“Bobby Jindal” on The Daily Caller

It’s one of the most remarkable and under-reported stories of the current campaign season. The Republican Party, the presumed bastion of insensitive white males, has managed to field one of the most impressive arrays of women and minority candidates in US history. And to the chagrin of Democrats, most of these die-hard conservative candidates are expected to win on November 2. Their victory could well turn liberal “identity politics” on its head. (more)

With the GOP poised to win big in November, Vanity Fair has created a photo-shopped, softly-pornographic calendar of some top Republican leaders in scandalous poses and garb — or rather no garb. (more)

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will headline a national campaign tour next week with four other nationally known Republican governors, hitting 15 cities in five days to drive voter turnout and media coverage in favor of the GOP. (more)

Is the Republican Party in danger of permanently losing the “ethnic vote” — not just African-Americans, who traditionally vote overwhelmingly Democratic, but also Hispanics and Asians who constitute an ever-increasing share of the US electorate? (more)

Last week, libertarian think tank the Cato Institute released its Fiscal Policy Report Card for governors. In the study, “governors are graded on their fiscal performance from a limited-government perspective,” earning points for tax cuts and spending cuts, and losing points for tax hikes and increased spending. (more)

PPP’s first look at the West Virginia Senate contest finds a very tight race with John Raese up 46-43 on Joe Manchin, a result within the poll’s margin of error. (more)

At a time when the economy is reeling and national unemployment hovers just under 10%, the President and Congressional leaders are ignoring the wishes of the American people; seemingly working overtime to drive up energy costs and send jobs overseas by punishing our own energy industry. The President’s insistence on maintaining a ban on deepwater exploration and drilling for oil and gas along with the de facto ban on near shore activity is wreaking havoc on the Gulf Coast’s economy and could easily impact national energy prices this winter. (more)

BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal said he’;s staying out of the upcoming Senate race between Republican incumbent David Vitter and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Charlie Melancon. (more)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Unlike the blast that led to the massive BP spill, the latest oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico killed no one and sent no crude gushing into the water. (more)

In addition to initial success of the BP’s ‘Static Kill’ operation, concerned residents of the Gulf Coast received a second piece of good news Tuesday when the government announced a possible early end to its drilling moratorium. (more)

President Barack Obama may be taking a hit for his handling of the BP oil spill, but the disaster has been a political boon for those closer to the action. (more)

I caught a piece yesterday in Politico penned by Roger Simon, entitled: Sarah Palin Is At The Top Of Her Party.  Is she really?  I like Simon.  He seems like a pretty intelligent guy.  He wears glasses.  Could he be right, though? (more)

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Thursday afternoon against the Obama administration in the ongoing legal battle over a moratorium on drilling for oil in offshore waters. The quick ruling came as a surprise, since Judge W. Eugene Davis had told the overflowing courtroom at the conclusion of the hearing that the decision would be handed down early next week. (more)

Times-Picayune Staff (more)

It’s now Day 66 and counting since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig suddenly exploded and burned on April 20. (more)

Liberal Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein has disbanded the “Journolist,” an e-mail list-serv catering to liberal journalists, professors and think tank experts, after e-mails from one of its prominent members were made public yesterday. (more)

Florida Governor and independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist is looking for campaign donations from the Democrats’ side of the aisle now, talking up potential contributors that he wouldn’t have dreamed of while still a member of the GOP. (more)

News broke recently that, despite Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s efforts to protect his coastline from potential oil encroachment resulting from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf, the federal government has reached out an absurd hand and halted the building of sand berms off the coast of the state. Absurd because the halt is the result of a concern by the federal government that the dredging process might – ahem – negatively affect the environment. (more)

Sixteen crude-sucking barges are back in the Gulf of Mexico working to clean up oil, but the Coast Guard is defending its decision to ground the vessels because it couldn’t verify whether there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board. (more)

Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that … possess some of the world’s most advanced oil skimming ships.” But the Obama administration wouldn’t accept the help, because doing so would require it to do something past presidents have routinely done: waive rules imposed by the Jones Act, a law backed by unions. (more)