Wonkette

* House approves campaign finance legislation along party lines; new rules will primarily benefit Republicans. [WP]
* Rep. Tom DeLay’s departure “has emboldened centrists and conservatives to push their divergent views more assertively.” [NYT]
* Many Republicans facing reelection “are feeling voter wrath” over Iraq; voters are increasingly critical of pro-war stances. [WP]
* Senate Republicans near agreement on immigration but “showdown” will come this morning; legislation “would allow undocumented workers a path to lawful employment and citizenship if they could prove [that] they have been in the country for five years.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
* Bush tries to shift attention to domestic issues; visits Connecticut to talk healthcare. [WP, NYT]
* Majority of federal budget –military and entitlement programs– cannot be reduced by lawmakers. [NYT]
* Conservatives see the fall of DeLay as “a setback and a warning for their movement” — “a big hole in their forces in Congress.” [NYT]

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* Online donors who fed the ‘04 elections with small contributions are more representative of the middle class but just as polarized as large donors. [WP]
* The GOP’s post-9/11 push for the Jewish vote has “not materialized in any convincing fashion”; DeLay and Abramoff scandals have cut into gains made on security issues and Israel. [WP]
* Bush left his political problems at home when he left the country. [NYT]
* Democratic party leaders shine spotlight on Sen. Obama. [USAT]
* DeLay’s reelection is a referendum on DeLay. [NYT]
* Democratic candidates lack unified national message. [NYT]
* Few lawmakers are against NSA eavesdropping; most seek oversight. [USAT]
* Mainstream Democrats reject calls for Bush’s impeachment as a few stray radicals float the idea. [W$J]
* Electronic disclosure of contributions to senators is in the Dark Ages. [USAT]

• White House situation room received warnings from the Department of Homeland Security about Katrina’s “likely impact, including eerily prescient predictions of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property”; FEMA also had dire forecasts two days before the storm hit. [WP, NYT]
• Administration launches “blitz” campaign to gain ground on NSA eavesdropping controversy; officials roll out the phrase “terrorist surveillance program.” [WP, NYT, NYT, WT, USAT]
• White House and Jack Abramoff refuse to release photographs of meetings with Bush. McClellan: “Trying to say there’s more to it than the president taking a picture in a photo line is just absurd.” [WP, NYT]
• Supreme Court rules some advocacy ads may be exempt from campaign finance law. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Bush spends 100 minutes fielding questions from crowd of 9,000 Kansas State University students; 61 instances of audience laughter. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• GOP dominance of congressional practices results in criticism of the structure and lobbying; Democrats shut out from negotiations. [WP]
• Bush’s ballooning budgets bother fiscal conservatives. [W$J]
• Approval of Bush holds at 43% in Gallup Poll. [USAT]
• Tens of thousands participate in March for Life; optimism felt among pro-life movement. [WP, WP, NYT]

The AP chases down some interesting documents relating to the Tom DeLay fundraising hoo-hah. It appears that DeLay deliberately raised more money than required to throw fancy parties at the GOP convention in 2000, and wound up handing a good deal of the surplus to Roy Blunt, the hardy Missouri House warrior designated as DeLay’s replacement last week. The two cash-happy Congressman then filtered it through a couple of obliging Republican committees and whatnot, and presto: MORE »

• Michael Brown spreads blame and says FEMA was grossly unprepared for Hurricane Katrina: “I predicted privately for several years that we were going to reach this point [of crisis] because of the lack of resources and the lack of attention being paid to what was [once]…a very robust organization.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Democrats threaten to use “nuclear option” if next Supreme Court nominee is too conservative. Howard Dean: “If we lose, better to go down fighting and standing for what we believe in, because we will not win an election if the public doesn’t think we’ll stand up for what we believe in.” [WP]
• The New York Times wrongly attributed unsigned memo about libel law to John Roberts. [NYT]
• New Supreme Court justices will decide future of McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation. [WP, WSJ, NYT, LAT, USAT]

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