The Commentariat -- March 8, 2015

Internal links removed.

Peter Baker & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "As a new generation struggles over race and power in America, President Obama and a host of political figures from both parties came [to Selma] on Saturday, to the site of one of the most searing days of the civil rights era, to reflect on how far the country has come and how far it still has to go.... But coming just days after Mr. Obama's Justice Department excoriated the police department of Ferguson, Mo..., the anniversary ... provided a moment to measure the country's far narrower, and yet stubbornly persistent, divide in black-and-white reality":

"WelKKKome to Selma!" Rich Schapiro of the New York Daily News: "Within sight of the bridge where President Obama will commemorate the 1965 Bloody Sunday march is a billboard set up by a group dedicated to honoring Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest. The sign, set up in recent days, invites visitors to see 'Selma's War Between The States Historic Sites.' But it also features a picture of the Confederate flag and an image of Forrest, who was also a Confederate general. Beside Forrest's picture is a quote adopted by his men: 'Keep the skeer on 'em.' In a bizarre twist, the other side of the billboard -- a straight shot and about a half-mile east of the Edmund Pettus Bridge -- contains a welcome message to President Obama." ...

... Athena Jones & Deirdre Walsh of CNN: "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will now go to Selma Saturday to join in the 50th anniversary events. McCarthy tells CNN he considers John Lewis a close friend, and wants to be there to commemorate the historic anniversary." ...

... CW: Maybe this piece in the right-wing National Review, by Charles C. W. Cooke, is what embarrassed McCarthy into going to Selma: "By electing to skip the proceedings ... the Republican leadership suggests that it does not recognize what Selma represents within America's long history of public dissent.... If we are to put George Washington upon our plinths, and to eulogize him on our currency, we must agree to elevate Martin Luther King Jr. to the same dizzy heights. They are less famous, perhaps, but by virtue of their brave march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, John Lewis and Hosea Williams immortalized themselves into quintessential American heroes in the mold of Sam Adams and George Mason. To miss an opportunity to solemnize their daring is to blunder, disgracefully." Read the whole post; it's pretty powerful. ...

... OR this one, in the Daily Beast, by winger Ron Christie: "Somehow, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) are too busy with other plans than to commemorate the bravery of those who helped remake American society. The same may be said for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX). Are they too busy on the golf course, raising money, or otherwise content to sit on the couch to head to Selma?" ...

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: Republicans "will continue to try to disenfranchise as many minority voters as possible -- one of the reasons why the Selma memorial is so problematic for them." ...

... Alice Ollstein of Think Progress: Republicans who attended the Selma commemoration express a profound lack of concern for voting rights.

... Former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.) writes a fascinating remembrance in Politico Magazine of the second Selma march. ...

... ** I Know that My Redeemers Cometh. Jamelle Bouie: "If the 1960s were a Second Reconstruction -- a second attempt to fulfill the promise of emancipation -- then our present period is a second Redemption, where a powerful movement attempts to reverse gains and dismantle our fragile efforts at racial equality.... In appearance and in effect, the program of 21st-century conservatives is remarkably similar to the one of 19th-century Redeemers. It guts civil rights laws, shrinks state spending, and limits the scope of activist government. Yes, there are important differences.... But it's undeniable that the two are connected by history."

Greedy Bastards. Illustration by Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone.** Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: The utility & fossil-fuel industries are waging a war against rooftop solar panels. "The campaign's first phase -- an industry push for state laws raising prices for solar customers -- failed spectacularly in legislatures around the country, due in part to surprisingly strong support for solar energy from conservatives and evangelicals in traditionally 'red states.' But more recently, the battle has shifted to public utility commissions, where industry backers have mounted a more successful push for fee hikes that could put solar panels out of reach for many potential customers.

Legislation to make net metering illegal or more costly has been introduced in nearly two dozen state houses since 2013. Some of the proposals were virtual copies of model legislation drafted two years ago by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a nonprofit organization with financial ties to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.

Bill Moyers & Michael Winship don't want you to forget Sheldon Adelson, the gambling magnate who is "the Godfather of the American right," and of the Israeli right, too. ...

... MEANWHILE, Adelson's man in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, credited his speech to Congress with slowing down the Iran nuclear negotiations.

Bill Curry, in Salon, lambastes both parties & their leaders as soulless incompetents overseeing a "broken, venal, dysfunctional" government.

Cristian Farias in Slate: "... the fate of Obamacare now rests with Kennedy. Or with Roberts. Or both. But let's also credit Sotomayor for finding a way to corner them both and hold them to precedents the Supreme Court has long believed in."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: If you enjoy office gossip about people you don't know, but some of whom you might have seen on teevee, Gabriel Sherman of New York has the story for you: "(Actually) True War Stories at NBC News."

Presidential Race

Reena Flores of CBS News: "President Obama only learned of Hillary Clinton's private email address use for official State Department business after a New York Times report, he told CBS News...":

... Not exactly a ringing endorsement:

... CW: One of the down sides to this Hillary-Is-the-Only-Alternative is having to repeat, more than once, "Maureen Dowd has a point." To wit, in today's predictable column, Dowd writes, "Everyone is looking for signs in how Hillary approaches 2016 to see if she's learned lessons from past trouble. But the minute this story broke, she went back to the bunker, even though she had known for months that the Republicans knew about the account." ...

... Todd Purdum, in a Politico Magazine piece, compares Hillary Clinton to Richard Nixon. Purdum is married to former Bill Clinton aide Dee Dee Myers.

... Andy Borowitz: "In what could be a prelude to a Presidential run in 2016, on Friday Joe Biden released to the public both e-mails that he has written while serving as Vice-President for the past six years."

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush's charter school is a ruin baking in the Miami sun.... Mr. Bush moved on." ...

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "In his first major public appearance in Iowa as a potential presidential candidate, Jeb Bush took a low-key approach at the Iowa Agricultural Summit." ...

... Dave Weigel of Bloomberg Politics: Jeb Bush, confronted by a DREAMer in Iowa, compared President Obama's executive actions on immigration to decrees by a "Latin American dictator." Impressively, he did it in Spanish. He said, "We need to do this by law, not by executive order." CW: He's right. He should tell that to the House leadership, not to our very own "dictator."

Trampling on History. Betsy Woodruff of Slate: "Republicans' overwhelming victories in the last few election cycles have let them dominate the state government, so they don't really face much of a fight anymore. That's why the state that birthed the organized labor movement in the United States is now right-to-work. In Madison, it's clear that Walker and his allies have learned how to take charge, get things done, and render their ideological foes irrelevant. First Wisconsin, then the country? The governor's presidential prospects hinge on the possibility that that idea isn't too far-fetched." ...

... Dave Zweifel, former editor of the Madison, Wisconsin, Capital Times: "Why don't we just cut to the chase and call this governor of ours what he really is: 'Slippery Scott.'... Scott Walker, of course, has become a master of the sleight of hand. One thing that we all should have come to learn these past four years is that you can never take this man at his word. The classic example played itself out the last couple of weeks as the state Legislature passed a right-to-work law." CW: Note doubt Slippery Scotty is the odds-on favorite to win this year's "Bait and Switch" Champ prize at the annual convention of Hucksters, USA.

Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade: "Potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul said on Friday affording the distinction to marriage to same-sex couples 'offends myself and a lot of other people.'" CW: I could not care less that equal rights "offend" L'il Randy, but his misuse of the reflexive pronoun deeply offends me, myself and I. I hope he cares. ...

... Digby is offended, too, on somewhat more substantive grounds: "This is why it's hard to take libertarianism seriously. This man is the acknowledged leader of that faction. And he is unable to say that it's none of his business who marries whom or admit that women own their own bodies (but says they do own their children!) It's inconsistent on such a fundamental level that it gives away the game: he's either whoring for the social conservative vote or he's philosophically incoherent."

Ted Cruz Announces His Obama Conspiracy Theory of the Week. Ben Jacobs: "Senator Ted Cruz has alleged that the leak of the pending indictment of the New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez may be a politically motivated act of retaliation by Barack Obama and the Department of Justice. Speaking to reporters at the Iowa Agricultural Summit in Des Moines on Saturday, the Texas Republican said he found it 'awfully coincidental' that charges were reportedly set to be brought against Menendez, a leading Democratic critic of Obama's Middle East policy, during such a fraught period in US negotiations with Iran." Also, too, Selma & Daylight Savings Time.

Beyond the Beltway

Samantha Masunaga of the Los Angeles Times: "A bill dissolving Cover Oregon, the state's dysfunctional health insurance exchange, has been signed by Gov. Kate Brown. The measure, which had bipartisan support, transfers responsibilities for the Oregon exchange to the state Department of Consumer and Business Services."

Katie Dean of the Capital Times: "Protesters gathered at noon Saturday in front of the Madison Police Department at 211 S. Carroll St. in response to the shooting of a 19-year-old African-American man, identified by friends and family as Tony Terrell Robinson Jr., who was killed Friday evening after an incident with a Madison police officer."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two Chechens, one a police officer who fought Islamic insurgents and the second a security guard, were charged in a Moscow court on Sunday in connection with the killing of Boris Y. Nemtsov, a leading Kremlin critic, while three other suspects were jailed pending further investigation.Judge Nataliya Mushnikova of Basmanny District Court said that the officer, Zaur Dadayev, had confessed to involvement in the killing and that other evidence confirmed his participation...."

New York Times: "A suspect in the murder of the opposition politician Boris Y. Nemtsov blew himself up as the police closed in on him overnight, Russian news reports said on Sunday, while new disclosures indicated that one of the men already detained in the killing had served as a police officer in the fight against Islamic insurgents. Five suspects were due to be arraigned at Basmanny District Court in Moscow.... Security forces established a cordon around the court."

"An Exchange Established by the State"

Suppose I say to you, "Last year, I put a big addition on my house." Since I'm not a professional builder, the odds are you will assume that what I mean is that I hired a contractor and/or a team of masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc., who physically built the new structure. You are not likely to immediately picture me single-handedly raising roof trusses. Neither are you going to take me for a liar who claimed she did a big job when in fact she didn't lift a finger. You know what "put" means, but you didn't limit your understanding of it to its most narrow, literal meaning.

So what is "an exchange established by the state"? After all, the entire question raised by the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell is a semantic one.

News reports about the number of people who would lose health insurance if the Supremes side with the King v. Burwell plaintiffs typically cite 37 states as not having "an exchange established by the state." Here's a Kaiser Foundation map of state "subsidies at risk" in the King case (the linked map is interactive):

But that is not really true. It turns out that 19 states have established (there's that word again) some manner of "state-federal partnership" exchanges, according to this Commonwealth Fund interactive map (the linked map is interactive):

CLICK ON MAP TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.That's in addition to the 13 states which independently run their exchanges and are not subjects of the lawsuit. So that is 32 states which actively run all or part of their health insurance exchanges. That means only 18, not 37, states have not actively established exchanges.

Surely a state that is running its exchange in partnership with the federal government is operating "an exchange established by the state" -- just as "I put an addition on my house" in partnership with my contractor & her subs.

Will it take another lawsuit to determine what the meaning of "established" is? It shouldn't

The plaintiffs in King have claimed a tortuously narrow meaning of "established by the state." But anyone conversant with English, even reading that clause alone & not in the context of the entire law, would understand a more flexible meaning of "established." A reasonable person would assume that a state government that was working in partnership with the federal government had "established" -- that is, recognized, accepted & embraced -- the exchange operating in that state. Even Justice Moops (né Scalia) should be happy with this. He is fond of using the dictionary as a source for some of his arguments. Therein he will find "recognized" as a synonym for "established," as in "established church."

Thus, there is a way for the justices to decide for the plaintiffs but still allow residents of states with federally-run exchanges to get their health insurance tax credits/subsidies. The 32 states which are currently participating in managing or outright running their exchanges already have exchanges "established by the state."

The Court can then allow other states, via legislative or executive resolution, to declare that the exchange the federal government set up for their state has been "established by the state." That is, it is a bona fide, state-sanctioned system.

It is true that such a decision might leave out a few Republican-run states where residents are currently receiving subsidies. But I expect public pressure would cause them to recognize the federal exchanges as their own.

So if the states-rights justices insist upon being all federalisty, they can let the states decide if they want to "own" the federally-run exchanges, save their residents millions of dollars and ensure that tens of thousands can purchase affordable health insurance. It will only take one election cycle to get rid of the lamebrains who don't.

The Commentariat -- March 7, 2015

Internal links removed.

"Bloody Sunday." John Lewis (on the ground at right) among those police attacked on the Edmund Pettis Bridge during the March 7, 1965 voting rights march.... Don Gonyea of NPR: "This weekend, the president; first lady Michelle Obama; and their teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha, will help mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. It was there in 1965 -- on the Edmund Pettus Bridge -- that state troopers violently attacked a peaceful civil rights march. Obama will speak Saturday, putting a spotlight on the issue of race relations in the United States -- something he has not done frequently in his presidency." ...

... The President is scheduled to speak at 12:15 pm ET.

... Christopher Sheridan of Al Jazeera. The killers of Pastor Jim Reeb, who was in Selma to participate in the march across the bridge, never paid for their crime. The Rev. Clark Olsen, whom white segregationists attacked at the same time, remembers Reeb's murder. On March 15, 1965, the same day Reeb was buried, President Johnson went before Congress to urge them to pass the Voting Rights bill." CW: That is the same bill, which became law, that Republicans in Congress are refusing to restore after the Supremes gutted it last year. ...

... The Shame of the Confederates. Mary Troyan of USA Today: "Many of the Republican members [of Congress] will be participating for the first time in the annual commemoration of the 1965 voting rights marches in Selma. But back in Washington, GOP lawmakers have mostly resisted efforts to advance a bill -- the Voting Rights Amendment Act.... The legislation pending in Congress would restore a Voting Rights Act provision nullified by the Supreme Court in 2013. That provision had required states with a history of voting-related discrimination -- including Alabama -- to get federal permission, or 'pre-clearance,' before making any changes to their election systems. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act last year when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has yet to find a Republican cosponsor." ...

... Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: In Shelby County, Alabama, north of Selma, black leaders say they have nothing to celebrate. "It was here in 2013 that local officials won a major victory when the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the federal law that resulted from those historic marches in Selma.... Civil rights leaders locally and nationally were incensed [by the ruling]. One of the movement's biggest victories -- won in no small part due to the blood shed and lives lost during the Selma marches -- had been invalidated.... The impact of the decision was near-immediate as Southern states, now freed of their federal chaperone, began rapidly upending their voting policies -- passing new voter identification laws, and curbing early voting and same-day registration." ...

... The difference between the cops who beat the marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the confederates in the Congress, in state legislatures, in the governors' mansions, in local political circles and on the Supreme Court is that the batons & billy clubs wielded by today's confederates are metaphorical. But they are just as brutal. There is no such thing as "genteel bigotry," and the smug bastards from Steve Scalise to Sam Alito to Ferguson Judge Ronald Brockmeyer might as well be swinging nightsticks at innocent Americans. ...

... Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday the Department of Justice is ready to take any and all steps that are needed to reform the Ferguson, Mo., police department, including the potential dismantling of the force. Speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base after a trip to South Carolina with President Obama, Holder said he was stunned by what the investigation uncovered, and will go to all necessary lengths to address racial bias and other systemic issues within the force." ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday backed his attorney general's decision not to indict the white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., last year, but said the city must work to correct a broader pattern of racial misconduct":

... Video of the full event is here. President Obama begins speaking about 2:45 min. in. CW: Although I do love Jimmy Carter, every time Obama gets up to speak, I am reminded we have never had a president I personally liked as much as I do Barack Obama. ...

A toast for Ronald Brockmeyer, the Worst Worm of the Week.... Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city's residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes. Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri." ...

... Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "Two police supervisors in Ferguson, Mo., have resigned after being linked to racist emails turned up by a Justice Department investigation, city officials said on Friday. The two supervisors, Capt. Rick Henke and Sgt. William Mudd, left the force on Thursday, the city's information office said. A third employee, Mary Ann Twitty, clerk of the Municipal Court, was fired on Wednesday for her role in the emails."

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "John O. Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is planning to reassign thousands of undercover spies and intelligence analysts into new departments as part of a restructuring of the 67-year-old agency, a move he said would make it more successful against modern threats and crises."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Justice Department expects to file corruption charges against Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, a law enforcement official said Friday, culminating an investigation that has dogged the senator for two years. The investigation has focused on his relationship with a Florida eye doctor who is a longtime friend and political benefactor. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Menendez did political favors for the doctor, Salomon Melgen." CW: Gee, a crooked New Jersey politician (alleged). What a shocker. ...

... The Washington Post story, by Sari Horowitz & others, is here. Evan Perez & Shimon Prokupecz of CNN broke the story. ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post "spoke with Richard Briffault, a professor ... who works in the area of public corruption. Briffault summarized the question at stake: 'Is there a connection between the donation and some relatively specific thing that the officeholder is expected to do, or says he will do?' As in all legal cases, the element of burden of proof weighs in. Can the government prove beyond a reasonable doubt, through whatever evidence it can present, that Menendez was 'influenced to commit a specific use of his office' on behalf of the likely donor at the center of the case, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen? 'The phrase is quid pro quo. The question on this one is the pro,' Briffault said." ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "... in 2006, a young Republican U.S. attorney was accused of launching an investigation into Menendez right before an election in an attempt to sway the result. The investigation went nowhere, but the prosecutor, Chris Christie, did. If Menendez were forced to step down or was removed from office, Christie -- now governor and himself dogged by scandal -- would have the chance to fill the seat temporarily, until a special election was held."

Here's why the pizza lobby doesn't like the Obamas. (See Krugman's column, linked yesterday):

White House: "In this week's weekly address, President Obama discusses an issue close to his heart: education for adolescent girls around the world":

David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "When the Supreme Court justices met in private Friday to cast their votes and decide the reach of President Obama's healthcare law, the outcome probably turned on the person who spoke first: Chief Justice John G. Roberts.... Roberts uncharacteristically said little when the case was argued Wednesday. But the one substantive comment he did make has received intense scrutiny from lawyers and others trying to forecast whether the healthcare law will survive or be largely unraveled." ...

... Audio of the oral arguments is here. ...

... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "New Hampshire on Friday became the sixth state to earn approval from the federal government to launch its own version of the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion. The plan will help about 35,000 uninsured people to buy private insurance plans. The program was negotiated by both the state's Democratic governor, Maggie Hassan, and its GOP-controlled legislature."

Nancy Pelosi, Unsung Hero. Or How Pelosi Got the Best of Boehner. Again. Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "With a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown looming, Pelosi saw a way to torpedo Boehner, and get exactly what she and other Democrats wanted for President Obama. The plan was simple: when Boehner needed her the most, she would not be there for him. She explained her plan to Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) in a private meeting in Reid's office. He concurred.... Five days later, Democrats got exactly what they wanted: DHS was fully funded without any rollback of Obama's executive actions on immigration." ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "On the same day that she helped the vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security sail through the House thanks to Democratic support, Ms. Pelosi, the minority leader, served as the embodiment of White House rage over a speech by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to a joint meeting of Congress.... Ms. Pelosi's continued reign often surprises, but it is based largely on her ability to manage her members, one at a time." ...

     ... CW: AND NOW, our report turns to diminishing Pelosi's accomplishments. Because balance: "It is generally easier to maintain cohesion in the minority, where members live to block the will of the majority. Further, two Republican waves in the House swept out most moderate Democrats, rendering the caucus more ideologically unified against Republicans, and more aligned with her brand of liberalism. 'I don't think it takes a lot of skill to vote against an agenda,' said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania." Oh yeah? When Pelosi was majority leader of a "less unified" caucus, she held it together, too. We have -- unless the Supremes knock it out -- ObamaCare because she (a) pressured the President & Senate to go for it, and (b) whipped the votes needed for passage in the House.

Presidential Race

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "The White House, State Department and Hillary Clinton's personal office knew in August that House Republicans had received information showing that the former secretary of state conducted official government business through her private email account -- and Clinton's staff made the decision to keep quiet.... But those involved deferred to Clinton's aides, and they decided not to respond. In the end, Clinton's staff waited six months -- until after the New York Times published a story on Tuesday about the email account and the possibility that it hampered public access to official records -- to begin their response.... White House press secretary Josh Earnest took care to point out that Obama himself was unaware of any issues with Clinton's email." ...

... Jack Shafer in Politico Magazine: "Clinton's political foes and the press tend to view her glacial strategy as stonewalling -- without acknowledging that good stonewalls make good politics and sometimes even better press coverage. Everybody knows the press has a short attention-span.... The only time you need to 'get ahead of bad news' is when you can't avoid doing so."

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "In a reversal, the State Department acknowledged Friday that a Congressional investigation into the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi played a role in the agency's decision to ask Hillary Clinton and three other secretaries of state to turn over copies of all work-related emails they sent or received on private accounts during their tenure.... Earlier this week, [State spokeswoman Marie] Harf and other state department officials said the decision to approach the former secretaries about searching their personal email accounts stemmed solely from a broad effort to update the State Department's electronic recordkeeping efforts." ...

... Do as I Say, Not as I Do. Josh Rogin & Eli Lake of Bloomberg View: "As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton repeatedly criticized other governments for not living up to high standards of openness and transparency with their citizens, while shielding her own e-mails from the U.S. archives.... In fiscal year 2012, Clinton's last full year in office, the State Department ranked last out of the top 15 government agencies for its handling of FOIA requests, earning an 'F' grade, according to the Center for Effective Government." ...

... Definition of Insanity. Dana Milbank: "In trying so hard to avoid mistakes -- in this case, trying to make sure an embarrassing e-mail or two didn't become public -- [Hillary] Clinton made a whopper of an error. What's troubling is that she's been making a variation of this mistake for nearly a quarter-century." ...

... Jonathan Chait isn't sure Hillary Clinton can manage a successful presidential campaign -- or an administration. ...

... Ken Thomas of the AP: "Former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala has been tapped to run the Clinton Foundation as Hillary Rodham Clinton prepares for her expected 2016 presidential campaign and the philanthropy faces scrutiny of its fundraising practices. Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that he had chosen Shalala, the outgoing president of the University of Miami, to serve as the next president and chief executive officer of the sprawling philanthropy. He announced his choice during a weekend meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University in Coral Gables, Florida."

Senate Race

Adrian Carrasquillo of BuzzFeed: "A major Democratic donor and activist Friday blasted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's endorsement of Rep. Chris Van Hollen in the Maryland Senate race, which could feature high-profile black Democrats Rep. Donna Edwards and former NAACP head Ben Jealous, who are mulling a run in the state that is 30% black. 'For Harry Reid to come out and endorse Van Hollen is insulting period,' said Steve Phillips, the founder of the progressive group PowerPAC+.... 'But to do it on the anniversary of the Selma 50th anniversary -- to make an endorsement that would make the Senate less diverse -- is outrageous and insulting.'"

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two male suspects have been detained in the murder of the opposition leader Boris Y. Nemtsov, the head of Russia's internal law enforcement agency announced on Saturday. Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service..., named the two suspects as Anzor Kubashev and Zaur Dadayev and said they were residents of the southern Caucasus, state-run television reported."

ABC News: "A fire outside the White House prompted Secret Service agents into a lock-down shortly before President Obama and the first family left for Selma, Alabama, today. Washington, D.C, firefighters had contained the blaze at a vendor cart east of the North Lawn, said Secret Service officials. The first family was scheduled to leave the White House at 10:30 a.m. but left about an hour later than planned."

CNN: "Former Vice President Walter Mondale has been hospitalized with influenza, his former boss said. Mondale, 87, was diagnosed after he went to the hospital for a routine checkup following a fever, former President Jimmy Carter said Friday."

Reuters: "An Ohio man claiming sympathy with Islamic State militants and charged with plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol said in a television interview that he would have shot President Barack Obama in the head. Christopher Cornell, 20, told Cincinnati's FOX 19 WXIX TV that if he had not been arrested by FBI agents in January, he would have carried out an alleged plot to plant pipe bombs on the Capitol and at the Israeli Embassy."