have made it pretty clear that I have supported the House position.” Cheney, meanwhile, reassures Rush Limbaugh: “[W]here appropriate, fences or security barriers make good sense.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• White House pledges to brief more lawmakers about anti-terrorism efforts. [WP]
• Verizon denies that it provided phone logs to the NSA. [NYT, USAT]

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• Reliable Source: The last episode of the West Wing was filled with mistakes. . . Ted Olson will defend Michael Skakel. . . Michael Hayden spotted at the Bombay Club. . . Andy Card and his family seen at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Tysons Corner. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: McCain jokes that Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) was a bastard child. . . Congress will consider naming Clinton’s birthplace as a National Historic Site. [Roll Call]
• Cindy Adams: Pataki will fundraise for Jeanine Pirro. [NYP]
• Page Six: Chelsea took Hillary to “The Pajama Game” for Mother’s Day. [NYP]

• Bush, seeking a “rational middle ground” on immigration to rescue his second term, announces the deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border; Karl Rove indicates that Bush supports the Senate’s immigration plan. Bush: “We do not yet have full control of the border, and I am determined to change that.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WSJ]
• Immigration issue could go from “opportunity to expand the Republican Party” to a “historic liability”; Bush sought to “define the middle ground in a debate where consensus has been difficult.” 74% of Americans, in poll conducted before the presidential address, supported the use of Guard troops on the border. [WP]
• BellSouth denies “any link” with the NSA for the logging of phone calls; USA Today stands by its story. [USAT, NYT, WSJ]
• Pentagon releases the full list of those detained at Guantanamo Bay after the Associated Press files a FOIA request. [AP]
• Rove is optimistic for the GOP’s chances in November: “Look, we’re in a sour time. I readily admit it. I mean, being in the middle of a war where people turn on their television sets and see brave men and women dying is not something that makes people happy and optimistic and upbeat. But I’m absolutely confident [that] we’re going to be just fine in the fall elections.” [WP]
• Emergency spending bill has yet to be slimmed to Bush’s specifications. [WP]

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• Washington Whispers: Tony Snow on his new gig: “I’m loving it”. . . Bush wants to eliminate malaria in Africa. . . Clarence Thomas loves being a “techno-geek”. . . Donald Powell, the czar for rebuilding the Gulf Coast, sets an example by staying low-key. . . Barbara Bush’s scrapbooks are curated for her husband’s museum. . . New questions raised about the legitimacy of the Zapruder film. [USN&WR]
• Heard on the Hill: The Radio-Television Correspondents Association is holding a public meeting today in response to the dispute between Sen. Ted Stevens and CNN’s Joe Johns. . . Kerry accidently crashes the birthday party for Republican Rep. Bob Ney’s flack. . . DeLay retains his security detail until June 9th. [Roll Call]
• Inside the Beltway: Scott McClellan will be on “The Tonight Show” tomorrow night. [WT]

• In speech tonight, Bush will call for thousands of National Guard troops to be deployed along the southern border as a temporary solution; “a number of Democrats and even a few key Republicans” have already “voiced skepticism or outright opposition.” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): “That’s a short-term fix, and I’m not sure that’s a very wise fix.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• GOP reaches out to activist base as Christian conservatives seek action on controversial issues such as gay marriage and abortion. [NYT, WSJ]
• Fearing their own political futures, House and Senate Republicans are increasingly divided and disloyal. [WP]
• Reports of domestic call logging “seemed to fly in the face of months of public statements and assurances from President Bush and his aides,” who have been “punctilious in discussing” NSA programs. [WP]
• Views of call logging split along party lines but strong majorities are concerned it’s just the tip of the iceberg and support congressional hearings. [USAT]

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• Reliable Source: Camille Paglia on Condoleezza Rice: “She has advanced the persona of the first woman president way beyond any other woman in my lifetime.”… Kenny Chesney will perform at White House dinner for Australian Prime Minister John Howard… D.C.’s Sara Albert, of “America’s Next Top Model,” is leaving her think tank job to pursue modeling. [WP]

• Inside the Beltway: Tucker Carlson is looking at homes in Old Town Alexandria. [WT]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Pataki knows his ethanol… Lewis Black: “For those of you who are Democrats and those of you who are Republicans, in 2008, please, don’t do anything!… If you’re for Hillary, stuff it! No! Not eight more years with them.” [NYDN]