• Tina Dupuy of TheContributor.com calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about what Michele Bachmann’s retirement means for the women’s movement

• Dean Obeidallah calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about his latest CNN Opinion piece on anti-Muslim backlash in the UK after last weeks brutal murder of a British Soldier

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Yanira Maldonado, The Arizona mother detained in Mexico for more than a week on drug charges, has been released and will be returning home to the U.S.

• Authorities are interviewing a person in Texas in connection with threatening letters sent to President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that are being tested for ricin, a person with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Thursday.

• It would be “regrettable” if the identities of the men photographed with Sen. John McCain in Syria this week are confirmed to be individuals responsible for a year-old kidnapping, the AZ senator’s office said in a statement Thursday.

• The Justice Department expressed regret on Thursday that the agency went as far as it did in national security leak investigations involving close scrutiny of reporters, and said it would review its guidelines so reporters would not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about Michele Bachmann’s exit from Congress

• Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the importance of Bachmann’s exit from Congress

• New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was sent an anonymous threatening letter that preliminary tests indicated contained the presence of the poison ricin, law enforcement officials have said. A similar letter was sent to the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns in DC.

• U.S. Senator John McCain said on Wednesday, two days after meeting with rebels in Syria, that he is confident the United States can send weapons to fighters in Syria without the risk they will fall into the wrong hands.

• The man poised to be the next head of the FBI is James Comey, a former prosecutor respected by both sides of the aisle, who may be best known for his role in a Hollywood-esque Washington showdown that thwarted the reauthorization of a warrantless eavesdropping program.

• 25 conservative and Tea Party groups have filed suit against the IRS, Attorney General Eric Holder and top IRS officials, alleging that the Obama administration unlawfully targeted the groups because of their political beliefs and obstructed their applications for tax-exempt status.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Humpdays With Hal

• Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said today that she will not run for re-election in 2014. She made the announcement in a video posted on her web site. “After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I have decided next year, I will not seek a fifth Congressional term,” Bachmann said.

• Additional scrutiny of conservative organizations’ activities by the IRS did not solely originate in the agency’s Cincinnati office, with requests for information coming from other offices and often bearing the signatures of higher-ups at the agency, according to attorneys representing some of the targeted groups.

• President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie revived their political odd-couple partnership Tuesday for a tour of a rebuilt Jersey Shore that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy seven months ago.

• A Florida judge ruled Tuesday that George Zimmerman’s defense team cannot mention Trayvon Martin’s suspension from school, prior marijuana use, text messages or past fighting during opening statements at next month’s trial.

• Severe weather will continue to batter many parts of the United States on Wednesday, forecasters warned, after violent storms brought heavy rain to Chicago and large tornadoes to Kansas, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a fatal lightning strike in Florida.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to fill us in on what’s REALLY going on with the IRS/Tea Party situation

• President Obama marked Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and urging Americans to remember the soldiers still fighting, and dying, in Afghanistan.

• Sen. John McCain traveled to Syria on an unannounced trip yesterday and met with rebel leaders, who called on the U.S. to increase its support of the Syrian opposition by providing weapons, a no-fly zone and air strikes on forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

• President Barack Obama travels to New Jersey on Tuesday for a progress report on the state’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy that on the surface appears remarkable but which hides deep and lingering pain.

• In a speech to the graduating class of 2013 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., President Obama challenged the 1,047 graduates to “live with integrity” and help restore trust in a military that has been stained by recent charges of sexual assault.

• A House GOP group is launching an ad campaign against four incumbent Dems this week that aims to tie the lawmakers to the I.R.S., a government agency under scrutiny after officials admitted earlier this month to targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• In a major address Thursday President Obama sought to reframe the nation’s counterterrorism strategy, saying, “Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.”

• The Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to end its controversial policy banning gay kids and teens from joining one of the nation’s most popular youth organizations, ditching membership guidelines that had roiled the group in recent years.

• Three people were rescued from water after a bridge along Interstate-5 in Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, plunging cars into Skagit River below, according to Washington State Patrol.

• Jurors in the high-profile Jodi Arias trial on Thursday failed to reach an agreement over whether she should receive the death penalty for killing her ex-boyfriend. A new jury will be impaneled on July 18th unless the prosecutor decided to no longer seek the death penalty.

• The decimated city of Moore, Okla., will hold a public memorial service Sunday evening, six days after a tornado killed 24 people, injured 377 and destroyed hundreds of homes.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the GOP and disaster relief

• Comedian Lewis Black calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his new comedy tour “The Rant is Due”

• Comedian Judy Gold calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her new one-woman show, “The Judy Show”

• The tornado that tore through an Oklahoma City suburb destroyed or damaged as many as 13,000 homes and may have caused $2 billion in overall damage, officials said Wednesday.

• British Prime Minister David Cameron convened an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs on Thursday after two Islamists hacked a soldier to death with meat cleavers on a south London street.

• A highly anticipated hearing by the top investigative committee in the 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.

• The Obama administration publicly acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that U.S. drone strikes have killed four American citizens since 2009.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about media coverage of Obama’s “scandals”

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Humpdays With Hal

• Rescue efforts in the tornado-ravaged Oklahoma City suburb of Moore continued through the night into Wednesday morning, with officials increasingly confident that everyone caught in the disaster had been accounted for.

• A far-reaching bill to remake the nation’s immigration system is headed to the full Senate, where tough battles are brewing on gay marriage, border security and other contentious issues, with the outcome impossible to predict.

• Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, who leads the exempt organizations division under scrutiny for targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, is refusing to testify before Congress. She was supposed to testify today, but will plead the Fifth.

• Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and outgoing Commissioner Steven Miller told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that they knew last year that the IRS had a “Be On The Lookout” list while processing nonprofit applications and that tea party groups were on it. The extent of their knowledge at the time, however, was limited, they said.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the tightening screws on Rep. Michele Bachmann

• Comedian Dean Obeidallah calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about his humorous review of Donald Rumsfeld’s new book, “Rumsfeld’s Rules”

• A monstrous tornado barreled through the Oklahoma City suburbs, demolishing an elementary school and reducing homes to piles of splintered wood. At least 51 people were killed, including at least 20 children, and those numbers were expected to climb, officials said Tuesday.

• Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll sharply reject a string of scandals that have touched the White House, yet the national survey also finds no backlash against President Obama, at least at this point. His job approval rating is stable, at 51 percent.

• Lawmakers are getting their first chance today to question former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, the man who ran the agency when agents were improperly targeting tea party groups.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee hopes to nail down an elusive compromise on high-tech visas and may punt a controversy over gay marriage to the full Senate as it makes final drafting decisions on immigration legislation that grants a shot at citizenship to millions living in the country illegally.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the craziness of Rep. Louie Goehmert and about the GOP trying to hurt Hillary Clinton

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the GOP’s desperation to pin SOMETHING scandalous on President Obama

• President Barack Obama’s team emerged on Sunday to defend his handling of revelations that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for scrutiny, as senior Republicans conceded they lacked evidence — so far — that the president directed the abuses.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee is aiming this week to pass a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor.

• A vast area of the central U.S. was warned to prepare for storms on Monday, after tornadoes killed one and injured 21 in Oklahoma and also hit Iowa and Kansas.

• Lottery officials confirmed early Sunday that the one winning PowerBall ticket for the estimated $590.5 million prize was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla.

• Taylor Swift not only took home the most trophies — eight – from last night’s Billboard Music Awards but also the night’s biggest honors: Top Artist and Billboard 200 Album of the Year for her mega-hit “Red.”

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Lawmakers are ready to question the ousted head of the Internal Revenue Service today as Congress holds its first hearing on the tougher scrutiny the IRS gave tea party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

• President Barack Obama at a press conference on Thursday strongly defended the Department of Justice‘s controversial secret seizure of journalists’ phone records during an investigation into leaked national security information.

• Prospects for passage of a major immigration bill improved on Thursday when a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives declared they had reached a tentative deal, resolving disputes that had threatened to torpedo negotiations.

• With six people already confirmed dead, rescue crews in a northern Texas town continued their search for victims Friday after a wave of 16 tornadoes crashed through the region, ripping homes to pieces and laying waste to large swaths of the area.

• Responding to a question from a 700 Club viewer, host Pat Robertson said that married men “have a tendency to wander” and it is the spurned wife’s job to focus on the positive and make sure the home is so enticing, he doesn’t want to stray.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about media coverage of the DC “scandals” this week

• Former Nixon counsel John Dean calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about whether this week’s DC scandals even come close to Watergate

• Bluntly declaring “I am angry” about the IRS scandal, President Barack Obama said late Wednesday that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had forced out Steven Miller, the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

• Under heavy political pressure, the White House on Wednesday released 100 pages of internal Obama Administration emails in which senior officials debated what to tell Americans about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

• Sexual assault in the U.S. military is costing the armed services the confidence of women in uniform that the problem can be solved, says the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey.

• O.J. Simpson, a former star athlete who once lived for the spotlight, was back on stage telling the grim story of the Las Vegas afternoon in 2007 that sent him to prison.

• Nobody won last night’s huge Powerball lottery drawing, so the jackpot for Saturday’s drawing soars to $475 million dollars.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Humpdays With Hal

• Lax oversight at the IRS allowed for the singling out of some conservative groups, resulting in lengthy delays in the processing of their applications for federal tax-exempt status, according to a report by the agency’s inspector general released Tuesday.

• The Justice Department on Tuesday defended its decision to subpoena phone records from Associated Press bureaus and reporters, saying the requests were limited and necessary to investigate a leak of classified information.

• CNN has obtained an e-mail sent by a top aide to President Barack Obama about White House reaction to the deadly attack last September 11 on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that apparently differs from how sources characterized it to two different media organizations.

• The Army announced Tuesday that a sergeant first class assigned to an assault prevention program at Fort Hood is under investigation for sexual assault. The solider was assigned as a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program coordinator when the allegations surfaced.

• OJ Simpson is set to speak again today in a Las Vegas courtroom in a bid to win freedom from a sentence that could keep him behind bars until he dies.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the political circuses going on in DC

• Former Obama advisor Van Jones calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new book, “Rebuild The Dream”

• House Republicans pushed ahead Monday with their investigation of the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year as President Obama asserted that GOP charges of a cover-up are baseless

• Congress was not told tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, even after acting agency Chief Steven Miller had been briefed on the matter.

• The Justice Department used a secret subpoena to obtain two months of phone records for Associated Press reporters and editors without notifying the news organization.

• The Minnesota Senate gave final approval on Monday to a bill that will make the state the 12th in the United States to allow same-sex couples to marry and only the second in the Midwest. Gov. Dayton will sign the bill into law today.

• Angelina Jolie revealed in an emotional op-ed for the New York Times that she underwent a double mastectomy earlier this year after a blood test showed she was genetically susceptible to cancer.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the fruitlessness of the Benghazi hearings

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the GOP’s continuing screeching about Benghazi

• Actor/comedian Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for another edition of Coffee With Carlos

• New Orleans police vowed to swiftly track down the gunmen who wounded 19 people at a neighborhood Mother’s Day parade, the latest case of violence flaring up around a celebration in the city this year.

• When tax agents started singling out non-profit groups for extra scrutiny in 2010, they looked at first only for key words such as ‘Tea Party,’ but later they focused on criticisms by groups of “how the country is being run,” according to investigative findings.

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) pushed back Sunday on charges that Republican efforts to investigate last year’s Benghazi attack are designed to inflict political damage on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

• After 37 years with ABC News, Barbara Walters is announcing on “The View” today that next summer, she will retire from TV journalism.

• Current TV’s John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Matthew Breen, Editor in Chief of “The Advocate”, joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau for the 11am ET / 8am PT hour to talk about the latest LGBT news

• Ariel Castro, the man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home, terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors in the years before their relationship disintegrated, her relatives say.

• Secretary of State John Kerry promised Thursday to leave “no stone unturned” in the investigation into the deadly terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and vowed that anyone guilty of wrongdoing would be disciplined “appropriately.”

• A Minnesota House bill legalizing same-sex marriage passed 75-59 with resounding DFL support and the votes of four Republicans. The measure now goes to the Senate on Monday, where its passage is considered likely. Gov. Mark Dayton has said he intends to sign the bill into law.

• A man holed up in a Phoenix hotel was arrested and accused of threatening to bomb the courthouse where jurors were to begin deciding whether convicted murderer Jodi Arias should get the death penalty, authorities said Thursday.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the results of yesterday’s Benghazi witch hunt on Capitol Hill

• Author and legal pundit Marcia Clark calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Jodi Arias verdict, and what’s going on with the Cleveland Kidnapping case

• Doug Kendall, President of Constitutional Accountability Center, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the business-friendly environment at the Supreme Court

• The Cleveland man accused of kidnapping and holding three young women captive for the past decade will make his first court appearance this morning. Ariel Castro, 52, is charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.

• Jodi Arias has been found guilty of first-degree murder but the trial is far from finished. The same jury now returns to the courtroom today to decide whether she deserves to die for killing her one-time boyfriend on June 4, 2008 at his Mesa home.

• The Benghazi terrorist attack returned to Congress yesterday in hours of sharply partisan questioning that included the first public retelling from a US diplomat in Libya at the time of what happened the night Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT for a segment of Humpdays With Hal

• Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about why the Constitution guarantees no absolute right to bear arms

• After three women who vanished a decade ago were found captive Monday at a peeling, rundown house, Cleveland police are facing questions about their handling of missing-person cases and are conducting an internal review to see if they overlooked anything.

• Once the disgraced and tearful figure at the epicenter of an embarrassing scandal, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will return to public life as a U.S. congressman after his win over Elizabeth Colbert Busch last night.

• House Republicans open their hearings today into the Benghazi attack that killed Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans but have already released transcripts from State Department witnesses, including former Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks.

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has struggled with obesity for much of his adult life, said on Tuesday he underwent lap band surgery in February to lose weight, a move he said had nothing to do with a possible run for the White House in 2016.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Fox News’ outrage over Benghazi

• Three brothers have been arrested after three women who disappeared in separate incidents about a decade ago were found alive in a house in Ohio, police said. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight went missing between 2000 and 2004 when they were aged between 14 and 20.

• The Air Force official in charge of its sexual-assault prevention program was arrested for groping, authorities said Monday. Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, 41, was removed from his position as head of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office pending an investigation, the Air Force said.

• Robel Phillipos, one of three friends accused of helping Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev cover up his alleged crime, got out on bond Monday, released to his mother’s custody.

• It could take weeks to figure out why a white stretch limousine caught fire in the Bay Area over the weekend, turning a celebratory bachelorette party deadly, authorities said Monday.

• Voters in South Carolina’s first congressional district head to the polls today to decide whether to offer former Gov. Mark Sanford a chance at political redemption, or instead send the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert to Congress.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about this weekend’s big NRA Convention in Houston

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about Glenn Beck’s competing conspiracy theories

• Actor and comedian Rick Overton joins us for two hours in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT to fill in for Jim Ward

• A funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is going next to the city where Tsarnaev lived, Cambridge, but will run into another obstacle: It doesn’t want him.

• Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent air strikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion.

• The National Rifle Association on Sunday wrapped up its first national meeting of members since the high-profile mass shootings last year at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

• A bride-to-be celebrating her bachelorette party was among the five people killed when a stretch limousine burst into flames while crossing a San Francisco area bridge, according to reports.

• Anna Chlumsky, star of the HBO comedy “Veep”, calls in at 10:50am ET / 7:50am PT to talk about season two of the hit show

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• The two brothers suspected of carrying out the deadly attacks on the Boston Marathon had originally planned to set off their bombs on July 4, a law enforcement official said.

• U.S. President Obama gave his blessing on Thursday to a new security arrangement with Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto, in which Mexico will make reducing violence a priority over hunting drug cartel kingpins in the war against organized crime.

• President Barack Obama said Thursday he was comfortable with his administration’s decision to allow over-the-counter purchases of a morning-after pill for anyone 15 and older.

• Rhode Island became the final state in New England and the 10th in the country to legalize gay marriage after independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Thursday signed a bill that will allow same-sex marriage.

• Southern California firefighters early Friday were fiercely battling a growing, brush-fueled wildfire that had reached the beach in Ventura County and was pushing toward the upscale city of Malibu, officials said.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the week’s big stories, including the politicization of the Boston Bombings

• Eric Ferrero, Planned Parenthood‘s VP of Communications, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about making the morning after pill available to girls 15 years and older

• Federal authorities arrested three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Wednesday, accusing them of trying to obstruct justice by hiding a backpack and a laptop involved in the case and lying about it.

• President Barack Obama on Thursday begins a whirlwind trip to Latin America, where a high-profile meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto involving immigration, drug violence and trade tops the agenda.

• A bipartisan proposal to expand background checks for gun sales failed in part due to Republicans’ desire to prevent President Obama from winning a victory on a major policy initiative, Sen. Pat Toomey, the gun proposal’s chief GOP proponent, said Wednesday.

• Israel has warned it will do whatever is necessary to prevent the Syrian government’s large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons from falling into the hands of militants, believing that one day they may be used against Israel.

• Minnesota Viking Kicker and straight ally Chris Kluwe calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Jason Collins, the first gay professional athlete to come out

• Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about why the GOP is doing even worse with African Americans

• Australian Rugby Star turned Actor Ian Roberts calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about how coming out in 1995 changed his life and where he is at 18 years later

• President Barack Obama on Tuesday forcefully defended his policy toward Syria, his handling of the Boston Marathon bombing, the future of Obamacare and even his political relevance in a wide-ranging press conference 100 days into his second term. He also again promised to close Gitmo.

• Massachusetts primary voters on Tuesday picked Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez as their candidates in the June 25 special election, the second such race the state has seen in three years

• Relatives of the dead suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said as officials in both Washington and Russia deepened their investigations into him and his ties.

• A new Kaiser Foundation poll indicates many Americans are still unclear about the details of Affordable Care Act and, in some cases, unaware it’s actually law of the land.

• Gay P.R. guru Howard Bragman calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about NBA player Jason Collins coming out and making history at the first openly gay pro athlete

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about diluted gun control, and Jason Collins’ historic announcement

• Investigators have found female DNA on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks. FBI agents have removed bags of evidence including DNA samples from the home where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been living.

• Prosecutors and lawyers for surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have begun very early discussions about a possible deal, in which he would cooperate in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, legal sources said Monday.

• Jason Collins received an outpouring of support and admiration from the sporting world and many other influential voices on Monday after announcing he was gay. The 12-year NBA veteran became the first active player in a major men’s North American team sport to announce his homosexuality.

• Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor expressed doubts that the nation’s highest court should have ruled on the controversial Bush v. Gore case that decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the latest in gun control and the Boston Bombings

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about media coverage in the Boston Bombings

• Rev. Jim Wallis, CEO of Sojourners, joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about his new book, “On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good”

• The Boston Bombings suspects’ mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, is drawing increased attention after federal officials say Russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder son.

• President Barack Obama chided Republicans on Saturday for approving a plan to ease air-traffic delays caused by federal spending cuts while leaving budget cuts that affect children and the elderly untouched.

• A national group of prominent GOP donors that supports gay marriage is pouring new money into lobbying efforts to get Republican lawmakers to vote to make it legal.

• Journalists, celebrities, and politicos converged in D.C. Saturday night for the 2013 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, laughing along as President Obama and Conan O’Brien took the stage to skewer targets in Washington, Hollywood, and beyond.

• Darren Criss (Blaine on “Glee”) calls in at 9:50am ET / 6:50am PT to talk about his upcoming 16-city North American tour

• Comedian and author Richard Belzer calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Boston Bombings and about the gun control controversy

• Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was transferred to prison Friday from the hospital where he had been held since his arrest by police a week ago.

• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Thursday that the surviving suspect in last week’s marathon blasts that killed three and wounded scores more told investigators that he and his brother were targeting New York next.

• President Obama, standing before a line of flag-draped coffins, consoled family and friends on Thursday at a memorial service for firefighters killed in a massive explosion last week at a Texas fertilizer plant.

• The Senate moved quickly Thursday evening to help ease the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to handle automatic spending cuts set forth in the sequester. The House takes up the bill today.

• President Obama and the other four living presidents along with other dignitaries gathered in Dallas to mark the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the Far Right’s response to the Boston Bombings

• The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

• With deep federal spending cuts known as the sequester beginning to affect air travel and forcing some public-sector layoffs, the White House on Wednesday seemed to offer public support for Sen. Harry Reid’s proposal to temporarily pay down the sequester without generating new tax revenue.

• The number of U.S. states allowing gay marriage is set to enter double digits now that Rhode Island’s state Senate has taken a landmark vote. Legislation allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed passed Wednesday evening by a comfortable 26-12 margin. Gov. Lincoln Chafee said he will sign it into law.

• All the living American presidents past and present are gathering in Dallas, a rare reunion to salute one of their own at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center today.

• Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week’s deadly assault.

• A man accused of plotting with al-Qaida members in Iran to derail a train in Canada was due to appear in a Toronto court Wednesday after declaring at his initial court appearance that the charges against him are unfair. Law enforcement officials in the U.S. said the target was a train that runs between New York City and Canada.

• Charges were dropped Tuesday against the Mississippi man suspected of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Obama and other public officials — as authorities searched the home of another man hoping to find clues in the expanding investigation.

• On Tuesday, hackers took over the Associated Press Twitter account and falsely claimed that there had been explosions at the White House and that the president was hurt. The tweet was up for a few minutes before Twitter took the account offline.

• The Justice Department late Tuesday formally filed its case against Lance Armstrong and his company Tailwind Sports for millions of dollars that the U.S. Postal Service spent to sponsor the cycling team.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the politicization of the Boston Marathon Bombings

• Matthew Breen, Editor-In-Chief of “The Advocate”, joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Boy Scouts’ movement on allowing gays

• The hospitalized Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction has told investigators that he and his brother were motivated by religion but were not in contact with overseas terrorists or groups, officials said.

• Two men face a bail hearing today after their arrest on charges of plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al-Qaida elements in Iran, authorities said. The case has raised questions about Shiite-led Iran’s murky relationship with the predominantly Sunni Arab terrorist network.

• Flight delays piled up all along the East Coast Monday as thousands of air traffic controllers were forced to take an unpaid day off because of federal sequester budget cuts.

• River flooding that’s already swamping part of the Midwest from Oklahoma to Michigan could get worse today and Wednesday with more rain and snow spreading over the region.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about what he missed during last week’s busy news week

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about media coverage of last week’s Boston Marathon bombings

• The legendary Lily Tomlin calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the debut of her new HBO documentary, “An Apology To Elephants”

• Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awake and “responding sporadically in writing to questions … about other cell members and other unexploded bombs, ” law enforcement sources told ABC News on Sunday evening.

• President Barack Obama late Friday praised Boston police and law enforcement cooperation for their week-long response to the Boston Marathon bombings and acknowledged “many unanswered questions” about what drove the suspects to violence.

• The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• A late-night police chase and shootout has ended with one Boston Marathon bombing suspect dead and another on the run, police said early Friday morning. One police officer was killed and another was seriously wounded during the violent spree.

• President Barack Obama on Thursday delivered a message in Boston to those in the city touched by Monday’s deadly bombings, as well as to individuals worldwide watching the country’s response: We will persevere.

• Blocked by Congress from expanding gun sale background checks, President Barack Obama is turning to actions within his own power to keep people from buying a gun who are prohibited for mental health reasons.

• Members of the “Gang of Eight” promoted their 844-page immigration bill, which was released earlier in the week, on Capitol Hill Thursday. It’s the product of months of intense private negotiations that supporters say will secure the borders and provide a path to legality for nearly 12 million people currently living in the nation illegally.

• Rescuers searched on Thursday for survivors in the rubble of homes destroyed by a fiery fertilizer plant explosion in a rural Texas town that the mayor said had killed at least 14 people.

• Political Strategist Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about gun control, and about this week’s terrorism in America

• Lanny Davis, veteran political strategist and former White House special counsel to President Clinton, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about his book “Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping with Crisis in Business, Politics, and Life”

• Mark Follman from Mother Jones calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to discuss debunking NRA myths about more guns mean safer schools

• Rescue workers searched rubble early today for survivors of a fertilizer plant explosion in a small Texas town that killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160 others. The blast left the factory a smoldering ruin and leveled homes and businesses for blocks in every direction.

• President Obama and gun control allies say Senate rejection of expanded background checks and other restrictions won’t stop the drive to reduce gun violence.

• Federal agents on Wednesday arrested a suspect in the mailing of letters to President Barack Obama and a U.S. senator that initially tested positive for the poison ricin. The suspect was identified as Paul Kevin Curtis of Tupelo, Miss.

• A service in Boston to honor the victims of the city’s bombings will be attended by President Obama today, as investigators spend a third day combing through evidence in search of those responsible for the deadly blasts.

• Comedian Jen Kirkman calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about her new book, “I Can Take Care Of Myself: Tales From A Happy Life Without Kids”

• Former FBI Agent Chris Kerr calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about what investigators are looking for in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• Federal agents zeroed in Tuesday on how the Boston Marathon bombing was carried out — with kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and other lethal shrapnel — but said they still didn’t know who did it and why.

• A suspicious letter potentially laced with a poison, ricin, and postmarked from Memphis, was sent to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Sources confirmed the letter was sent to Wicker, R-Miss., but did not arrive at his office on Capitol Hill. It was stopped at a mail processing facility.

• A bipartisan effort to expand background checks is in deep trouble as the Senate approaches a long-awaited vote on the linchpin of the drive to curb gun violence.

• The coffin of Margaret Thatcher was carried up the steps of London’s main cathedral on Wednesday for a funeral service attended by Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s political elite, and global dignitaries.

• Boston-based Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to update us on the Boston Marathon Bombings

• The bombs that blew up seconds apart at the finish line of one of the world’s most storied races left the streets spattered with blood and glass, three dead, including an 8-year-old boy, more than 140 wounded and gaping questions of who chose to attack at the Boston Marathon and why.

• The 8-year-old boy killed in the explosions at the Boston Marathon has been identified as Martin Richard, The Boston Globe reported. No suspects have been identified in the case, which federal authorities are classifying as an act of terrorism.

• President Obama said he ordered the “full resources” of the federal government to respond to the Boston bombings on Monday, and that he also called for increased security around the U.S. as necessary. Notably absent from his remarks was the word “terror,” though federal investigators are classifying the bombings as a terror event.

• Early Tuesday, law enforcement officials went to an apartment in the north Boston suburb of Revere, where they interviewed two men and were seen by reporters removing two trash bags and a duffle bag. It is still unclear what significance, if any, this had with regard to the bombing investigation.

• Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about why some commentators are complaining there was TOO MUCH coverage of Newtown

• With the Senate set to begin debate on gun control legislation this week, a proposal to expand background checks for gun buyers picked up some key Republican support over the weekend. But it may not be enough to ensure the measure is adopted.

• A bipartisan group of senators is almost ready to share an immigration overhaul crafted over several months. The Gang of Eight is finishing up the final details and is planning to unveil the proposed legislation tomorrow.

• The United States and Japan opened the door Sunday to new nuclear talks with North Korea if the saber-rattling country lowered tensions and honored past agreements, even as it rejected South Korea’s latest offer of dialogue as a “crafty trick.”

• Two more people have died in China from a new strain of bird flu, raising the death toll from the virus to 13, state media reported Sunday. In all, 60 cases of the virus, known as H7N9, have been reported in China.

• Adam Scott of Australia produced the performance of his life to win the Masters Sunday and finally exorcise the demons of last year’s British Open.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Timothy Kurek joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his autobiography “The Cross in the Closet”, which highlights his “coming out” as a heterosexual Christian exploring life as a gay man in the LGBT community

• Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in South Korea today on an unusual diplomatic journey, traveling directly into a region bracing for a possible North Korean missile test and risking that his presence alone could spur Pyongyang into another headline-seeking provocation.

• A new gun control law cleared a major Senate hurdle Thursday, with 16 Republicans voting with most of the chamber’s Democrats to begin the process of moving one of President Obama’s top domestic initiatives through a long, legislative slog.

• The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded with “moderate confidence” that North Korea might have a nuclear weapon that’s small enough to be placed on a ballistic missile. But the DIA also says that if that is the case, the reliability of the missile would be low.

• 53% favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, which is up 2 points since the NBC/WSJ survey last asked this question in December, though that increase is within the poll’s margin of error. 42% oppose gay marriage.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the gun control bill, lingering racism in America, and marriage equality

• Al Jazeera America’s Ali Velshi calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to tell us about the new business lineup Al Jazeera America has in store

• Kristen Stills calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Autism Speaks Concert at Club Nokia that will be headlined by her husband Stephens Stills

• Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) unveiled a deal yesterday morning to expand background checks to nearly every commercial gun purchase. President Obama said there were parts of the agreement “that I might prefer to be stronger,” but welcomed the move.

• President Barack Obama declared on Wednesday that his newly unveiled fiscal 2014 budget would “reignite” sputtering economic growth and pressed skeptical Republicans to help him “finish the job” of deficit reduction.

• A brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that nearly two-thirds of Americans – including eight-in-10 Latinos – support giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

• TMZ reported Wednesday that Ryan Seacrest is the latest victim in the trend of swatting, or calling 911 for help when no assistance is needed as some sort of prank.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Humpdays With Hal

• President Barack Obama today is sending Congress his 2014 budget, an effort to achieve an elusive “grand bargain” to tame runaway deficits that have soared above $1 trillion for each of the past four years.

• Sen. Mitch McConnell was prepared to go after Ashley Judd as “emotionally unbalanced,” according to secret audio tapes of the GOP-er’s strategy session, but the release of those tapes have prompted an FBI investigation into who may have bugged the senator’s office.

• A bipartisan deal seems imminent on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama’s drive to curb firearms violence. The Senate has set a roll call vote for tomorrow on starting consideration of the firearms legislation.

• If North Korea decides to launch a missile, the United States is ready to respond and is capable of intercepting it, the Commander of US Pacific Command told Congress on Tuesday.

• Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan says her upcoming court-ordered trip to rehab is “a blessing.” The actress discussed her planned rehab Tuesday night during an appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman.”

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about this morning’s news in the rudest way possible

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the president’s latest push for background checks for gun sales

• Comedian Michael McDonald joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of hilarity

• Legendary director Garry Marshall calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the premiere of “Billy & Ray” at his Falcon Theater in Toluca Lake, CA

• North Korea intensified threats of an imminent conflict against the United States and the South on Tuesday, warning foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into a “merciless, sacred, retaliatory war”.

• President Obama yesterday warned Congress not to use delaying tactics against tighter regulations and told families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims that he’s “determined as ever” to honor their children with tougher laws.

• The Maryland General Assembly on Monday approved a measure allowing medical marijuana programs at research centers that choose to participate. The action sends the bill to Gov. Martin O’Malley, who indicated he is likely to sign the bill.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about what the media have been ignoring in this week’s news

• Rock legend Stephen Stills joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the release of his new box set, “Carry On”

• Talks between Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) have emerged as the most promising route for a bipartisan breakthrough on expanding federal background checks for gun buyers, a pivotal part of President Barack Obama’s plan for combating gun violence.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday that if a military conflict breaks out with North Korea, “the North loses and the South wins with our help.”

• White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer is telling Republicans their “my way or the highway” approach would spell the GOP’s defeat in upcoming budget negotiations. He also is telling Obama’s Democratic allies that they, too, will have to bend on the spending plan that is due Wednesday.

• As the Senate returns from recess this week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he thinks the bi-partisan Gang of Eight will have its immigration plan completed by the end of the week.

• Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) President Michael Goodwin calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about by the current taxi strike in Las Vegas

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• President Obama will offer cuts to Social Security and other entitlement programs in a budget proposal aimed at swaying Republicans to compromise on a deficit-reduction deal, a senior administration official said on Friday.

• U.S. officials suspect that North Korea may be preparing for a test of its medium-range missile after seeing evidence of it being transported to North Korea’s eastern coast. Such a launch would be the latest in a series of provocations by North Korea in recent weeks.

• A University of Denver psychiatrist treating movie-theater massacre defendant James Holmes warned police of “homicidal statements” Holmes made one month before the Aurora, Colo., attack, according to a search warrant unsealed Thursday.

• Roger Ebert, the longtime critic who popularized film criticism with his “thumbs up, thumbs down” reviews in print and on television, died on Thursday. He was 70.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the flurry of Senators who are changing their positions about marriage equality

• Actor/Comedian Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Coffee With Carlos

• Connecticut lawmakers passed a bipartisan package of gun laws that will expand the state’s existing assault weapons ban, impose limits on the size of magazines, and require universal background checks in the state scarred by one of the worst school shootings in American history.

• President Obama on Wednesday insisted “there doesn’t have to be a conflict” between respecting gun rights and enacting new gun controls as he tries to use the power of his office to prompt a reluctant Congress to take action in the wake of the Newtown shootings.

• An advanced anti-ballistic missile system will be sent to Guam to protect American military sites, U.S. defense officials said as North Korea escalated its threats and warned “the moment of explosion is approaching fast.”

• NBC confirmed yesterday that after 22 years, Jay Leno will step down as the host of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” next spring. Jimmy Fallon, now the star of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” will take over shortly thereafter.

• Actor/Activist Melissa Fitzgerald joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the circumstances behind Ashley Judd not running for Senate

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• A task force backed by the National Rifle Association has put forth a slate of recommendations to improve school safety, including a proposal to arm school personnel and train educators on how to police school campuses with the aim of reducing the response time during a school shooting.

• North Korea on Wednesday barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North in the latest sign that Pyongyang’s warlike stance toward South Korea and the United States is moving from words to action.

• GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois on Tuesday became the second sitting Republican senator to endorse gay marriage — a move that also could shift the political debate over legalizing gay marriage in Kirk’s home state.

• The White House says it is “encouraged” by recent progress on efforts to overhaul immigration. Spokesman Jay Carney cited positive comments from a bipartisan cast of senators over the weekend.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about KeystoneXL Pipeline’s bad week

• Tina Dupuy of TheContributor.com calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about how far to take ‘Freedom of Religion’

• EJ Graff of “The Advocate” calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the National Organization For Marriage and their avoidance of campaign finance laws

• Connecticut lawmakers say they have reached an agreement on gun control legislation that they said would be one of the toughest in the nation, 3½ months after 26 people were killed in a mass shooting at Newtown.

• Two key Senate lawmakers said Sunday that a deal on a comprehensive immigration reform bill is close but not complete after a breakthrough in talks between business and labor groups this weekend.

• Exxon Mobil Corp continued efforts on Monday to clean up thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled from a near 65-year-old pipeline in Arkansas, as a debate raged about the safety of the KeystoneXL pipeline.

• North Korea announced plans on Tuesday to restart a nuclear reactor that has been closed since 2007, but emphasized it was seeking a deterrent capacity, rather than repeating recent threats to attack South Korea and the United States.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about everything gay before the Supreme Court last week

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about how dangerous Fox News is for the Republican Party

• Actress Julia Sweeney calls in at 10:50am ET / 7:50am PT to talk about her new book, “If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother”

• Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday that while there is not a final deal on immigration legislation just yet, the bi-partisan “Gang of Eight” senators working on immigration reform has reached a “substantive agreement” on the major components of an immigration plan.

• Authorities have launched a massive investigation into the weekend killings of a Texas district attorney and his wife, which occurred months after an assistant prosecutor was shot dead in the same county.

• University of Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware suffered a graphic, horrific broken right leg during Sunday’s NCAA Midwest Regional final that left his teammates and coach in tears.

• After a week of legal twists and turns, James Holmes will find out today if he could face execution if convicted in the Colorado theater attack that killed 12 people.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Actor Val Kilmer calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new solo show “Citizen Twain” and talk about what Mark Twain would think of today’s news

• President Obama spoke at the White House with rows of grieving mothers behind him and publicly implored Congress to pass gun-reform legislation 100 days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shootings in Newtown, CT.

• Adam Lanza left a home stuffed with weaponry and carried out the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a 154-bullet barrage that took less than five minutes, investigators said Thursday in the first detailed account of his surroundings and troubled state of mind.

• On his radio program on Wednesday, conservative host Rush Limbaugh predicted that same-sex marriage would eventually be made legal “nationwide,” regardless of how the Supreme Court rules in cases on the subject later this year.

• The White House will release its budget proposal for fiscal year 2014 on April 10, it said on Thursday. Previously the White House had said only that the budget would come out the week of April 8, without specifying a date.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about this week’s two big marriage equality cases before the Supreme Court

• Andrew Gumbel, co-author of “Honor Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox”, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Knox’ retrial

• Brenda S. Feigen, Esq. was in attendance for the Prop 8 & DOMA hearings before the Supreme Court. She calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT with an update

• The Legendary Carl Reiner calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his memoir, “I Remember Me”

• A majority of Supreme Court justices expressed concern Wednesday about DOMA, a federal law that bars same sex marriage, signaling the nation’s highest court may be poised to extend a potentially historic victory to the gay rights movement.

• Four members of the “gang of eight” senators pushing for a bipartisan approach to immigration reform on Wednesday got an unexpected optical to demonstrate their case: During a tour of the border, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) witnessed a woman in Nogales, Ariz., “successfully climb an 18-ft bollard fence a few yards away from us.”

• Former South African President Nelson Mandela was admitted to the hospital just before midnight Wednesday due to his recurring lung infection.

• San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT from Washington DC with an update on the Prop 8 hearing at the Supreme Court

• Today, the Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in the second gay marriage case ever in the court’s history, again raising hopes from both sides that the court will weigh in decisively on the issue after justices suggested on Tuesday that they may dodge a decision in California’s gay marriage case.

• David Petraeus apologized Tuesday night to an audience of veterans for the conduct that led to his resignation as head of the CIA following the disclosure of an extramarital affair.

• The possibility that American Amanda Knox could be convicted of murder and extradited to Italy for punishment could force U.S. courts to enter uncharted legal territory. The move potentially pits a U.S. constitutional ban on double jeopardy, or being tried twice for the same offense after an acquittal, against international extradition agreements, experts said.

• President Barack Obama on Tuesday named veteran Secret Service agent Julia Pierson as the agency’s first female director, signaling his desire to change the culture at the male-dominated service, which has been marred by scandal.

• Actress/musician Traci Lords calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the Steubenville OH rape trial, her experiences of being raped as a teen in the same town, and her new song about it called “Stupidville”

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Wayne LaPierre’s crazy appearance on Meet The Press this weekend

• This morning, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the first gay marriage case to ever reach the court, Hollingsworth v. Perry. The legal battle over California’s gay marriage ban began more than four years ago, when a majority of voters backed ballot Proposition 8, which rescinded the right to marry from same-sex couples.

• Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a show of unity on Monday after weeks of heightened tensions over prisoner transfers and Afghan suggestions of U.S.-Taliban collusion.

• Italy’s highest criminal court on Tuesday overturned the acquittal of Amanda Knox in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, prolonging a case that has become a cause celebre in the U.S.

• President Obama supports universal background checks for gun purchases but does not support a national registry of those who own guns legally, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest told reporters today.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to fill us in on what we missed while we were on vacation

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to tell us why Rush Limbaugh wants to marry his couch

• Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), the newest gay member of Congress, joins us in studio at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk to us about this week’s Prop. 8 arguments before the Supreme Court

• President Obama says each of his proposed steps to reduce gun violence should get a vote in Congress — even an assault weapons ban that both parties agree stands little chance of passing. Senate Dems dropped the ban from the bill they plan to debate next month out of concern it could sink the whole package.

• Fox News contributor and former Bush deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said yesterday morning on ABC’s “This Week” that he can imagine the next Republican nominee for the White House supporting gay marriage.

• The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in two cases that have the potential to transform American society and the status of gays and lesbians in it.

• New Jersey lottery officials say that the sole winning ticket for this weekend’s $338.3 Billion PowerBall drawing was sold in their state.

Steph and crew are off this week for vacation, but Hal Sparks and Jacki Schechner are in studio giving it to you live all week!  Give ’em a call 9am to 12pm ET at 1-800-STEPH-1-2

• Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the budget, and his Wisconsin colleague Paul Ryan

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• President Obama’s third and final day of in-person courtship of Congress found him lunching on lobster Thursday with Senate Republicans, and chewing over prospects for reforming the nation’s tax code, entitlements and regulatory structure.

• A Senate committee approved an assault weapons ban Thursday on a party-line vote that signaled how difficult it will be for the proposal to survive in the full Senate.

• Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) has announced that he’s had a change of heart and now supports marriage equality. The change came two years after his son told him and and his wife that he is gay.

• Stocks closed near session highs Thursday, with the Dow logging its first 10th-straight winning streak since 1996 and the S&P 500 within a hair’s breadth of its all-time closing high, lifted by a better-than-expected jobless claims report.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 8am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the fights over sequestration and the budget

• Kelly Carlin (daughter of George Carlin) joins us in the studio at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her upcoming Los Angeles performance of “A Carlin Home Companion”

• The House GOP emerged from a rare conferencewide meeting with President Obama yesterday. The discussion focused on taxes, entitlements, immigration, gun control, the nation’s relationship with Israel, energy, and the announcement of a new pope.

• In an opening bid for possible negotiations with House Republicans that might lead to a compromise budget resolution this summer, Senate Dems yesterday unveiled their budget for the new fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

• The GOP’s internal struggle over how to expand its reach will play out at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), with activists warring over the question of who should be part of the movement and who should not.

• Pope Francis, barely 12 hours after his election, quietly left the Vatican early on Thursday to pray for guidance as he looks to usher a Roman Catholic Church mired in intrigue and scandal into a new age of simplicity and humility.

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the budget and sequestration negotiations

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Humpdays With Ha

• Republicans on Tuesday debuted their full 2014 budget, an ambitious proposal that would seek to balance the budget within a decade, but which is also almost certain to never become law.

• President Barack Obama huddled with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill Tuesday, stepping onto congressional turf as part of a week of outreach to both his own party and his GOP rivals.

• Senators negotiating a bill mandating background checks for all gun buyers are privately expecting the National Rifle Association not to fight the measure — provided the legislation does not require private gun sellers to maintain records of the checks.

• The 115 cardinal electors of the Roman Catholic Church have returned to the Sistine Chapel today to resume the conclave that will elect the next pope. The cardinals started the conclave on Tuesday but black smoke emerged from the chapel’s chimney a few hours afterwards, signaling that no candidate had received the two-thirds majority needed for election.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the infinite flip flops of Rep. Paul Ryan and his budget proposals

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the budget and sequester negotiations on Capitol Hill

• House Republicans are sticking to their guns on the federal budget, promising to try to repeal so-called Obamacare, cut domestic programs from Medicaid to college grants and require future Medicare patients to bear more of the program’s cost.

• Democrats are ready to muscle expanded background checks and other gun curbs through the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving President Barack Obama an initial if temporary victory on one of his top priorities.

• Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused the U.S. of colluding with the Taliban. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in Afghanistan, appeared cautious and at pains to avoid sharply criticizing the Afghan leader in public, even as he firmly disputed Karzai’s assertions.

• Roman Catholic cardinals prayed for divine help on Tuesday, hours before a conclave to elect a new pope to tackle the daunting problems facing the Church at one of the most difficult periods in its history.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks sits in the Los Angeles Bureau for Jim Ward all three hours this morning

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to give us his observations about Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster last week

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Actress/Activist Melissa Fitzgerald joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the news of the day

• Sarah Imes Borden, producer of The River And The Mountain, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to discuss her new play about homosexuality in Uganda

• The legendary Lynda Carter calls in to talk about her upcoming jazz gigs in Los Angeles, and about her upcoming gig at Lincoln Center in New York

• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the GOP’s point person on fiscal issues in Congress, said on Sunday that compromise with President Obama is possible on taxes and spending even though his own soon-to-be-unveiled budget plan faces certain rejection from Obama’s Democrats.

• Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel encountered political tension with the Afghan president and a series of security problems during his first visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, but he met privately with President Hamid Karzai and says they discussed the key issues.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for another edition of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about sequestration and keeping the government funded and open this year

• John Brennan won Senate confirmation Thursday to head the CIA after a late struggle that had more to do with presidential power to order drone strikes than with the nominee’s credentials to lead the spy agency.

• Members of both parties cheered on Sen. Rand Paul Wednesday during his 13-hour filibuster but Paul drew a smack-down from two influential fellow Republicans Thursday who called the Kentucky lawmaker’s actions uninformed and irresponsible.

• President Obama on Thursday heralded the expanded protections offered to Native Americans, gay, lesbian and transgender victims as well as undocumented immigrants in the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) he signed into law.

• President Barack Obama expanded his fledgling search for Republican allies on a possible deficit-reduction deal when he hosted lunch on Thursday for Paul Ryan, one of the House of Representatives’ leading fiscal conservatives.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about sequestration and avoiding a government shutdown

• Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) ended his 13-hour filibuster to block Senate confirmation of John Brennan’s nomination to be CIA director shortly after midnight, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would continue to oppose Brennan’s confirmation and try to keep the debate going.

• North Korea on Thursday vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

• With a nasty weather system threatening the nation’s capital, the House on Wednesday quickly passed a bill to keep the government funded through the current fiscal year. It will incorporate the lower funding amounts mandated by sequestration.

• An unpredictable winter storm that buried parts of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions with snow but barely laid a glove on Washington was bound early Thursday for New England, where it was expected to bring strong winds, more snow and the possibility of coastal flooding.

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the Sequester and the resolution that would leave sequester cuts in place through the end of the year to avoid a government shutdown

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• President Obama is getting some surprising kudos from a group of unlikely lawmakers … GOP senators. As part of a recent outreach effort from the White House, Obama is making phone calls to some senators from across the aisle as they craft a new budget for the coming fiscal year.

• Less than two months into his second term, President Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 42 percent and Americans blame him and his fellow Democrats almost as much as his Republican opponents for a fiscal mess.

• Hundreds of anguished Venezuelans poured into the streets of downtown Caracas crying, hugging each other and shouting slogans in support of President Hugo Chavez after learning of his death Tuesday.

• The Dow rose 125.95 points Tuesday and closed at 14,253.77, topping the previous record set in 2007 by almost 90 points. It’s another sign that the country is slowly healing after the worst recession since the 1930s.

• Washington and its suburbs face what could be their heaviest snowfall in two years on Wednesday, as a fierce storm headed east after blanketing the Midwest.

• Comedian Kathleen Madigan joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau for the entire show this morning to talk about the news of the day and promote her upcoming tour dates

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about what the GOP has done to get us into this sequester mess

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the political news of the day

• Republicans controlling the House are moving to take the roughest edges off across-the-board spending cuts that are just starting to take effect. A new GOP measure released Monday would give the Pentagon much-needed funding for readiness and would fund critical agencies like the FBI and the Border Patrol.

• A Senate committee is scheduled to vote on John Brennan, President Obama’s pick to lead the CIA, after weeks of wrangling with the White House over access to top-secret information about the use of lethal drone strikes and the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

• A Dominican woman who previously stated in a video that she was paid to have sex with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) now says the allegations were false, according to a sworn statement released by a lawyer on Monday.

• Chicago this morning finds itself in the midst of a storm that could wind up dumping as much as 10 inches of snow before the end of the day — the most since the 2011 blizzard.

• John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Actor-vist Melissa Fitzgerald joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau for the 11am ET / 8am PT hour to talk about the news of the day

• President Obama urged Americans this weekend to help him pressure GOPers to help halt painful automatic government spending cuts. Obama acknowledged that the $85 billion “sequestration” would not be the end of the world, but warned that it would slow the tepid recovery and cost jobs.

• Mitt Romney says it “kills” him that he’s not president. But he doesn’t blame Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or anything else on his loss to President Barack Obama–except his campaign’s failure to connect with minority voters.

• Queen Elizabeth was admitted to a London hospital yesterday as a precaution after experiencing symptoms of a stomach bug, according to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson.

• A baby born with the virus that causes AIDS appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday. A child from Mississippi who’s now 2½ and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection.

• Reba McEntire of ABC’s Malibu Country calls in at 10:40am ET / 7:40am PT to promote the show (which also stars Lily Tomlin)

• Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), the newest gay member of congress, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about President Obama’s friend of the court filing in the Prop 8/DOMA case

• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) calls in 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about how sequestration will affect the country’s science innovation funding and science education funding

• Despite a parade of dire warnings from the White House, an $85 billion package of deep automatic spending cuts appears poised to take effect at the stroke of midnight tonight. The sequester will hit every federal budget, from defense to education, and even the president’s own staff.

• The Obama administration has waded into the legal battle over California’s gay marriage ban, filing a brief with the Supreme Court Thursday evening that argues the state’s voters did not have the right to decide gay couples cannot wed.

• The House yesterday passed and sent to President Obama a far-reaching extension of the Violence Against Women Act. The vote came after House GOP leaders, cognizant of the need to improve their faltering image among women voters, accepted a bill that cleared the Senate on a strong bipartisan vote.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the looming sequestration cuts

• Robert McFadden a former senior NCIS official & top interrogator, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Ali Soufan’s op ed from the NY Times on Zero Dark Thirty and torture

• Across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any resulting inconvenience or disruption in government services.

• President Obama has invited top congressional leaders to a meeting at the White House on Friday to discuss ways to avert across-the-board spending cuts that he says may devastate the economy—the day after cuts start kicking in.

• The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jack Lew as President Obama’s new Treasury secretary, putting the former White House chief of staff in the middle of a bitter political fight over the government’s budget.

• Pope Benedict slips quietly from the world stage today after a private last goodbye to his cardinals and a short flight to a country palace to enter the final phase of his life “hidden from the world”.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• CA Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new book, “Citizenville”

• As the country inched closer to the March 1 sequester deadline, President Obama on Tuesday traveled to Newport News, Va., to make a local case for what he and the administration believe will be the devastating economic impacts of the budget cuts.

• With across-the-board federal spending cuts set to kick in on Friday, House Speaker John Boehner reiterated his plea for the Senate to pass an alternative to the sequester, calling on senators to get “off their ass.”

• Gov. Chris Christie announced Tuesday that he would expand Medicaid health insurance coverage to more low-income New Jersey adults as part of President Obama’s health insurance overhaul — all while making it clear he’s “no fan of” the president’s program.

• Pope Benedict bid an emotional farewell at his last general audience this morning, saying he understood the gravity of his decision to become the first pontiff to resign in 600 years but that he had done it for the good of the Roman Catholic Church.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the looming sequester and what it means for average Americans

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the looming sequester

• Cities across the country are preparing for austerity measures that the budget cuts in sequestration would require if it goes into effect Friday. The White House previewed what some of those effects might be and President Obama called on governors to help him devise a deal with Congress to avert implementation of the sequester.

• A deeply divided Senate is moving toward a vote on President Obama’s choice of Chuck Hagel to head the Defense Department, with the former GOP senator on track to win confirmation after a protracted political fight

• President Obama today will meet Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham, leading Republicans working on a bipartisan immigration reform plan, to discuss efforts to overhaul the U.S. system, a White House official said on Monday.

• Another blizzard bore down on the nation’s midsection early today after lashing the Texas Panhandle with hurricane-force winds, closing highways and cutting power to thousands in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the awesomeness that was Abraham Lincoln

• President Barack Obama will be meeting with the nation’s governors today as they push Congress to avert deep federal spending cuts that begin to take effect Friday.

• John Kerry embarked Sunday on his first official overseas trip as secretary of state, hoping to bring new ideas to Europe and the Mideast about how to end nearly two years of violence in Syria.

• The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court on Friday to throw out a section of a 1996 federal law that prohibits recognition of same-sex marriage. The brief was filed in United States v. Windsor, a case challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, the law that legally declares marriage to be only between a man and a woman.

• “Argo” beat out eight other Best Picture contenders at last night’s Oscars, including Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” which was expected by many to dominate the night. Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor for his portrayal of Lincoln, and Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for her role in “Silver Linings Playbook.”

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Dave Gilson, writer for “Mother Jones”, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about debunking right wing gun myths

• Vice President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to have the “courage” to pass legislation addressing gun violence on Thursday at a conference in Connecticut just 10 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, scene of the Dec. 14 mass shooting.

• The White House on Thursday afternoon flatly rejected a request made earlier in the day by 15 Republican senators to withdraw Chuck Hagel‘s nomination as defense secretary.

• President Barack Obama reached out to the Republican leaders of the House and Senate on Thursday, the first sign in weeks that the two sides could be willing to work on a bipartisan solution to the potentially devastating spending cuts set to take place March 1.

• The defense and prosecution both completed their arguments Friday in Oscar Pistorius’ bail hearing, with the magistrate soon to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he must stay behind bars pending trial in the shooting death of his girlfriend.

• Birthday boy Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk to us about gun control, the sequester, and GOP obstructionism on Capitol Hill

• Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak today at a gun violence conference a few miles from the scene of last year’s Newtown school shooting massacre. The conference, in Danbury, is to push President Barack Obama’s gun control proposals.

• Facing heightened expectations from gay rights supporters, the Obama administration is considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage — a move that could have a far-reaching impact on same-sex couples across the country.

• The lead investigator in the murder case against Oscar Pistorius faces attempted murder charges himself over a 2011 shooting, police said Thursday. The prosecution said they were unaware of the charges against the detective when they put him on the stand in court to explain why Pistorius should not be given bail.

• Former Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday morning to misusing more than $750,000 in campaign cash on private expenses — including a $43,000 Rolex, Blu-ray players, health clubs, lavish vacations, furs, and a slew of luxury goods.

• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the sequester, gun control, and the State of the Union

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• Conjuring up the specter of fired teachers, sidelined firefighters, criminals freed by cutbacks and “hundreds of thousands” of lost jobs, President Obama pressed congressional GOPers on Tuesday to agree to increase tax revenues as part of a plan to avert “brutal” across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect one week from Friday.

• Marine Gen. John Allen, former commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, will retire from the military to care for his ailing wife. President Obama, who had nominated Allen to head NATO, met with the departing officer on Tuesday and accepted his request to leave the armed forces.

• Illegal immigrants would face a maximum of a 13-year wait to become citizens if the Obama administration’s version of immigration reform passed, according to a leaked draft of the bill obtained by the Miami Herald.

• Witnesses heard “non-stop shouting” in the home of Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the lead detective in the murder investigation said on Wednesday.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the media’s fight against President Obama

• President Obama this morning will make a fresh push to force congressional Republicans to make concessions that will head off budget cuts that appear increasingly likely to kick in starting on March 1. He will appear at the White House with emergency responders who would lose their jobs if the cuts go into effect.

• The White House is downplaying its draft immigration proposal as merely a backup plan if lawmakers don’t come up with an overhaul of their own. It won’t be necessary, GOP and Dem lawmakers alike are telling the Obama administration.

• GOP opponents are sending signals that Chuck Hagel’s bid to become defense secretary will probably come to an up-or-down vote soon in the Senate. That’s unless more information damaging to the nominee — and the Obama administration — surfaces in the coming week.

• The Democratic-controlled Colorado House of Representatives on Monday formally approved a package of strict gun-control measures, in a state hit by two of the most notorious mass shootings in U.S. history.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the flailing NRA, the State of the Union, and the death of alleged cop killer Christopher Dorner

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Pentagon, former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel, will likely be confirmed next week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), one of his most dogged opponents, said Sunday.

• A draft of a White House immigration reform bill leaked to USA Today on Saturday puts pressure on the Senate to deliver with its own package of comprehensive legislation. An Obama spokesperson stressed that the administration bill was neither final nor an attempt to derail a bipartisan reform effort in the Senate.

• While discussing the contentious confirmation hearings for defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, things got a bit heated on Sunday’s “Meet The Press” when Sen. John McCain referred to the lack of information from the White House surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi as a “massive cover-up.”

• Troubled country singer Mindy McCready, age 37, has died of an apparent suicide, the result of a single self-inflicted gunshot, the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed. McCready’s tragic death follows a recent commitment to rehab and her children being removed from her home.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about increasing the minimum wage, and about his reaction to the State of the Union

• President Barack Obama is criticizing Senate Republicans for delaying the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as his secretary of defense. The president said his opponents are using politics while the nation is still in a war in Afghanistan.

• President Obama yesterday promoted his new proposal to guarantee high quality preschool for every 4-year-old in the US citing a need to bring low-income and minority children up to speed with higher-income children– a move he says will translate into an economic boost.

• Senate Dems yesterday proposed a plan to put off dramatic cuts to the Pentagon and a host of popular government programs until next January. The move comes after weeks of lawmakers playing the blame game, with both sides claiming the sequester was the other party’s idea.

• The passengers of a Carnival cruise ship began the process of getting back to normal early Friday, checking into hotels for a shower, hot meal and good night’s sleep or boarding buses bound for other cities after five numbing days at sea on a powerless ship disabled by an engine-room fire.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Ari Berman of The Nation calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to tell us what Conservatives are doing to weaken the Voting Rights Act

• Road-testing his State of the Union message for the first time since his speech, President Obama yesterday visited a factory in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains that he said exemplified his second-term vision for manufacturing growth.

• President Obama continues his post-State of the Union road show today in Decatur, Ga., where he will unveil details of his plan to expand preschool programs, which he mentioned during his address Tuesday night.

• The Senate will hold a test vote on Friday to move toward final confirmation of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as President Barack Obama’s next secretary of defense.

• House Speaker John Boehner has in the past sounded pessimistic about the prospect of gun control legislation passing this year, but yesterday he said that Congress has a “responsibility” to try to reduce gun violence.

• Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee “Blade Runner” who competed as a sprinter in the London Olympics, is under police custody Thursday after allegedly shooting and killing his girlfriend.

• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about last night’s State of the Union

• Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the State of the Union, and about increasing mental health funding

• Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about last night’s State of the Union

• David Shuster of Current TV and WeActRadio.com calls in at 10:45am ET / 7:45am PT to go over last night’s State of the Union

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• In his first State of the Union address since being reelected last November, Obama made an emotional plea for new gun safety measures, saying the victims of gun violence “deserve a vote” on legislation to ban assault weapons and large ammunition magazines. He also urged Congress to prevent the looming sequester.

• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) outlined a personal and direct rebuttal to key parts of Obama’s speech, criticizing Obama’s call for higher taxes and increased federal spending, but was overshadowed by an awkward sip of water.

• Investigators have located charred human remains in the burned out cabin where they believe suspected cop killer and ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner was holed up as the structure burned to the ground, police said.

• David Bender of the Progressive Voices channel on TuneIn Radio joins us at 10am ET / 7am PT to preview tonight’s State of the Union address

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Ted Nugent at the State of the Union, and about Pope Benedicts legacy

• North Korea said it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday, defying U.N. Security Council orders to shut down atomic activity or face more sanctions and international isolation.

• President Barack Obama is promising to focus his State of the Union address tonight primarily on the state of the economy – but victims of gun violence are taking advantage of the high-profile event to try to shine a spotlight on their cause.

• The Senate Armed Service Committee vote for Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary is set for today. Top Republicans on the committee are threatening a walk out, but Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) isn’t one of them.

• Vice President Joe Biden, speaking hours after a fatal shooting at a courthouse in his home state of Delaware, said on Monday there was an unprecedented sense of urgency among police and officials to enact gun control laws.

• Today is Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and rainy forecasts are threatening to wash out the celebrations there.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the buffoonery of the Family Research Council, and George W. Bush’s strange 2nd career in art

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday threatened to block votes on President Barack Obama’s nominees for CIA director and defense secretary until the administration gives more information about the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

• President Barack Obama will describe his plan for spurring the economy in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, offering proposals for investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education, a senior administration official said on Saturday.

• Pope Benedict on Monday said he would resign on Feb 28 because he no longer had the strength to fulfill the duties of his office. He will be the first pope to resign the post in over 500 years.

• Gotye won Record of the Year at last night’s Grammy Awards for his song “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Fun. landed two of the other top awards: Song of the Year for “We Are Young” and Best New Artist. Album of the Year went to British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons for their album “Babel.”

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 11:05am ET / 8:05am PT to talk about closing tax loop holes for corporations

• More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in the hopes of catching suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again as laid out in his chilling online manifesto

• John Brennan, the White House nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, faced a series of questions during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday regarding how he would lead the organization, with an emphasis on Brennan’s views on waterboarding.

• Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sharply criticized Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for not deploying U.S. forces so they could rapidly respond to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

• President Barack Obama predicted a tough road ahead as he urged House Democrats on Thursday to stick to their principles on guns, immigration and the economy in legislative fights with Republicans.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Matthew Breen, Editor in Chief of “The Advocate”, joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Boy Scouts’ delayed decision on allowing gay leaders

• Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his LA Times Op Ed on Gun Control

• President Obama directed the Justice Department on Wednesday to share with key congressional committees secret memos laying out the legal justification for targeted drone-strike assassinations overseas, an aide said.

• White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan will face questions about America’s expanded drone war—including strikes that have killed U.S. citizens around the world—when he faces the Senate Intelligence Committee today in what is expected to be a tough hearing on his nomination to head the CIA.

• House Democrats today will unveil 15 proposals for curbing gun violence that resemble President Barack Obama’s plan and will include a call for banning assault weapons, people familiar with the package said Wednesday.

• Yesterday, the US Postal Service announced it’s not going to deliver first-class mail on Saturdays anymore, beginning August.

• Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about comprehensive immigration reform

• Tina Dupuy of TheContributor.com calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the NRA enemies list and to provide a true list of all of the people who have spoken out against the organization

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• President Barack Obama on Tuesday directed Congress to pass short-term spending cuts and tax reform measures to avoid automatic cuts known as the sequester.

• The White House on Tuesday defended targeted assassinations of Americans thought to consort overseas with terrorists as “necessary,” “ethical” and “wise,” as the Obama administration faced fresh questions about its sharply expanded drone war.

• The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held a preliminary hearing to examine efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigrations laws, launching the chamber’s first public efforts on the issue this year.

• A decision by national Boy Scout leaders on whether to allow gay leaders and members is expected today. Some fear an unwanted new era, while others are welcoming what they believe is an overdue change that comes amid other recent gains for LGBT rights nationwide.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about why Americans like President Obama so much

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about what he’s doing to protect Americans from the greediness of drug companies

• President Barack Obama, speaking in Minneapolis on Monday, placed public pressure on Congress to pass gun control measures. The speech was part of an ongoing effort to respond to December’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT

• House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will outline an ambitious blueprint spelling out the House Republican agenda today, one that emphasizes education, innovation, simplifying the tax code, and reforming immigration and labor laws.

• Republican Sen. John McCain, a sharp critic of Chuck Hagel’s nomination as defense secretary, said Monday he will not support a filibuster of President Barack Obama’s pick, even though he declined to say whether he intends to vote for confirmation.

• Following a daring rescue, a 5-year-old boy held captive for seven days in an underground bunker in southern Alabama is alive and his kidnapper, Jimmy Lee Dykes, is dead, the FBI said Monday afternoon.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6am PT to talk about the mentally ill and guns, and about Hispanics and the GOP

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• In a live interview on CBS before the Super Bowl, President Obama yesterday encouraged the Boy Scouts of America to end its ban on gay members and leaders, days before the group is expected to vote on the controversial and long-standing rule.

• President Obama will pitch his proposals to stem gun violence today in Minnesota, a Democratic-leaning state where officials have been studying ways to reduce gun-related attacks and accidents for several years.

• New Secretary of State John Kerry reached out to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in phone calls this weekend, assuring them the Obama administration will continue to pursue a Mideast peace agreement while recognizing the individual concerns on both sides.

• The Baltimore Ravens shook off an unprecedented Superdome blackout and a near improbable second-half comeback by the San Francisco 49ers to hold on and capture one of the greatest, and certainly wildest, Super Bowls, 34-31 on Sunday.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang (“Viewpoint”) joins us from the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the debate over comprehensive immigration reform

• Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel endured a thorough pounding on Thursday at the hands of his fellow Republicans during a contentious, daylong confirmation hearing that did nothing to improve his prospects for heading the Pentagon.

• Congress passed must-do legislation Thursday to permit the government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more to meet its obligations, averting a first-ever government default that had loomed as early as mid-February.

• Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch on Thursday afternoon announced his candidacy for U.S. senator in Massachusetts, setting up a competitive primary race against his colleague, Rep. Ed Markey.

• Former Mayor Ed Koch, the combative, acid-tongued politician who rescued the New York City from near-financial ruin during a three-term City Hall run in which he embodied New York chutzpah for the rest of the world, died this morning. He was 88.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about getting some meaningful gun control accomplished

• More than a month after an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday held a three-hour hearing on gun control to examine possible new federal restrictions on “assault-style” weapons, background check enforcement and banning high capacity magazines.

• Chuck Hagel will face tough questions on Pentagon spending cuts and U.S. relations with Israel and Iran on Thursday as he faces a deeply skeptical Senate panel considering his nomination to be President Barack Obama’s next secretary of defense.

• President Barack Obama rejected Republican complaints about his proposals for overhauling the U.S. immigration system on Wednesday and said he believed it was possible to get a deal done by the end of the year if not in the first half.

• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has picked William “Mo” Cowan, his former chief of staff, to serve as the state’s interim US senator until the successor to John F. Kerry is chosen by the voters in a June 25 special election.

• Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to tell us what she’s doing to make it easier for people to vote in America

• United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) president Joe Hansen was at Obama’s immigration reform speech yesterday and calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Labor’s role in the debate

• President Barack Obama unveiled his vision for immigration reform in a speech on Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas, Nev., telling Congress that he will send them his own bill and call for a vote if they don’t move fast.

• The National Rifle Association and gun-control advocates, including the husband of wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, are facing off today at the year’s first Senate hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence.

• The Senate on Tuesday easily confirmed one of its own—Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts—to be the next secretary of state, ending a largely noncontroversial process and kicking off what is expected to be a hotly contested special election for the seat Kerry has held since 1985.

• Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the only Republican in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, announced on Tuesday he is stepping down.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about responsible gun ownership, and the state of the GOP today

• Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about comprehensive immigration reform

• President Obama will wade cautiously into the debate over U.S. immigration reform on Tuesday, seeking to build momentum for a new bipartisan plan to offer a pathway to citizenship for the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants.

• A slim majority of Americans – 51% – thinks illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be able to stay and apply for citizenship; another 20% say they should stay but only as guest workers. A 25% think illegal immigrants now working here should be required to leave the country.

• Three months after Superstorm Sandy ravaged coastal areas in much of the Northeast, Congress on Monday sent a $50.5 billion emergency relief measure for storm victims to President Barack Obama for his signature.

• President Obama is enlisting the help of police chiefs from communities devastated by mass shootings as he continues a public push for Congress to act on his proposals to curb gun violence.

• The Boy Scouts of America is considering dropping a longtime ban on gay members, leaving such membership and leadership decisions up to local sponsors.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the deeper holes that Rand Paul and Bobby Jindal are digging for themselves

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation’s immigration laws. The deal, to be announced today, covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.

• President Obama urged gun control advocates to listen to views of rural Americans who use guns for hunting and said bridging a cultural divide in attitudes to gun ownership will be critical to his administration’s push to curb gun violence.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sidestepped questions about her presidential ambitions in 2016, though she was the beneficiary of effusive praise from her boss, President Barack Obama, in a new interview on Sunday’s “60 Minutes”.

• At least 233 people were killed after a band’s fireworks show sparked a rapidly moving fire in a packed nightclub in southern Brazil and fleeing patrons were unable to find their way out, local police said.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Columnist Tina Dupuy calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the correlation between the lies of Lance Armstrong and the lies of the GOP

• John Kerry urged Congress to fix the U.S. economy to ensure the country’s role as a world leader and pledged to keep pressure on Iran at a Senate hearing on Thursday that left little doubt he will win easy confirmation as secretary of state.

• Facing long political odds, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) nonetheless unveiled legislation yesterday that would greatly restrict the availability of assault weapons, one of the major legislative changes requested by President Obama in the aftermath of the massacre in Newtown, Conn.

• The tradition-laden Senate voted Thursday to modestly curb filibusters, using a bipartisan consensus rare in today’s hyper-partisan climate to make it a bit harder but not impossible for outnumbered senators to sink bills and nominations.

• The Rhode Island House yesterday overwhelmingly passed legislation to allow gays and lesbians to marry in the only New England state where they can’t. Gay marriage opponents vow to press their case in the state Senate, where Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, remains opposed to the legislation.

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• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the debt ceiling fight, and about Secretary Clinton’s testimony on Benghazi yesterday

• Comedian Judy Tenuta joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her show “Stimulus Package” at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood this Saturday

• In one of her last acts as America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit back hard Wednesday at fierce Republican criticisms over the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

• Democratic Sen. John Kerry, on a smooth path to confirmation as secretary of state, is likely to face friendly questioning when he testifies today before the committee that he’s served on for 28 years and led for the past four.

• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to announce Thursday that more than 230,000 combat positions — many in Army and Marine infantry units and in potentially elite commando jobs — are now open to women.

• Polar air settled in earnest over the Northeast after trekking through the Midwest, grinding trains to a halt, bursting pipes and bringing further misery to folks still trying to recover from Superstorm Sandy.

• Hal Sparks, Jacki Schechner, Jim Ward, and Chris Lavoie are holding down the fort today from the Los Angeles Bureau

• A measure to extend the U.S. debt limit for nearly four months moved closer on Tuesday to a vote and the White House said the president would sign the bill if it cleared Congress, easing uncertainty that could have threatened the U.S. economy.

• No one expects any bombshell revelations about Benghazi when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies in Congress today about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

• U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, signaled on Tuesday that despite earlier indications to the contrary, he may allow a vote on a possible ban on assault weapons.

• National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre blasted President Obama for his Inaugural warning against “absolutism” and reiterated his promise to give no ground on gun control.

• A 22-year-old man has been charged in a shooting on a community college campus in Texas that left three people wounded, one critically, authorities said.

Matthew Breen, Editor in Chief of “The Advocate”, joins us in the DC Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about the LGBT history made with President Obama’s re-election

Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog joins us in the DC Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT to give us his impressions of President Obama’s inauguration

David Bender, Political Director for Progressive Voices, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the history made with yesterday’s inauguration speech

President Barack Obama delivered a forceful defense of the nation’s safety net programs, and vowed to expand gay rights and tackle the problem of climate change in his second inaugural address Monday afternoon.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle shared a tender dance while Jennifer Hudson sang Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at the Commander in Chief ball Monday night, hours after he swore the oath of office during the public inauguration.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have scheduled a vote on Wednesday on a nearly four-month extension of U.S. borrowing capacity, but the bill does not specify a dollar amount.

Hours before President Barack Obama’s official swearing-in to a second term, top Democrats predicted a victory for universal background checks, the broadest component of the White House’s push to change the nation’s gun laws.

President Barack Obama on Sunday was officially sworn in for a second term in a private ceremony lasting just a few minutes at the White House. The ceremonial swearing in will take place today on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, DC.

President Barack Obama has prepared a second inaugural address that broadly lays out his vision for the country’s future, setting the stage for looming debates over taxes, guns, immigration and other issues while leaving the details for another day

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum on Sunday accused President Obama of being a “sore winner” in his dealings with Republicans. Santorum, chairman of Patriot Voices – a group that promotes conservative issues – also tweaked the president for what he argued was a lack of action to address the “glorification of violence” in film and TV.

Democrats are looking to make new revenue part of the Senate’s first budget in almost four years, which will be released soon after the start of President Barack Obama’s second term.

For the first time, two coaching brothers will face off in the Super Bowl. John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens dismantled New England 28-13 last night. Just hours earlier, Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers outlasted Atlanta 28-24. Their two teams will meet Feb. 3 in New Orleans for the NFL championship.

Veteran ABC newswoman Barbara Walters has fallen at an inauguration party at the British ambassador’s home in Washington DC and has been hospitalized.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Sister Simone Campbell of the Nuns on The Bus calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about her new campaign against gun violence

• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his efforts for filibuster reform

• One day after President Obama unveiled the his plan to curb gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden defended their intentions, answering critics who have spoken out against the plan for potentially infringing on the Second Amendment rights of Americans. “The president and I support the Second Amendment,” Biden said definitively.

• At least 22 foreign hostages were unaccounted for on Friday and their al-Qaeda-linked captors threatened to attack other energy installations after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths.

• Not once but twice after he supposedly discovered his online girlfriend of three years never even existed, Notre Dame All-American linebacker Manti Te’o perpetuated the heartbreaking story about her death.

• Pauline Phillips, the original “Dear Abby” advice columnist, died Wednesday at the age of 94 after a decade-long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to discuss the Sandy Aid package and President Obama’s gun control proposals

• Sexy Liberal Aisha Tyler calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to promote Sexy Liberal DC and to tell us about tonight’s season premiere of “Archer” on FX

• President Obama yesterday announced the most ambitious gun-control drive in generations. Proposals include universal background checks as well as bans on assault weapons and ammunition clips that hold more than 10 bullets. Some of his proposals are sure to run headlong into fierce opposition from the GOP in Congress, as well as the NRA lobby.

• Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is preparing to step down from his post at the end of March. Salazar, a former Colorado senator, was among the Cabinet members expected to resign in the president’s second term, but the timing had not been revealed.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify before a Senate panel next Wednesday on the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the committee will hold a confirmation hearing on her successor the following day.

• Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about what the House is doing to help prevent gun violence

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to update us on the political fights going on in DC

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• President Obama’s broad effort to reduce gun violence will include proposed bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines as well as more than a dozen executive orders aimed at circumventing congressional opposition to stricter gun control. The measures will be announced today.

• The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved $50.5 billion in long-delayed federal disaster aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy, but not before Republicans flexed their budget-cutting muscle to strike some spending provisions.

• Rep. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the highest-ranking Jewish member in the Senate, announced Tuesday that he will support Chuck Hagel’s nomination for defense secretary, a breakthrough for President Obama’s effort to have his appointee confirmed in the Senate.

• Police say two people were killed when a helicopter crashed Wednesday during rush hour in central London after apparently hitting a construction crane on top of a building.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Clarence Thomas suddenly and mysteriously speaking up during a Supreme Court hearing

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about President Obama’s press conference on the debt ceiling debate yesterday

• President Barack Obama on Monday rejected any negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. borrowing limit, accusing his opponents of trying to extract a ransom for not ruining the economy in the latest fiscal fight.

• Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) challenged President Obama to another battle over the country’s mounting deficit Monday, answering Obama’s declaration that “America cannot afford another debate” over the debt limit by saying that Americans “do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time.”

• Facing powerful opposition to sweeping gun regulations, President Barack Obama is weighing 19 steps that could be taken through executive action alone, congressional officials said.

• His fall nearly complete, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong finally confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs in an interview on Monday with Oprah Winfrey, USA Today reported.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the GOP and vaginas, and about Hitler’s history of actually relaxing gun laws

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• As Vice President Joe Biden finalizes a package of recommendations for the president to curb gun violence, the NRA predicted that Congress is likely to block any new laws that would ban assault weapons.

• Conservatives and watchdog groups are mounting a “not-so-fast” campaign against a $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package that Northeastern governors and lawmakers hope to push through the House this coming week.

• The U.S. Treasury Department said on Saturday it will not produce platinum coins as a way of generating $1 trillion in revenue and avoiding a battle in Congress over raising the U.S. debt ceiling.

• President Obama and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed after talks at the White House on Friday to slightly speed up the process that calls for NATO forces to leave that war-torn country by late 2014.

• “Argo” and “Les Miserables” took top film honors when winners of the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards were announced last night. Director/actress Jodie Foster gave a heartfelt, confessional speech while accepting the Cecille B. DeMille lifetime achievement award.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York City Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• After meeting with Joe Biden, the NRA said in a statement that his effort to suggest new ways to curb gun violence amounted to an “attack” on the 2ND Amendment. Biden also suggested that tweaks to background checks could be included in the recommendations he’ll present on Tuesday.

• Looking for broader remedies to gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden is reaching out to the video game industry today for ideas as the White House seeks to assemble proposals in response to last month’s massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.

• President Obama yesterday tapped his chief of staff Jack Lew to be the next Treasury Secretary, elevating a close confidante and trusted adviser to leading economic voice for the administration’s second term.

• Rev. Louie Giglio, who had been announced as the pastor to give the invocation at the presidential inauguration, has now pulled himself out of the ceremony, after criticism of his previous anti-gay comments and actions.

• Charting the course for a war’s end, President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai meet today at the White House to discuss the future of the U.S. role in Afghanistan and the 66,000 American troops in harm’s way.

• Political strategist Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the upcoming debt ceiling fight, and about the talk of gun control in DC

• Actress Valerie Harper (“Rhoda” “Valerie”) calls in at 10:25am ET / 7:25am PT to talk about her upcoming guest voice gig on “The Simpsons”

• The Obama administration, including Vice President Biden, today is sitting down with gun owners groups — including the National Rifle Association — as officials look at ways to curb gun violence.

• The U.S. Congress should accept in the next round of deficit-reduction talks that revenue from taxes must be raised further if it expects President Obama to sign off on a deal, the president’s top economic adviser, Gene Sperling, said in an interview.

• The composition of President Obama’s second term Cabinet became clearer Wednesday, with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigning and three other members of the president’s team deciding to stay on amid concerns about diversity in Obama’s inner circle.

• With flu cases in Boston up tenfold from last year, the mayor declared a public health emergency yesterday as authorities around the U.S. scrambled to cope with a rising number of patients.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the debt ceiling fight, and about the GOP digging in with their positions

• Seeking to spur fresh action on gun legislation, Vice President Joe Biden is meeting today at the White House with victims groups and gun-safety organizations as a part of a series of gatherings aimed at building consensus around proposals to curb gun violence following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.

• Two years after she was shot at point-blank range while meeting with constituents in Tucson, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, joined by her husband, Mark Kelly, are launching an initiative urging Congress to pass legislation to curb gun violence.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is calling for a delay in confirming President Barack Obama’s pick of John Brennan for CIA director until the administration provides answers on the deadly Sept. 11 assault in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

• House Speaker John Boehner drew a 51 percent disapproval rating and a 31 percent approval rating for his handling of the fiscal cliff deal in an ABC News poll released Tuesday morning. Among registered voters, Boehner received a 56 percent disapproval and 30 percent approval rating.

• Christopher Kennedy Lawford and Former Rep. Patrick Kennedy call in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Christopher’s new book, “RECOVER TO LIVE: Kick Any Habit, Manage Any Addiction”

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the upcoming fight over the debt ceiling

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the debt ceiling fight, the fiscal cliff deal and the Chuck Hagel nomination for Secretary of Defense

• Former Ambassador James Hormel calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Chuck Hagel nomination, and Hagel’s 1998 anti-gay remarks about Hormel

• President Obama yesterday nominated GOP former Sen. Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary, and top White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director. Obama pressed the Senate to confirm them quickly, warning “we don’t like to leave a lot of gaps” in senior national security posts.

• President Barack Obama is slated to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday, the White House said in a statement.

• The No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide rolled top-ranked Notre Dame, 42-14, for the BCS championship last night, locking up a second straight national title and third in four years with another laugher of a title game.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the recent and upcoming (again!) talks regarding the fiscal cliff

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his triumphant return to Congress

• Several GOP senators voiced their concerns yesterday about President Obama’s expected nomination of former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel for defense secretary over past statements the former Nebraska lawmaker made about Israel and gay rights–hinting Hagel’s confirmation would not come without a fight.

• Struggling for the upper hand in the next round of debt talks, Republicans and Democrats this weekend drew lines in the sand they said they’d never cross when it comes to the U.S. debt limit.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will resume her official duties today, five days after being released from a hospital for treatment of a blood clot, the State Department said on Sunday.

• President Obama today will nominate John Brennan as his next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, currently serves as Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser.

• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the delayed vote on Sandy relief funding for his state

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• House Speaker John Boehner narrowly retained the position as the new Congress voted Thursday. Boehner has had a bruising time in recent days as the outgoing Congress and the Obama administration negotiated and passed a limited deal to avoid the worst of the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

• The first order of business for a new Congress today is a scheduled vote on national flood insurance legislation to help victims of Superstorm Sandy, a contentious issue for House Republicans and Speaker John Boehner.

• Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plans to leave near the end of January put the White House in a tricky spot, depriving the Obama administration of its longest-serving economic adviser for its next fiscal showdown with Congress.

• The State Department says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to return to work next week after being treated for a blood clot in her head. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says Clinton is resting at home but is speaking with senior staff and is, quote, “sounding terrific, upbeat and raring to go.”

• Karl Frisch, co-founder of Bullfight Strategies, calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• David Shuster of Current TV and We Act Radio calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to update us on the fight for Sandy Relief in the House

• The new 113th U.S. Congress, which convenes today at Noon ET, is set to take a fresh crack at a number of old, and highly contentious, issues, such as gun control, immigration, the record debt, tax reform and the farm bill.

• President Obama signed the “fiscal cliff” legislation into law yesterday via autopen from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family.

• In a State House news conference, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) blasted Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio for delaying a vote on a $60 billion aid package for Superstorm Sandy recovery. “Do your job and come through for the people of this country,” Christie pointedly said about Boehner.

• Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was released from a New York hospital on Wednesday, three days after doctors discovered a blood clot in her head. Clinton’s medical team advised her Wednesday evening that she was making good progress on all fronts and said they are confident she will fully recover.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• The House of Representatives late Tuesday easily approved emergency bipartisan legislation sparing all but a sliver of America’s richest from sharp income tax hikes — while setting up another “fiscal cliff” confrontation in a matter of weeks.

• President Obama spoke about the fiscal cliff deal late last night, renewing his call for “balance” in any solution in the coming year to address deficits and debts. But the he also warned Congress against using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, as the GOP had in summer of 2011.

• A long-awaited deal to avoid a U.S. fiscal crisis prompted a broad global market rally on Wednesday, with shares and commodities rising sharply while the dollar and safe-haven government bonds fell.

• The House of Representatives adjourned last night without acting on a $60 billion superstorm Sandy disaster aid bill, prompting angry denunciations from members from the states hardest hit by the storm.

• Stepfan Taylor rushed for 89 yards and an early touchdown, Kevin Hogan passed for 123 yards, and No. 8 Stanford won its first Rose Bowl since 1972, beating the Wisconsin Badgers 20-14 last night in the 99th Annual Rose Bowl.

Hey everyone! We’re on vacation, and returning on Wednesday, 1/2/13. Here’s the list of the great best-of’s we have lined up:

M 12/24 – Kathleen Madigan & Ari Berman
T 12/25 – Cenk Uygur, Al Gore, and Aisha Tyler
W 12/26 – Rob Reiner & Lily Tomlin
Th 12/27 – Elvira, Orly Taitz, and Steven Weber
F 12/28 – Richard Belzer, Harry Shearer, and Chely Wright
M 12/31 – Chris Kluwe & Jason Alexander
T 1/1/13 – Mark Hamill & David Crosby

And, if you want to join the Current TV message board during show time, click here!

• Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the GOP’s failed Plan B to avoid the fiscal cliff

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for a holiday edition of Fridays With Fugelsang

• In a stinging setback for Republican House Speaker John Boehner, a lack of support from inside his own party for his “fiscal cliff” fall-back plan forced him late Thursday to cancel a much-trumpeted vote on the measure.

• The White House says President Obama is willing to continue bargaining for a bipartisan solution to avert the “fiscal cliff” after Republicans in the House of Representatives abandoned efforts to pass an alternative plan.

• For the past week, leadership at the National Rifle Association has largely stayed away from the media, but this morning the group may weigh in on how to keep a deadly shooting massacre like last week’s at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school from happening again.

• Travelers facing canceled flights and closed roads were hoping to finally head to their holiday destinations as a widespread snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest moved across the Great Lakes toward Canada.

• Karl Frisch, co-founder of Bullfight Strategies, calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to update us on the fiscal cliff negotiations in DC

• Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the shootings in Connecticut and the need to look at our gun laws

• Matthew Phelps, an active duty Captain in the Marine Corps, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about being part of the first same-sex marriage proposal at the White House

• President Obama on Wednesday tasked Vice President Biden with getting him a package of recommendations for battling a national “epidemic” of gun violence “no later than January.”

• President Obama yesterday publicly pressured the GOP to compromise before Christmas on a deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” “If this past week has done anything, it should just give us perspective,” Obama said. “Right now what the country needs is for us to compromise.”

• Three State Department officials have resigned after an internal investigation of the Benghazi attack found “systemic failures and leadership deficiencies at senior levels in securing the compound,” prior to and during the assault.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• President Barack Obama will announce today that Vice President Joe Biden will lead an effort to come up with policies to address gun violence amid calls for action following the massacre of 26 people including 20 children in a Connecticut elementary school last week.

• Six more victims of the Newtown school shooting will be honored at funerals and remembrances today, including the school principal who was killed with 20 of her students and five other staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

• President Obama supports Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s legislation banning assault weapons—signed into law in 1994, it expired in 2004—and other potential gun measures, the White House revealed on Tuesday, after declining to discuss gun control specifics the day before.

• Still short of a “fiscal cliff” deal with the White House, top House Republicans are laboring to rally their rank-and-file behind an alternative plan that would prevent looming tax increases for everyone but those earning over $1 million a year.

• The State Department has released its independent, internal investigation into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, concluding the attack was the result of the State Department’s “systematic failure” in addressing the security needs of the consulate.

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the tragedy in Connecticut (his district borders with the district where the shooting occurred)

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about how we move forward from the Newtown shootings

• Actress and activist Melissa Fitzgerald (“The West Wing” “Chasing The Hill”) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk with us about the tragedy in Newtown

• The schools of Newtown (except for Sandy Hook Elementary), which stood empty in the wake of a shooting rampage that took 26 of their own, will again ring with the sounds of students and teachers today as the bucolic Connecticut town struggles to return to normal.

• Prominent gun-rights advocates in Congress are now calling for a national discussion about restrictions to curb gun violence, signalling that the horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school could be a tipping point in a debate that has been dormant for years.

• President Obama made a fresh fiscal cliff offer to Republican House Speaker John Boehner on Monday, dropping the total the White House wants in new tax revenues and raising the amount of spending cuts in an effort to forge a compromise. Boehner’s office rejected the deal but vowed to keep talking.

• Dr. Wanda Von Kleist, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who has a history of working with violent offenders with mental health issues, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the tragedy in Connecticut

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about gun control and the tragedy in Connecticut

• Actress Robin Weigert (Sons of Anarchy, The Sessions) joins us in studio at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her political new play, “Other Desert Cities”

• President Obama assured the grieving, shell-shocked Newtown community on Sunday that “you are not alone” and vowed sternly to wield “whatever power this office holds” in a quest to prevent future mass shootings.

• Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said she will introduce legislation next year to ban new assault weapons, as well as big clips, drums and strips of more than 10 bullets. “It can be done,” Feinstein told “Meet the Press” of reinstating the ban despite deep opposition by the NRA and similar groups.

• The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage was carrying hundreds of rounds of especially deadly ammunition — enough to kill just about every student in the school if given enough time, authorities said, raising the possibility that the bloodbath could have been even worse.

• Joy Behar calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about her Hurricane Sandy benefit called “Joy Behar’s Comics with Benefits” airing tonight at 9pm ET on Current TV

• Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to discuss the fiscal cliff negotiations

• Sexy Liberal and Current TV host John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., withdrew her name on Thursday from consideration to be secretary of state in the face of angry GOP opposition. She had not been formally nominated, but Rice was the favorite for the post and spent time on Capitol Hill trying—vainly—to placate her GOP critics.

• The White House “fiscal cliff” meeting between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner ended last night with no immediate indication of progress from either side.

• Sen. Jim DeMint (D-SC) said yesterday that he believes President Obama will win his push to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent. “The president’s proposal… will fund the government for a few days, and we all realize it’s a political trophy, it’s not a solution.”

• A 6.4-magnitude quake shook the coast of Baja California and San Diego this morning. No damage or tsunamis have been recorded.

• Political Strategist Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the fiscal cliff negotiations

• Tina Dupuy, editor in chief of TheContributor.com calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her most recent column on who’s been naughty and who’s been nice in politics

• President Obama’s GOP foes in Congress worked on Wednesday to turn up the heat on the White House on the fiscal cliff. The GOP push came after the release of a new poll showing Americans side with the president with time running short to defuse the economic time bomb.

• Barack Obama holds a substantial advantage over John Boehner in handling budget negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff: Nearly twice as many Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of the president’s work on the issue so far as favor the speaker’s approach.

• North Korea’s successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile hit its target: it bolstered the standing of its young tyrant Kim Jong Un and raised the specter of being able to eventually strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon.

• Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) is being treated for early stage prostate cancer but will stay on the job throughout his nearly four-week treatment, his office said Wednesday. His prognosis is said to be excellent.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the ongoing negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the travesty in Michigan with labor unions yesterday

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• President Obama and Rep. John Boehner spoke Tuesday after privately exchanging a new round of rival proposals for keeping the economy from tumbling off the “fiscal cliff.” The fresh discussion signaled a welcome bit of movement in negotiations that had appeared stalled for several days.

• Against a backdrop of raucous protests in the Michigan capitol, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law controversial right-to-work legislation after final passage in the GOP-led state legislature.

• A masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two and seriously injuring a third before killing himself, has been “tentatively” identified by police, though they have not yet released his name.

• North Korea successfully fired a long-range rocket on Wednesday, defying international warnings as the regime of Kim Jong Un took a big step forward in its quest to develop a nuclear missile.

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the fiscal cliff we are quickly approaching

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about John Boehner and the negotiations for avoiding the fiscal cliff

• Julie Bolcer, New York Correspondent for The Advocate Magazine, calls in at 11:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Supreme Court taking up the Prop 8 and DOMA cases

• President Barack Obama traveled Monday to Michigan to tout a new investment in domestic auto jobs, while using the opportunity to assail the state’s Republican lawmakers for pursuing “right to work” legislation.

• Representatives from the White House and Speaker John Boehner’s office met Monday behind closed doors but no progress was reported on reaching a solution for avoiding the Fiscal Cliff, and President Barack Obama took his plan for avoiding the Fiscal Cliff on the road to Michigan.

• Republican Sen. John McCain has led the charge against potential secretary of state nominee Susan Rice—and now he wants a spot on the Senate committee that would question her if President Obama picks her to succeed Hillary Clinton.

• Former South African President Nelson Mandela, 94, has suffered a recurrence of a lung infection, according to a government statement Tuesday. He’s in the hospital but the government says there’s no cause for alarm.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Kris Perry & Sandy Steir, the couple at the center of the Prop 8 case before the Supreme Court call in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the case and what it means to the future of marriage equality

• Actor and activist Rob Reiner calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Supreme Court taking the up Marriage Equality cases

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the disgrace that the GOP brought upon itself last week

• For the first time in more than three weeks, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met face-to-face Sunday at the White House to talk about avoiding the fiscal cliff. The White House would offer no details saying only, “The lines of communication remain open.”

• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) reiterated Sunday that he could support a rate increase on the top 2% as part of a larger deal but accused Dems of “lying to the American people” about the need for entitlement fixes.

• The Supreme Court announced that it will decide two major gay marriage cases next year that could have a sweeping effect on the rights of same-sex couples. The cases mark the first time the justices will consider arguments for and against same-sex marriage.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 11:05am ET / 8:05am PT to talk about the Fiscal Cliff negotiations

• With little to show after a month of posturing, the White House and Republicans in Congress dropped hints on Thursday that they had resumed low-level private talks on breaking the stalemate over the “fiscal cliff” but refused to divulge details.

• A month after the bitterly fought election, President Obama has his highest approval ratings since the killing of Osama bin Laden, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll, and more Americans say the nation is heading in the right direction now than at any time since the start of his first term.

• The 2012 presidential election broke the $2 billion milestone in its final weeks, becoming the most expensive in American political history, according to final federal finance reports released Thursday.

• A 7.3 magnitude quake centered off northeastern Japan shook buildings as far away as Tokyo on Friday and triggered a one-meter tsunami in an area devastated by last year’s Fukushima disaster, but there were no reports of deaths or serious damage.

• Karl Frisch, co-founder of Bullfight Strategies, calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations

• Actor Ed Asner calls in to talk about his fundraiser for Autism Speaks that gives you the chance to buy custom recorded messages for your voicemail from celebrities like William Shatner and Betty White

• Americans prefer letting tax cuts expire for the country’s top earners, as President Barack Obama insists, while support has declined for cutting government services to curb budget deficits, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows.

• Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday afternoon said the Obama administration is “absolutely” prepared to go off the looming “fiscal cliff” if Republicans do not agree to raise tax rates on the wealthy.

• The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

• At midnight this morning, marijuana officially became legal in Washington State, and hundreds of gay couples lined up outside the King County courthouse in Seattle to obtain marriage licenses as marriage equality officially became legal.

• Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about his new album and holiday special, “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas”

• Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the discharge petition on middle class tax cut he filed yesterday in the House

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Humpdays With Hal

• President Barack Obama held his ground on the “fiscal cliff” on Tuesday, insisting on higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans, while Republicans showed increasing disarray over how far they should go to compromise with Obama’s demands.

• A bipartisan group of governors asked President Obama for assurance yesterday that any cuts in spending would not shift the financial burden onto states. They say they want flexibility from the federal government on programs to allow them to do more with less.

• New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the former New York senator Hillary Clinton she should consider running for his job as he prepares to leave office next year.

• Frail and in a wheelchair, former Sen. Bob Dole was a startling presence on the Senate floor as lawmakers voted on a treaty on disabilities to ensure that disabled American veterans are treated with dignity and respect.

• Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich), ranking member of the House Ways & Means Committee, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the fiscal cliff

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the fiscal cliff, and about what horrors the GOP has planned for our education system

• House Republicans on Monday unveiled a counterproposal to a Democratic plan to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff that includes $800 billion in new government revenue by eliminating write-offs in the tax code while extending current tax rates for all income levels.

• President Obama took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to personally answer questions on the “fiscal cliff.” His venture into social media came as Republicans and Democrats continued trading blame for the deadlocked fiscal negotiations in Washington.

• President Barack Obama issued a warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday not to use chemical weapons against Syrian opposition forces, saying there would be consequences if he were to do so.

• A U.S. Navy spokesman says no American drones are missing in the Middle East following Iranian claims it had captured an unmanned American surveillance aircraft.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s stalling tactics in coming up with a solution to avoid the fiscal cliff

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters For America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• President Obama is urging Congress to extend tax breaks for the middle class, saying it’s “unacceptable for some Republicans in Congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they refuse to let tax rates go up on the wealthiest Americans.”

• House Speaker John Boehner on Friday said that despite receiving a counterproposal from the White House as part of a deal to avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, no progress had been made between Republicans and Democrats.

• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will try to force a vote on the House floor to extend current tax rates for the middle class this week if Republicans do not act, the California Democrat announced on Friday

• Police say Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, shot and killed his girlfriend Saturday morning before going to the team stadium and and committing suicide by shooting himself in the head as he was talking to coaches.

• Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the ongoing Fiscal Cliff negotiations

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• President Obama yesterday made a detailed opening bid to Congressional Republicans for averting the so-called fiscal cliff — the mix of tax hikes and deep spending cuts that risk plunging the economy into a new recession come 2013. Republicans flatly rejected the offer.

• President Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney met for lunch at the White House yesterday, their first face-to-face meeting since the bitter election campaign. A White House statement said they had discussed America’s global leadership role and agreed on their desire to stay in touch.

• Retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said yesterday that Congress should have “mercy” on UN ambassador Susan Rice, who has been heavily criticized for her public statements made immediately after attacks at U.S. posts overseas in September.

• The U.N. General Assembly approved an upgraded U.N. status to “non-member observer state” for the Palestinian Authority on Nov. 29, despite intense opposition from the United States and Israel.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for the hour to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about what needs to be done to avoid going over the fiscal cliff

• Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and senior White House aide Rob Nabors are visiting separately Thursday with the four leaders of the House and Senate to discuss how to avert a series of tax increases and spending cuts due to begin in January.

• House Speaker John Boehner (R), the man at the center of negotiations with President Obama, today rejected Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole’s suggestion to pass an extension of tax cuts for 98 percent of people, declare victory, and go home.

• President Obama yesterday defended United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice against criticism from Senate Republicans, saying she is “extraordinary.”

• Mitt Romney will finally make it to the White House today, but only for a 12:30 p.m. EST private — make that very private, no reporters — lunch with President Barack Obama.

• Aaron Hicklin, Out Magazine Editor in Chief, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the Out 100 Issue

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about negotiations to avoid going over the Fiscal Cliff

• Magician and comedian Penn Jillette calls in at 10:50am ET / 7:50am PT to talk about his book “EVERY DAY IS AN ATHEIST HOLIDAY”

• Bill Press of Current TV’s “Full Court Press” calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to make a major joint announcement with Stephanie

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau in the third hour of the show for Humpdays With Hal

• President Obama on Tuesday launched a public relations push for his bid to raise taxes on wealthy Americans, but U.S. lawmakers remained deadlocked over dramatic, year-end tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff.”

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he is “more disturbed now than I was before” over U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s explanation of the September 11 attacks in Benghazi, he told reporters yesterday after meeting with the ambassador.

• Former Senate GOP Leader and presidential nominee Bob Dole has been hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the hoards of GOPers in DC breaking their tax pledge to Grover Norquist

• Actor Steven Weber (Wings, Jeffrey, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau to talk about his new play, “Lips Together Teeth Apart”

• The White House is ramping up pressure on Republicans to make a deal that averts a trip over the “fiscal cliff.” The White House put out a report warning that Americans might pull back on spending in the face of a tax increase, threatening the economy.

• On the eve of a visit by Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, the White House promised Monday that President Obama “will be pressing for action” in Congress on comprehensive immigration reform and regards that goal as “achievable.”

• UN Ambassador Susan Rice will be on Capitol Hill this week to meet with individual members of Congress to discuss the Benghazi attacks, aides on Capitol Hill confirm. She will come face-to-face with many Senators who have opposed her possible nomination to be the next Secretary of State.

• New York state and New Jersey need at least $71.3 billion to recover from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy and prevent similar damage from future storms, according to their latest estimates.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s scar tissue, Marco Rubio’s creationism, and Bobby Jindal’s skeeviness

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Major George Hood of The Salvation Army calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to kick off the Online Red Kettle competition between Stephanie Miller and Bill Press for Current TV

• Republican opposition to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as the next secretary of state began to crack Sunday as Sen. John McCain said she was “not the problem” in the White House’s handling of the Sept. 11 attack in Libya.

• U.S. lawmakers have made little progress in the past 10 days toward a compromise to avoid the harsh tax increases and government spending cuts scheduled for January 1, a senior Democratic senator said on Sunday.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday “it’s fair to ask my party to put revenue on the table” as part of the solution to avoid the looming automatic tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff.”

• U.S. shoppers hit stores and websites at record numbers over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation on Sunday. A record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over the four-day weekend, up 9.2 percent of last year.

• Ruth Riley, WNBA star (Chicago Sky) and Olympic Gold Medalist, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about hunger in America, her personal story growing up on food stamps, and her work with No Kid Hungry

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for Humpdays With Hal

• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday pursued a Gaza truce, with Israel and Hamas still at odds over key terms, as Israeli air strikes shook the enclave and Palestinian rockets hit across the border.

• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday urged Congress and the Obama administration to strike a budget deal to avert tax increases and spending cuts that could trigger a recession next year.

• House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich) did little to tamp down speculation that he’s under consideration to become the next CIA director, saying he could neither confirm nor deny conversations with the Obama administration about the vacant position.

• Firebrand Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., said Tuesday he had finally conceded in his bid for re-election to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy.

• As a part of Current’s “Currently: Feeding The Need” hunger initiative, Daniel Karslake, Director of “Every 3 Seconds”, a documentary that looks at how everyday people are doing something to end the hunger problem in the world, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about his project

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about why Paul Ryan isn’t going anywhere

• Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about what Congress needs to do to avoid going over the Fiscal Cliff

• President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East today as the U.S. urgently seeks to contain the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.

• On a history-making trip, President Obama yesterday paid the first visit by an American leader to Myanmar and Cambodia, two Asian countries with troubled histories, one on the mend and the other still a cause of concern.

• A group of 97 House Republicans sent a letter to President Obama yesterday, saying that UN Amb. Susan Rice misled the nation about the attack on Benghazi, making her unfit to be a candidate to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about what sore losers the Republican Party is made up of

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Benghazi investigations and unfair allegations about UN Ambassador Susan Rice

• Launching a landmark visit to long shunned Myanmar, President Barack Obama said today he comes to “extend the hand of friendship” to a nation moving from persecution to peace.

• International mediation efforts gathered steam Monday as Israel bombed dozens of suspected guerrilla sites in the densely populated Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel’s population.

• Former CIA Director David Petraeus testified Friday before congressional intelligence panels telling members that he had believed from the outset that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was an act of terrorists.

• Capitol Hill leaders emerged from their meeting Friday with President Barack Obama sounding optimistic about their ability to reach consensus on vexing tax and spending issues and avoid the impending “fiscal cliff.”

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT as a part of Current TV’s “Currently Feeding The Need” hunger initiative to talk about farm bills to control prices, provide nutritional programs and help small farming businesses provide jobs

• Comedian Lewis Black calls in at 10:20am ET / 7:20am PT to talk about his new 2013 Running On Empty tour, and about the news of the day

• President Barack Obama welcomes congressional leaders from both parties to the White House today for initial discussions as to how they might avert the looming “fiscal cliff.”

• House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) rejected the president’s plan for House GOP to quickly pass Senate legislation that would extend middle class tax cuts, and he alternatively called on the Senate to take up House-passed legislation to extend all of the current tax rates for one year.

• The CIA Inspector General has launched an investigation into the conduct of former Director David Petraeus. The investigation was ordered to ensure there was no wrongdoing and that no agency resources were expended improperly by Petraeus.

• Sen. John McCain is calling for more information on Benghazi, but he had a press conference yesterday instead of going to a closed briefing where Obama officials were giving more information.

• Eric Burns, co-founder of Bullfight Strategies, calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the fiscal cliff and the work that needs to be done in Congress

• President Barack Obama bluntly told Sen. John McCain and other GOP to lay off their attacks against U.N. Amb. Susan Rice over the Benghazi assault, telling lawmakers that if they go after her “then you have a problem with me.”

• Mitt Romney yesterday accused President Obama of doling out “gifts” to minority voters to curry their support for a second term. Romney pointed to that as the reason he lost the election.

• Gen. David Petraeus will testify about the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s closed hearings. The exact date of his testimony hasn’t yet been worked out.

• Jill Kelley, a key figure in the David Petraeus scandal, tried to negotiate a South Korean coal project deal earlier this year using her Petraeus ties, but the deal fell apart when she asked for an astronomical $80-million fee.

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in as a part of Current TV’s “Currently: Feeding The Need” Hunger Initiative at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about farm bills to control prices, provide nutritional programs and help small farming businesses provide jobs

• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cautioned against reaching early conclusions about allegations against the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, who is under investigation for what Pentagon officials have said may be “inappropriate” correspondence with a Florida woman linked to the David Petraeus sex scandal.

• Labor union leaders emerged from talks with President Obama on Tuesday vowing a side-by-side battle against Republicans to bring about higher taxes on the wealthy as part of an effort to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke out for the first time following the Republican presidential ticket’s loss last Tuesday in an interview with his local Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper, saying he was shocked on Election Night.

• Newly elected and returning Democratic members of Congress said Tuesday as they returned to Washington DC that they won by focusing on protecting and expanding entitlements and by calling for higher taxes on upper-income people.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to bask in the afterglow of last week’s election

• Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos.com, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the election, the last safe haven for Conservatives in the world, and how his predictions were more accurate than Nate Silver’s

• The Pentagon said today that the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom former CIA Director David Petraeus had an extramarital affair.

• Amid a global fright over DC’s political brinkmanship, lawmakers return to the capital today with a seven-week deadline to reach agreement on scheduled tax hikes and budget cuts that threaten to trigger another recession.

• President Obama opens a new campaign today to build pressure on Congress to cut the federal debt the way he sees fit, meeting with labor leaders who want lawmakers to raise taxes on the wealthy and guard against slashing health benefits for seniors.

• After a hard-fought race in a newly formed Arizona congressional district, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner yesterday, becoming the first openly bisexual member of Congress.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about President Obama’s big win last week and what that means for the GOP

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang of Current TV’s “So That Happened” joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT

• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about what Congress is doing to help avoid going over the Fiscal Cliff

• Actress and activist Martha Plimpton calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her “A Is For…” organization which helps with women’s health issues

• Members of Congress say they want to know more about an extramarital affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer, questioning when the retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren’t told sooner.

• President Obama will meet business, labor and civic leaders this week ahead of negotiations with top lawmakers to avert sharp tax hikes and deep spending cuts that loom at the end of the year, a White House official said late on Sunday.

• Richard Carlbom, The Executive Director of Minnesota United For All Families, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about defeating efforts to write discrimination into the state’s constitution

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calls in at 10:30AM ET / 7:30am PT to talk about how Congress has a new mandate to protect working families

• Sexy Liberal host of Current TV’s “So That Happened” John Fugelsang joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT

• While ballots are still being counted in Florida, a senior adviser for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign told the Miami Herald on Thursday that they are effectively conceding the state and its 29 electoral votes to President Obama.

• Republicans’ efforts to undo President Barack Obama’s health care reform law appear to have come to an end, as House Speaker John Boehner described it Thursday as the “law of the land.”

• Newly re-elected President Obama will use a White House appearance today to set the tone for upcoming talks with congressional Republicans on avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff.

• New York City drivers woke up today to the first widespread gas rationing since the fuel crisis of the 1970s as a result of Sandy and a subsequent nor’easter.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about this week’s Election Day victories for the Dems

• Political strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about what happened in Virginia on Election Day

• Actress Melissa Fitzgerald (The West Wing & Chasing The Hill) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:10am ET / 8:10am PT to talk about President Obama’s big win on Tuesday

• Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about this week’s big wins for marriage equality

• Vice President Biden says he and President Obama are anxious to move forward on a bipartisan solution to the looming “fiscal cliff” that could force tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts next year.

• House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) emerged after Tuesday’s presidential election to strike a conciliatory note, offering to work with President Obama on a grand bargain to avert the impact of the coming fiscal cliff.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about last night’s big victory for President Obama

• David Bender, Political Director for ProgressiveVoices.com, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to go over last night’s big wins for the Democrats

• Congressman-elect Alan Grayson (D-FL) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his win last night and his return to Congress

• President Barack Obama handily defeated Gov. Mitt Romney and won himself a second term on Tuesday after a bitter and historically expensive race. Obama beat Romney after nabbing almost every one of the 12 crucial battleground states.

• In an historic election night for the gay rights movement, voters in Maine and Maryland became the first in the country to approve same-sex marriage, breaking a 32-state losing streak.

• Democrats prevailed against Republicans Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock in two U.S. Senate races in which abortion and controversial remarks about rape played a pivotal role.

• Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren is the projected winner of the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, beating out GOP incumbent Scott Brown.

Actress Vivica A. Fox (“Kill Bill” “Independence Day”) calls in at 9:20am ET / 6:20am PT from The Obama Campaign HQ in Chicago to talk about the get out the vote game on Election Day

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about getting out the women’s vote and the importance of winning this election for Obama

Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from The Cosby Show) calls in at 10:20am ET / 7:20am PT to talk about how she’s helped with the 2012 Campaign & her work with Planned Parenthood

Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT from Florida to tell us what he’s seeing in that battleground state this Election Day

John Cho (“Harold & Kumar” “Star Trek”) calls in at 10:50am ET / 7:50am PT to talk about the work he’s been doing to get out the college vote (most recently in Nevada)

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (“Brokeback Mountain” “The Day After Tomorrow”) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the efforts to get out the vote and why he’s supporting Obama again in 2012

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker (“Sex And The City” “Mars Attacks”) calls in at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT to talk about getting out the women’s vote to re-elect President Obama

Actor and director Rob Reiner calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk Election Day news and how we get 4 more years for Obama

Katherine Archuleta, Obama Campaign National Political Director, calls in at 11:50am ET / 8:50am PT to talk about the campaign’s final push for the win in 2012

• Ronnie Chatterji, former Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors, calls in at 9:20am ET / 6:20am PT to talk about Obama’s plan to fix the economy

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the closing arguments as to why President Obama should be re-elected

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Jesse Williams of Grays Anatomy calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about getting out the vote. He spent last weekend in Ohio going door to door canvassing for Obama

• Legendary Actress Blythe Danner (“Meet The Parents” “Will & Grace” and Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom) calls in at 10:50am ET / 7:50am PT to talk about getting out the vote

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau for the 11am ET / 8am PT hour

• Jim Graves, who is challenging Michelle Bachman for her seat in Congress, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the narrowing gap in the race

• President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney make a frenetic dash to a series of crucial swing states today, delivering their final arguments to voters on the last day of an extraordinarily close race for the White House.

Sexy Liberal Aisha Tyler calls in at 9:20am ET / 6:20am PT from on the Campaign Trail in Ohio to remind us why President Obama smells like Cookies and Freedom

Stephen Goldstein, author of the novel Atlas Drugged, a “sequel” to Atlas Shrugged calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about a world where Romney’s plans to privatize government becomes a reality

Actress Jurnee Smollett (Friday Night Lights) calls in at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT to discuss the fight against HIV/AIDS and her support of President Obama’s 2012 reelection

Actress Kate Walsh (Private Practice & Gray’s Anatomy) calls in at 11:50am ET / 8:50am PT to talk about introducing President Obama at a campaign event in Iowa and the importance of women’s issues

President Obama and Mitt Romney effectively resumed the presidential campaign on Thursday after three days of little campaigning as the Eastern seaboard grappled with superstorm Sandy.

In parts of New York and New Jersey, drivers lined up Thursday for hours at gas stations that were struggling to stay supplied. The power outages and flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy have forced many gas stations to close.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Barack Obama on Thursday, invoking Hurricane Sandy and the president’s work to address climate change.

Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about voter fraud issues and attempts to suppress the vote

Rep. Gary Peters (D – MI) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the auto industry. His district includes Chrysler’s Headquarters and he worked very closely with President Obama to implement the auto rescue

Actor Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Southland) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Getting Out The Vote. He attended the University of Virginia and has campaigned for President Obama

Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the final week before Election Day, including what’s going on with the Powell/Cantor race in VA

Music legend David Crosby calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the importance of re-electing President Obama so he can finish what he started

President Obama inspected the devastation from Sandy on Wednesday, flying high over flooded neighborhoods, sand-strewn streets and a burning fire that charred homes along the New Jersey coastline.

According to new NBC/WSJ/Marist polls taken before Sandy, President Obama leads in Iowa, and is running neck and neck in New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

• Reggie Love, former personal assistant to President Obama, calls in at 9:40am ET / 6:40am PT to talk about why we should re-elect President Obama

• Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark (Cassandra Peterson) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for two hours of political Halloween fun

• Actor Mark Hamill (“Star Wars”) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk politics and tell us what he thinks of Disney buying LucasFilm

• Millions of people across the Northeast stricken by massive storm Sandy will attempt to resume normal lives on Wednesday as companies, markets and airports reopen, despite grim projections of power and mass transit outages lasting several more days.

• President Obama, locked in a fierce re-election bid, is emphasizing his incumbent’s role for a third straight day, skipping battleground states to visit victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, a state he’s confident of winning.

• Mitt Romney’s “storm relief event” held at an Ohio athletic complex still had some of the trappings of a regular campaign rally, from the biographical Romney video to the woman in the crowd who wore a shirt that read, “Obama, You’re Fired.”

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the political implications of Hurricane Sandy

• As Superstorm Sandy marched slowly inland, millions along the East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, with huge swaths of New York City unusually vacant and dark. President Obama declared a major disaster in the city and Long Island.

• A levee broke in northern New Jersey on Tuesday, flooding the towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt with 4 to 5 feet of water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, officials told Reuters.

• President Barack Obama urged Americans to heed local officials’ warnings about Hurricane Sandy on Monday as his re-election said it would determine the president’s campaign schedule on a “day-to-day basis.”

• Gasoline prices jumped as much as 11 cents a gallon on commodities markets as traders feared that power outages and flooding could leave refiners struggling to restore operations after Hurricane Sandy hit the United States.

• Former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday in place of President Obama, who cancelled his campaign events to handle the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s rape comments, Mitt Romney and racism, and the candidates’ foreign policy

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Cliff Chenfeld, co-CEO of Razor & Tie and Kidz Bop and founder of “The Message”, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to preview The Message’s new video, “Mitt Romney Tells NYC to ‘Occupy This’”

• An impending hurricane injected a new degree of uncertainty into the 2012 presidential campaign, impacting candidates’ schedules and early voting opportunities just nine days before Election Day.

• Ohio’s GOP governor said Sunday that private polls show Mitt Romney beating President Obama in the battleground state of Ohio just as auto industry politics assume a dominant role in the closing days of the campaign.

• From Washington to Boston, big cities and small towns were buttoned up Monday against the onslaught of a superstorm that threatened 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation, with forecasters warning that the New York area could get the worst of it — an 11-foot wall of water.

• Actress and comedian Julie Brown joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for two hours of fun and politics

• The legendary James Taylor calls in at 10:20am ET / 7:20am PT to tell us about a rally with the President and thousands of supporters in Nashua, NH at which he will play

• Ms. Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of the President and First Lady, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to discuss the President’s re-election campaign about the choice facing women

• Mitt Romney now has 50 percent support among likely voters vs. 47 percent for Barack Obama – Romney’s highest vote-preference result of the contest to date, according to a new ABC/Washington Post poll. The difference between the two is still within the margin of error.

• Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he was the candidate of “big change” at the outset of three-event bus tour of battleground Ohio on Thursday.

• President Obama’s frenetic battleground-state blitz came to a close last night with a rally on a small airport tarmac in Cleveland, OH overlooking Lake Erie.

• Hurricane Sandy pounded the Bahamas with battering winds and rain on Friday after killing 21 people across the Caribbean, and is now posing a menacing threat to the U.S. East Coast.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Actor turned White House Staffer Kal Penn calls in at 9:20am ET / 6:20am PT to talk about why he’s campaigning for Obama

• Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Bain and Romney from the swing state of Ohio

• Comedian Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for two hours of Coffee With Carlos!

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to update us on the Cantor/Powell race in Virginia

• President Obama weighed in on controversial comments about rape made by GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana, calling it an example of why women should vote for him on Nov. 6 but stopping short of explicitly tying Mitt Romney to the same views.

• The FBI and U.S. Postal Service agents are investigating bogus official-looking letters sent to voters in at least 28 Florida counties questioning their citizenship and their eligibility to vote.

• Actress Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games, 30 Rock) calls in from the campaign trail at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT where she is making sure Obama beats Romney

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about a new settlement that insures proper care for seniors and people with chronic conditions

• Mass. State Rep. Hank Naughton (D) a veteran of the Iraq War and a Captain in the United States Army Reserve calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT with his thoughts on the foreign policy debate

• Comedian Rick Overton joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about his upcoming event “Laughing Liberally” a fundraiser for the Rape Crisis Center that is in response to the recent statements by Todd Akin and Paul Ryan

• Taking his campaign into car country, President Obama touted his from-the-start support of the auto industry bailout, contrasting it with what he said was Mitt Romney’s shifting position on the issue.

• Mitt Romney fired up supporters in Henderson, NV yesterday, telling them the presidential debates have “supercharged” his campaign, and saying that Obama doesn’t have an agenda for a second term.

• Donald Trump and Gloria Allred have teased major revelations about each presidential candidate. Announcements are expected shortly.

• Comedian Kathleen Madigan joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours

• Rep. Tim Ryan from the battleground state of Ohio and member of the Armed Services Committee calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the foreign policy debate

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about last night’s foreign policy debate

• Former & Future Congressman Alan Grayson calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT with an update on his campaign in Florida and his thoughts on the President’s debate in Florida

• DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT with her post-debate reaction

• President Obama portrayed rival Mitt Romney as “all over the map” and inexperienced on key national security issues in the third and final debate of the presidential election Monday night in Boca Raton, Fla.

• Vice President Joe Biden said in Ohio yesterday that the country might at last be witnessing the reconstruction of the Romney platform that his campaign hinted at last spring with the infamous Etch-A-Sketch admission.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about tonight’s final debate in the rudest way possible

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Humorist Mo Rocca calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his new documentary film, ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION, an irreverent but non-partisan look at voting in America

• Melissa Fitzgerald from The West Wing joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for the full hour to talk about her new web series Chasing The Hill and the news of the day

• Rep Greg Meeks (D-NY) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee where he is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about what is at stake for the President in the Foreign Policy Debate

• The final presidential debate of the 2012 presidential campaign, tonight at 9pm ET, will focus on foreign policy. For Mitt Romney, it’s an opportunity to portray President Obama as a weak leader on the world stage and for Mr. Obama, it’s a chance to portray his rival as a naive foreign policy neophyte.

• Former Sen. George McGovern, presidential candidate and outspoken Liberal, died early yesterday. He was 90.

• Jim Graves, who is challenging Michelle Bachman for her seat in congress calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the narrowing gap in their race

• Shannon O’Brien, the Dem candidate who ran against Romney in the 2002 governor’s race in Massachusetts, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his Binders Full of Women

• Ruth Conniff, Political Editor for The Progressive, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Tammy Baldwin’s campaign to be elected to the US Senate

• Actor, director, and activist Rob Reiner calls in at 11:30 am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new ad for the Obama Campaign on Women’s Issues

• President Obama and Mitt Romney took a break from their often rancorous campaigns to poke fun at each other and themselves at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York, last night.

• New NBC News/WSJ/Marist polls show President Obama maintaining his lead over Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground states of Iowa and Wisconsin.

• More than 1,200 formerly secret Boy Scouts’ files detailing accusations of child sex abuse from 1965 to 1985 were published online Thursday by lawyers, one who said the documents revealed a “de facto cover-up of abuse.”

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Nate Silver the statistical genius behind FiveThirtyEight.com, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to give her his predictions for 2012 and talk about his new book “THE SIGNAL AND THE NOISE: Why So Many Predictions Fail—but Some Don’t”

• Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau for the 10am ET / 7am PT hour to talk about what the election means for LGBT rights, national security, and the economy and jobs

• Political strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to handicap the debates, and to update us on the Cantor/Powell race in Virginia

• One day after their contentious debate, President Obama and Mitt Romney vied aggressively for the support of women voters Wednesday, as they and their running mates charged across nearly a half-dozen battleground states in the close race for the White House with 20 days to run.

• A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought was a bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in NYC and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation.

• Lance Armstrong lost three major sponsorship contracts Wednesday and stepped down as the chairman of the Livestrong charity as the fallout from doping allegations continued to plague him.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk the debate and comment on insuring social security benefits for seniors and the disabled

• David Bender, Political Director of ProgressiveVoices.com. joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau in the 11am ET / 8am PT hour to talk about last night’s big debate

• Jim Messina, Obama/Biden 2012 Campaign Manager, calls in at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT for a post-debate interview. This would actually be his first national radio interview of the 2012 campaign

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about last night’s presidential debate

• A much more aggressive President Barack Obama showed up to the second presidential debate Tuesday, which at times devolved into angry crosstalk with Republican rival Mitt Romney.

• A CBS News instant poll taken after last night’s debate shows that President Obama won with 37%, Romney received 30% of the vote, and 33% said it was a tie. A PPP snap poll of Colorado voters say Obama won 48% to Romney’s 44%.

• “They brought me binders full of women,” said Mitt Romney during Tuesday night’s debate. The sound bite was a comedic gift to those on Twitter and Tumblr, who immediately went to work creating memes.

• Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Current TV’s “The War Room” calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT with her take on tonight’s presidential debate

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about tonight’s debate, and to talk about Tommy Thompson’s birther son

• Actor, author, and comedian Richard Belzer (Law & Order: SVU) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the news of the day

• President Obama is under heavy pressure in his debate rematch with Mitt Romney tonight to turn in a more forceful performance that restores his momentum and draws sharper policy differences with his GOP challenger.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN in an interview Monday that she—not the White House—takes responsibility for the security situation in Benghazi, Libya, ahead of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack there that claimed the lives of four Americans, including the ambassador.

• The Obama campaign yesterday blasted the latest battleground state polling that finds Mitt Romney with a five point lead among likely voters, saying the Gallup/USA Today poll has “deep flaws” with its sampling and biased questions.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Joe Biden’s stellar debate performance, and to preview tomorrow’s presidential debate

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Tina Dupuy, Editor in Chief of TheContributor.com, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the 2012 Campaign

• Likely voters in a new Washington Post / ABC News poll split 49 percent for Obama to 46 percent for Romney, basically unmoved from the poll two weeks ago, just before the two candidates met in Denver for their first debate.

• President Obama heralded the domestic auto industry’s recovery in his weekly address broadcast Saturday. Obama didn’t mention Mitt Romney by name in the radio address, but he had the GOP nominee in mind when defending his administration’s bailout of the two major U.S. automakers.

• Denver police are reviewing video footage from city surveillance cameras after a shot was fired through the window of President Barack Obama’s campaign office.

• Arlen Specter, a moderate who spent three decades in the U.S. Senate but was spurned by Pennsylvania voters after switching in 2009 from Republican to Democrat, died on Sunday of cancer, his family said. He was 82.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang of Current TV’s “So That Happened” joins us from the NYC Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to give us his reaction to last night’s VP debate

• National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to discuss reaction to education issues discussed in the recent debate and the overall election

• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his experiences in playing Paul Ryan for Joe Biden’s debate prep

• Markos Moulitsas, founder of The Daily Kos, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT with his take on last night’s big VP Debate

• Vice President Joe Biden came out swinging against his GOP opponent, Paul Ryan, in Thursday’s lone vice presidential debate with a readily evident determination to avoid repeating President Obama’s laconic performance in last week’s presidential debate.

• ABC’s Martha Raddatz took a forceful approach to moderating the vice presidential debate on Thursday, winning many positive reviews from instant pundits on social media but some complaints from Republicans.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to fill us in on the race between Eric Cantor and Wayne Powell in VA, and to talk about the tightening poll numbers in the presidential race

• With the GOP grabbing the momentum in a shifting White House race, Vice President Joe Biden will look to recover some ground and ease Dem worries tonight in a high-stakes debate against Republican challenger Paul Ryan.

• President Obama on Wednesday said that he plans to more aggressively confront GOP nominee Mitt Romney in their second debate next week, trying to allay concerns among supporters that a lackluster first debate performance may have cost him the race.

• On the heels of last week’s presidential debate, Mitt Romney has emerged with a one-point edge over President Obama in Colorado and has cut the president’s lead in half in Wisconsin, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll.

• Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) admitted yesterday that he and other House Republicans voted against providing more security for the US Consolate in Libya where Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed along with three other Americans in a terrorist attack.

• Actor and Obama surrogate Jason Alexander calls in at 9:45am ET / 6:45am PT to tell us about his efforts to get out the vote in Florida

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), member of the House Intelligence Committee & House Appropriations Committee calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about Romney’s foreign policy speech

• Comedy legend Carol Burnett calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her career and the release of The Carol Burnett Show on DVD

• President Barack Obama charged on Tuesday that Mitt Romney favors a foreign policy that “gets us into wars with no plan to end them” and that if the Republican had his way American combat forces would still be in Iraq.

• President Barack Obama encouraged supporters on Monday to be “obsessive” about working for his re-election in the final weeks of the campaign, declaring himself confident that he would win on November 6.

• Mitt Romney said on Tuesday that he has no plans for abortion legislation if elected president, a statement that is more moderate than ones he’s made on the issue in the past.

• The Obama campaign said yesterday it was weighing a request from the Sesame Workshop to stop using Big Bird in its attacks on Mitt Romney.

• Dan Restrepo, Former White House Dir. of Western Hemisphere Affairs in the National Security Council and the former Chief Latin America Advisor on the 08’ campaign calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT with the campaign’s response to Romney’s speech on Foreign Policy

• David Shuster of Current TV and WeActRadio calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to break down Mitt Romney’s big speech on foreign policy

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to break down the new polls after the presidential debate last week

• In the first national poll to be conducted entirely after the opening presidential debate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney now leads President Barack Obama by 4 points in the latest Pew Poll.

• Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of leading a rudderless foreign policy, saying Monday that the threat of conflict in the Middle East is greater than it was four years ago.

• The White House defended President Obama’s handling of world affairs from a scathing attack by Republican challenger Mitt Romney, arguing that the former Massachusetts governor is fond of “chest-pounding” and “saber-rattling.”

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the presidential debates, the perversions of Allen West, and the ridiculousness of Paul Ryan

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the battle for marriage equality in Minnesota and across the nation

• Actress Melissa Fitzgerald (“The West Wing”) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her new web series Chasing The Hill and the news of the day

• President Barack Obama opened a two-day fundraising swing through California on Sunday with a “30 Days to Victory Concert.” He also seemed to poke fun at his own listless debate performance last week against Mitt Romney.

• Mitt Romney plans to deliver a foreign policy speech today in which he will try to reverse some of his perceived missteps, as the GOP candidate looks to bolster his foreign affair credentials in the weeks remaining before the election.

• President Barack Obama says a new report showing that the unemployment rate has dropped below 8 percent is a sign the still-sluggish economy is moving forward. But Obama says more needs to be done.

• Teamsters President James Hoffa joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the presidential campaign and how it affects working people

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the GOP attempts to drive America off a fiscal cliff

• Actress Olivia Munn of HBO’s “The Newsroom” calls in from Ohio at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the message she’s delivering to win the battleground state for Obama

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to tell us about tonight’s debut of his new Current TV show, “John Fugelsang: So That Happened”

• Mitt Romney, trying to distance himself from perhaps his most damaging campaign moment, said Thursday that his infamous “47 percent” remarks were “completely wrong” and that he will “be about helping the 100 percent.”

• An animated President Obama told a crowd in Wisconsin yesterday: “When I got onto the stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney. But it couldn’t have been Mitt Romney, because the real Mitt Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy.”

• The government today issues its September jobs report, expected to show an uptick in the U.S. unemployment rate after employers added only a modest number of jobs.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to do post-debate cleanup and to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about last night’s debate in Denver and the importance of Colorado to the presidential race

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to update us on the Powell/Cantor race in Virginia, and to handicap last night’s debate

• Jane Wilson, AKA “Janeane From Des Moines”, the star of the Mockumentary by the same name that caught all of the GOP candidates off guard joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT

• Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood calls in at 11:45am ET / 8:45am PT with her reaction to last night’s debate in Denver

• Policy largely trumped “zingers” in the first debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as the two sparred on issues as varied as taxes and spending, entitlements, education and more.

• Amid the widespread judgment by the news media that Mitt Romney beat President Obama in their first debate, top Obama aides argued that Romney came off as unlikable and failed to offer the policy specifics Americans want.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Actress and Obama surrogate Kerry Washington (ABC’s “Scandal”) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about her new show and tells us about the Obama campaign

• Just 34 days out from the November election, there’s little argument that tonight’s presidential debate – in which President Obama and Mitt Romney will go head-to-head for the first time in this campaign – is a high-stakes affair for both men. The debate in Denver starts at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Current TV.

• On the eve of the first presidential debate, Ann Romney said Tuesday that the debate will highlight the “contrast” between her husband and President Barack Obama. “We are excited about that,” she said of the debate.

• On the eve of the first presidential debate, the Far Right website The Daily Caller again circulated a previously reported video of a five-year-old speech in which then-Sen. Barack Obama praised his controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and suggested the federal government discriminated against the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

• Vice President Joe Biden told a campaign rally on Tuesday that the middle class has been buried for the past four years, just longer than President Barack Obama’s time in the White House.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to preview tomorrow night’s first presidential debate and review last night’s Brown/Warren debate in Massachusetts.

• Jen Psaki, Obama for America Traveling Press Secretary, calls in from Nevada at 11am ET / 8am PT where she is with the President while he preps for tomorrow night’s debate

• Two days before his first face-off with President Obama, Mitt Romney said on Monday that the presidential debate won’t be about “winning or losing” but instead it will be a chance for the candidates to describe the “pathway” on which they’d like to take the country.

• Some political momentum could be on the line when a judge rules today on whether to keep intact Pennsylvania’s tough new law requiring voters to show photo identification in next month’s presidential election.

• President Barack Obama, holed up at a swank Las Vegas-area resort to get ready for his first debate with Mitt Romney, jokingly told a volunteer on Monday that debate prep can be “a drag.”

• Democrat Elizabeth Warren’s claim of Native American heritage was once again in the spotlight as she sparred with GOP rival Scott Brown on Monday in the second debate of the pair’s contest for the U.S. Senate seat from traditionally Dem Massachusetts.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to tell us how Republicans think, the uselessness of Romney’s campaign, and the whininess of the GOP

• President Obama and Mitt Romney were hunkered down this weekend, cramming for Wednesday’s debate showdown. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, is playing Romney in practice sessions with the president. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) is playing Obama in debate prep with Romney.

• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, never one to be shy when it comes to speaking his mind, yesterday predicted that Mitt Romney would turn the presidential race around in the upcoming debate with President Obama.

• Paul Ryan said on “Fox News Sunday” that their tax plan–a 20 percent across-the-board income tax cut–would focus on deductions and closing tax loopholes for the rich, but declined to offer specifics, saying it would “take me too long to go through all the math”.

• The Supreme Court is starting a new term today that is shaping up to be as important as the last one, with the prospect of major rulings about affirmative action, gay marriage and voting rights.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Ted Kennedy Jr. calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to discuss health care and the ways that President Obama is looking out for people with disabilities

• Dr. Maya Angelou calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about voter engagement and the first days of early voting

• Actress and director Penny Marshall calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her life, career, politics and her new book “My Mother Was Nuts”

• Birther Queen Orly Taitz joins us in studio at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT to talk about the ruling in Kansas that will keep Obama on the ballot, and give us updates on the hearings taking place this week in Missouri and Indiana.

• President Obama leads Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, and the two are locked in tight contests in Nevada and North Carolina, according to a new series of NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls released Thursday.

• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday there can be no doubt that terrorists had planned and carried out the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi earlier this month that killed four Americans, including Amb. Chris Stevens.

• Republicans yesterday fired a vendor suspected of submitting 108 questionable new voter registrations in Palm Beach County, ground zero for disputed ballots in 2000’s presidential race.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Political strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to update us on the presidential campaign, and on the Powell / Cantor campaign in Virginia

• Mitt Romney said yesterday that despite calls from conservatives to be more aggressive, he is not going to engage in a campaign of “character assassination” – despite what he says is the Obama campaign’s willingness to do so.

• President Obama and Mitt Romney took their campaigns yesterday to the critical swing state of Ohio, where the state of the once-robust manufacturing sector makes the debate over outsourcing and trade with China especially resonant.

• In explaining his tax plan in Ohio yesterday, GOP candidate Mitt Romney told the gathered crowd he would simplify the tax code, but that they should NOT expect large tax cuts.

• The National Football League and the referees’ union reached a tentative contract agreement at midnight Thursday, ending an impasse that began in June when the league locked out the officials and used replacements instead.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Stefanie Brown, Obama/Biden National African-American Vote Director, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about what’s at stake in this November’s election

• Striking a hopeful but serious tone about the future of the Middle East, President Obama at the United Nations yesterday called on his international counterparts to honestly confront the sources of unrest in Muslim countries, as well as the tensions between the West and the Arab world.

• With less than six weeks until Election Day, President Obama has opened up significant leads over Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll of likely voters.

• Ann Romney told Jay Leno last night that the election of her husband would signal “that prejudices…” against Mormons… “are left behind” just as the election of President Obama sent a signal that other prejudices were left behind.

• The Romney campaign indicated yesterday that they have little faith in recent polls that showed a majority of voters in Ohio support President Obama.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney on Univision, and the Far Right going off the deep end

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the importance of keeping the Middle Class tax cuts

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the crazy things Paul Ryan has been saying on the campaign trail

• Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (and daughter of Ann Richards), calls in from the Clinton Global Initiative with a big announcement

• In a speech today at the UN exactly six weeks before the U.S. election, President Obama will seek to reassure American voters as well as world leaders that they can count on him to handle the latest global challenges, even as Mitt Romney seizes the chance to pan his foreign policy.

• In one of his harshest indictments to date of President Obama’s handling of the economy, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told an audience on Monday that Americans “are beginning to give up hope” on the economic recovery.

• Dems are seizing on Mitt Romney’s interview with “60 Minutes” in which he cites emergency rooms as a health care option for the uninsured — a statement that contrasts with his longstanding opposition to such an approach because it’s widely-known as the most expensive.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Investigative journalist Greg Palast calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his new book, “Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How To Steal An Election in 9 Easy Steps”

• Mitt Romney paid an effective tax rate of about 14 percent last year, his campaign said Friday while also announcing that the Republican presidential nominee had paid an average annual effective tax rate of about 20.2 percent between 1990 and 2009.

• A defiant Mitt Romney is refusing to concede he is running as an underdog in the crucial battleground states that define the presidential contest, and accused President Obama of distorting his positions and trying to “fool” the American people.

• With the conventions fading into the rearview mirror and the first presidential debate fast approaching, new polls in crucial swing states suggest that GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s road to the White House is becoming a more challenging ride.

• “Homeland” earned Showtime its first Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series on Sunday night, breaking “Mad Men’s” four-year winning streak. In the Outstanding Comedy Series category, “Modern Family” took home the win for the third year in a row.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s desire to block any and all legislation going through Congress

• Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos.com, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Mitt and Ann Romney’s continuous string of gaffes

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT to talk about Attorney General Eric Holder being cleared in the Fast And Furious scandal

• David Shuster of Current TV and WeActRadio calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the rise of Obama and the fall of Romney in the polls

• President Obama leads Mitt Romney in Colorado, Iowa and Wisconsin, reaching the key 50 percent support threshold in all three battlegrounds, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of these states.

• Ann Romney, in an interview with Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson, swung back at the range of critics in the media and among Republicans: “Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring,” she said.”

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Current TV’s Bill Press calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about his book, “The Obama Hate Machine”

• Gov. Jesse Ventura calls in at 10:20am ET / 7:20am PT to talk about his book, “DemoCRIPs and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs In Government”

• Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the race to unseat Eric Cantor, and about Mitt Romney’s missteps in the last few weeks

• GOP nominee Mitt Romney found himself on the defensive at a Wednesday forum with Latino voters, fielding sharp questions about his comments at a closed-door fundraiser, immigration reform and Arizona’s controversial immigration law before the event shifted to his preferred subject of the economy.

• A report on the U.S. government’s controversial gun-trafficking operation “Fast and Furious” released Wednesday found no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder knew of the botched effort to trace the flow of guns to Mexico’s drug cartels prior to its public unraveling in January 2011.

• Chick-fil-A has agreed to stop funding groups with anti-same-sex marriage stances, according to a statement released Wednesday by LGBT advocacy group The Civil Rights Agenda.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Anchor, author, and pundit Jeff Greenfield calls in at 9:50am ET / 6:50am PT to talk about his new book, “*43”, about what would have happened had Al Gore become president in 2000

• Rebuking Mitt Romney on “Late Night with David Letterman” last night, President Obama said that Americans are not “victims” and that anyone seeking the presidency ought to be working for “everyone, not just some.”

• President Obama now holds a narrow lead over Mitt Romney in the key swing states of Virginia, Wisconsin and Colorado, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times survey.

• Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told New Hampshire voters Tuesday that President Obama has created a safety net that encourages dependency and “drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives.”

• Chicago’s teachers agreed Tuesday to return to the classroom after more than a week on the picket lines, ending a stalemate with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over teacher evaluations and job security, two issues at the heart of efforts to reform the nation’s public schools.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about how ineffective Paul Ryan is to the Romney campaign

• Col. Wayne Powell joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about his efforts to unseat Eric Cantor in Virginia’s 7th District

• Already scrambling to steady a struggling campaign, Mitt Romney confronted a new headache Monday after a video surfaced showing him telling wealthy donors that almost half of all Americans “believe they are victims” entitled to extensive government support.

• Teachers across the nation’s third-largest city will be poring over the details of a tentative contract settlement today as the clock ticks down to an afternoon meeting in which they are expected to vote whether to end a seven-day strike that has kept 350,000 students out of class.

• Mitt Romney on Monday launched a fall courtship of Hispanic voters, an increasingly important segment of the electorate, with a promise he would reform immigration laws in his first term.

• Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated the movement’s anniversary Monday by clogging intersections in the city’s financial district, marching to the beat of drums that were a familiar refrain last year.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about all the rude things the GOP was up to in the last two weeks

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• After the two political conventions, President Obama leads Mitt Romney in three of the most important battleground states, according to new NBC/WSJ/Marist polls. In both Florida and Virginia, Obama is ahead of Romney by five points among likely voters, 49%-44%. In Ohio, the president’s lead is seven points, 50%-43%.

• Chicago teachers uncomfortable with a tentative contract offer decided Sunday to remain on strike, insisting they need more time before deciding whether to end a standoff with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that will keep 350,000 students out of class for at least two more days.

• Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential candidate, on Saturday said that he and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would reverse four years of “debt, doubt and decline” by improving the economy, preserving Medicare and strengthening the nation’s defense.

• Rick Santorum accused President Barack Obama of “coddling and appeasing” America’s enemies and said the Obama administration is at least partially responsible for ongoing violence in post-Arab Spring nations.

Sexy LIberal and Current TV superstar John Fugelsang is in for Steph and the Mooks all week long!  Check him out on your radio, on SiriusXM 127, streaming on your TuneIn Radio app, your Stitcher app, or your IHeartRadio app, or on Current TV!

Join Steph and the Mooks today live from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte today. Their guests will be Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies at 9am ET / 6am PT, Rep. GK Butterfield (D-NC) at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT, Teamsters President James Hoffa at 9:45am ET / 6:45am PT, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) at 10:05am ET / 7:05am PT, Joe Jervis of the blog JoeMyGod at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) at 10:45am ET / 7:45am PT, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-VT) at 11am ET / 8am PT, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT, CC Goldwater (Barry Goldwater’s Granddaughter) at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT, and Jon Stoltz of VoteVets at 11:45am ET / 8:45am PT

Join us for Live coverage from the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday morning when we talk to Aaron Smith of Young Invincibles, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Democratic Strategist Terry Lierman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, David Bender, Guy Cecil of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY).

And you can see it all on Current TV!

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• In his first speech as the Republican Party’s official presidential nominee, Mitt Romney on Thursday delivered an uncharacteristically personal plea for the presidency, outlining his vision for the nation’s future while vowing to “put the disappointments of the last four years behind us.”

• At the height of the tightly-scripted Republican National Convention, actor Clint Eastwood on Thursday made a “surprise” appearance, delivering a sometimes humorous, other times bizarre speech – a speech that was ad-libbed, according to the Romney campaign.

• Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention Thursday as the man who will ensure the United States continues to be the land of opportunity and that “new beginnings” are possible

• At the Republican National Convention, former House Speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife, Calista, said Mitt Romney will bring the country back to the principles that are “core to Reagan’s presidency.”

• Isaac hovered over Louisiana for a third day Thursday, shedding more than a foot of additional rain that forced authorities to hurriedly evacuate areas ahead of the storm and rescue hundreds of people who could not escape as the rapidly rising waters swallowed entire neighborhoods.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• In his first speech as the Republican Party’s official presidential nominee, Mitt Romney on Thursday delivered an uncharacteristically personal plea for the presidency, outlining his vision for the nation’s future while vowing to “put the disappointments of the last four years behind us.”

• At the height of the tightly-scripted Republican National Convention, actor Clint Eastwood on Thursday made a “surprise” appearance, delivering a sometimes humorous, other times bizarre speech – a speech that was ad-libbed, according to the Romney campaign.

• Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention Thursday as the man who will ensure the United States continues to be the land of opportunity and that “new beginnings” are possible

• At the Republican National Convention, former House Speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife, Calista, said Mitt Romney will bring the country back to the principles that are “core to Reagan’s presidency.”

• Isaac hovered over Louisiana for a third day Thursday, shedding more than a foot of additional rain that forced authorities to hurriedly evacuate areas ahead of the storm and rescue hundreds of people who could not escape as the rapidly rising waters swallowed entire neighborhoods.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Thomas Mann & Norman Ornstein, authors of “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks”, call in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the GOP causing dysfunction in DC

• Melanie Roussell, DNC National Press Secretary, calls in from Charlotte at 10am ET / 7am PT to give us a preview of next week’s DNC

• Current TV and WeActRadio’s David Shuster calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the bad behavior of some delegates at the RNC

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to update us on Wayne Powell for Congress in VA, and give us his impressions on the RNC

• Deirdre Schifeling, National Political and Organizing Director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, calls in at 11:30am from Tampa to talk about their efforts to educate and mobilize voters

• Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan last night formally accepted his spot on the ticket, calling on voters to give America a “turnaround” – and pledging that if elected, he and Mitt Romney will not “duck the tough issues” but “take responsibility” for the nation’s future.

• John McCain last night railed against President Obama for his foreign policy record, lamenting what he cast as a “demand for leadership” in America, and calling on voters to elect Romney “the next leader of the free world.”

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• New Jersey Democratic Party Chairman Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about Chris Christie’s speech on the opening night of the RNC

• DNC Executive Director Patrick Gaspard calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the kickoff of the Republican National Convention

• Fox News’ Alan Colmes calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his new book, “Thank The Liberals… For Saving America (And Why You Should)”

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at the Republican National Convention last night called on Americans to face the nation’s “hard truths” this November, and embrace a “new era of truth-telling” when deciding the country’s political future.

• Ann Romney set out to show voters a more personal side of her husband, Mitt Romney, at the Republican National Convention last night but at the top of her remarks, she deviated from her script to reference Hurricane Isaac, which made landfall in Louisiana.

• Hurricane Isaac was beginning to move inland in southeast Louisiana before dawn Wednesday on a slow, drenching slog toward New Orleans, seven years to the day after the much stronger Katrina hit the city.

• GOP Strategist and columnist Rich Galen calls in from the RNC at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to give us an update on the shenanigans the GOP is up to at their convention

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to tell us what the Republicans are up to in Tampa

• Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, Obama’s director of the Office of Head Start, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the president’s commitment to the program

• Attorney and author Lisa Bloom joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about education and her new book, “Swagger” – Grab an excerpt of her book here!

• Former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs joins us at 11:45am ET / 8:45am PT to discuss the Obama Campaign’s counter-messaging effort for the RNC

• With several bangs of the gavel by Reince Priebus, the Republican National Convention kicked off without much fanfare yesterday as the first day’s session officially lasted less than 60 seconds after the agenda was scrapped because of Hurricane Isaac.

• The center of Tropical Storm Isaac’s projected path took it directly toward New Orleans for a projected landfall as early as Tuesday night, nearly seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Romney’s efforts to help the rich, and about the idiocy of Far Right pundit Erick Erickson

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• With Mitt Romney poised to accept the Republican nomination this week, President Obama on Saturday accused his rival of backing policies that would “make things worse for the middle class.”

• GOP officials have canceled today’s planned first day of the Republican National Convention in Tampa because of Isaac, the tropical storm growing to hurricane strength in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida.

• Tropical Storm Isaac swirled into the Gulf of Mexico today, threatening to disrupt U.S. offshore oil and gas supplies and strengthen into a powerful hurricane that could make landfall near Louisiana almost seven years to the day after Katrina struck.

• NYC police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, confirmed on Saturday that all nine bystanders at the Empire State Building shooting were wounded by police bullets, bullet fragments or shrapnel from ricochets, not from the gunman.

• Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 astronaut who became the first human being to set foot on another world, has died. He was 82.

• Tracey Pratt, a Massachusetts teacher who is a part of the Obama re-election team, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about education, and her experiences on the campaign trail

• David Shuster of Current TV and WeActRadio calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about next week’s Republican National Convention

• Michael Shure of Current TV’s “The Young Turks” calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to preview next week’s GOP Convention (which he will be attending)

• Actress Amy Madigan (“Field Of Dreams” “Gone Baby Gone”) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the play “Recipe” and the War on Women in politics

• Mitt Romney laid out his vision for achieving North American energy independence by 2020 yesterday, in part through giving states control over energy development on federal lands within their borders.

• Paul Ryan on Thursday condemned President Obama in his harshest terms yet for forcing mandatory defense cuts into last summer’s agreement to raise the debt ceiling, saying that Congress has told the president to “put up or shut up” by disclosing how the cuts would be implemented.

• The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles after he declared he was finished fighting the drug charges that threaten his legacy.

• Columnist and tweeter Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the Bill Press Studios at 9:30am ET /6:30am PT for Thursdays With Fugelsang

• Country music superstar Chely Wright calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to commiserate with Steph on what it’s like to be cancelled from Hannity

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the effect of Todd Akin’s rape comments on the 2012 races

• Actress Jean Smart (Designing Women) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her role in the upcoming play about female revolutionaries, “Recipe”

• Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate appears to have energized some likely voters in Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll.

• President Obama weighed in on Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s controversial comments about “legitimate rape” Wednesday, mocking Akin by saying he “somehow missed science class.”

• President Obama continues to beat Mitt Romney among African American voters with a staggering 94 percent to 0 percent lead, according to a poll released Tuesday.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Comedian and actor Harry Shearer calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his new album “Can’t Take A Hint”, and to share his thoughts on the 2012 political environment

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Ryan Budget Plan and about saving Medicare

• Actress Wendie Malick calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her new play “Recipe” and about women in the modern day political movement

• Mitt Romney on Tuesday stepped up his criticism of Republican Rep. Todd Akin and called on the congressman to drop out of the Missouri Senate race because of his recent, controversial remarks on rape and abortion. Akin, however, missed the 5pm deadline to drop out yesterday and remains in the race.

• Vice President Joe Biden, who will be in Florida as Republicans gather to nominate their presidential ticket, on Tuesday compared GOP critics of the Obama administration’s Wall Street reforms to “squealing pigs.

• The Republican Party on Tuesday quietly approved a platform that calls for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, and which does not provide exceptions for victims of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s trouble with “legitimate rape”

• Comedian and actor Richard Belzer (Law & Order: SVU) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new book, “Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-Ups)”

• Missouri Republican Rep. Todd Akin apologized Monday for comments he made about “legitimate rape” over the weekend, but rejected growing clamor even from fellow Republicans for him to abandon his Senate bid.

• President Obama said Monday that his campaign’s criticisms of Mitt Romney and other Republicans are not “out of bounds,” arguing that it is the Romney campaign that has crossed the line with false attacks on him.

• Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan joined forces on Monday to attack President Obama in New Hampshire, but it was Romney who leveled the harshest accusations, asserting that the president was running a dishonest campaign he called “sad and disappointing.”

• Phyllis Diller, the housewife-turned-comedienne with the cackling laugh who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, died Monday morning in her Los Angeles home. She was 95.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s desperation, and about Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• On the same day GOP VP hopeful Paul Ryan defended his Medicare plan in front of a crowd of senior citizens in Florida, President Obama blasted the GOP ticket for proposing to raise costs for the elderly while slashing taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

• Campaigning with his retired mother at his side, Congressman Paul Ryan made the Romney-Ryan ticket pitch for fixing Medicare Saturday morning before thousands at the world’s largest senior citizens community.

• In an interview, Rep. Todd Akin, Missouri’s Republican Senate candidate, has questioned whether women can become pregnant when they’re raped. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said, according to The Washington Post.

• Tony Scott, director of such Hollywood blockbusters as “Top Gun,” “Days of Thunder” and “Beverly Hills Cop II,” died Sunday after jumping from the Vincent Thomas suspension bridge in Los Angeles Harbor, authorities said. Scott was the brother of director Ridley Scott.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in the New York City bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• After weeks of speculation about his tax returns, Mitt Romney yesterday said he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes for each of the past 10 years. “Every year I’ve paid at least 13 percent, and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why, the number gets well above 20 percent,” Romney asserted.

• Paul Ryan told a Cincinnati television station in an interview airing yesterday that he “never asked for stimulus” money made available by the Recovery Act, contradicting documents that show he had advocated for Wisconsin companies that were seeking stimulus funds.

• Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s new running mate, amended two years’ worth of congressional financial disclosure reports in June to include an income-producing trust worth between $1 million and $5 million, USA Today reports.

• Legal experts say they expect a court challenge to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s order denying driver’s licenses and public benefits to young undocumented immigrants who qualify to stay in the U.S. under a new Obama administration program.

• Two U.S. troops were killed in the western Afghan province of Farah today when an Afghan Local Police officer turned his gun on them.

• Karl Frisch, columnist, tweeter, and co-founder of Bullfight Strategies, calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Comedian and actor Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT for two hours of Coffee With Carlos

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Paul Ryan’s trip to Vegas to talk to Sheldon Adelson

• Despite GOP enthusiasm surrounding the announcement that Paul Ryan has been tapped as Mitt Romney’s running mate, a new Gallup poll shows that the presumptive GOP nominee has not benefited from any material bounce in its poll since the pick was made public.

• President Obama yesterday pushed back GOP claims that he’s cutting Medicare and turned the criticism back on his challengers Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, accusing them of wanting to overhaul Medicare to the detriment of seniors.

• Paul Ryan said on Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden’s remark that Republicans were trying to “unchain” Wall Street and put Americans back in “chains” is a sign of a desperation from the Obama campaign.

• A man suspected of shooting and wounding a security guard yesterday in the lobby of the Far Right lobbying group Focus on the Family had been volunteering at a community center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks is joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• James Roosevelt Jr, grandson of Franklin D. Roosevelt and current president and CEO of Tufts Health Plan, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about how Romney/Ryan will destroy health care in America

• There was some big talk on energy Tuesday on the campaign trail. President Obama talked wind power and Mitt Romney said if he is elected, America will be so energy independent by the end of his second term that we’ll no longer have to buy oil from the Middle East and Venezuela.

• President Obama today will be joined by First Lady Michelle Obama on the campaign trail for the first time in over 3 months, as he continues his effort to appeal to swing-state women voters. Today he’s expected to stress Paul Ryan’s anti-abortion rights record.

• Paul Ryan held a private event on Tuesday evening in Las Vegas that reportedly included GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. The event, held at Adelson’s Venetian Hotel and Casino, was closed to the media.

• Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday told a diverse crowd in Virginia, including many African-Americans, that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney would “put you all back in chains” by unshackling Wall Street.

• Former and future congressman from Florida, Alan Grayson, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about how Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan affects the GOP’s chances in Florida

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver known as Paul Ryan

• Mitt Romney returned to the campaign trail in Florida Monday morning without his new running mate, but armed with new rhetoric accusing President Obama of running a dishonest campaign meant to deceive the American people.

• Rep. Paul Ryan, whom Mitt Romney’s campaign plans to deploy heavily in Iowa, was greeted on Monday with resistance from an aggressive group of hecklers at his first solo campaign stop at the Iowa State Fair.

• In Iowa Monday, President Obama criticized Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for being one of the “leaders of Congress” blocking a farm bill to help rural America from becoming law.

• Chris Christie, the sometimes abrasive but always entertaining governor of New Jersey, is set to be announced today as the keynote speaker for the Republicans’ national convention later this month.

• A deadly shootout erupted Monday near the Texas A&M University campus when a man being brought an eviction notice opened fire, leaving three people dead, including an officer and the gunman.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Paul Ryan as VP, why Romney will lose, and Bobby Jindal’s troubles

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Paul Ryan’s career in politics and what it means to the 2012 race

• Political strategist and author David Bender calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as VP

• Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to expose groups who are pocketing millions while claiming to support hospitalized veterans

• The newly-minted team of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan was on the move Sunday, campaigning in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The surprise announcement Saturday came just 10 days after Romney decided on Ryan.

• In his first public remarks since Mitt Romney’s vice president announcement, President Obama welcomed Paul Ryan to the race, calling the Republican Congressman a “decent man” he “fundamentally” disagrees with.

• The Spice Girls reunited Sunday for a performance during the star-studded closing ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays with Fugelsang

• On the second day of his Colorado tour, President Obama slammed his Republican rival Mitt Romney for statements he’s made about immigration. “Romney believes in self-deportation” and the Arizona immigration law, Mr. Obama told the crowd in Pueblo, Colo., Thursday.

• Mitt Romney on Thursday took umbrage at what he called inaccurate and misleading ads run by the Obama campaign and an allied super PAC, even as his own campaign continues to run an attack ad that has been deemed “pants on fire” false by a fact-check organization.

• A gunman wearing an Afghan uniform has shot to death three American troops in the southern Helmand province, according to the U.S.-led international military coalition in the country, known as ISAF.

• Lawyers for James Holmes, the man charged in the Batman movie massacre, said Thursday that Holmes is mentally ill. The disclosure came when the lawyers appeared with Holmes at a Colorado court hearing into the attack.

• The U.S. women’s soccer team won its third straight Olympic gold medal Thursday, beating Japan 2-1 in a rematch of last year’s World Cup final and avenging the most painful loss in its history.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Political strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about his efforts to defeat Eric Cantor in VA, and about the faltering Romney campaign

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the continuing fight to keep the Middle Class alive and well in America

• In an impassioned appeal to women voters, President Obama on Wednesday continued hammering the Democratic message that Republicans are insensitive to issues surrounding women’s health care, lambasting Mitt Romney for his positions on contraception and Planned Parenthood.

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday continued to attack President Obama for what he called an attempt to remove work requirements from welfare – charges found to be baseless by welfare policy experts and new organizations.

• Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the Lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. “This would not have happened in the absence of human-caused climate change,” said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann.

• David Shuster, anchor of “Take Action News” weekends on We Act Radio AM1480 in Washington DC, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the 2012 Presidential Election

• Ruth Conniff, journalist for The Progressive magazine, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Wisconsin Sikh temple shootings and gun control in Wisconsin

• According to a new CBS / NY Times poll, Mitt Romney is ahead of President Obama in the swing state of Colorado, 50 percent to 45 percent. Obama, meanwhile, leads Romney in Virginia, 49 percent to 45 percent and in Wisconsin, Obama has a 6-point lead over Romney, 51 percent to 45.

• Mitt Romney on Tuesday accused President Obama of “taking the work requirement out of welfare,” part of an escalating line of attack that also included a TV ad and a conference call with top Romney campaign allies.

• Jared Lee Loughner agreed Tuesday to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering and sparing the victims a lengthy, possibly traumatic death-penalty trial.

• Karl Rove said Tuesday that Mitt Romney is “close to a decision” on a running mate and predicted that the announcement will come next week, “but it could come as early as Friday.”

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Wisconsin Temple shooting, and about the sad state of the GOP

• Michael Shure of The Young Turks on Current TV calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the 2012 Presidential Elections

• Alexis Bledel, actress (The Gilmore Girls, Mad Men) and Obama surrogate, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about what young Hollywood is doing to get Obama re-elected

• Before he strode into a Wisconsin Sikh temple with a 9 mm handgun and multiple magazines of ammunition, Wade Michael Page played in white supremacist heavy metal bands with names such as Definite Hate and End Apathy. He was an Army veteran who was demoted and discharged over 10 years ago.

• At a fundraiser in Connecticut last night, President Barack Obama labeled opponent Mitt Romney’s tax plan as “Romney Hood,” saying it takes from the middle class and gives to the rich.

• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’s still in the dark over his role at the upcoming Republican National Convention. Mitt Romney has not asked him to speak at the nominating convention this month.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Chick-Fil-A, contraception, and Mitt Romney

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Columnist and comedian Tina Dupuy calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to offer her apology to Mitt Romney

• A gunman allegedly killed six people and wounded three others before being shot dead by a police officer at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee Sunday morning.

• Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus didn’t mince words Sunday, calling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “a dirty liar” over his criticism of Mitt Romney’s tax returns.

• There are still too many Americans looking for work, President Barack Obama said Friday in reaction to July’s jobs numbers, renewing his demand that Congress extend expiring tax cuts for most U.S. households.

• Las Vegas Sands Corp., controlled by billionaire Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, is the target of a federal investigation into possible violations of U.S. money-laundering laws, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Julie Bolcer, New York Correspondent for The Advocate, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the Democrats’ decision to include marriage equality in the party platform

• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) call in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about keeping the Middle Class tax cuts

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the fact that the Walton family of Wal-Mart owns more wealth than the bottom 40% of America

• Mitt Romney fired back yesterday against Dems questioning his tax proposals and tax-paying history, rebuking President Obama over his characterization of Romney’s tax plan and Sen. Harry Reid over his claim that the presumptive GOP nominee has not paid income taxes in 10 years.

• President Obama on Thursday once again slammed Mitt Romney for his budget proposal, telling supporters at an Orlando, Fla., campaign event that Republicans “have tried to sell us this trickle-down, tax cut fairy dust before.”

• Michael Phelps added a 20th career medal to his medal collection with his first individual gold of the London Games, and handed Ryan Lochte a double disappointment on his rival’s final night in the pool last night.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Political Strategist and author David Bender calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to remember progressive icon Gore Vidal

• Former and future congressman Alan Grayson calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Romney’s overseas trip and about increasing health care coverage for women

• Political strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to update us on the Cantor/Powell election in VA, and to talk about the presidential race

• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Middle Class tax cuts, and about extending health coverage for women

• President Obama leads Mitt Romney among likely voters in Ohio and Florida – and has a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania – according to a Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll released this morning.

• Republicans controlling the House have passed a bill to extend tax cuts due to expire Dec. 31, officially laying down their marker in an election-year showdown with President Obama. Obama has threatened to veto the measure.

• With new ObamaCare regulations that went into effect yesterday, 47 million women now benefit from the guaranteed coverage of preventive services — including contraception coverage — without co-pays.

• Bill Press of “The Full Court Press” joins us at the Beverly Hilton from 6am to 6:30am

• Cenk Uygur of “The Young Turks” joins us at the Beverly Hilton from 7am to 7:30am PT

• John Fugelsang joins us at the Beverly Hilton from 7:30am to 8am PT for a big announcement

• Gavin Newsom of “The Gavin Newsom Show” joins us at the Beverly Hilton from 8am to 8:30am

• Eliot Spitzer of “Viewpoint” calls in from 8:30am to 8:45am

• Jennifer Granholm of “The War Room” joins us at the Beverly Hilton from 8:45am to 9am

• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday afternoon announced they have reached a deal to keep funding federal operations past September 30 and avert a government shutdown.

• Tea Party darling Ted Cruz convincingly defeated the Republican establishment favorite in Texas’ runoff election Tuesday, capturing the GOP nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).

• Gore Vidal, the author, playwright, politician and commentator whose novels, essays, plays and opinions were stamped by his immodest wit, has died at the age of 86, his nephew said Tuesday.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Romney’s disastrous overseas trip, and about Scalia’s comments on gun control

• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Democrats’ efforts to retain tax cuts for the Middle Class

• A three-nation overseas trip envisioned as a relatively low-key endeavor took its second major turn toward controversy Monday when Mitt Romney spoke at a Jerusalem fundraiser about the role culture plays in the relative strengths of the economies of Israel and the Palestinian territories.

• The Democratic Party’s platform drafting committee endorsed including a plank in its official platform backing same-sex marriage. The policy change is not final and must be approved by a larger committee meeting held in Detroit in August.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday defended charges from Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and other congressional Republicans that her aide, Huma Abedin, is tied to Muslim extremists, saying those accusations “really have no place in our politics.”

• The American women aim for the first team gold in gymnastics since 1996 and Michael Phelps swims for his record breaking nineteenth career medal tonight at the London Olympics.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s trip overseas and Michele Bachmann’s insane witch hunt

• Michéle Flournoy, top advisor to the Obama campaign, calls in at 9:45am ET / 6:45am PT to talk about Romney’s overseas trip, and about President Obama’s foreign policy successes

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Seeking to further extinguish questions about his support for an Israeli military strike on Iran, Mitt Romney said Sunday that “no option should be excluded,” but repeated the caveat that he hopes diplomatic and economic measures will work first.

• Vice President Joe Biden told a gathering of more than 3,000 teachers on Sunday that Mitt Romney and fellow Republicans think that teachers are selfish.

• Colorado prosecutors are filing formal charges today against James Eagan Holmes, the former neuroscience student accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others at an Aurora movie theater.

• US swimmer Dana Vollmer won a gold medal at the Olympics and set a world record in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 55.98 seconds.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Friday With Hal

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to promote the Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour in Los Angeles tomorrow night

• Mitt Romney said yesterday that British officials might not be prepared to pull off a successful Olympics. In an interview with NBC News, he called London’s problems with games preparation “disconcerting,” and the remark sparked sharp responses from Britain’s top officials and the British press.

• President Obama is reaffirming U.S. ties with Israel, saying he will today sign legislation expanding military and civilian cooperation with the country. This upstages Mitt Romney one day before the Republican challenger visits Jerusalem.

• President Obama will not push for stricter gun laws this election year, the White House said Thursday, one day after his impassioned remarks about the need to keep assault weapons off the streets suggested he may plunge into that political fight and challenge Congress to act.

• One of the biggest secrets in London will finally be revealed this evening: what will happen at the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympic Games. Tonight’s Opening Ceremonies are being overseen by “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Trainspotting” director Danny Boyle.

• Karl Frisch, columnist, tweeter, and founder of Bullfight Strategies, calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Cliff Chenfeld, creator of the progressive media hub The Message — TheMessageIs.com – to talk about how wrong Conservatives’ ideas of Ronald Reagan are

• Col. Wayne Powell, who is running for Congress from Virginia to unseat Eric Cantor, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about how his campaign is going

• President Obama yesterday embraced some degree of control on the sale of weapons. He said responsibility for curtailing bloodshed also rests with parents, neighbors and teachers to ensure that young people “do not have that void inside them.”

• Mitt Romney said Wednesday that more restrictive gun laws would likely not have prevented last week’s deadly mass shooting at a Colorado Cineplex, and argued that it would take Americans changing their hearts, not their legislation, to prevent similar future attacks.

• Some of the victims of the Colorado movie theater massacre face enormous medical bills without the benefit of insurance. Three of the five hospitals treating victims said Wednesday they will limit or completely wipe out medical bills.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Wednesdays With Fugelsang

• Today, the Democratic-led Senate plans to hold a procedural vote to start considering a $250 billion Dem bill that would extend the tax cuts for individuals making less than $200,000 per year and couples making $250,000 per year.

• In a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev., on Tuesday, one day after President Obama’s appearance, Mitt Romney slammed the Obama administration for national security leaks and budget cuts to the military.

• According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, if Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans are successful in repealing the Affordable Care Law, it would increase the federal budget deficit by an estimated $109 billion between 2013 and 2022.

• Four Democratic lawmakers proposed a ban on high-capacity ammunition Tuesday, breaking with politicians from both parties who’ve steered clear of calling for gun control legislation in the wake of the Aurora, Colo. shootings.

• Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on “The Jeffersons,” has died. He was 74.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about gun control in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shootings

• Willie Nelson and his wife Annie calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new album “Heroes”, and about sustainable alternative energy

• The suspected gunman in the Colorado theater massacre faced a judge Monday in his first court appearance yesterday. Wearing orange-red hair and looking at times emotional and at other times bleary-eyed, James Holmes sat as Chief Judge William Sylvester told him he was being held without bond.

• With the presidential race reverting to its regular course following the hiatus imposed by last week’s Colorado shootings, Mitt Romney on Monday attacked President Obama for failing to understand the business environment or meeting more frequently with his jobs council.

• Reaching out for the votes of military personnel, veterans and their families, President Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) national convention Monday that he kept the promises he made four years ago, stating that today the U.S. is “safer and stronger and more respected in the world.”

• Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, has passed away at the age of 61 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer at her home in La Jolla, Calif.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the political response to the shootings in Colorado

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• During a visit to Aurora, Colo., Sunday, President Obama met with victims of Friday’s mass shooting at a movie theater, which killed 12 people and injured 58 others.

• As James Holmes, the suspected gunman in the Colorado theater massacre, heads to his first court appearance today, authorities have disclosed that he is refusing to cooperate and that it could take months to learn what prompted the horrific attack on midnight moviegoers at a Batman film premiere.

• Nine people remain in critical condition after Friday’s mass shooting, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. He also said they are in “bad shape.”

• At least 11 people died Sunday and another 12 were injured after a pickup truck loaded with passengers veered off the highway and crashed into trees in rural South Texas, authorities said.

• The statue of Joe Paterno was taken down from outside the Penn State football stadium Sunday, eliminating a key piece of the iconography surrounding the once-sainted football coach accused of burying child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours for Fridays With Fugelsang

• Journalist and documentarian Lisa Ling calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about her show on the OWN Network, “Our America with Lisa Ling”

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his call to include marriage equality in the Democratic Party platform

• At least 14 people were killed and dozens more injured by a gunman who allegedly began his attack on Denver area movie-goers by hurling tear gas into the crowd at a Batman “The Dark Knight Rises” premiere around midnight on Thursday, police say.

• According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, 54% of adults nationwide say that Mitt Romney should provide further tax returns to the public. That includes three in four Democrats, more than half of independents, and 30% of Republicans.

• President Obama slammed Mitt Romney’s Medicare plan yesterday, telling seniors in the battleground state of Florida that his rival’s proposal would force them to fend for themselves and hurt them financially.

• The House of Representatives approved on Thursday $606 billion in defense spending for next year after two days of debate.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post’s “The Fix” calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about his new book, “The Gospel According To The Fix: An Insider’s Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics”

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Bush tax cuts and extending them for only the Middle Class

• Obama and Romney are effectively tied in the race for the presidency, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll. 47% of registered voters nationwide who lean towards a candidate back Romney, while 46% support the president. 4% are undecided.

• A majority of registered voters believe that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s policies favor the rich, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

• George Zimmerman told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday that the Trayvon Martin shooting was “a tragic situation.” He also said he felt that his life was in danger and that the media attention to his case felt “surreal.”

• A bombing at Syria’s national security building has killed the country’s defense minister and the Syrian president’s brother-in-law, and wounded other senior officials, Syrian state-run TV said.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday to create an elite corps of master teachers, a $1 billion effort to boost U.S. students’ achievement in science, technology, engineering and math.

• In an attempt to change the subject from his tax returns and Bain Capital, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney intensified his own rhetoric on Tuesday and called President Obama’s recent comments about small business “insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America.”

• President Obama’s re-election campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party are suing Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine in an effort to get early voting restored in the state ahead of November’s presidential election.

• With pressure building on Mitt Romney to release more of his past tax returns, Ron Paul on Tuesday added his voice to the chorus of people – including some Republicans – who say Romney should just bite the bullet and release the returns.

• The Boy Scouts of America yesterday strongly reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays, ruling out any changes despite relentless protest campaigns by some critics.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the 2012 Presidential Race, and about the end of the line for Ron Paul

• Political Strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Wayne Powell’s race in Virginia to unseat Eric Cantor

• Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about extending tax cuts for the Middle Class, and about Romney’s Bain problem

• With Congress preparing to tackle a series of controversial tax and budget issues this fall, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is warning the GOP that Dems are not planning to stand down in the ongoing battle over extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.

• Back in the must-win state of Ohio yesterday, President Obama said Mitt Romney’s tax policies would create 800,000 jobs, but, “They wouldn’t be in America.”

• Mitt Romney held up the waiters and waitresses serving donors at a well-heeled fundraising event last night as examples of people who aren’t doing well under President Obama, saying the people serving the “refreshments” weren’t “having a good year.”

• A woman identified only as “Witness 9” in the George Zimmerman case told investigators that he molested her when they were children, information released Monday by the State Attorney’s Office reveals.

• Actress Lisa Kudrow calls in at 9:20am ET / 6:20am PT to talk about the second season of her Showtime series “Web Therapy”

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital problems

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Michael Shure of Current TV’s “The Young Turks” calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the inconsistencies in Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital comments

• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) calls in at 11am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about The Disclose Act, and how Citizens United has ruined American politics

• Mitt Romney told several news organizations in a Friday interview blitz that President Obama should apologize for his campaign’s suggestion that the presumptive GOP nominee is either a criminal or a liar.

• On Saturday the Obama campaign released an ad titled “Firms” that will air in nine swing states. The ad superimposes newspaper article quotes such as “In business, Mitt Romney’s firms shipped jobs to Mexico and China” over audio of Romney singing an off-key version of “America the Beautiful.”

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Matthew Breen, Editor in Chief of The Advocate, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the magazine’s first-ever presidential endorsement, for President Obama

• The Boston Globe yesterday reported on new evidence that allegedly shows Mitt Romney remained in control of Bain Capital three years longer than he’s claimed. If correct, the findings would complicate Romney’s line of defense that he was gone before many of the firm’s companies went bankrupt or laid off workers.

• The Drudge Report, the conservative website, reports Thursday night that there is a new frontrunner to be Mitt Romney’s running mate: Condoleezza Rice.

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney headed to Wyoming last night for a fundraising event and private dinner sponsored by former Vice President Dick Cheney.

• A blistering report released Thursday found former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno helped hush up allegations of child sex abuse against a former assistant that went back more than a decade, sacrificing the ideals he preached to protect his football program.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Comedian Margaret Cho calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about her new tour, her DVD, and her new television show

• Tammy Duckworth, who is running for Congress from Illinois, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about her run to unseat Rep. Joe Walsh

• Cliff Chenfeld, record industry executive, joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10:20am ET / 7:20am PT to talk about his new Progressive online media hub, “The Message”

• Ari Berman of The Nation and “Herding Donkeys” calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Texas Voter ID trial

• Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney yesterday took his message to the NAACP delivering a speech that was received with mixed response — including multiple instances of prolonged boos.

• The GOP-led effort to repeal President Obama’s health care law passed the House of Representatives yesterday, successfully setting up campaign talking points for the coming months, but accomplishing little else.

• Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is currently being treated for a “mood disorder”, his doctor’s office said today. The office would not give any further information, citing privacy.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Stefanie Brown, National African-American Vote Director for Obama/Biden 2012, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Obama’s accomplishments for the African-American community

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about extending tax cuts for the Middle Class

• Comedian Carlos Alazraqui calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the ComiCon appearance of his cartoon “Off The Curb”

• Golden Globe nominated actress Madeleine Stowe calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her support of Wayne Powell, who is running to unseat Eric Cantor in Virginia

• House Republicans generally avoided talk of replacement measures yesterday as they mobilized for an election-season vote today to repeal the health care law that stands as President Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment.

• In a speech at the NAACP’s convention today, Mitt Romney will make his case to the African-American community, attempting to establish a dialogue with black voters and making efforts to chip away at the president’s overwhelming lead among them.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Obama’s desire to extend the tax cuts for the Middle Class

• Jonathan Krohn, former Conservative child hero turned Obama supporter, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about his stunning political conversion

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the bad behavior at Mitt Romney’s huge fundraiser for the ultra-rich

• David Shuster of Current TV and WeActRadio calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about what President Obama needs to do to get the independent vote

• Comedian Michael McDonald joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:15am ET / 8:15am PT to talk about the news of the day and about his latest gigs

• President Obama yesterday proposed a one-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000, reiterating his calls to let tax cuts for high-earning Americans expire.

• Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) indicated that he “has no intention” of expanding Medicaid or putting in place a state-based health insurance exchange, both central components to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Romney’s comments on the unemployed, and about Rep. Joe Walsh’s comments on Tammy Duckworth

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• President Obama today will launch a push to extend the so-called Bush tax cuts for low and middle-income Americans, but he will continue to fight for the cuts to expire on Jan. 1 for people earning more than $250,000.

• Fresh off a week-long break in Wolfeboro, NH, Mitt Romney stopped in the Hamptons on Sunday to host three fundraisers, which were expected to raise $3 million, according to the New York Times.

• The House will vote this week to repeal The Affordable Care Act. The vote, which was announced by House GOP leaders immediately following the U.S. Supreme Court’s health care ruling, will be the 31st time the Republican House will have voted to repeal or defund all, or part, of the act.

• Internet providers have plans to help their customers today and others are braced for calls to helplines because thousands around the country whose computers were infected with malicious software more than a year ago faced the possibility of not being able to get online.

• Oscar winning character actor Ernest Borgnine died Sunday. He was 95.

• John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for two hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to give us her reaction to the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act

• Doug Kendall, Founder and President of the Constitutional Accountability Center, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Supreme Court’s ruling on health care reform

• Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about The Congressional Black Caucus walking off the House floor instead of voting to hold Eric Holder in contempt

• Jo Piazza, Senior Editor of Current.com/Pride, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the site’s efforts to talk about gay politicians for Gay Pride Month

• Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the individual mandate, a political standoff continues unabated. President Obama affirmed the court’s decision and his health care law on Thursday, while Republican challenger Mitt Romney promised to work to repeal it.

• The House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress Thursday for failing to provide documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking program.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Meghan McCain and Michael Ian Black are scheduled to call in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about their new book, “America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter To Freedom”

• Actor and HuffPo writer Steven Weber joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to hang out and talk about the news of the day

• Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to give us Congress’ reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act

• The health care drama that began in the earliest days of the Obama presidency will reach its crescendo this morning when the Supreme Court announces its decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

• In advance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act due out today, Mitt Romney said yesterday it was a “moral failure” for Obama to focus on health care legislation during a time of economic crisis.

• After trading barbs for months over efforts to keep student loan interest rates low, Dems and GOPers have tentatively reached a deal to extend the current rates.

• The House will vote today on holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding documents involving the failed Fast and Furious weapons crackdown.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Supreme Court’s rulings on immigration and health care reform, plus the Holder contempt hearings

• If the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act this week, President Obama will have “wasted” most of his first term, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney said Tuesday.

• Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday laced into Mitt Romney for allegedly outsourcing jobs while at Bain Capital and reviving the charge that Romney is out of touch because he once held a Swiss bank account and investments in the Cayman Islands.

• Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) beat back a tea party challenge in the Utah primaries yesterday, and Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) survived a primary challenge in New York despite ethics charges against him.

• Republican senators on Tuesday welcomed a move by the director of national intelligence to snuff out leaks of classified information but insisted that a special counsel is needed to investigate the Obama administration and recent disclosures.

• Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the Supreme Court striking down most of Arizona’s SB 1070

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 9:45am ET / 6:45am PT to talk about Jan Brewer’s and Mitt Romney’s reactions to the Supreme Court’s immigration law decision

• Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10am ET / 7am PT to hang out and talk about the news of the day

• Dr. Orly Taitz, one of the founders of the Birther Movement, joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:40am ET / 8:40am PT to present her case that the President was born in Kenya

• Mitt Romney told a group of donors on Monday that he would have “preferred to see the Supreme Court give more latitude to the states, not less,” in response to the Court’s ruling to strike down three contested provisions of a controversial Arizona immigration law.

• On Thursday, the same day the Supreme Court is expected to announce it’s decision on the health care case, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Romney & immigration, the weakness of Mass. Sen. Scott Brown, and more shenanigans in North Carolina

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Former and future Congressman Alan Grayson calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the aftermath of Romney’s bus tour

• After two days of meetings, meals and hobnobbing with the candidate, his top advisers and leading figures of the Republican party Park City, Utah, Mitt Romney’s biggest donors and bundlers say they are fired up and ready to go.

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the congressman heading an investigation into a botched gun-trafficking case said on Sunday he had no evidence the White House was involved in a cover-up about the operation or in providing misleading information to Congress.

• With less than two weeks to go before student-loan interest rates are slated to double, President Obama urged his frequent foil, the “do-nothing Congress,” to extend the low rates and “quit playing chicken” with the July 1st deadline.

• Alex Trebek, longtime host of the iconic game show “Jeopardy!,” was admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Saturday after suffering a “mild heart attack.”

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about his constitutional amendment to reign in campaign spending, and about the Fast & Furious hearings

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the premiere of “The Invisible War,” the documentary on the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT for a San Francisco / “The War Room” version of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Mitt Romney said yesterday that immigration reform is “not just a moral imperative, it’s also an economic necessity” and pledged to replace President Obama’s plan to grant legal status to some children of illegal immigrants with a long-term policy that he said will keep families together.

• As jurors deliberated yesterday, one of Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky’s adopted sons came forward for the first time to say that his father had abused him. Matt Sandusky, 33, was prepared to testify for prosecutors at the trial, his attorneys said in a statement.

• It’s going to be a big weekend in the world of big conservative money: Both Mitt Romney and billionaire industrialist brothers David and Charles Koch are holding hush-hush events with wealthy donors designed to keep the dollars coming in.

• The Miami Heat finished off the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 last night to become the 2012 NBA Champions.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), member of the House Oversight Committee, calls in at 10:45am ET / 7:45am PT to talk about the Fast & Furious and the contempt vote against AG Eric Holder

• Chaz Bono, transgender advocate, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his book, “Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant To Be”

• A year-and-a-half long investigation into a botched gun trafficking program culminated Wednesday with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

• Top Obama campaign officials yesterday said they would be outspent by Mitt Romney and allies, especially when you include all the various outside groups. This would make Obama the first incumbent president outspent by his rival.

• More than a week of often-explicit testimony wrapped up yesterday after former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s defense team rested without calling their client. That set up closing arguments for this morning, and jurors could start meeting behind closed doors in the afternoon to weigh Sandusky’s fate.

• Bill Lee, the Sanford, Florida police chief who was strongly criticized for his agency’s initial investigation of Trayvon Martin’s shooting in February has been fired.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, Prop. 8 plaintiffs, call in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the NY Times op-ed that Jeff’s father wrote on Fathers’ Day

• Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Supreme Court’s pending ruling on Healthcare Reform

• Florida Sen. Marco Rubio abruptly returned to Mitt Romney’s vice presidential short list Tuesday when the presumptive nominee himself said Rubio is being vetted 12 hours after ABC News ran a story saying that he was not being vetted.

• Senators Leahy and Grassley asked the Supreme Court to break precedent and allow television cameras to broadcast the announcement of the upcoming decision surrounding the constitutionality of President Obama’s signature health care law.

• A meeting between Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Attorney General Eric Holder to work out an agreement over documents pertaining to the Fast and Furious case has ended without an agreement being reached. As a result, Issa has not postponed or cancelled a contempt vote of the attorney general.

• Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the change in President Obama’s immigration policy, and about Ron Barber’s win in Gabby Giffords’ House seat

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about immigration, Romney’s bus tour, and Anne Romney’s dressage horse

• Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, plaintiffs in the Prop. 8 case, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Fathers’ Day op-ed that Jeff’s dad wrote for the NY Times

• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the guessing and waiting game that is the Supreme Court’s health care ruling

• Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney went on the offensive Monday on immigration, charging that President Obama broke a campaign promise by neglecting it for most of his presidency.

• Mitt Romney made a bold prediction in Wisconsin to open the fourth day of his swing state bus tour: he would steal the Badger State from the Democratic column this November.

• Voter advocacy groups plan to file a lawsuit as early as today challenging Florida’s effort to clean the voter rolls of non-citizens. The coalition said their suit is more expansive than the Department of Justice suit and could impact other states’ potential efforts to clear voting lists.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the latest with Mitt Romney, and about President Obama’s historic immigration policy change

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• The Obama administration announced that it would no longer seek the deportation of most young illegal immigrants, and would instead allow them to apply for work permits, a significant policy shift with potentially major electoral implications.

• Mitt Romney would pursue some type of comprehensive, long-term reform to America’s immigration system, the former Massachusetts governor and his supporters said on Sunday.

• Rodney King, the African-American motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers became the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation’s history, was found at the bottom of his swimming pool early Sunday and later pronounced dead. He was 47.

• Greece appeared to have avoided crashing out of the euro currency zone and destroying the world’s economy early Monday after political parties in favor of an international bailout deal won a slim election majority – but the region’s debt crisis showed no sign of abating.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the Minneapolis Bureau in hours 1 and 3 for two hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Mayor Ralph Becker (D-Salt Lake City) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT from the US Conference of Mayors to talk about the need for bipartisanship in job creation legislation

• Country music superstar Chely Wright calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Los Angeles showing of her documentary, “Wish Me Away”

• In the key battleground state of Ohio, President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney made competing remarks just minutes apart on the number issue of the campaign: The economy.

• The president and first lady Michelle Obama made a rare joint fundraising appearance when they visited the home of actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick last night. The intimate dinner banked about $2 million, with 50 people paying $40,000 each.

• More than three years after Mr. Obama took office, 68 percent of Americans still say former President Bush deserves a great deal or a moderate amount of blame for the struggling economy, according to Gallup. Just 52 percent say the same about Mr. Obama.

• Egypt’s highest court ruled yesterday that the country’s entire parliament was illegally elected and ordered the body to dissolve after an “unconstitutional” vote.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the economy, jobs, and the 2012 election

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 9:45am ET / 6:45am PT to talk about Romney’s economic message vs. President Obama’s economic message

• Actor and comedian Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for an hour of Coffee With Carlos

• President Obama and Mitt Romney both head to Ohio today to deliver dueling remarks about the economy — each candidate attempting to sell his fiscal vision to voters as America’s most promising path toward renewed prosperity.

• Mitt Romney gave a “pre-buttal” to a speech Obama plans in Cleveland today, saying he expected him to speak “eloquently,” but that “words are cheap” and the president should be denied a second term based on his track record on the economy.

• Even before JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was able to say one word of his much anticipated testimony to the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, a Code Pink activist in a brown suit called him a “crook” and a “predator” who “needs to go to jail.”

• Jacki Schechner of Current TV’s news center calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to tell us why we should be skeptical about the insurance companies’ recent PR efforts

• Gov. Jesse Ventura calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about his new book, “DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs In Government”

• Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ hand-picked Democratic candidate Ron Barber won a special election Tuesday in southern Arizona to finish her term, defeating a Republican who narrowly lost to Giffords in 2010.

• The Department of Justice is making good on its stated plan to sue Florida over Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s controversial sweep of the state’s voting rolls, filing a complaint Tuesday alleging that the efforts are in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

• Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) called on Attorney General Eric Holder to step down at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. Holder was there to answer questions about the Obama administration’s response to a report in the New York Times about U.S. efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

• Former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary told jurors in Jerry Sandusky’s sex abuse trial Tuesday that he saw his ex-colleague with a prepubescent boy in an on-campus shower and that he that he heard “skin-on-skin smacking sound.”

• Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about what Dems are doing to improve jobs and the economy

• Former and Future Rep. Alan Grayson calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about Romney’s “We don’t need teachers” gaffe on the campaign trail

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the latest from Scott Walker’s Wisconsin

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about her heroic service in government, and about improving the economy for Americans

• The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Florida to stop its push to remove what it says are ineligible voters from their rolls. It comes the same day that Florida announced it was suing a different federal agency over the purge.

• The White House said late Monday that Commerce Secretary John Bryson, who was cited in a felony hit-and-run case in southern California over the weekend, will take a medical leave as he undergoes tests, evaluations.

• Democrats are hoping that late campaign appearances by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will help push her hand-picked successor to victory in a special congressional election in Arizona today.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Romney’s assertion that we have enough teachers, cops, and firefighters

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Mitt Romney condemned President Obama’s assessment of the private sector’s health as “fine” on Friday as a misreading of historic proportions. Romney seized on the comments, accusing Obama of being “out of touch.”

• Mitt Romney said in a speech in Iowa that Obama did not get the “message from Wisconsin.” Romney said that Americans “do not want more teachers, firemen, and policemen” calling them “more big government”.

• U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson is being investigated in a felony hit-and-run case after allegedly crashing a Lexus into two vehicles in California on June 9, Los Angeles County police have confirmed.

• The House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. The dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents subpoenaed in the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” investigation.

• The bittersweet love story “Once” captured eight Tony Awards on Sunday, including best musical direction, best lead actor in a musical and the top musical prize itself.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Lucas Grindley, editor of The Advocate magazine, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the growing list of Cabinet Secretaries that are supporting marriage equality

• Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about jobs, the economy, and how to kickstart both

• Comedian Michael McDonald calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the news of the day and his upcoming gig at the Improv in Brea, CA

• Bill Clinton said Thursday that he is “very sorry” for breaking with the Obama administration and suggesting that the Bush-era tax cuts for high earners should be extended into next year, telling CNN he did not fully understand the situation at hand.

• The Obama campaign raised less money than presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney during the month of May, and the Obama campaign is using that fact to motivate voters to donate

• The Obama campaign warned Thursday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will have full access to his Swiss bank accounts, his money in the Cayman Islands, and his Bain Capital income unless he puts his investments in a federally-recognized blind trust.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Mark Kennedy Shriver, Senior VP of US Programs at Save The Children, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about his new book, “A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver”

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the lack of a recall in Wisconsin and about the race for the White House

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the economy, jobs, and student loans

• President Obama basked in the support of his gay and lesbian backers Wednesday night in Los Angeles, revving up an enthusiastic crowd with a pledge to block any attempt to roll back rights that gay Americans have gained under his administration.

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Scott Walker’s solid victory in Tuesday’s Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election a vote in favor of conservative principles that will “echo throughout the country.”

• Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul conceded on Wednesday that he will not obtain enough delegates to win the Republican nomination, but said his success at obtaining delegates “shatters the predictions.”

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Kris Perry & Sandy Stier, plaintiffs in “Perry v. Brown”, call in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about their reaction to the 9th Circuit Court’s refusal to re-hear the Prop. 8 case

• Marilu Henner, actress and author of “Total Memory Makeover”, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about unlocking your memory potential

• Dr. Jill Biden, Second Lady and author of “Don’t Forget: God Bless Our Troops”, calls in at 10:50am ET / 7:50am PT to talk about helping our service members

• David Bender, author and political strategist, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the ramifications of yesterday’s recall loss in Wisconsin

• Republican Gov. Scott Walker has survived the Wisconsin recall election, beating back a labor-backed effort to unseat him and again handing defeat to his Democratic challenger, 58-year-old Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

• The prospect of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage within the next year increased yesterday when a federal appeals court, over an indignant dissent by conservative judges, reaffirmed its ruling that struck down California’s Prop. 8.

• Comedian Kathleen Madigan joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours

• Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the recall vote today against Gov Scott Walker

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to preview today’s historic recall vote in Wisconsin

• David Shuster, correspondent for Current TV, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to tell us what he’s found with his on-the-ground reporting in Wisconsin

• Public polling, internal polling and campaign strategists all tell the same story: GOP Gov. Scott Walker is clinging to a tiny lead over his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, heading into today’s recall vote in Wisconsin. Both parties are now focused on getting out the vote today.

• President Obama on Monday courted women voters as he urged the Senate to approve a bill that aims to narrow the gender gap for the wages of American workers.

• George Zimmerman’s lawyers have vowed to file a motion asking a Florida judge for a new bond hearing for their client Monday, a day after the murder suspect returned to jail on a judge’s order.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Ari Berman, writer for “The Nation” and author of “Herding Donkeys”, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Florida’s purging of voters

• George Zimmerman arrived at the Seminole County Jail in Sanford, Fla., early yesterday afternoon to turn himself in after a judge revoked his bail for allegedly hiding cash he’d amassed in donated legal funds for his trial in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

• Mitt Romney’s favorable ratings are on the rise, but a new CNN poll indicates that President Barack Obama remains more popular than his Republican challenger. While rising 14 points since February, Romney still trails the president, who currently has a 56% favorable rating.

• Mitt Romney declared May’s disappointing jobs report a “harsh indictment” of President Obama’s stewardship of the economy, accusing the president of being overly focused on “legislative achievements” instead of putting Americans back to work.

• Vice President Joe Biden’s office has announced that his daughter Ashley has married a Pennsylvania doctor at a ceremony in Delaware. She is a social worker for the state of Delaware and he is a plastic surgeon in Philadelphia.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Anna Chlumsky from the new HBO comedy “Veep” calls in at 9:50am ET / 6:50am PT to tell us about her role in the Julia Louis Dreyfuss comedy

• Ted Boutrous Jr., top lawyer for the same-sex couples who challenged Prop. 8 in California, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about yesterday’s ruling that DOMA is unconstitutional

• After nine days of deliberation, a jury on Thursday found John Edwards not guilty on one of six charges of campaign finance corruption. A mistrial has been declared on the other five counts.

• In a tightly-guarded surprise campaign stop, Mitt Romney visited failed energy company Solyndra Thursday and invoked the building as a symbol of what he called President Obama’s misuse of taxpayer dollars.

• A Boston news conference by Democrats yesterday opened a new front in the Obama campaign strategy by taking on Romney’s gubernatorial experience after previously targeting the multimillionaire businessman’s background as head of a private equity company.

• Former first lady Nancy Reagan served lemonade and cookies to Mitt Romney and his wife and offered him something extra — her endorsement.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about health care, the economy, and Mitt Romney securing the GOP nomination

• Robin Abcarian, National Reporter for The Los Angeles Times, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Right’s demands for President Obama to release his college transcripts

• Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about creating jobs and improving the economy

• President Obama and Mitt Romney briefly set aside their differences yesterday as Obama called and congratulated Romney on officially winning the delegates necessary to become the president’s Republican rival.

• Fox News is under fire for a campaign ad-style four-minute video highly critical of President Obama, which ran twice on the cable channel’s morning program “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning.

• At a ceremony this afternoon in the East Room, President and Mrs. Obama unveil the portrait of 43rd President George W. Bush, which will become part of the permanent White House collection. A portrait of former First Lady Laura Bush will also be unveiled.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Political Strategist David Bender calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Mitt Romney clinching the GOP nomination, and about the Birther issue

• With 91 percent of the votes counted, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney sailed to victory in yesterday’s Texas GOP primary, earning 69 percent of the vote and surpassing the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination. Texas Rep. Ron Paul earned 11 percent.

• Donald Trump spent the day yesterday standing by his assertion that there is no actual proof that President Obama was born in the United States. Mitt Romney did not outright condone Trump’s suggestion, telling reporters that he does not agree with everything his supporters say and vice versa.

• Tea party candidate Ted Cruz achieved his goal Tuesday and forced GOP establishment favorite Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst into a runoff in the Texas U.S. Senate race.

• Facebook’s stock sank to a new low at $28.65 Tuesday before closing at $28.84, down $3.07, or 9.6 percent. That’s down roughly 24 percent since the social networking service’s initial public offering earlier this month.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about S.E. Cupp, the word “conservative”, and Romney making the rich richer

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Memorial Day and about Romney and his economics

• Joel Stein, columnist for Time Magazine, calls in at 10:45am ET / 7:45am PT to talk about his new book, “Man Made: A Stupid Quest For Masculinity”

• President Obama on Monday paid tribute to missing and fallen U.S. forces, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

• At the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center in San Diego on Memorial Day yesterday, Mitt Romney took a political tone. He expressed concern over the world’s security while singling out countries like Iran and China that he contends pose a threat.

• Mitt Romney is likely to formally seal the Republican presidential nomination today with a big victory in Texas that may give him a burst of momentum in his November 6 showdown with President Barack Obama.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the New York Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the economy, the VA backlog, and Afghanistan

• Robert Riley, former Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to contrast Romney’s record on education vs. President Obama’s record

• Becky Pringle, Secretary/Treasurer for the National Education Association, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to react to Mitt Romney’s education plan

• At a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday evening, President Obama attacked Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital experience, but sought to make clear that his criticisms are not an attack on the private equity industry.

• Mitt Romney visited a charter school in a struggling Philadelphia neighborhood on Thursday and ran into some pushback from educators and protesters who took issue with his ideas on class size and the role of families in successful school systems.

• President Obama holds a narrow advantage over presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in three of the most pivotal presidential battleground states — Florida, Ohio and Virginia — according to new NBC-Marist polls.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about his efforts to reform the filibuster, and to reform Wall Street

• Marcia Clark, prosecutor, author, and television correspondent, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her new book, “Guilt By Degrees”

• After repeatedly pinning the president for the unemployment level, which now sits at 8.1%, Mitt Romney pledged he could cut the rate by two points if he makes it to the White House. But, based on the current rate of growth, the CBO expects the jobless rate to fall to 5.5% by the end of 2017 anyway.

• Calling the nation’s falling educational standards “the civil rights issue of our time,” on Wednesday Mitt Romney proposed dramatically expanding school choice for low-income and disabled children.

• Former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell, who oversaw the implementation of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the 90’s, said he has “no problem” with same-sex marriage on Wednesday.

• Elizabeth Warren has closed the gap on GOP Sen. Scott Brown in their battle for Brown’s Massachusetts Senate seat despite a controversy over her heritage, according to a new poll.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Violence Against Women Act and the GOP’s War on Women

• Mitt Romney won the Republican primaries in Kentucky and Arkansas on Tuesday, victories that puts him within striking distance of clinching the Republican presidential nomination.

• Casting himself as “Middle Class Joe” in a speech to 450 people at Keene State College in New Hampshire, Vice President Joe Biden used layman’s terms to argue that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s private equity experience “no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber.”

• Despite a volatile and eventful past few weeks in the early presidential contest, President Barack Obama continues to hold a small – and slightly narrowing – lead over Mitt Romney, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

• Regulators are looking into a report that Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for Facebook’s initial public offering last week, shared a negative assessment of the social network with major clients ahead of the IPO.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, and Mitt Romney

• Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Violence Against Women Act

• In a press conference marking the end of this year’s NATO Summit, President Obama touted the group’s formal agreement for a “responsible” withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan, and said that while gains in the country remain “fragile,” he does not believe there will ever be an “optimal point” to withdraw.

• President Obama’s overall job approval rating in a new ABC News / Washington Post poll is now back under 50 percent (47 percent approve, 49 percent disapprove) after hitting the halfway mark last month for just the second time since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

• President Obama said yesterday that the ongoing discussion over Mitt Romney’s record at the private equity firm Bain Capital is “not a distraction” from the serious issues that should be debated in the presidential campaign.

• A judge sentenced former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi yesterday to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on his roommate Tyler Clementi’s intimate encounter with another man.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about racial attacks on President Obama, and about America’s changing ethnic makeup

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Comedian and activist Carol Leifer joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to hang out and tell us about her LA Power Of Choice Reception

• Chicago is bracing for more demonstrations today, with protesters vowing to march to the Boeing Corp. headquarters a day after police clashed with a group of demonstrators at the end of a march protesting the NATO summit.

• President Barack Obama warned of “hard days” ahead in Afghanistan as world leaders Sunday opened a NATO summit confronted by questions about the country’s post-conflict future.

• Assurances from this weekend’s G8 Summit at Camp David that world powers want debt-laden Greece to remain in the euro helped support world stock markets Monday after sharp losses over the past week.

• Robin Gibb, a founding member of the Bee Gees who helped propel the group to international stardom, has died of cancer. He was 62.

• John Register, National Co-Chair of Obama for America, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about what’s at stake for veterans in this election

• Tina Dupuy, managing editor for Crooks & Liars, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the GOP’s War on Women and the LGBT Community

• Mary Phillips-Sandy, Editorial Producer of Comedy Central’s Indecision Blog, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to tell us about the election blog and the latest polls

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT from South Florida for a half hour of Fridays with Fugelsang

• Mitt Romney yesterday doubled down on his repudiation of a proposed ad campaign attacking President Obama for his ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, telling reporters such a campaign would have been “the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign.”

• After four months of paperwork, hype and speculation, the last piece of the Facebook IPO is in place: Facebook said it has priced its IPO at $38 a share. Shares were released last night to buyers, who can resell them on the open market beginning on today.

• Disco queen Donna Summer has died, a family spokesperson told the AP. She was 63. Summer died of cancer Thursday morning in Naples, FL.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Former and Future Congressman Alan Grayson calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about how the Bush economy is still affecting us

• Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the Violence Against Women Act and the GOP’s efforts to weaken it

• The Obama campaign dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to eastern Ohio Wednesday to push the president’s economic record and take direct aim at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s history as a venture capitalist.

• Responding to attacks by the Obama campaign about his work at the helm of Bain Capital, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney defended his record, saying he “was no longer” at the company when it closed a steel factory.

• The GOP-led House on Wednesday voted to approve the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a piece of legislation that is the subject of partisan controversy because the GOP stripped out some of the most basic protections for women.

• John Edwards’ defense team rested Wednesday without calling the two-time Dem presidential candidate or his one-time mistress to the witness stand, a sign of confidence after presenting two days of testimony and evidence.

• Comedian and actor Rick Overton joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of the show to riff on the news of the day

• Veteran journalist Dan Rather calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about his new book, “Rather Outspoken: My Life In The News”

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s War on Women and her efforts to help veterans

• Mitt Romney on Tuesday won GOP presidential primaries in Oregon and Nebraska, putting the former Massachusetts governor ever closer toward officially clinching the Republican presidential nomination.

• In a decidedly underwhelming fashion, Former President George W. Bush voiced his support for Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign for the first time yesterday.

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took aim Tuesday at President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package, blaming it for a soaring federal debt that he likened to a prairie fire.

• Court records show George Zimmerman had a pair of black eyes, a nose fracture and two cuts to the back of his head after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the end of Ron Paul’s campaign, and about Romney’s speech to the evangelicals

• Ian Millhiser, Policy Analyst for The Center for American Progress Action Fund, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about Romney’s lack of an immigration plan

• According to a new CBS News / NY Times poll, 46 percent of registered voters say they would vote for Romney, while 43 percent say they would opt for Mr. Obama. Romney’s slight advantage remains within the poll’s margin of error, which is plus or minus four percentage points.

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon owned up to stock analysts and went on TV to accept blame for a $2 billion trading mistake. Today he faces shareholders, who are considerably less wealthy since the blunder was disclosed.

• Speaking to Barnard University’s graduating class yesterday, President Obama challenged the young women to persevere in the fight for equality through leadership, touting a pro-woman message and emphasizing his hopes that today’s young women “will help lead the way” for change in America.

• Ron Paul said on Monday he will no longer be actively campaigning in the GOP presidential primaries but won’t formally suspend his campaign. Instead, the libertarian candidate’s organization will continue to accumulate delegates to send to the Republican National Convention.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s bullying, and the fight for LGBT rights

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), who introduced the Student Loan Affordability Act, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s efforts to block it

• Speaking at the graduation commencement of Liberty University, Mitt Romney told the crowd that people of different faiths can meet “in common purpose” through their moral decision-making. Romney also reiterated his position against same-sex marriage.

• For the third year in a row, a slight majority of Americans consider gay and lesbian relations morally acceptable, signaling that this is the new “new normal” in public opinion, according to a new Gallup poll released Monday just days after President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage.

• JPMorgan Chase is expected to accept the resignation of Ina Drew, one of the highest-ranking women on Wall Street, after the bank lost $2 billion in a trading blunder, a person familiar with the matter said Sunday.

• The defense for John Edwards is scheduled to start this morning in the former presidential candidate’s corruption trial. Last week, the federal judge presiding over the trial turned down a motion to dismiss the charges against Edwards.

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the studios of The Mic in Madison at 10am ET / 7am PT for two hours of Fridays With Fugelsang

• Robin Abcarian, national reporter for The Los Angeles Times, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s high school bullying incident

• Vice President Joe Biden walked into the Oval Office and apologized to President Obama a few hours before the president announced that he supports same-sex marriage. The president expressed that he understood Biden’s comments came from the heart.

• The Washington Post reported on a high school incident in which Mitt Romney repeatedly clipped the hair of a young man – presumed by other students to be gay – while other classmates pinned him to the floor, as the victim screamed for help and his eyes filled with tears. Romney repeatedly apologized Thursday for the incidents, even though he said he does not remember them.

• A fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign, held under a stretched transparent tent outside George Clooney’s sprawling tudor-styled canyon home, raised nearly $15 million, a record for a single fundraiser.

• The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would replace looming Pentagon spending cuts opposed by the GOP with a series of domestic program reductions opposed by congressional Dems.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to talk about President Obama’s evolved stance on marriage equality, and to co-host Right Wing World

• Ian Millhiser, Policy Analyst for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about Mitt Romney’s lack of an immigration plan

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP blocking the student loan debate

• Comedian and author Judy Tenuta joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT to hang out and talk about her new book, “Tenuta: Full Frontal Tenudity”

• Three days after Vice President Joe Biden said he is “absolutely comfortable” with two men or two women getting married, President Obama told ABC News in a hastily arranged interview that “same sex couples should be able to get married.”

• Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday said he unequivocally opposes “marriage between people of the same gender,” drawing a contrast to President Obama’s “evolving” position on the issue.

• Federal authorities and the Justice Department said Wednesday that they plan to sue Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office over allegations of civil rights violations, including the racial profiling of Latinos.

• Comedian Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT to hang with us and talk about the news of the day

• Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the results of yesterday’s primaries to defeat Gov. Walker

• Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the budget and the GOP’s non-stop obstructionism

• A majority of North Carolina voters on Tuesday approved a controversial amendment that will write a ban on same-sex marriage as well as civil unions for both gay and straight couples into the state Constitution.

• Sen. Richard Lugar – the longest-serving senator in Indiana history – has lost his Republican Senate primary on Tuesday to state Treasurer and Tea Party darling Richard Mourdock.

• Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett defeated three other Dems and is set to face Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker in next month’s recall election that has become a nationally watched battle over union rights.

• An insider who worked with the United States and an allied security service to thwart an al-Qaida bomb plot hatched in Yemen was the man picked to carry out the suicide attack on a U.S.-bound airliner. He’d been working for Western intelligence from day one.

• Current TV correspondent David Shuster calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the latest in the 2012 Presidential Campaign

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the real start of the 2012 Presidential Campaign

• Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the GOP’s plan to boost the military and cut social programs

• The CIA thwarted a plot by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a new design. Officials, however, deny there was ever any immediate threat to the public.

• Rick Santorum endorsed presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney late Monday night in an email to supporters, saying a private meeting with the former governor last week had given him confidence that issues important to him would be well represented in the general election.

• Speaking at a plant that stamps parts for truck manufacturers, Romney continued his attack on President Obama ‘s economic stewardship, including the April unemployment rate of 8.1 percent–a figure the presumptive GOP nominee has said is double what it should be.

• President Obama’s re-election team unveiled a new ad Monday, striking back at the presumptive challenger Mitt Romney’s assertion that Mr. Obama’s three-plus years in power have been a failure.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about The Day Of Prayer and kicking Newt Gingrich when he’s down

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Vice President Joe Biden went where President Barack Obama hasn’t yet gone: In support of same-sex marriage, saying he’s “absolutely comfortable” with it. A spokesperson for the vice president quickly walked that back and said his position is “evolving on the issue”

• President Obama dropped the gloves against Mitt Romney on a trip that took him to two swing states on Saturday, leveling his most direct criticism to date of the presumptive GOP nominee while making the case for a second term.

• Although Mitt Romney is considered the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul won a majority of delegates at two state conventions in Nevada and Maine this weekend.

• Socialist François Hollande defeated conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday to become France’s next president, heralding a change in how Europe tackles its debt crisis and how France flexes its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.

• Blake Butler, host of Local Edge Radio on our affiliate 880 The Revolution in Asheville, NC, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about North Carolina’s discriminatory Amendment One

• Ari Berman of The Nation and “Herding Donkeys” calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about his new article, “Inside Romney’s NeoCon War Cabinet”

• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang calls in from Phoenix at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the news of the day

• In letters from his last hideout, Osama bin Laden fretted about dysfunction in his terrorist network and crumbling trust from Muslims he wished to incite against their government and the West.

• Standing on stage with the Mitt Romney at an event in Portsmouth, Virginia, former presidential contender Michele Bachmann said she was there to “lend my voice and my endorsement to Mitt Romney as our president to take the county back.”

• China said Friday that Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic storm, has the right to apply to study abroad after he told U.S. lawmakers that he wants to leave his homeland for the United States.

• President Obama and his presumed Republican challenger Mitt Romney are essentially tied in Florida and Ohio, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

• Karl Frisch of Bullfight Strategies calls in at 9am ET / 6am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Joshua Hersh, foreign policy reporter for The Huffington Post, calls in from Afghanistan at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about President Obama’s surprise trip there

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the 2012 Election and other news of the day

• With millions of dollars in campaign debt and just two Republican primary victories under his belt, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich finally called it quits Wednesday, suspending his campaign for the presidency so he could go back to being an “active citizen.”

• Former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN) plans to endorse the party’s presumptive nominee Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Portsmouth, Va., today, Romney campaign officials say.

• Embattled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is locked in a dead heat with Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett ahead of the state’s June 5 recall election, according to a new poll from Marquette University Law School.

• Former USC and NFL star Junior Seau was found shot to death at his home Wednesday morning in what police said appeared to be a suicide. He was 43.

• Former and future Rep. Alan Grayson calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about Mitt Romney, and the GOP’s response to the Bin Laden killing anniversary

• Comic actress Rachel Dratch calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about her new memoir, “Girl Walks Into A Bar”

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Obama in Afghanistan, the Occupy movement, and Romney’s 3am call

• President Obama arrived in Afghanistan under cover of darkness yesterday for an unannounced visit to meet with U.S. troops and to sign a ten-year agreement with President Hamid Karzai on the role of U.S. forces beyond the end of the war in 2014.

• Mitt Romney released a statement on President Obama’s trip to Afghanistan last night. It said, in part, “I am pleased that President Obama has returned to Afghanistan. Our troops and the American people deserve to hear from our President about what is at stake in this war.”

• Mitt Romney’s spokesman on foreign policy issues abruptly quit Tuesday after anti-gay conservatives made an issue of his outspoken support for gay marriage. Richard Grenell resigned on what was to be his first official day on the job, citing the “hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues.”

• Zach Wahls, author and proud son of two moms, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about his new book, “My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes A Family”

• David Shuster, correspondent for Current TV, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about Mitt Romney demonizing the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden

• In hundreds of cities around the world today, protesters are taking to the streets to protest rising economic inequality as part of a “general strike” for which citizens are being encouraged to skip work and school and forgo shopping.

• Asked by a reporter yesterday whether he would have gone after Osama Bin Laden, Mitt Romney responded: “Of course.” He was then asked if he would have given the specific order to kill bin Laden. “Of course,” he said. “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.”

• President Obama responded on Monday to criticism that he is engaged in a “despicable” “politicization” of the killing of Osama bin Laden, saying “I hardly think you’ve seen any excessive celebration taking place here.”

• Mitt Romney’s short list of vice presidential candidates is expected to include 10 to 15 names. One of those potential candidates, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), joined Romney on the campaign trail yesterday morning.

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about Arizona and the Supreme Court, the vileness of Mitt Romney, and the good things Norway does

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Van Jones, environmental advocate and Senior Fellow at The Center for American Progress, calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about his new book, “Rebuild The Dream”

• At Saturday’s light-hearted White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Obama poked fun Saturday at everything, from the Secret Service scandal to the lavish spending by the Government Services Administration, to the upcoming general election.

• The White House said Friday that President Obama would veto a GOP measure passed by the House to extend lower interest rates on federal student loans because it takes money from a health care fund that benefits women.

• House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday described his amped-up rhetoric toward President Obama in recent days as advice. “The president is getting … some bad advice,” Boehner said on CNN. “Somebody needed to help him out, so I thought I would.”

• The wife of a former campaign aide for John Edwards takes the stand today where she is expected to detail her role in helping conceal the one-time Democratic presidential hopeful’s affair with a videographer.