Wonkette

• Senate vote on immigration legislation is set for today; Karl Rove “got a cold reception” from Republican lawmakers. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Legal analysts say FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s congressional office was probably legal; Reps. Hastert and Pelosi demand seized documents be returned. [WP, WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Cheney wanted to “get all the facts out,” according to Lewis Libby’s testimony; new filing indicates the vice president may be called to testify. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Speaker Hastert is “in the mix” of the FBI’s investigation of congressional corruption, ABC News maintains despite denials from the Hill and the Justice Department. [ABC News]
• Database of immigrants will need more than $1B in upgrades; labor, big business, and civil-liberties advocates oppose the plan. [WP]
• Prosecutor says David Safavian, former procurement official, repeatedly “lied, concealed and misled” investigators about his dealings with Jack Abramoff. [WP, NYT]
• Loss of unity among Republicans is fueled by worries about the election. [W$J]
• Fiscal conservatives take on Republican leadership in attempt to reduce earmarks and pet projects. [NYT]

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• 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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* The president and lawmakers scramble to gain political advantage as oil companies report record profits; fuel-economy standards may be raised. [WP, NYT, W$J]
* Fitzgerald will decide within weeks whether to charge Rove with perjury. [NYT]
* FEMA faces storm of criticism but no solution stands out; Bush lends a hand in New Orleans: “There’s lots of progress. There’s still a lot to be done.” [WP, WP, NYT, W$J]
* House narrowly passes lobbying reform bill; last-minute deal targets earmarks. [WP, NYT, USAT, W$J]
* Bush approves Dubai ownership of nine domestic military plants. [NYT]

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* Rove testifies for several hours in the CIA leak case; testimony “focused almost exclusively on his conversation about Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in 2003 and whether the top aide later tried to conceal it.” [WP, NYT, W$J]
* Tony Snow could be “the first outsider to become part of Bush’s revamped inner circle”; aides admit there is “broad agreement that the first-term strategy of largely ignoring the mainstream Washington media was a mistake.” Dan Bartlett: “There is a lot of value added in Tony coming on board and helping us internally with his own views and ideas.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
* New spending bill brings cost of the war in Iraq to $320B; total cost of Afghanistan and Iraq missions will exceed the price of the Vietnam War. [WP]
* Approval of Congress in NBC/WSJ poll has dropped 11 points in the past month; respondents are increasingly pessimistic about the direction of the nation and the economy. 77% are “uneasy about the economy” and 44% are tired of partisan fighting. Pollster: “You have never seen such a sour mood in the country. It is sour, sour, sour.” [MSNBC, W$J]
* Senate report concludes FEMA should be abolished because problems are “too substantial to mend.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Rumsfeld, Rice visit Baghdad after prodding from Bush; “they were embracing perhaps the last chance the Bush administration had to turn around public opinion at home and to ensure that Iraq has a viable political future.” [WP, NYT, W$J]

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C’mon, Pat — just shit or get off the pot: MORE »

* Demand for oil tops agenda for meeting of Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao; “China has invested heavily in Iran, and as a permanent member of the Security Council, its position on the question of sanctions is crucial.” [NYT]
* Pentagon preps for war games about Iran. Bush: “All options are on the table.” [USAT]
* Construction of $592M embassy in Baghdad –the size of 80 football fields– is on target. [USAT]
* Bush: “I’m the decider, and I decide what’s best, and what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense.” [NYT, USAT]
* Administration has not improved the sharing of intelligence data among agencies, GAO finds. [WP]
* Rob Portman, trade representative, is selected to replace Bolten as budget director; sends “gloomy signal [about] the prospects for achieving significant gains in trade talks with foreign countries anytime soon.” [WP, NYT, WP, USAT]
* Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller ordered to testify on abuse in Iraq. [WP]
* News organizations attempt to block subpoenas for documents related to leak investigation. [NYT]
* FBI seeks access to the files of the late columnist Jack Anderson. [NYT]
* Bush’s interest in human rights complicates visit with Jintao. [WP]
* Rumsfeld is playing dead, says Dana Milbank. [WP]

* 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]

* Large rallies across the nation are held to seek protection for illegal immigrants; “the pro-immigration rallies have had a bottom-up, organic quality that often surprised organizers and opponents alike.” [WP, WP, NYT, USAT]
* 60% disapprove of Bush and 55% plan to vote for Democratic House candidates, according to new WP/ABC poll [WP]
* Military commanders “are moving ahead with steps that are necessary before beginning to draw down the 132,000 U.S. troops in the country by the end of this year.” [W$J]
* Republican lawmakers, facing political conundrum of immigration, are frustrated “with President Bush for what they see as a muddled stand on the issue.” [WP]
* Bush says news reports of a pending attack on Iran are just “wild speculation.” [WP, NYT]
* The White House response to the leak “imbroglio” is “no comment and non sequitur,” writes Dana Milbank, but they’re now front and center. Bush: “I wanted people to see the truth.” [WP, NYT, USAT] MORE »

* 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]

* Libby reveals that Bush, Cheney authorized the leaking of classified information to defend the war in Iraq; Rove, Fleisher, Powell, Armitage, Tenet will likely be called to testify. Bush in 2003: “If there’s a leak out of the administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
* Development makes Bush a central player in leak story; court papers “implicate Bush as knowing about efforts to disseminate sensitive information — and also as orchestrating them.” Senior White House official says Bush sees a difference between leaks and what he reportedly condoned. [WP]
* Bush had the legal authority to approve disclosure, say experts, but “the leak was highly unusual and amounted to using sensitive intelligence data for political gain.” [WP]
* Senators leaders agree on immigration legislation –a “shot at citizenship” for most of the country’s illegal population, a guest-worker program, and tougher security– though passage is “uncertain.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Gonzales says Bush could authorize warrantless eavesdropping of domestic calls: “I’m not going to rule it out.” [WP, NYT]
* McKinney: “I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation. And I apologize.” [WP, WP, USAT]

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