Today’s edition of quick hits.
* I suppose this represents some kind of diplomatic progress: “Islamist Hamas group Hamas said on Monday it would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, but it was not prepared to recognize the Jewish state. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, in an apparent softening of the group’s position, was confirming an account of his remarks given by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter after two meetings in Damascus over the weekend.”
* The Gallup Daily Tracking Poll has been surprisingly volatile of late. After last week’s debate, Hillary Clinton surged, even taking a narrow lead on Saturday for the first time in weeks. As of this afternoon, however, Barack Obama has rebounded and is now up by seven.
* I’m going to have more on this tomorrow, so save some of your best snark for the stand-alone post, but CNN’s political team has managed to become even more Republican: “Former White House press secretary Tony Snow will join CNN as a conservative commentator beginning Monday. CNN president Jon Klein announced that Snow, a long-time political observer with a longstanding news background, will contribute to CNN as the network continues to broadcast winning political coverage.”
* Disgraced cabinet secretaries who resign in the midst of multiple ongoing investigations aren’t supposed to get regal send-offs. Apparently, HUD and the White House aren’t familiar with this idea: “Last Wednesday, Alphonso Jackson got the send off he deserved, as you can see from the cover of the program for the event obtained by TPMmuckraker. The event, which was held in the main auditorium at HUD, included an overflow crowd of about 1,000 HUD employees, said HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was the special guest speaker at the event, Brown said.”
* More FISA wrangling: Congressional staffers from both parties met with administration officials Monday to discuss controversial electronic surveillance legislation, confirmed an aide to House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), offering a ray of hope for the long-stalled bill. For the first time since February, representatives from both parties, from both sides of the Capitol and from the administration gathered to discuss the stalled bill, according to the aide.”
* The proposed Dem debate in North Carolina for April 27 was officially cancelled today. You know who’s really disappointed about that? Katie Couric — it was going to be her only shot at moderating a debate this year.
* It seems to me, the Bush administration was carefully avoiding directly annoying Muqtada al-Sadr, for fear that he would officially end his cease-fire against U.S. forces. Now, Condoleezza Rice is publicly calling him out with a bring-’em-on like challenge. Great diplomacy there, guys.
* The Abramoff fallout is still ongoing: “A former high-ranking Justice Department official is being accused of criminal conflict of interest in the latest case stemming from the investigation of disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Robert Coughlin was deputy chief of staff of the Justice Department’s criminal division before his resignation a year ago. In court papers filed Monday in federal court in Washington, prosecutors accused Coughlin of providing assistance to a lobbyist and the lobbyist’s firm while receiving gifts from the firm and discussing prospective employment there.”
* AP: “The Bush administration is challenging a court ruling that White House visitor logs are public documents, saying that release of the records would infringe on the separation of powers.”
* Hillary Clinton doesn’t like or agree with MoveOn.org, but she’s reluctant to say why.
* Karl Rove is working behind the scenes to help support conservative independent groups in advance of the general election. Wait, isn’t Rove a professional journalist now? You mean, Rove thinks it’s ethical to be an independent media analyst and a Republican campaign operative at the same time?
* Mitt Romney thinks Obama is an elitist. Mitt Romney.
* People sure are buying a lot of hybrids.
* And it appears that the intersection of politics and wrestling is not limited to Jesse Ventura: “Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain will appear on World Wrestling Entertainment’s live ‘Monday Night Raw’ (8-11 p.m. EST on cable’s USA network) but instead of smacking each other down, they separately will deliver some wrestling-themed stumping in taped messages before Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary…. The candidate appearances will be used to promote ‘Smackdown Your Vote!’ — the WWE’s voter registration drive.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.