Rasmussen:

Forty percent (40%) of Catholics say priests should be allowed to get married, while 39% disagree, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided.

Among all Americans, the findings are much more lopsided. Fifty-five percent (55%) of adults say Catholic priests should be permitted to marry, and just 19% disagree. But just over a fourth of Americans (26%) are not sure.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of evangelical Christians and 54% of other Protestants believe priests should be allowed to marry, as do 58% of all others.

But then Catholics and Protestants practice their faiths in different ways.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls.) Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter.

Sixty percent (60%) of women favor letting priests marry, compared to 50% of men.

Both men and women over the age of 40 are more supportive of priests being permitted to marry than those who are younger.

Poll:

Forty-one percent (41%) of likely U.S. voters think the United States should legalize and tax marijuana to help solve the nation’s fiscal problems.

However, nearly half (49%) oppose this idea, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

CQ Politics:

If he chooses to run, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn will cruise into next year’s re-election campaign with a high approval rating and no Democratic opponent who clearly could unseat him, according to a new poll.

Coburn, a physician and former three-term House member, has a 59 percent approval rating among Oklahoma voters, according to a survey by Public Policy Polling. And in head-to-head matchups with possible Democratic opponents Gov. Brad Henry, Rep. Dan Boren, Coburn leads Henry 52 percent to 40 percent and Boren 53 percent to 36 percent, the PPP survey said.

CQ Politics:

Republican Rep. Mary Fallin and former Rep. J.C. Watts both lead potential Democratic opponents, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins and Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Fallin leads Askins 50 percent to 34 percent with 16 percent undecided and Edmondson by 48 percent to 38 percent with 14 percent undecided. Watts leads Askins 47 percent to 36 percent with 17 percent undecided and Edmondson by 47 percent to 39 percent with 14 percent undecided. The margin of error is 3.7 percent.

Rasmussen:

Voters continue to be big supporters of NASA and the manned space program, but they’re a little less sure about the value of the Hubble Space Telescope, the subject of a high-profile astronaut repair job completed on Tuesday.

Forty-seven percent (47%) of U.S. voters say the scientific value of the Hubble telescope has been worth the cost of building and repairing it, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Twenty-one percent (21%) disagree and nearly one-third (32%) are not sure.

Sixty percent (60%) of men think the Hubble is worth the investment, compared to 35% of women.

Politico:

Republicans respect him as a relentless and creative attack dog. Democrats deride him as a rigid, bomb-throwing ideologue.

Either way, Georgia Rep. Tom Price has emerged as a major player in the House GOP.

“I’ve never seen a guy who could carry on so many battles at one time,” said Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, who preceded Price as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative House Republicans. “On our side of the aisle, people view Tom as one of the most effective advocates of the Republican message.”

Politico:

The dinner guest that night at George Will’s house in Chevy Chase was intellectually nimble, personally formidable and completely baffling, recalled columnist Charles Krauthammer - who was getting his first up-close look at President-elect Barack Obama.

“We sat around and said, ‘Does anybody really know who he is and what he wants to do, now that we’ve had this?’” Krauthammer recalled of Obama’s January sit-down with conservative columnists. “And the answer was no. We don’t know.”

“I didn’t understand what he was up to until he just unveiled it openly, boldly, unapologetically and very clearly within two weeks of his Inauguration,” Krauthammer told POLITICO in an interview in his corner office off Dupont Circle. “That’s what was so stunning.”

Chronicle of Higher Ed:

Hopeful applicants labor over every word, straining to set themselves apart through carefully crafted anecdotes that demonstrate why they merit a place at the most selective universities. At least in the case of students aspiring to a spot at the University of Cambridge, however, their time is apparently wasted.

Cambridge’s director of admissions has caused an uproar by implying that his institution does not give any weight to personal essays in applications. “With the profusion of companies and Web sites offering to help draft applicants’ personal statements for a fee, no admissions tutor believes them to be the sole work of the applicant anymore,” Geoff Parks was quoted as saying in both The Times and The Guardian. “We certainly don’t assign any marks to personal statements,” Mr. Parks added in The Times.

Chronicle of Higher Education:

Colleges often complain that they are overburdened with well-meaning but costly and duplicative federal regulations. Now they have a chance to do something about it.

The Higher Education Act that Congress reauthorized last year more than doubled colleges’ reporting requirements, but it also required a study of redundant and unnecessary regulations. The law put the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, an independent panel that advises Congress, in charge of the study.

Now the committee has created a Web site where the public can offer recommendations for streamlining federal student-aid regulations. Priority will be given to comments received before July 15.

Lynn Mitchelson, Mission Woods

It’s not quite how we would have said it, but that was the opinion Tuesday from a influential attorney in the Greater Kansas City area who, after having worked with JCCC vice-chairman Lynn Mitchelson, found Mitchelson to consider himself above error.

Today from CWA:

California Supreme Court Yields to “We the People”

Washington, D.C. - The California Supreme Court has finally yielded to the will of the majority of Californians who have voted consistently to preserve marriage for the union between one man and one woman.  The Court also held that same-sex couples who wed in the state prior to the ruling will still be considered to be married. (more…)

Today from Kobach’s campaign for Kansas Secretary of State:

Kansans for Kobach ● P.O.Box 180 ● Basehor, Kansas 66007

Contact: Ben Davis                                                                    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phone: 316.210.2450

email: btdavis1@gmail.com

UMKC LAW PROFESSOR AND FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ATTORNEY KRIS KOBACH TO RUN FOR SECRETARY OF STATE

Kobach Vows to Put His Law Enforcement Experience, Knowledge of Election Law, and Enthusiasm to Work for Kansans (more…)

From Martinez:

(Orlando, FL) - U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) today issued a statement regarding the President’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve as Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Senator Martinez said:
“During the twenty-five years I spent in Florida courts, I gained a great respect for our judicial system and the importance it plays in our society. At the apex of this system is the Supreme Court of the United States. On that court, we must have the very best. (more…)

Ensign:

Las Vegas, N.V. — Senator John Ensign, Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, released the following statement after President Obama announced that Sonia Sotomayor is his nominee to be the next Supreme Court Justice.   “The American judicial system is a towering example of freedom and liberty to the world.  Throughout the confirmation process, I will work with my colleagues and thoroughly review Judge Sotomayor’s record to make sure she has the right intellect and understands the proper role of a judge-to interpret and apply the written law, not to decide cases based on personal feelings, politics or preferences.  The confirmation process is just that -a process.  We should not prejudge this nominee, but we should be diligent as we examine the nominee’s record, background and experience.”

From Sen. Mukowski:

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today commented on President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court:   “I congratulate Judge Sonia Sotomayor on being nominated by the President to the United States Supreme Court. As the Senate moves forward with her nomination, I will examine and review very closely Judge Sotomayor’s qualifications and background for a court appointment. As a member of the Senate, I take my advice and consent role very seriously, and I look forward to a fair and full debate on this nomination.”

Source:

May 26th, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - Senator John Thune, Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today issued the following statement on President Obama’s announcement of his nominee to the Supreme Court:

“Now that President Obama has announced Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, I expect a thorough and fair examination of her background, judicial record, and adherence to the Constitution. It will be important to determine if Judge Sotomayor will decide cases based on her own personal feelings and political views, or the bedrock rule of law. I look forward to taking the necessary time to review her qualifications and record as a federal judge to ensure she possesses unimpeachable integrity, high intellect, and a commitment to applying the law as it is written, rather than legislating from the bench.”

RCP:

If Kim Jong Il thought detonating a nuclear weapon would get President Obama’s attention, he failed to calculate that Obama had a weapon of his own that he could fire more or less at his discretion that would obliterate coverage of the “Dear Leader” in the U.S. media.

Politico:

A federal judge has ruled that the Senate Ethics Committee can listen to a wiretapped conversation between Sen. Roland Burris and the brother of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (more…)

Politico:

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted President Barack Obama on Tuesday for picking a “reverse racist” and “hack” in Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.

“Here you have a racist - you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist,” Limbaugh said of Sotomayor on his show, alluding to the New York federal appeals court judge’s past statement that a “wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Source:

The details of the conversation emerged after a federal judge said Tuesday he would allow the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to hear a federal wiretap of the former governor’s brother, Rob, having a fund-raising conversation with  Burris. Rob Blagojevich was running the campaign fund at the time.

Redstate:

Via Hot Air Headlines: “Conservatives itching for SCOTUS fight.” Remove the snide tone (which, to be fair, is much less than usual), and this Politico article pretty much sums up the GOP base’s attitude: it’s time to go waltzing Matilda.

“The other side does not agonize about whether they are going to give a Republican Supreme Court nominee a difficult time, they just do it.” - Gary Bauer, president of American Values.

Redstate:

Conservatives rejoice. Of all the picks Obama could have picked, he picked the most intellectually shallow.

Even the New Republic has been rather scathing about her. It’s like Obama decided he wanted a Souter to replace Souter.

Rasmussen:

Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans say it is at least somewhat likely that the price of a first class postage stamp will be $1 or more within the next 10 years. Forty-six percent (46%) say it’s Very Likely. (more…)

Rasmussen:

Just 15% now say the President is Very Likely to close the prison camp during his first year in office while 6% say that is Not at All Likely to happen. Two-thirds of the nation’s voters are not so sure-35% say the President is Somewhat Likely to close the prison camp while 30% say he is Not Very Likely to do so. (more…)

Rasmussen:

Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters nationwide now disagree with President Barack Obama’s decision to close the prison camp for suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, conducted after the President’s speech on Guantanamo last week, shows that 38% agree with his decision.

Just 25% share the President’s view that the Guantanamo camp weakened national security. Fifty-one percent (51%) disagree with that perspective.

And, by a 57% to 28% margin, voters oppose moving any of the suspected terrorists to prisons in the United States. Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party strongly oppose transfers to U.S. prisons. Democrats are evenly divided.