Until this interstate race-to-the-bottom makes its next road trip, Minnesota will now be our Realest American state. Here’s how Timmy Pawlenty wants to eliminate his huge budget deficit (which, to be fair, is a monumentally shitty task for any governor): “Aid to cities, counties and health and human services took the deepest cuts in Pawlenty’s proposal. The governor, who is in his last year in office, pledged to protect programs for the military, veterans, public safety and money for K-12 classroom education.” No recession will postpone the Minnesota Army’s impending invasion of Michigan’s upper peninsula. MORE »

Soon there’ll be nothing left at Cape Canaveral but three mechanical engineers, the decaying corpse of Alan Shepard, and some jerry-rigged TI-82 graphing calculators: MORE »

• Conservatives express disappointment with Miers during “tense” meetings with administration officials; “rarely have [conservatives] been so openly distrustful of the president himself.” Lott: “Is she the most qualified person? Clearly, the answer to that is ‘no’. . . you have to also look at what has been her level of decisiveness and competence, and I don’t have enough information on that yet.” [WP, WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Senate votes 90-9 to limit interrogation of detainees in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay; represents a “new boldness among Republicans to challenge the White House on war policy.” [WP, WSJ, NYT]
• Former White House security official may have passed classified documents to the Philippines. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Republicans are divided over extent of budget cuts. [WP]
• CIA will not hold current or former officials accountable for failure to prevent 9/11. Kristin Breitweiser: “[Porter Goss] is either avoiding embarrassment or trying to hide something.” [WP]

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