Third round semifinal voting is now open Everyone from Desmond Tutu to Fox News acknowledges that the explosive immigration situation in Arizona is exacerbated by drug trafficking across the border.  From the AP: The volume of drugs coming through the Arizona border is also eye-popping. Federal agents seized 1.2 million pounds of marijuana last year [...]

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster is getting worse by the hour. At the Seminal, diarist Seymour Friendly writes that the collapsed well is leaking oil at the pace of 200,000 gallons a day. If Obama moves forward with expanded offshore drilling, this disaster will only be the beginning. Sign our petition to President Obama asking he end his plans for offshore drilling.

President Obama makes a bold statement to audience members at a town hall in Iowa yesterday. “I am a pro-union guy,” said Obama to a union member woman who asked how Obama would “continue to support” union members. Wow…except that he launched into a knee-jerk defense of baseless union stereotypes.

Research 2000 finds the trend line in favor of Bill Halter in the Arkansas Senate race, with Halter gaining to within a single-digit deficit with Blanche Lincoln, 43-35. An earlier poll by the same outfit had Lincoln in front by 13 points, 44-31. Importantly, Lincoln stands well below the 50% threshold needed to move on to the general election.

Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana (CALM) has a new brochure arguing against legalizing cannabis. Not surprisingly, CALM has decided to use disingenuous and illogical arguments against legalizing and regulating Cannabis.

I just spoke with an aide to Sen. Chris Dodd about my story on the amendment threshold in the Wall Street reform debate. He said that he did not believe Senator Dodd would place a 60-vote threshold on every amendment that comes to the floor.

Anyone sensing a pattern here? One miner is dead and another is missing after the roof of a non-union coal mine collapsed in Kentucky today.

In a press conference concluded just moments ago, Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida, announced he would end his campaign for US Senate as a Republican and run with no party affiliation. This sets up a likely three-way race for the Florida seat between Crist, Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

What a difference 18 days makes.

A third Horizon leak has been discovered. Officials place the new spill rate at about five times the previously reported rate, or, conservatively, 200,000 gallons of crude oil per day.