• Primary results “yielded no significant surprises”; Republican Brian Bilbray beats Democrat Francine Busby in race for Rep. Randy Cunningham’s seat. [WP, LAT]
• Cheney brokers deal to keep telephone company executives from testifying about NSA database. [USAT]
• Some Republican Senators think the recent focus on “ideologically charged topics” like gay marriage could backfire; voters have more pressing concerns. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.): “I know in many meetings of our colleagues when the issue of marriage comes up, heads drop. It is just an issue that people just feel uncomfortable talking about. It’s something that maybe in some respects they feel like, why do we even have to? Why is this even an issue?” [NYT]
• Use of “taxpayer-funded databases” provides an advantage to incumbents who can “cultivate constituents more attentively than ever.” Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.): “As incumbents, we have unlimited access to the most up-to-date technology in the world.” [WP]
• FBI sought proof that Rep. William Jefferson may have tried to bribe the vice president of Nigeria. [NYT, LAT]
• Judiciary Panel members are riled by a Justice Department official’s refusal to say “whether the Bush administration has ever considered prosecuting journalists for publishing leaked national security information.” [WP]
• Tom DeLay says “panic, depression and woe-is-me-ism” risks losing the election for the GOP. [USAT, USAT]

MORE »

* Administration commits an additional $2.5 billion to New Orleans levees in an effort to bring “certainty to some uncertain issues.” [WP]
* Democrats are unlikely to win back the House unless there is “a massive anti-incumbent wave this fall,” experts say. [WP]
* Administration is cornered by Iran even as experts suggest the country is years away from having nuclear capacities. [WP, NYT]
* McClellan says Bush was repeating wrong information about Iraq’s WMD programs; he was not intentionally misleading the public. [WP]
* Democrat Francine Busby wins California primary but will incur a runoff. [NYT]
* Patrick Fitzgerald rephrases allegations about authorization that Libby received. [NYT, WSJ]
* Former commander of forces in Iraq calls for Rumsfeld to resign, saying, “We need a fresh start.” [WP]
* Documents show “AT&T had an agreement with the federal government to systematically gather information flowing on the Internet through the company’s network.” [NYT]
* Republicans vow not to make illegal immigration a felony. [USAT]
* Bush continues to stump for Medicare plan. [USAT]
* Bill Clinton: “We should still have a preference for peace over war, a preference for cooperation over unilateralism, a preference for investing more to build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists.” [WP]

* In May 2003, Bush publicly hailed evidence of Iraq’s WMD programs even though intelligence officials “possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.” [WP]
* House Republicans worry harsh immigration legislation will backfire. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.): “There was political calculation that they could make this the wedge issue of 2006 and 2008, but it’s not playing out that way. This has galvanized and energized the Latino community like no other issue I have seen in two decades, and that’s going to have electoral consequences.” [WP]
* Administration may hope to scare Iran with talk of military action. Professor: “I don’t get a sense that people in the administration are champing at the bit to launch another war in the Persian Gulf.” [NYT]
* Lawmakers complain National Intelligence Office is ineffective. [USAT]
* Sen. Kennedy splits from fellow Democrats on immigration; seeks bipartisan compromise. [NYT]
* Bush, promoting Medicare drug program, tells retired dairy farmer, “You got big hands.” [NYT]
* Democrat Francine Busby expected to win Rep. Randy Cunningham’s California House seat. [WP]
* Sen. Clinton develops mutually beneficial relationship with one of her largest corporate contributors. [NYT]

* Administration official confirms that Bush ordered the declassification of select prewar intelligence in response to public skepticism; Bush “may have played only a peripheral role in the release of the classified material and was uninformed about the specifics –like the effort to dispatch [Scooter Libby] to discuss the [National Intelligence Estimate] with reporters.” [NYT]
* Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) calls for “detailed explanation” of “what Vice President Cheney did, what the president said to him, and an explanation from the president as to what he said so that it can be evaluated.” [WP, USAT]
* 500,000 march in Dallas to support immigrants’ rights; protests planned today in over 100 cities. [NYT, USAT]
* House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is not satisfied with Bush’s immigration plan: “I’m for securing the borders and enforcing the laws. Until we do that, if you try to create a guest-worker program, all you’re doing is inviting more illegal immigration.” [WP]
* Christian Coalition, weighed down by “trail of debt” that tops $2m, has lost credibility and influence. [WP]
* Tomorrow’s special election to replace Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.) is seen as a “bellwether for races across the nation”; a win by Democrat Francine Busby “would be the political equivalent of a tectonic shift,” says expert. [WP]
* 200 gay families plan on attending White House Easter Egg Roll. Laura Bush’s press secretary states the rules: “No more than two adults per group, and at least one child under the age of 8.” [NYT]
* McCain is now in the “heart of the Bush dynasty.” [USAT]
* Three-star Marine Corps general calls for Rumsfeld to resign: “I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat –Al Qaeda.” [NYT]