Rep. Ben Cardin, a low-key policy wonk first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates at age 23, appears to hold a big lead over ex-Rep. and former NAACP chief Kweisi Mfume in the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Cardin led Mfume by 46 percent to 38 percent, a margin of about 40,000 votes.
You could say that the GOP tech machine is two-for-two this year. As in winning the 50th House District race in California earlier and yesterday helping embattled Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a liberal Republican, save his bacon in a primary challenge. GOP Political Director Mike DuHaime tells us that the margin of victory was the Republican program that found friendly voters and got to them to the polls to help Chafee. It's the same "microtargeting" technique that worked in California last summer and, most notably, in President Bush's re-election. And it's the same program Democrats are trying to copy. A Bushie tells me: "This is a huge deal going into November. If anyone doubts the effectiveness of the Republican ground game, look no further than the Ocean State." Read DuHaime's get-out-the-vote victory memo to party boss Ken Mehlman here.
Harvard got rid of early admissions because it wanted other schools to get rid of early admissions. No dominoes have fallen yet, but people are definitely talking. Princeton's dean of admission seemed excited, telling the Daily Princetonian, "The choices are expanded for us now." The Duke Chronicle reports Duke is "re-evaluating" its policy. Meanwhile, officials at Yale and Penn told the Yale Daily News and the Daily Pennsylvanian they like their policies and plan to stick with them.
AP - Investigators tried to determine Thursday why a young man in a black trench coat and a mohawk haircut opened fire in a Montreal college in a terrifying rampage that killed one woman and left 19 other people wounded.
AP - Former Gov. Ann Richards, the witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity, died Wednesday night after a battle with cancer, a family spokeswoman said. She was 73.
AP - President Bush will be facing a tough crowd as he steps behind closed doors to ask House Republicans divided by the politics of war to support his drive for more power to spy on, imprison and interrogate terrorism suspects.
Several Republican senators are stepping up their opposition to the Bush administration's plan to authorize military trials for suspected terrorists, with one calling a key part of the bill "ill-advised." The issue in contention involves a White House-backed bid to redefine the U.S. interpretation of the Geneva Conventions. Some GOP senators say that would be a mistake.
Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, whose brassy, tough-talking persona and trademark white hair cut an indelible profile in Democratic politics, died Wednesday evening at her home in Austin, surrounded by her family, her spokesman, Bill Maddox said.
Police killed a gunman after he went on a shooting rampage at a Montreal college, killing one student and wounding 19 others. Students didn't think anyone was specifically targeted by the gunman. "He was walking very slowly toward us and just shooting," a student said.
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