Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio dominated media coverage this afternoon, though their remarks could barely be heard over William Kristol's loud sobs. Corey Lewandowski will oversee Donald Trump’s VP search with input from Ben Carson, meaning the leading contenders for the job are probably Turtle from “Entourage” and the Microsoft Paperclip. And Heidi Cruz said her husband’s conservative mission will continue, much like the long effort to abolish slavery, which she said lasted 25 years. On our Cruz-centric fact checking scale, we give that statement four out of four cans of soup. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, May 10th, 2016:
BIDEN -- AND LET'S CALL IT WHAT IT IS -- ENDORSES HILLARY - Arlette Saenz: "Vice President Joe Biden today predicted that Hillary Clinton will be his party's presidential nominee, even though the Democratic primary is still underway. 'I feel confident that Hillary will be the nominee, and I feel confident she’ll be the next president,' Biden said in an exclusive interview with 'Good Morning America' co-anchor Robin Roberts. The vice president’s comments came during an interview with Roberts about his 'Cancer MoonShot' initiative...Biden, who decided against a 2016 run of his own, has refrained from endorsing Clinton or her Democratic opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in this election, but his statement is the most direct acknowledgement from inside the White House that Clinton will clinch the nomination." [ABC News]
LEWANDOWSKI HEADING UP TRUMP'S VEEP SEARCH - "But, Mr. Trump, Dan Smith . . . he'll . . . he'll . . . teach you guitar! Robert Costa: "Lewandowski, Trump’s traveling confidant and campaign manager, will be in charge of the team that will survey and vet potential vice-presidential candidates for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, two top Republicans said...When asked how the post would affect Lewandowski’s day-to-day activities, one of the Republicans said that Lewandowski will continue to serve as campaign manager and described the vice-presidential selection an addition to his portfolio...Lewandowski’s role is unsurprising because he is close to Trump and managing the campaign. What is unusual is that the job of running the vice-presidential search is usually held by a lawyer who is trusted by the candidate...Trump’s team of vice-presidential search advisers is expected to include retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a former GOP rival who has emerged in recent weeks as an influential Trump ally." [Washington Post]
HAD YOU HEARD THAT TRUMP IS BIG WITH RACISTS? "On Monday evening, California's secretary of state published a list of delegates chosen by the Trump campaign for the upcoming Republican presidential primary in the state. Trump's slate includes William Johnson, one of the country's most prominent white nationalists." [Mother Jones' Josh Harkinson]
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TRUMP STILL LOSING - But… Quinnipiac is the Yale of the Greater New Haven metro area! Natalie Jackson: "Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton polls are taking center stage since he locked up the Republican nomination last week and the former Secretary of State is expected to get the Democratic nomination. In the first battleground state polls to come out since Trump’s key victory in Indiana, Quinnipiac University shows the business mogul gaining ground on Clinton in Florida and Pennsylvania — and beating the former secretary of state inalways-critical Ohio. But before you lose your mind over individual polls, heed our repeated warnings: Look at the polling averages and carefully consider the source. Quinnipiac polls have shown a consistent Republican lean in comparison to other polls so far this year. They struggled in the primaries, according to Bloomberg’s poll ratings. Their previous polls in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania leaned more toward Trump than other surveys. That said, some of the movement could be real. Trump as the presumptive nominee will unite some Republicans, even if many are still opposed to him. Clinton, meanwhile, is still in a primary fight with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)." [HuffPost]
Blame the intern: "Sen. Tom Cotton, R.-Ark., retweeted and then quickly deleted a call for a third-party alternative to presumptive Republican nominee in November. In a late night tweet, which was deleted only seconds after he sent it out, Cotton manually retweeted the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, one of the prominent backers of a potential third party bid, saying there is a 'big opening for [a] new voice w[ith] real ideas]' in a potential race between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton." [Examiner]
TED CRUZ WILL HAUNT THIS CAMPAIGN - Ben Kamisar: "Ted Cruz floated the possibility of restarting his presidential campaign if he wins Nebraska’s GOP primary on Tuesday and avoided saying whether he supports Donald Trump's bid for president. Cruz, who suspended his White House run last week, said he does not expect to win Nebraska's primary but is leaving the door open. 'We launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory,' he said Tuesday on conservative host Glenn Beck's radio program. 'If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly.' Cruz demurred on supporting Trump..." [The Hill]
Sam Stein and Igor Bobic report on anti-Trump forces working for a third party bid.
HEIDI CRUZ, ABOLITIONIST - Just when you were feeling sympathy for this person. Patrick Svitek: "Drawing a parallel between the long-term efforts of her husband's supporters and the fight to end slavery, Heidi Cruz said Tuesday that it took 'a lot longer than four years' for the latter fight to be successful. On a conference call with the campaign's National Prayer Team, Heidi Cruz portrayed Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, which ended a week ago, as one part of a broader journey similar to the abolition of slavery. 'I don’t want you to feel like any of this was in vain,' Heidi Cruz said. 'I believe in the power of prayer. This doesn’t always happen on the timing of man, and God does not work in four-year segments.' 'Be full of faith and so full of joy that this team was chosen to fight a long battle,' she continued. 'Think that slavery — it took 25 years to defeat slavery. That is a lot longer than four years.'" [Texas Tribune]
JUDICIAL ELECTIONS ARE REALLY TERRIBLE THINGS - Not quite engagement photos terrible, but definitely a worse kind of terrible than, say, Yelp reviews terrible. Paul Blumenthal: "Spending to sway judicial elections has been increasing across the country for nearly two decades, but it soared after the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which served to legalize unlimited electoral spending by corporations, unions and individuals. The court’s decision led to the overturning of Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act, which banned direct and indirect corporate political spending in the state. The Montana law had been passed in 1912 after powerful mining corporations, like the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, essentially took over the state’s political institutions, particularly the judiciary...While the influx of money, particularly post-Citizens United, has had profound effects on all kinds of political campaigns, it’s particularly troubling in those judicial races." [HuffPost]
THUNE WANTS TO INVESTIGATE PRIVATE CORPORATION BECAUSE HE IS A TRUE CONSERVATIVE - Mollie Reilly: "Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) penned a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday requesting information about how the company selects which news stories to feature in its trending news section, following a report alleging workers intentionally suppressed conservative news and viewpoints. On Monday, Gizmodo reported that, according to a former Facebook contractor, the site’s news curators regularly prevented topics of particular interest to a conservative audience (such as the 2013 IRS scandal or the annual Conservative Political Action Conference) from appearing in the site’s popular 'trending topics' section. The report also claims that curators were instructed to insert news stories into this feed even if they weren’t organically trending according to the site’s algorithms...Thune hasn’t always been on the side of legislating “balance” in the media. In 2007, the senator introduced a bill that sought to kill the Federal Communications Commission’s Fairness Doctrine." [HuffPost]
Fabulous Reid kicker: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was asked on Tuesday whether he thought it was appropriate for the Senate to investigate Facebook. Reid, who asked to have the question repeated twice, said he was unaware of the controversy. 'I’ve never heard anything about this and, at this stage, don’t care,' Reid said." [Ibid.]
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY LAYS THE HAMMER DOWN ON METRO - The ghost train epidemic must be stopped. Joan Lowy: "Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says he seriously considered ordering a shutdown of the entire Washington subway system last week and may still do that if local officials don't follow a Transportation Department safety directive. Foxx told reporters Tuesday that local officials have yet to identify the root cause of incidents involving electrical arcing, smoke and fire, and so have no plan for how to fix the problem. He says it is clear to DOT officials who watched a video of one recent incident that there is too much electrical power flowing through the subway system. Foxx calls a track maintenance schedule local officials unveiled Friday "ambitious," but says the plan still doesn't address the root cause of the incidents." [AP]
AMERICA, BRACE YOURSELF FOR PETTY MANHATTAN DISAGREEMENTS TO SEEP INTO OUR NEWS CYCLES (MORE THAN USUAL, THAT IS) - History buffs may recall that the Missouri Compromise centered on admission into Dalton. Alex Campbell: "The personal ties between Donald Trump and Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of CNN, extend beyond the reality TV hit they created together into a far more personal realm: the expensive Manhattan private school where they have both sent children, and where Zucker’s wife was until recently a member of the board. Trump’s foundation has contributed more than $150,000 over the past three years to the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, a nonprofit school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side also known as Columbia Prep. Caryn Zucker is listed as a board member for the school in tax documents covering July 2012 through June 2014. Zucker has drawn criticism inside and outside of CNN for the cable channel’s coverage of Trump, including charges that CNN has turned its platform over to a demagogue and hasn’t been sufficiently skeptical of Trump’s routine campaign falsehoods. Zucker has brushed off these charges, saying that it’s only natural for a political frontrunner to receive outsize attention. Neither party has referred publicly to this family connection." [BuzzFeed]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are a bunch of corgis on the beach.
IT'S WET, YO - Ugh, this swamp. Jason Samenow: "It has rained a lot lately. That’s clear to anyone living in this soggy, sun-deprived region. But you might be surprised to learn that the Washington area has never had more consecutive days with rain in its recorded history. Measurable rain (meaning at least 0.01 inches) has fallen in D.C. on a record 13 straight days, spanning April 27 and, today, May 9. This nearly two-week stretch breaks the previous record for the longest rain streak of 10 days from both July 1938 and August 1873. Records date to 1871." [WaPo]
COMFORT FOOD
- Animated rendering of 1999 Cher interview.
- Good sendup of YouTube top ten videos.
- Examining the racial politics of emojis.
TWITTERAMA
AnnieKNK: i wish i was dead
@recordedvoice: Say what you want, but Budweiser got at least 1 thing right: alcohol is the only thing that's gonna get us through this election
CNNyourmom: George W. Bush Is Still Your Mom
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