Rand Paul has surged from a long-shot insurgent candidate to dominate the polls just days before the May 18 primary. According to a SurveyUSA poll, Paul has a 16-point lead over Trey Grayson (Paul 49 – Grayson 33). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is strongly backing Grayson, but being the party establishment’s favorite is not the charm in this election cycle.

Heard about the alleged grassroots “I Need A Freakin’ Job” billboard? The one that two brothers, Scott and Jeff Baker, put up? They’ve got a really slick website, too. Guess what — Jeff Baker works for known right-wing propaganda machine Andrew Breitbart.

I love my work, but family is very important to me and I am ready to have my own family now. I’m listening…

Featuring the latest from BORN ruffians and The New Pornographers.

Why does a film supposedly based on Valerie Plame Wilson’s autobiography substitute GOP talking points for the story she told?

Poor Lisa Murkowski can’t decide whether she likes fishermen or oil companies best.

If you were to ask me where Wall Street reform stands right now, I’d give it an incomplete. Well, actually I’d give it a C. There are some decent measures in the Senate bill, even a couple transformative ones, but overall some gaps in the regulatory structure remain, and the same financial oligarchs will have the ability to overrun the system, if in different ways.

Protests in the Surkhrod district of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan over a night raid Thursday night have left at least one protester dead at the hands of Afghan police. There is a very significant change in the primary press coverage of this event. In a reversal of the initial reporting after the Gardez raid which killed two pregnant women, reports from the New York Times, Reuters and BBC all lead with witness claims of civilian deaths and then move to NATO claims that only insurgents were killed in the raid.

Transocean invokes a 159-year old law to avoid paying damages and compensating workers.

A note to the White House political team – you probably shouldn’t leak that the President will “get really angry” about something 12 hours before he does, as it tends to blunt the impact and ruin the element of surprise. Nevertheless, the President used the bully pulpit today to express urgency and frustration about the crisis in the Gulf. And you do have to give him a little credit for turning that blame inward on his own Administration.