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1.) George W. Bush must be a real Chatty Cathy — Who’d a thought? But his phone bills seem to suggest he’s spending a lot of the time yapping away on the telephone. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“Former President George W. Bush is budgeted to receive the most money from taxpayers of all the living ex-presidents. Bush, the most recent former president, is requesting more than $1.3 million in taxpayer dollars for fiscal year 2013, according to a budget proposal document prepared by the General Services Administration … Among expenses, the GSA budget document says the younger Bush is requesting $85,000 for phone costs.”
Maybe in his post-presidency he’s bored and for fun is trying to call everyone in Uzbekistan just to say hi. That adds up.
2.) Goodbye Dick Lugar — Indiana’s senior senator lost a GOP primary Tuesday. But it’s worse for Lugar than just being booted from the Senate. Not only did he lose his job, but if he determined late in life he was gay and wanted to marry in North Carolina, that’s become even more impossible! The man just can’t win. The AP reports:
“Six-term Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar was routed by the right flank of his own Republican Party on Tuesday, and North Carolina voters decided overwhelmingly to strengthen their state’s gay marriage ban. It was a double-barreled show of conservative enthusiasm and strength six months before the nation chooses between Democratic President Barack Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney.”
3.) The Perfect Candidate — President Obama nearly met his match Tuesday night in West Virginia to a challenger that history might deem the most well-rounded political contender in American history. TheDC’s David Martosko reports:
“A 52-year-old felon with a ponytail, a mullet, a 210-month federal prison sentence — and a surprising amount of political experience — gave President Barack Obama a serious fight Tuesday night in West Virginia’s Democratic primary election. With 41 of 55 counties reporting their results, Keith Russell Judd had collected 49,490 votes statewide, or 42.28 percent of the total … Judd’s eclectic resume includes the claim that he spent a year studying political science at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, but that may be taken with a grain of salt: He claims to have been a member of the ‘Federation of Super Heroes’ from 1976 to 1982.”
Had Judd run in the GOP presidential primary — and not been in prison, of course — there is little doubt he would be the GOP nominee for president today. And given his bipartisan credentials and his status as a super hero, it is hard to see how he would not have been elected the next President of the United States.
4.) Can the Elizabeth Warren Indian story get any better? — Apparently yes. Much better. You might say unbelievably better. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson, citing a genealogist, claimed Tuesday that Massachusetts Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren‘s ancestry includes a great-great-great grandfather who helped round up Cherokees in the days leading to the Trail of Tears … ‘In what may be the ultimate and cruelest irony … it turns out that Warren’s great-great-great grandfather was a member of a militia unit which participated in the round-up of the Cherokees in the prelude to the Trail of Tears,’ Jacobson wrote on his blog.”
5.) Poll of the Day: Warren tied with Brown — Rasmussen Reports poll of Massachusetts Senate race: Republican Sen. Scott Brown 45%, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren 45%.
6.) Tweet of the Yesterday — daveweigel: This is a mixed night for death row inmates who want to get gay married.