AP – John Carney of Delaware is a rarity in a campaign season of foreboding for Democrats, a practicing politician with a strong chance of winning a Republican-held seat in Congress. Not that Carney is interested in attaching any national significance to his race.

AP – Five years after Hurricane Katrina’s wrath, President Barack Obama sought to reassure disaster-weary Gulf Coast residents Sunday that he would not abandon their cause. “My administration is going to stand with you, and fight alongside you, until the job is done,” Obama said to cheers at Xavier University, a historically black, Catholic university that was badly flooded by the storm.

AP – Popular Gov. Joe Manchin won the Democratic nomination Saturday and will face GOP primary winner and wealthy businessman John Raese in the race to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Robert C. Byrd.

AP – Ignoring Republican complaints about wasteful federal spending, Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln is reminding voters — in dollars — of what’s she’s done for Arkansas during nearly 16 years in Washington.

CQPolitics.com – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) on Sunday again declined to reveal which political party he would caucus with if he wins the state’s three-way Senate race this November, while also clarifying his position on the new health care overhaul and his opposition to same-sex marriage.

CQPolitics.com – Republican Joe Miller is locked in a close primary in the Senate race in Alaska, but he sounded much like a general election candidate in a television appearance Sunday, discussing his stances on Social Security and federal funding for Alaska.

AP – If Democrats had doubts about the voter unrest that threatens to rob them of their majority in Congress, they needed only look from the Capitol this weekend to the opposite end of the National Mall.

Politico – He also backs down from his previous characterization of Obama as a racist.

The Daily Beast – However much Republicans like former RNC chair Ken Mehlman want to embrace gay rights, the party’s rank-and-file won’t for years to come.

AP – Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King’s message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King’s legacy held their own rally and march.

Politico – It’s the kind of thing, analysts say, that could only happen in Alaska. But is that really the case?

AP – The college student accused of slashing a New York cab driver showed no signs he might have trouble coping with the experience of traveling with combat troops in Afghanistan, the military said Friday.

AP – President Barack Obama’s controversial former pastor says people who wrongly believe Obama is Muslim are catering to political enemies.

AP – A right-wing group that opposes what it calls the spread of Islam in Britain clashed with riot police in northern England on Saturday, throwing bottles, rocks and a smoke bomb at authorities. The demonstration by the English Defense League occurred in Bradford, a city with one of the country’s largest Pakistani and Muslim communities.

CQPolitics.com – Gov. Joe Manchin (D) and businessman John Raese (R) won their respective primaries in West Virginia and will face off in the race to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D) this fall.

The Atlantic Wire – A leaked United Nations report on the Rwandan genocide makes the
explosive charge that the Rwandan Army, long credited with helping to
end the infamous 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis, committed hundreds of
acts of genocide against ethnic Hutu refugees in 1996-1997. The
document, first reported by French newspaper Le Monde,
states, “The majority of the victims were children, women, elderly
people and the sick, who were often undernourished and posed no threat
to the attacking forces.” The report implicates much of Rwanda’s
current government, including President Paul Kagame, in joining with
Congolese rebels to slaughter Rwandan refugees who had fled to the
Congo. Rwanda is challenging the accusations, saying they only attacked
members of the Hutu militias responsible for the 1994 genocide. The UN
report risks seriously complicating the always-tenuous politics of
Central Africa, where Rwanda has become a beacon of stability. Here’s
what reporters and Rwanda-watchers have to say about the report.

CQPolitics.com – Primaries in Louisiana today teed up what have the potential to be heated general-election matches.

McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Two large, competing rallies — one mostly white and the other mostly black — will converge on Washington this weekend, each laying claim to the legacy of Martin Luther King on the 47th anniversary of his “I have a dream” speech.

McClatchy Newspapers – BILOXI, Miss. — More than a quarter of the $20 billion in Housing and Urban Development relief funds that were earmarked for Gulf Coast states after Hurricane Katrina remains unspent five years after the storm, a fact noticed by at least one congressional leader who’s eager to spend it elsewhere.

The Atlantic Wire – The most controversial elements of Arizona’s immigration law have been blocked
by a federal judge. Major provisions, such as one requiring authorities
to check the immigration status of individuals while enforcing other
laws, will not go into effect. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton also barred the state from requiring immigrants to carry their
papers at all times. While this isn’t the last say on the Arizona law,
it’s a major victory for the bill’s opponents. Here’s what observers are
looking at now and anticipating for the future:

AP – New York Rep. Charles Rangel steeled himself for a bad day Thursday as a jury of his congressional peers prepared to publicly discuss ethical charges against the former committee chairman clinging to a job he’s held in the House for 40 years.

The Newsroom – In the three months since oil first spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of people throughout the coastal region have lost jobs or seen their incomes slashed. Many businesses are reeling too. BP has pledged to make good on all legitimate claims for damages. But how well is the process going?

U.S. News & World Report – If you love class warfare, your moment has arrived. The next several weeks, leading up to the November elections, are sure to be filled with resounding political invective over who should pay for Washington’s profligate spending over the last decade. Democrats will argue that the rich and near-rich should pony up, since they have the most money to start with. Republicans will point to the needy, arguing that they’ve been getting too much aid for too long. Tea Partiers will struggle to decide whose benefits should be cut in order to achieve the smaller government they envision. …

Time.com – The closing arguments in the corruption trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich bring out over-the-top rhetoric, tears and an odd ethnic joke

The Daily Beast – Government officials have expanded the investigation of Bradley Manning, suspected of spilling the Afghan war secrets, to include possible U.S. civilian accomplices. Philip Shenon reports.

CQPolitics.com – Sometimes, you can almost hear the conventional wisdom and expectations shift, even when they are based on faulty premises.