WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Nearly three years before the 2016 election, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took center stage in Iowa to address a large Republican fundraising dinner, which should only fuel speculation about his future presidential ambitions.

Walker, who survived a bitter recall effort in his home state in 2011 after he repealed collective bargaining rights for most public employees, emphasized his Iowa roots at a county dinner, and said the GOP should look to its roster of governors for a leader in the future.

“We should look to our states, to our governors, to our state legislative leaders to show the pathway we take not only in our states but in our country to move forward,” the Wisconsin governor told more than 600 people in attendance at the annual Polk County GOP dinner. “Optimism, relevance, and courage I think are the three keys to success in 2014, 2016 and beyond.”

The first-term governor, who is up for re-election in 2014, has pushed a reformist message for fellow Republicans (similar to the themes he stressed during speeches at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference as well as the National Rifle Association's annual meeting).

Those themes assume a greater significance, though, in Iowa, the state which hosts the first presidential nominating contest every four years. 

“The president and his allies they simply measure success by how many people are dependent on the government, how many people are on Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment compensation,” Walker said. “We should measure success by how many people are not.”

Walker's work to curb collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, a stronghold of organized labor, has made him a hero among conservatives — and boosted his prospects as a dark horse contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

“If I wanted to lay the groundwork for a presidential run in Iowa, I would be doing precisely what Gov. Walker is doing right now,” Republican activist Dave Funk said.

If Walker does decide to run for president, he has clear advantages in Iowa. He lived in northeastern Iowa when he was young -- mentioning during the speech that he stopped in Plainfield on his way to Des Moines tonight. He also represents a neighboring state, something which Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad thinks gives Walker an edge in the Hawkeye State.

“I think he might do well. He is a Midwesterner. He is a problem solver. He is a grassroots, down to earth guy that I think the kind of people Iowans like,” Branstad told reporters prior to the dinner.

Previous speakers at the Robb Kelley Club Annual Spring Dinner have included Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich – both of whom ran for president in 2012.

But Walker downplayed the implications of his speech in Iowa – chalking it up to simply repaying a favor.

“Brandstad's a good friend of mine,” Walker told NBC’s Milwaukee affiliate WTMJ Thursday morning. “He did an event for me last year when I was running in the recall election. He, like other Governors across the country, have asked me to attend events and sparingly where I can occasionally I go to some and this is one of those."

Other potential 2016 presidential candidates have been sure to include Iowa on their list of places to stop. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., spoke at the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner in Cedar Rapid’s earlier this month, and former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 Iowa Caucus winner Rick Santorum is scheduled to speak in August at the Lyon County GOP Dinner. 

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 11:05 PM EDT

Lois Lerner, the IRS official who oversees the agency’s division in charge of tax-exempt organizations, has been placed on administrative leave, a source told NBC News on Thursday. The IRS has selected Ken Corbin as acting director during Lerner's absence.

Lerner, whose responsibility for the targeting of conservative groups at the IRS has become a point of scrutiny in the controversy, had come under bipartisan fire. Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel earlier on Thursday seeking Lerner’s suspension.

Lerner had appeared before a House committee on Wednesday, but invoked her Fifth Amendment rights, and declined to testify. She offered a broad declaration denying any wrongdoing, however, which has prompted some Republicans to conclude she had effectively waived her Fifth Amendment rights. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who heads the oversight panel before which Lerner appeared, suggested Thursday he’ll seek to recall her as a witness.

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 5:52 PM EDT

Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) will resign from Congress later this summer to take a position with the University of Alabama system, according to two Republican sources, setting up a likely competitive primary to replace him in the safe GOP seat.

Bonner’s retirement was first reported by the Mobile Press-Register.

A former House Ethics committee chairman, Bonner was first elected to Congress from the Mobile district in 2002. Bonner had worked his way up to chief of staff for his predecessor, Rep. Sonny Callahan, and was easily elected to replace him when he retired.

Bonner will step down Aug. 15 for a newly created job as vice chancellor of government relations and economic development at the University of Alabama system.

"I trust you know that serving as your congressman this past decade has truly been one of the highest honors of my life," Bonner said in a statement to constituents. 

The first district is solidly Republican, and voted 62 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012 and just 37 percent for President Obama. Bonner didn’t even face a Democratic challenger last year, and this isn’t a race the national party would look to play in.

Republican Gov. Robert Bentley has a wide purview to set the special election to replace Bonner. According to state election law, “all special elections shall be held on such day as the Governor may direct.”

A crowded GOP primary and subsequent runoff is expected. Potential candidates, according to Republican sources, could include former state Sen. Bradley Byrne, who lost the 2010 gubernatorial primary to Bentley; businessman Dean Young, who got 25% against Bonner in last year’s primary; and state Sens. Trip Pittman, Bill Hightower and Rusty Glover. 

Bonner said he "was not looking for another job" and that the opportunity "was both unexpected and certainly unsolicited."

"I also firmly believe there are many ways you can serve your state and nation without having your name on a ballot," Bonner continued. "That said, while I had every intention of completing this term, sometimes opportunities come along that are so rare – and so special – that it forces you to alter even your best-made plans."

In 2011, the head of government relations at Alabama made $217,016. As a congressman, Bonner makes $174,000.

Republicans’ quest for more women elected officials on their side continues today, with the Republican State Leadership Committee’s re-launch of its program aimed at electing more women down-the-ballot.

RSLC Chairman Ed Gillespie, a former national party chairman, announced new leadership as well. Tennessee Speaker Beth Harwell, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will serve as co-chairs of the so-called “Right Women, Right Now” initiative.

“We believe that one of the ways to grow our Republican Party is to create a strong pipeline of diverse leaders to put some new voices on the escalator to higher office,” Gillespie said on a call with reporters. “The first steps of that are these state offices.”

The Republican National Committee identified electing more women at the national level as a priority in its December “Growth & Opportunity” report. Gillespie and the co-chairs of the group emphasized what they said was their program’s success in states. Recruiters identified 185 new Republican women candidates and 84 statewide elected officials.

“Right Women” dedicated more than $5 million last cycle to identify, support, and train women for offices from lieutenant governor on down. In particular, the program helps with messaging and fundraising.

Wyman won her race in blue Washington by less than a percentage point, and said that she couldn’t have done it without the RSLC.

“They really supported me and my candidacy with resources that helped secure my win,” she said. “‘Right Women, Right Now’ really helped put my candidacy over the edge.”

Bondi, in her new role as co-chair, promised “unprecedented” resources for the program and said that specific metrics, in terms of cash and candidates, will be set and rolled out in the coming months.

President Barack Obama was repeatedly interrupted by a heckler whose taunts slowed the delivery of a major national security speech in the Washington, D.C. area.

The unidentified heckler began shouting at the president toward the tail end of his highly-anticipated address, when he touched upon U.S. policy toward detainees suspected of terrorist acts.

Obama was forced to pause three separate times and talk over the protester, interrupting the flow of the closing section of the speech at National Defense University.

“I'm about to address it ma'am, but you've got to let me speak,” Obama scolded the woman. “Why don't you sit down and let me tell you exactly what I'd do."

The antiwar group Code Pink, which often interrupts high-profile political events with vocal protests against U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy, said its founder Medea Benjamin was the person responsible for the interruption.

Though the president appeared somewhat irritated by the interruption, he said he was willing to cut the woman “some slack, because it’s worth being passionate about.”

He added after another interruption: “The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to. Obviously I do not agree with much of what she said. And obviously she wasn’t listening to me and much of what I said. But these are tough issues, and the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong.”

Thursday wasn’t the only instance in which Obama was interrupted during a high-profile speech. During remarks last year about immigration at the White House, a conservative reporter, Neil Munro, heckled the president with a question about the impact of his announcement that day.

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 3:06 PM EDT

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated Thursday that he may postpone a confrontation with Republicans over stalled nominations until after the Senate considers the bipartisan immigration bill that the Judiciary Committee OK’d Tuesday.

“I am not going to do anything to interfere with the immigration bill,” he said.

At issue was the so-called “nuclear option,” a possible move by Reid and the Democrats to unilaterally curb filibusters by a simple majority vote, instead of by 67 votes as required by Senate rules.

Reid charged at a press conference Thursday that Republican foot-dragging had delayed or blocked confirmation of several key Obama nominees, with Republican senators submitting more than 1,100 written questions to Gina McCarthy, Obama’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

McCarthy, Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez, consumer financial watchdog Richard Cordray,  and five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board are awaiting confirmation.

“Presidents need to have the team they want when they want them – and this is not working” Reid said told reporters. “It is time for this gridlock to end – that is my message.” He added, “There are no threats – we simply want the Senate to work the way that it should.” 

He added later, “We’re not threatening anybody with anything.”

But Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y. argued that “the public would be happy to hear that the Senate is changing the way it is doing business. So the other side (the Republicans) must be careful – if they think they can win a debate over whether the Senate should change its rules, they might very well be mistaken.”

In a big victory for Obama, the Senate unanimously voted Thursday to confirm Sri Srinivasan to serve on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Senate Republican Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R- Ky. indicated Wednesday that Republicans supported Srinivasan, a lawyer who has served in the Solicitor General’s office in both the Bush and Obama administrations, calling him "a nominee we all agree on.... We like him."

Discussing Srinivasan, Schumer smiled as he said to reporters, “We may be seeing him coming before the Senate again soon,” – a reference to speculation that Obama might nominate Srinivasan to the Supreme Court if a vacancy occurs. 

But looming in the weeks ahead is a potentially incendiary standoff over what many Democrats are urging: a change in Senate rules to end filibusters of nominees.

In 2005, Senate Republicans threatened to use the “nuclear option” after Democrats blocked votes on nominees to the federal courts by President George W. Bush. The roles were reversed in 2005 with Democrats supporting filibusters of nominee and Republicans accusing them of obstructionism. Eventually the two sides settled their dispute and allowed several Bush nominees to be confirmed to the federal bench.

Reid reminisced Wednesday about the agreement that Democrats had struck with Republicans on confirming those nominees. He said, “We agreed to put some people on the bench that we have regretted since then -- Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas Griffith, Brett Kavanaugh” – all of whom are judges now serving on the D.C. Circuit appeals court.

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 1:42 PM EDT

NBC's Domenico Montanaro looks at the day in politics. The focus is President Obama's speech on America's use of drones. But there's some campaign news, too, with Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., in Iowa and ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., making his first campaign stop in his bid for mayor of New York.

Obama to scale back his administration’s drone policy… Also expected in his 2:00 pm ET national security speech: better securing diplomatic facilities and stating his desire to close Gitmo… About that Holder letter… WaPo on the White House trying to shield Obama from IRS investigation… Cruz: “I don’t trust the Republicans”… Scott Walker heads to the Hawkeye State… And Happy (upcoming) Memorial Day weekend.

Pool / Getty Images

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a concert honoring singer-songwriter Carole King with the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at the White House on May 22, 2013.

*** Obama to scale back drone policy: In his first major national security speech of his second term, President Obama today is expected to both defend -- but also announce changes to -- his administration’s use of drones to kill suspected terrorists and foreign enemies. “A new classified policy guidance signed by Mr. Obama will sharply curtail the instances when unmanned aircraft can be used to attack in places that are not overt war zones, countries like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia,” the New York Times reports. “The rules will impose the same standard for strikes on foreign enemies now used only for American citizens deemed to be terrorists” -- i.e., force can be used against targets who are 1) an imminent threat against Americans, and 2) cannot be feasibly captured. The Times also says that the Obama administration will shift control of drone strikes from the CIA to the U.S. military. “The significance is the Pentagon will now control the drone program, which increases transparency both for Congress and the American people,” NBC terrorism analyst Roger Cressey said on “TODAY” this morning.

*** What’s also expected in the speech: A White House official, per NBC’s Shawna Thomas, says that the president’s speech also will discuss better securing U.S. diplomatic facilities (after the 2012 Benghazi attack), balancing security while protecting civil liberties at home (see the leak investigations), and stating his desire to close the Guantanamo Bay prison (an action which Congress opposes). Don’t be surprised if Obama says something along the lines of, “We will never send another detainee to Gitmo” as a way to express his willingness to close the facility. And don’t be surprised if he addresses -- head on -- the Justice Department’s seizure of reporters’ phone records in its prosecution of national security leaks. Obama delivers his remarks at 2:00 pm ET at the National Defense University in DC.

*** About that Holder letter: Obama’s remarks come a day after Attorney General Eric Holder released a letter acknowledging -- for the first time by the administration -- that four American citizens were killed in U.S. drone strikes. NBC’s Pete Williams says the letter discloses what had been widely reported and known: that three citizens were killed in counter-terrorism operations, including Anwar al Awlaki. The letter also gives the legal justification for those drone strikes. And finally, Williams adds, it discloses the death of an additional U.S. citizen, Jude Kenan Mohammed, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina for taking part in a plot to stage a terror attack against US military targets. Speaking of drones, the Feb. 2013 NBC/WSJ poll found that 64% of Americans favored using them to target suspected members of Al Qaeda and other terrorists, while 12% opposed and another 22% didn’t have an opinion. And in a separate question, 42% said the program should be continued, and 28% said it should be changed or modified.

*** The Shield: Turning from national security to the domestic/political controversies hitting the Obama administration, the Washington Post notes what we did yesterday about the IRS story -- that the White House’s top goal was to ensure that Obama had nothing to do with it. “This account of how the White House tried to deal with the IRS inquiry … shows how carefully Obama’s top aides were trying to shield him from any second-term scandal that might swamp his agenda or, worse, jeopardize his presidency.” The Post story also reveals that the White House brought in many of the old hands to manage the P.R. relating to the inspector general’s report. “Late last week, [White House Chief of Staff Denis] McDonough summoned Plouffe and a cadre of former Obama and Clinton advisers — including Stephanie Cutter, Robert Gibbs, Anita Dunn, Paul Begala and Mike McCurry — to the White House for two separate public relations strategy sessions. White House aides said they urged getting out information about the IRS situation as quickly as possible, and provided advice on refocusing attention on Obama’s jobs agenda.”

*** Cruz: “I don’t trust the Republicans”: Here’s something you don’t see every day: A U.S. senator announcing, on the Senate floor, that he doesn’t trust his own party. Of course, in his first few months in office, Ted Cruz isn’t your average senator. “The senior senator from Arizona urged this body to trust the Republicans,” Cruz said, per Politico referring to Sen. John McCain in the debate over whether to go to conference in the budget negotiations. “Let me be clear, I don’t trust the Republicans. I don’t trust the Democrats and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don’t trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess.”

*** Scott Walker heads to the Hawkeye State: Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker today travels to Iowa, where he addresses the Polk County, IA GOP dinner that begins at 7:00 pm ET. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Walker could very well be the most significant 2016er on the GOP side that no one is talking about right now. There is A LOT of room for a presidential candidate who hails from outside of Washington.

*** State shopping isn’t the best policy for success: Don’t miss the piece on the “Daily Rundown” site about how politicians who run for office in one state and then another usually don’t have that much success.

*** Happy Memorial Day: Lastly, to get an early start on the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, your morning First Read note won’t be publishing on Friday. We’ll return on Tuesday. Happy Memorial Day!!!

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*** Thursday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: Guest host Richard Lui interviews Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) about the West Point Bathroom Cam scandal.  Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) joins to discuss the fallout from the IRS scandal.  “My Two Moms” Author Zach Wahls joins to discuss the Boy Scouts Vote on banning gay scouts.  And Today’s Power Panel includes Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard, ThinkProgress Editor-in-Chief Judd Legum and The Root Contributing Editor Corey Dade. 

*** Thursday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include former Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt, former Obama administration economist Jared Bernstein, Demos’ Heather McGhee, and MSNBC.com’s Richard Wolffe.

*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Rep. Peter King (D-NY), former Defense Dept. General Counsel Jeh Johnson, former State Department Official PJ Crowley, Oklahoma Secy. of Safety and Security Michael Thompson, NBC’s Pete Williams and Craig Melvin, Miami Herald’s Carol Rosenberg and USA Today’s Susan Page.

“President Barack Obama on Thursday is expected to address some of the thornier aspects of national security policy, including drone strikes, the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the dire threats Americans continue to face — even from fellow citizens,” AP writes. “On the eve of the president’s speech at the National Defense University, the Obama administration revealed for the first time that a fourth American citizen had been killed in secretive drone strikes abroad. The killings of three other Americans in counterterror operations since 2009 were known before a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy acknowledged the four deaths.”

As for what Obama will say: “Obama’s speech is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities — from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants held at the military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — but make no new sweeping policy announcements.”

The New York Times: “President Obama plans to open a new phase in the nation’s long struggle with terrorism on Thursday by restricting the use of unmanned drone strikes that have been at the heart of his national security strategy and shifting control of them away from the C.I.A. to the military.”

Political Wire: “The Obama administration is set to restart transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ‘kick-starting a long-stalled drive to close the prison,’ the Wall Street Journal reports.”

“The economy is recovering, the White House is dealing with multiple controversies, and President Barack Obama appears generally unaffected either way,” AP writes. “Several recent polls show the president sustaining an overall approval rating around 50 percent, with no major uptick from gains in housing, jobs and the stock market, and no downtick from the recent storms over the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS and a leak investigations that has swept up the phone records of Associated Press journalists. The data suggests the economy could be insulating Obama from the immediate troubles confronting his administration. But it also indicates that while a growing number of those surveyed are more optimistic about the economy, they are evenly split on whether they approve or disapprove of his handling of it.”

Time has Obama prom photos from 1979 when he was 17.

Politico: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is waging an under-the-radar campaign to get his fellow Democrats to back a summertime fight to overhaul the filibuster for executive branch nominees.

Reid is carrying a list of names to target and has met with about two dozen Democrats on the issue thus far, focusing on ‘Old Bull’ senators and skeptics of rules changes, according to senators and aides familiar with the talks.”

More than 100 conservative economists have signed on to a letter urging Congressional leaders to pass comprehensive immigration reform, citing the overhaul's projected impact on economic growth and deficit reduction, per NBC’s Carrie Dann and Ali Weinberg. "Immigration reform’s positive impact on population growth, labor force growth, housing, and other markets will lead to more rapid economic growth," writes the group in a letter spearheaded by former Congressional Budget Office director and  American Action Forum president Douglas Holtz-Eakin. 

“Seven million college students are on track to see their federal loan rates double this year unless Congress acts ahead of a July 1 deadline when subsidized Stafford loan rates will increase from 3.4% to 6.8%,” USA Today writes. “The U.S. House will vote Thursday on a Republican plan to head off the increase inspired by an unlikely source: President Obama. … In his 2014 budget, the president called for tying college loan rates determined by the federal government to market-based interest rates, which is the foundation of a GOP proposal. But that is where the similarities stop, and the partisan divides begin to emerge.”

Amb. Thomas Pickering, who authored the Accountability Review Board investigation into the aftermath of Benghazi, has agreed to a transcribed pre-hearing interview with the House Oversight Committee. Chairman Darrell Issa had wanted a private deposition. Pickering wanted a public hearing.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) thinks HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is like Ollie North, who helped provide arms from Iran to Nicaragua.

National Journal: “In 2000, Ted Cruz was known only as a Texas-raised, Harvard-trained domestic policy adviser to the George W. Bush campaign. … Cruz helped craft the campaign’s immigration policy, which called for speeding up the application process, increasing the number of work visas, and allowing the relatives of permanent residents to visit the U.S. while their applicants were pending.”

More: “The route Cruz chose, from working on the reform-minded Bush campaign to voting against the bill Wednesday as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, confounds some of those who crossed paths with him. His role on the Bush campaign is a lesser-known part of the biography of a politician increasingly viewed as a potential presidential contender in 2016.”

Cruz yesterday said he didn’t “trust Republicans” or Democrats. He wants to hold the line on the debt ceiling.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus thinks there’s a double standard in the Obama administration leak investigations. “Where’s the investigation of the leaks surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden?” he asks in an op-ed in Politico. He contends: “Releasing classified information is, of course, a serious matter. But if preventing leaks is the administration’s chief priority, why do they operate with two different sets of rules? Why do they act differently when leaks are convenient for them or perpetuate a desired narrative or burnish their public image?”

And yet, there was this… The Washington Post: “Federal investigators looking into disclosures of classified information about a cyberoperation that targeted Iran’s nuclear program have increased pressure on current and former senior government officials suspected of involvement, according to people familiar with the investigation.”

COLORADO: Tom Tancredo (R) is going to announce that he’s running for governor today on a conservative talk radio show. Why? The Denver Post: “Tancredo, a Republican, referred to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s decision on Wednesday to grant a temporary reprieve on the execution of death row inmate Nathan Dunlap. Dunlap was convicted of killing four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese in 1993. Several Republicans castigated Hickenlooper on Wednesday for the move that halts Dunlap’s date with death that was scheduled for August.”

PENNSYLVANIA: EMILY’s List has endorsed Allyson Schwartz for governor of Pennsylvania.

With one of President Barack Obama’s key nominees on the verge of being confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared to edge away Wednesday from an idea that some Democrats are calling for: enacting a change in Senate rules to stop filibusters which delay votes on Obama appointees.

During a debate on the Senate floor with Republican Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, Reid said, "I'm not saying we're going to change the rules" regarding the filibuster, but argued that the Senate must move faster to confirm Obama nominees.

He accused Republicans of “slow-walking” nominees and bogging them down by submitting hundreds and, in one case, a thousand written questions to the nominee before the confirmation vote could occur.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid speaks after a weekly Senate Democratic caucus meeting May 21, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

McConnell accused Reid of using the threat of a unilateral change in in Senate rules – the so-called “nuclear option” – to create “the majority’s own culture of intimidation right here in the Senate.”

The roles were reversed back in 2005 when the Republican majority, including McConnell, threatened to use the “nuclear option” to stop Democratic filibusters, supported by Reid at the time, of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees.

McConnell noted Wednesday that Republicans had agreed to an up-or-down vote on Obama’s nomination of Sri Srinivasan to serve on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, with that vote to occur the Tuesday after the Senate returns from its one-week Memorial Day recess.

“Instead the majority leader chose to jam the minority,” McConnell complained, accusing the Democrats of “manufacturing a crisis to justify their heavy-handed behavior.”

Reid moved on Tuesday to limit debate on Srinivasan and have his confirmation vote Thursday.

McConnell called Srinivasan "a nominee we all agree on.... we like him" and argued that speeding up his nearly certain confirmation was Reid gratuitously using his power.

Srinivasan is crucial because so far in the four and a half years of his presidency, Obama has gotten no one confirmed to that court, which handles most legal challenges to regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies and serves as a major stepping stone to the Supreme Court.

In March, Republicans blocked a confirmation vote on another Obama nominee to that court, Caitlin Halligan.

 “You have a majority on that court that is wreaking havoc with the country,” Reid said, adding that with further GOP delays perhaps the judges on that court will issue more opinions in the next couple of weeks favorable to the Republicans – as that court did in January when it ruled that Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional since he had made them when there was no Senate recess.

Reid also reminisced Wednesday about the agreement that he and other Democrats had struck with Republicans in 2005 on confirming Bush’s judicial nominees, an agreement that was made under the threat of the Republicans using the nuclear option.

He said, “We agreed to put some people on the bench that we have regretted since then -- Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas Griffith, Brett Kavanaugh” – all of whom are judges now serving on the D.C. Circuit appeals court.

Awaiting Senate action after the Memorial Day recess are other nominees such as Thomas Perez to be labor secretary, Gina McCarthy to head the EPA, and five Obama nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board.

George Kohl, senior director for the Communications Workers of America, a labor union, said he didn’t interpret Reid’s comment Wednesday as him ruling out any future use of the nuclear option.

For the CWA, the NLRB nominees are crucial. “If they don’t get that (floor) vote in July, the Labor Board will cease to function on Aug. 27 when the chairman’s term expires. We think that’s a crisis for America.”

If McConnell doesn’t allow a vote on the NLRB nominees, “we think the rules (on ending debate) need to be changed” so the NLRB can protect workers’ right, Kohl said.

This story was originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 3:36 PM EDT

At the White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that President Obama will travel to Oklahoma on Sunday, May 26 to inspect the damage from the tornado that hit the state on Monday.

Carney added that the president will visit with affected families and thank first-responders.

Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) is a member of a dying breed -- he's one of just nine Democrats to represent a congressional district that President Barack Obama lost in 2012.

In fact, Mitt Romney carried Barrow’s Georgia district with more than 55 percent of the vote last year, and John McCain did the same four years earlier.

But as Republicans seek to maintain control of the U.S. House in 2014, Republicans are hoping to make Barrow, who is running for a fifth term, and his fellow conservative-leaning Democrats completely extinct.

“The district is in the conservative to very conservative range, though on social issues it would definitely be considered very conservative,” said Lawton Sack, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party in that district. “We have very active Tea Party and Liberty groups throughout the district as well, so fiscal and constitutional issues are fairly important.”

Indeed, as NBC’s Jessica Taylor recently reported, the National Republican Congressional Committee has started a new initiative -- “Red Zone” -- that dedicates staff and resources to defeat Democrats like Barrow who represent conservative-leaning districts.

How have Barrow and these other Democrats -- like Utah’s Jim Matheson, Minnesota’s Collin Peterson and West Virginia’s Nick Rahall -- survived so far?

One explanation, Republican strategists say, is these politicians’ skills.  

“My guess is, by and large, the politicians who have been elected in these districts have understood the feel of them and been able to temper their ideology,” said Tom Rath, who has served as a senior advisor to several Republican presidential campaigns. “They get it. They do a lot of work in terms of communication and interaction.”

In particular, Sack of the Georgia Republican Party says Barrow has nailed his advertising, citing one TV ad Barrow aired in 2012 that boasted his opposition to gun control.

In the spot, Barrow displayed several guns from his family’s personal collection, saying, “I approve this message because these are my guns now, and ain’t nobody gonna take ‘em away.”

“I have had several conservative Republicans say to me that Barrow is not that bad and that he is really a conservative Democrat,” Sack added. “Time after time, I overheard people repeating things that Barrow said in his ads. They really seem to resonate with voters.”

Another advantage Democrats like Barrow have had: their GOP opposition.

In Georgia, Sack explains, Republicans had a field of candidates running to unseat Barrow, which took up time and resources that could have devoted to defeating the Democratic congressman. The last Republican standing after the 2012 GOP primary, Lee Anderson, had the fatal political flaw of being a poor public speaker, Sack says.

“He was wonderful one-on-one, but he could not speak publicly. He also refused to debate John Barrow, which was both a wise and poor decision,” he said. “Barrow would have beaten him solidly, but his refusal to debate painted Anderson as being scared of him.”

The Cook Political Report notes GOP recruitment problems in four of the other of these “Red Zone” districts.

Despite being unable to defeat Barrow and other Democrats from conservative-leaning districts, Republicans believe they have an important edge looking ahead to 2014 -- redistricting.

“They got redistricted, the effect of which was to make these districts even more competitive for Republicans to take a shot,” said Alex Vogel, a Republican strategist. 

Annie Kelly, director of the NRCC’s “Red Zone” effort, believes that just because these Democrats survived in 2012, doesn’t mean they’ll win in future contests.

“Sometimes it takes a couple of cycles to get these entrenched incumbents to a point where they can be beaten,” she said.

Lawmakers expressed both anger and bewilderment that IRS leaders had not told Congress sooner about indications that the tax agency had improperly singled out conservatives and Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status.

A highly anticipated hearing by the top investigative committee in the Republican-controlled House delivered on the drama that was expected. Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of the division accused of wrongdoing, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against testifying, and defiantly asserted her innocence.

"I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws," she said. "I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations and I have not provided any false information to this or any other committee."

But her refusal to testify left the hearing on an uncertain note. Republicans only recessed the meeting – versus formally adjourning it – and threatened to re-call Lerner, whom they asserted had waived her Fifth Amendment privileges by making her brief statement.

"I am looking into the possibility of recalling her and insist she answer questions in light of a waiver,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the committee.

But much of lawmakers' ire was trained on the IRS leadership for failing to disclose any indication of IRS wrongdoing to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, whose inquiry into the matter prompted an inspector general inquiry into targeting of conservative groups. Both Democrats and Republicans voiced outrage that Douglas Shulman, the commissioner of the IRS during much of the abuses, did not tell lawmakers that an internal IRS investigation had suggested improper action by the IRS to single out conservative groups.

"At that point, I didn’t have anything concrete," Shulman responded. "I didn’t have a full set of facts to come back to Congress or the committee with."

His answered angered Democrats as much as Republicans.

"If you didn’t know, you were derelict in your duty," said Issa.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. holds up a document as he speaks to IRS official Lois Lerner on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, during the committee's hearing to investigate the extra scrutiny IRS gave to Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

"You misled Congress. Make no question about it … When you learned there was a list, you did nothing," said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., who raised the prospect of appointing a special prosecutor in his opening remarks. "You abdicated your responsibility and you allowed Congress to proceed under your prior information that was false, that was untrue."

And for the first time, the IRS inspector general who generated the report that laid out the explosive allegations, J. Russell George, came under scrutiny from lawmakers. Issa pressed George as to why his office hadn't told Congress about indications of targeting at an earlier point during the investigation.

"I think it would behoove all of us to make sure that accurate information is given to Congress so we don’t act precipitously," George responded in reference to his office's actions.

The tense exchanges followed a somewhat explosive opening to the hearing, in which Lerner refused to answer lawmakers’ questions. But she delivered a brief statement explaining her role at the IRS and denying any wrongdoing.

That statement angered committee conservatives, who said that Lerner had essentially offered testimony, and thus had waived her ability to invoke her constitutional right to not testify. Issa dismissed Lerner nonetheless, but warned that his panel might again seek her testimony in the future. Following her dismissal, Lerner’s role remained largely absent through the questioning of the other witnesses.

The scrutiny of the IRS witnesses was characteristic of a hearing that focused far more on the actions of the agency and the subsequent investigation than whether the IRS came under undue influence from the Obama administration to single out conservatives.

The one administration witness, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, denied that he had ever directed the targeting of conservative groups. "Absolutely not, congresswoman," he said in response to a question on that matter, one of the few questions he faced during the hearing.

While Republicans have insinuated for much of the last two weeks that the IRS abuses were part of a "culture of intimidation" within the Obama administration, that line of inquiry generally took a backseat during Wednesday's hearing. (By contrast, Republicans focused on finding ties to Obama much more during a hearing last Friday by the House Ways and Means Committee and a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee.)

An exception to that came when Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, linked the Obama administration’s assertion that the IRS abuses were limited to rogue employees to its initial assertion following last year’s terror attack in Benghazi that it was the outgrowth of a spontaneous protest. (This assertion about Benghazi was eventually proved wrong, and has become another point of contention between the White House and congressional Republicans.)

Related Stories:

• Ex-Cincy IRS official doubts agency's explanation for Tea Party scandal

This story was originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 10:41 AM EDT

The White House finds itself in a public relations mess… Even as it argues that the press is seeing the trees (like the IG report) but missing the forest (Obama had no role in IRS controversy)… Issa’s committee knew about the IG report, too?... Senate Judiciary Committee clears immigration bill, which now moves to the Senate floor… NYT: The number of drone strikes declines… WaPo on Petraeus’ role in the Benghazi talking points… Florida shooting connected to Boston bombing… Will Weiner get his second chance?... And Garcetti wins LA mayoral run-off.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

President Barack Obama meets with Myanmar's President Thein Sein in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, May 20, 2013.

*** The White House’s public relations mess: While there is still no evidence connecting the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups directly to the White House or to the president personally, or to his re-election campaign, it doesn’t mean the White House doesn’t have a PR problem on its hands. And this PR mess is largely self-inflicted. For starters, its explanation about when it learned of the inspector general’s IRS investigation keeps changing. “Just a day after telling reporters that chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House staff learned of the situation nearly a month ago, press secretary Jay Carney revealed Tuesday that White House officials had consulted with the Treasury Department on how to make the findings public,” Politico writes. Then we discover that the IRS official Lois Lerner plans to plead the 5^th Amendment at today’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Both developments make it SEEM like the White House or the administration has something to hide -- even if the evidence (so far) is that Team Obama wasn’t directly connected to this IRS story. And speaking of a PR mess, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney didn’t help things when he compared a question about HHS’s fundraising to questions about the president’s birth certificate. That’s the way a White House acting as if it’s in a bunker mentality responds to legitimate questions.

*** White House: Press is seeing the trees but missing the forest: All that said, the White House believes reporters are seeing the trees but missing the forest. According to an administration official, its P.R. priorities were 1) demonstrating that the president had NO role in this controversy and 2) demanding accountability and new hires immediately. And this official believes both of those priorities have been met. For the White House, all other questions -- including who knew about the IG report and when they knew it -- are secondary, and it has taken them time to get their facts straight. But that explanation also assumes that the White House’s story won’t continue to change. And that gets at the issue of a credibility problem. And right now, the White House press shop has a credibility problem with many reporters in that press room. And assuming they have nothing to hide, it’s a self-inflicted credibility problem.

*** Issa’s committee knew about the IG report, too? Speaking of the IG report, the inspector general who investigated the IRS’s targeting of conservative-sounding groups testified at the Senate Finance Committee yesterday that Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee also knew about the report back in 2012 and communicated with the IG’s office. So Democrats argue something along the lines of, “Issa’s committee knew about it, too, and didn’t say anything public!!!” But an Issa spokesman tells First Read, “The administration is trying to draw a false a parallel between its own responsibilities and an Oversight Committee that requested the IG audit. This includes a false characterization that the Committee voluntarily waited for [the IG’s office] to complete its investigation. In reality, the committee made extensive efforts to ask [the inspector general] if wrongdoing had been found but was rebuffed on multiple occasions. Administration officials drawing a false parallel have offered no evidence that they made a similar effort to learn all that they could about wrongdoing.” 

*** Senate Judiciary Committee clears immigration bill: Despite everything else happening (IRS, the Oklahoma disaster, etc.), the immigration train keeps moving forward. By a 13-5 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved the sweeping bipartisan immigration-reform legislation, which now heads to the Senate floor. Per NBC’s Carrie Dann, “Three Republicans -- Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah -- joined the panel's 10 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. Flake and Graham are both members of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that originally drafted the 844-page immigration legislation. Hatch's support was won after the Utah lawmaker secured changes to the bill's provisions for the hiring of high-skilled foreign workers.” But there also was some drama, Dann notes. “In an emotional moment shortly before final passage, committee chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced that he would not call for a vote on an amendment that would have recognized the marriages of same-sex spouses in immigration law. Republicans in the bipartisan Gang of Eight said the LGBT measure would have broken apart the fragile coalition crafted by the bill's drafters.” The decision to pull the same-sex amendment only highlights the fact that Leahy wasn’t in charge of his own committee hearing; Chuck Schumer was.  

*** NYT: The number of drone strikes decline: A day before Obama’s speech on national security at the National Defense University, the New York Times reports that the number of drone strikes overseas has declined. “Strikes in Pakistan peaked in 2010 and have fallen sharply since then; their pace in Yemen has slowed to half of last year’s rate; and no strike has been reported in Somalia for more than a year.” We expect that the president will discuss the drone wars, as well the Guatanamo Bay prison. But it would also be a smart place for Obama to discuss and either defend, denounce, or explain the Justice Department tough actions against national-security leaks, which seem to have infringed on press freedoms. If he fails to use tomorrow’s speech to deal with the press’ growing anger about the targeting of individual journalists, it could be a missed opportunity.

*** On Petraeus’ role in the Benghazi talking points: We’ve told you that the fight over the Benghazi talking points seemed to be more bureaucratic politics than electoral politics. And this Washington Post article seems to further confirm that. “A close reading of recently released government e-mails that were sent during the editing process, and interviews with senior officials from several government agencies, reveal [former CIA head David] Petraeus’s early role and ambitions in going well beyond the committee’s request, apparently to produce a set of talking points favorable to his image and his agency. The information Petraeus ordered up when he returned to his Langley office that morning included far more than the minimalist version that [Rep.] Ruppersberger had requested. It included early classified intelligence assessments of who might be responsible for the attack and an account of prior CIA warnings — information that put Petraeus at odds with the State Department, the FBI and senior officials within his own agency.” 

*** Florida shooting connected to Boston bombing: Don’t be surprised if this story grabs a lot more attention later today. “An FBI agent was involved in a fatal shooting in Orlando early Wednesday that a local TV station says may have ties to the Boston Marathon bombings,” USA Today writes. “FBI officials have confirmed that a man died while one of its agents was "conducting official duties," the Orlando Sentinelreports, but would not elaborate. WESH-TV [an NBC affiliate] identifies the victim as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev.” NBC’s Richard Esposito reports that the shooting IS connected to Boston bombing case. “It is connected in that the person shot is linked to Tsarnaev and has associates who are extremists overseas. They were interviewing him regarding his connections to Tsarnaev. He had been interviewed before. He started out cooperative. Flipped out. Went to attack agent. Then was shot.”

*** Will Weiner get his second chance? Anthony Weiner has released a slick two-minute video announcing his bid for New York mayor. "Look, I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down,” he says in the video, which also features his wife Huma Abedin and young son. “But I've also learned some tough lessons. I'm running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you." Later in the video, wife Huma adds, “We love this city, and no one will work harder to make it better than Anthony.” While we still have our doubts that Weiner becomes NYC’s next mayor, his presence in the race likely means that front-runner Christine Quinn would face a run-off -- one in which she could struggle.

*** Garcetti to become LA’s next mayor: And in Los Angeles’ mayoral run-off, City Councilman Eric Garcetti defeated City Comptroller Wendy Greuel by eight percentage points, 54%-46%, succeeding outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Los Angeles Times: “Garcetti will be the first elected Jewish mayor of the city. At 42, he will also be the youngest in more than a century. He is scheduled to take office July 1.” More: “At $33 million, the mayoral campaign was the most expensive in city history. The flood of money and advertising from those groups largely went toward tearing down the two contenders, alienating many Angelenos who hadn't already been left cold.”

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*** Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, reporting live from Moore, OK, interviews Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, Briarwood Elementary School Secretary Chris Combs, Kate Deshino with Americares and Dan Halyburton with the Red Cross.  

*** Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, reporting live from Moore, OK, interviews OK Governor Mary Fallin, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, Briarwood Elementary 4^th Grade Teacher Sheryl Johnson, Kate Deshino with Americares and Dan Halyburton with the Red Cross. Thomas also interviews country music star Toby Keith. 

*** Wednesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include National Journal’s Ron Fournier, MSNBC’s Karen Finney, NYC Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells, and the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein.

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, anchoring from New York, interviews MSNBC’s Chris Jansing, NBC’s Pete Williams, and former Sen. Tom Daschle. The program also will carry Gov. Mary Fallin’s press conference with Secy. Janet Napolitano.

*** Wednesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Politico’s Anna Palmer and the Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky.

“A top IRS official scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight committee has notified Congress that she will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions,” NBC’s Lisa Myers reports.  “Lois Lerner, head of the IRS unit which handled tax-exempt organizations, won't answer questions about what she knows about the improper screening of conservative groups or about why she repeatedly failed to tell Congress that such targeting was going on, according to a letter from her lawyer, William W. Taylor 3rd.”

The RNC is making a Freedom of Information Act request into the IRS. 

USA Today: “President Obama has formally appointed the 10 members of a special commission designed to look for improvements in U.S. election systems. The assignment of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration is to ‘identify non-partisan ways to shorten lines at polling places, promote the efficient conduct of elections, and provide better access to the polls for all voters,’ said a White House statement. The bipartisan co-chairs are Robert Bauer and Benjamin Ginsberg, attorneys who worked for the Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns during last year's presidential election.” 

Vice President Biden speaks at the Coast Guard Academy commencement today. 

Dana Milbank on the government obtaining phone records of journalists and snooping on emails: “Here's why you should care … The Rosen affair is as flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush's administration, and it uses technology to silence critics in a way Richard Nixon could only have dreamed of." 

Oh Joe… Biden made a teleprompter joke… "You can't tell Barack that the teleprompter's down. The standing joke in the office is Barack's learning to speak without a teleprompter; I'm learning to speak with one."

Political Wire: “A new Harvard study contacted over 7,000 election administrators in 28 states and found they provided different information about voter ID requirements to voters of different ethnicities.”

The Washington Post: “‘Responses to Latino names,’ the researchers write, ‘are three-and-a-half to four percentage points less likely [to get a response from election officials] than to non-Latino white names.’ The bias against Latino e-mailers was about three points greater in voter ID questions….”

A Hamilton College poll finds that 58% of Republicans don’t think the 2012 election was fair. From the write up: “Republicans are particularly concerned about voter fraud and intimidation in big urban areas, with 32 percent of them believing that it had a big impact on the election, 49 percent believing it had some impact, and only 19 percent believing it had no impact.” 

CALIFORNIA: Thin Greuel… City Councilman Eric Garcetti (D) defeated Controller Wendy Greuel (D) to be the next mayor of L.A. The L.A. Times: “Garcetti will be the first elected Jewish mayor of the city. At 42, he will also be the youngest in more than a century. He is scheduled to take office July 1.” 

Garcetti was up 54%-46% at nearly 5 am ET, when Greuel called to concede. 

MASSACHUSETTS: Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez (R) released an ad labeling Rep. Ed Markey (D) as “Dirty Ed Markey.” Markey is running an ad highlighting Gomez’s opposition to stricter gun background checks and invokes Newtown. Gomez’s ad responds: “Now, Markey actually blames Gomez for the Newtown shooting. Disgusting. Thirty-seven years in Congress. Dirty Ed Markey.”

But as the Boston Globe points out: “Despite what the ad says, Markey has not blamed Gomez for the Newtown shooting. Markey has released an ad that highlights Gomez’s opposition to an assault weapons ban and to limits on high-capacity magazines, ‘like the ones used in the Newtown school shooting.’”

MICHIGAN: AP: Republican Rep. Mike Rogers has pulled off a rare feat in a bitterly divided Congress — a working, productive relationship with Democrats in overseeing the nation’s 16 spy agencies. The question now is whether the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee sticks around the House or fulfills GOP hopes and launches a bid for the U.S. Senate seat from Michigan. … Rogers also is on the short list to replace Robert Mueller as FBI director, a nomination by President Barack Obama that likely would sail through the Senate and complicate the political outlook in Michigan.”

NEW YORK: Anthony Weiner officially announced his run for mayor. He put out this ad, hitting notes of working-class, old New York. It’s an ad for the boroughs and businesses. He alludes to the scandal that dropped him from Congress, too. “Look, I made some big mistakes, and I let a lot of people down, but I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor, because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life, and I hope I get a second chance to work for you.” 

But Weiner has a lot of work to do. A Quinnipiac poll found almost half of New Yorkers don’t think he should be running – 49%. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continues to lead, but with just 25%, though she gets a 53% job approval. Weiner now comes in second with 15%. And there’s still an opening for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to launch and independent bid. By a 45%-38% margin, New Yorkers think he should run.

USA Today points out that Weiner’s had his eye on being mayor for a while: “Weiner, a former City Council member, ran for mayor in 2005 but lost the Democratic primary nomination to Fernando Ferrer. He intended to run again in 2009 and was leading early public opinion polls. When the council changed the city's term limits law and Bloomberg ran again, Weiner abandoned his mayoral bid at that time and returned to Congress." 

Tabloid Wars? The New York Post picks at Weiner’s rollout: “Anthony Weiner announced his campaign for mayor early this morning with — what else? — a leak. Shortly after midnight, the disgraced ex-congressman’s campaign accidentally posted online a 2-minute, 16-second video in which he throws his hat into the ring, lays out his platform — and even acknowledges the scandal that ended his days in DC.”

But the New York Daily News begins to make the case for him: “The unconventional campaign launch culminates a comeback tour that began in early April with a magazine interview and continued with the posting of a policy booklet online filled with ideas for the next mayor. Although the sexting scandal made Weiner a national punchline, he has the potential to be a force in the mayoral race. He has $4.3 million in campaign funds — raised in anticipation of this year’s election before his political career derailed. It’s the second-largest war chest among all the candidates, after that of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Weiner also boasts high name recognition, although that is partly the result of his very public fall from grace two years ago this weekend.”

VIRGINIA: Terry McAuliffe is up with a new TV ad highlighting his support for the state’s recently passed transportation bill.

Drew Angerer / The New York Times via Redux Pictures

Supporters of immigration reform cheer after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration laws on Tuesday.

A sweeping bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system cleared its first major hurdle late Tuesday night, with the 18-member committee charged with completing a first round of legislative edits voting to advance the amended bill to the full Senate.  

The vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee was 13-5.  

Three Republicans - Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah -- joined the panel's 10 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. 

Flake and Graham are both members of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that originally drafted the 844-page immigration legislation. Hatch's support was won after the Utah lawmaker secured changes to the bill's provisions for the hiring of high-skilled foreign workers.  

Five Republicans - Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama -- voted against the legislation. 

The measure will now head to the Senate floor. 

In a statement, President Barack Obama - who has made the passage of immigration reform the top legislative goal of his second term -- lauded the committee for its "open and inclusive process" and said the legislation as approved is "largely consistent with the principles of commonsense reform I have proposed." 

"I encourage the full Senate to bring this bipartisan bill to the floor at the at the earliest possible opportunity and remain hopeful that the amendment process will lead to further improvements," he said. 

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who does not serve on the panel but is a crucial player in wooing fellow conservatives to support the bill, similarly praised the committee but noted that "work still remains to be done."

"Immigration reform will not become law unless we can earn the confidence of the American people that we are solving our immigration problems once and for all," he said, adding that he is "optimistic" that the bill can be satisfactorily improved on the Senate floor. 

On Tuesday, the top Republican in the upper chamber affirmed that he will not block the immigration proposal from being debated by the full Senate.

“I think the Gang of Eight has made a substantial contribution in moving the issue forward," Sen. Mitch McConnell told reporters. "I’m told that the Judiciary Committee hasn’t in any fundamental way undone the agreements that were agreed by the eight senators, so I’m hopeful we can get a bill that we can pass here in the Senate.”

In an emotional moment shortly before final passage, committee chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced that he would not call for a vote on an amendment that would have recognized the marriages of same-sex spouses in immigration law. 

Republicans in the bipartisan Gang of Eight said the LGBT measure would have broken apart the fragile coalition crafted by the bill's drafters. 

As written, the bill would open a 13-year path to citizenship for qualified undocumented immigrants, establish a new program for low-skilled temporary workers, require new border security strategies and implement a nationwide employment verification system. 

Conservatives who oppose the reform proposal say that it fails to secure the border adequately and does not do enough to prevent a new wave of illegal immigration into the country.

Throughout five days of marathon work sessions, senators on the panel tweaked the bill's provisions for modifying immigrant worker programs, tracking foreign nationals who overstay visas and implementing new border security measures along the nation's southern border. 

But Flake and Graham -- the two Republican members of the Gang of Eight who serve on the committee - joined with Democrats to vote down amendments deemed a threat to the "Gang of Eight" compromise.

When the final vote was announced, attendees in the hearing room broke into cheers of "Si se puede!" and "Yes we can!" 

This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 8:04 PM EDT

Acknowledging that it would jeopardize the passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill, a top ally of LGBT rights advocates will not call for a committee vote on an amendment that would include the spouses of LGBT individuals with the same standing as heterosexual couples in immigration law. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy announced "with a heavy heart" that he would withhold his amendment during the final hours of the committee's negotiations on the immigration bill. 

"I do not want to be the senator who asks Americans to choose between the love of their life and love of their country," he said in his opening remarks on the amendment, for which gay rights advocates had heavily lobbied in the weeks leading up to the marathon markup session.

Republican members of the Gang of Eight had made clear in the days before the vote that the LGBT provisions - if included - would be a dealbreaker for GOP supporters of the delicate bipartisan compromise. But gay rights organizations said the inclusion of the protections for LGBT individuals is a crucial social justice issue. 

The Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group, called opposition to Leahy's proposal "deplorable" and vowed to keep up the fight on the Senate floor. 

"We are extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people," the organization said in a statement. "We will continue to work hard to include bi-national same-sex couples as the bill moves to the floor and remain committed to the underlying principles of inclusive and comprehensive immigration reform." 

Rachel Tiven, the president of immigrant advocacy group Immigration Equality, said “there should be shame on both sides of the political aisle" for the move. 

"Despite widespread support from business, labor, faith, Latino and Asian-American advocates, Senators abandoned LGBT families without a vote," she said. 

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Gang of Eight negotiators, affirmed that the amendment would fracture the "strong but fragile coalition" nurtured by the bipartisan group. 

"When it comes to passing this immigration bill, to interject a redefinition of marriage would be a bridge too far," he said. 

Before Leahy announced the withholding of the amendment, Gang of Eight members Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer, both Democrats with strong records of supporting gay rights, each expressed anguish at the prospect of voting against the measure to preserve the chances of passage of the larger bill. 

"I believe this is the wrong moment. This is the wrong bill," said Durbin. 

Schumer acknowledged that current immigration policy towards LGBT foreign nationals amounts to  "rank discrimination"

But, he added, "I cannot support this amendment if it would bring down this bill." 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said that she believes there is a "very good chance" that the Supreme Court will find the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional this summer, largely addressing the concerns of the LGBT community when it comes to protections for binational couples.

"I am for what Sen. Leahy is proposing," she added. "I would just implore you to hold off on this amendment at this time."

The Peace Corps announced Tuesday that it would begin to accept applications from same-sex domestic partners who wish to serve together overseas, marking a sea change in the organization's recognition of gay rights. 

Shira Kramer, the press director for the Peace Corps, pointed to President Barack Obama’s 2009 memo as the driving force behind the change in policy.  That memo instructed departments and agencies to research and implement ways they could legally expand access and benefits to same-sex couples.  She pointed out that the agency “believes same-sex couples will bring new skills and experiences to the field that will benefit the organization.”

"The White House welcomes this announcement," an administration official said.

According to a Peace Corps official, same-sex couples who qualify to be posted together will not be sent to countries where homosexual activity is illegal to help ensure the safety of the volunteers. Currently, about 8,000 people are actively volunteering with the Peace Corps in 76 countries; seven percent of those volunteers are married couples who are serving together.

The president has trumpeted helping to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in his list of LGBT accomplishments.  However, he has taken heat for not using an executive order to ban federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.  

A former foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign wrote a piece last week for the Washington Post that said in part, “With a stroke of his pen, and without congressional approval, Obama could expand the 1965 executive order again, this time to cover LGBT Americans.”

A top IRS official scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight committee has notified Congress that she will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions.

Lois Lerner, head of the IRS unit which handled tax-exempt organizations, won't answer questions about what she knows about the improper screening of conservative groups or about why she repeatedly failed to tell Congress that such targeting was going on, according to a letter from her lawyer, William W. Taylor 3rd. 

The news of Lerner's intention to invoke the Fifth Amendment was first reported Tuesday by the L.A. Times.

Some members of Congress have called for Lerner to be relieved of her responsibilities. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) alleged that she gave false and misleading testimony to Congress.

Her lawyer wrote, "She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation, but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course."

A spokesman for the House committee said: "The Committee has been contacted by Ms. Lerner's lawyer who stated that his client intended to invoke her Fifth Amendment right and refuse to answer questions. Ms. Lerner remains under subpoena from Chairman Issa to appear at tomorrow's hearing -- the Committee has a Constitutional obligation to conduct oversight. Chairman Issa remains hopeful that she will ultimately decide to testify tomorrow about her knowledge of outrageous IRS targeting of Americans for their political beliefs."

An FBI criminal investigation has been launched into whether any of the IRS actions were illegal and potentially into whether senior officials lied to Congress. Given that, testifying under oath carries added legal risk.