Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is telegraphing his intention to use the nuclear option to reduce or eliminate the filibuster for nominations this summer if Republicans follow through with their threats …

Secret Service Looking Into Radio Host’s Graphic Violent Comments About Obama, Hillary Clinton

The Secret Service is following up on recent comments by right wing radio host Pete Santilli, who claimed to want to shoot former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the vagina and see President Obama tried and shot for treason.

“We are aware of Mr. Santilli’s comments and will take the appropriate follow up action,” Edwin M. Donovan, a Secret Service spokesperson, told TPM on Monday. “He certainly has a right to free speech, but the Secret Service has a right and an obligation to determine what a person’s intent is when making comments like this.”

Poll Shows Obama’s Approval Inching Up Despite Scandals

A recent string of scandals have threatened to beset President Barack Obama’s second term, but the latest CNN/ORC International poll released Sunday found that he has yet to pay a price in his approval rating for them.

In fact, Obama’s approval rating of 53 percent among American adults in the poll amounts to a 2-point bump since the previous CNN/ORC poll a month ago. Forty-five percent said they disapprove of Obama’s job performance, down two points since last month. Two months ago, the CNN/ORC poll showed Obama with an upside-down approval rating: 47 percent said they approved of the President while half said they disapproved.

What Republicans Already Knew About The White House Benghazi Emails

Sources with knowledge of key congressional briefings earlier this year on administration emails regarding the Sept 11, 2012 Benghazi attack tell TPM that those in attendance were provided clear information that the White House remained neutral in adjudicating a dispute between the State Department and the CIA over talking points at the center of a months-long controversy.

In walking members and their staffs through the internal emails, the administration provided extensive explanations of how the talking points evolved, sources in attendance tell TPM. The extent of the information provided in the classified briefings calls into further question how a summary of the emails that was leaked to ABC News overstated the White House’s role in crafting them. An intelligence official who participated in the briefings and spoke to TPM says that the discrenpacy between the emails he briefed Congress about and the ABC News report “speak for itself.”

Colorado GOPer Accused Of Storming Away From Aurora Victim’s Dad

Tom Sullivan said he was just trying to show someone a few photos of his son.

Alex Sullivan, 27, was one of the young men killed last year in the Aurora, Colo. movie theater shooting, and his father wanted a high-ranking Republican lawmaker to know what gun violence had taken away from him.

So this week, Tom Sullivan went to a forum being held by Denver Post. State Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman was there answering questions about the recent legislative session in which several gun control measures were debated and passed.

Flake Continues To Twist Gun Vote In Response To Latest Bloomberg Attack

In the face of a fresh attack on Friday, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) continued to imply that he agrees with those who support expanding background checks for gun purchases despite voting against a measure last month that would have done just that.

Flake was hit with the latest ad unveiled by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s pro-gun control group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, that featured the mother of a young man killed in last year’s movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo. The ad criticized Flake for breaking a promise he made to the mother to support expanded background checks.

Massachusetts Senate Election: GOP Candidate Lashes Out At Ed Markey For Invoking Newtown In Attack Ad

In the Massachusetts Senate race, Republican nominee Gabriel Gomez is reacting strongly to a TV ad launched Thursday by Democrat Ed Markey criticizing him for opposing a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, which the ad noted were used to carry out the Newtown, Conn. shootings.

“Gomez is against banning assault weapons,” a narrator in the ad says. “And Gomez is against banning high-capacity magazines, like the ones used in the Newtown school shooting.” The narrator continues: “The more you know, the clearer the choice.”

Poll: After Gun Bill Failure, Public Wants Senate To Move On

An effort to pass new gun laws went up in flames last month in the U.S. Senate, and, according to a poll done for a pair of Libertarian groups, so did the public’s desire for the Senate to take up the issue.

A majority, 62 percent, of Americans said that they want senators to move on to other issues, according to the latest Reason-Rupe poll released on Friday. Only 33 percent said they want the Senate to take up gun legislation again. The poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

Ohio Republicans Push Law To Penalize Colleges For Helping Students Vote

Republicans in the Ohio Legislature are pushing a plan that could cost the state’s public universities millions of dollars if they provide students with documents to help them register to vote. Backers of the bill describe it as intended to resolve discrepancies between residency requirements for tuition and voter registration, while Democrats and other opponents argue it is a blatant attempt at voter suppression in a crucial swing state.

“What the bill would do is penalize public universities for providing their students with the documents they need to vote,” Daniel Tokaji, a professor and election law expert at Ohio State University told TPM. “It’s a transparent effort at vote suppression — about the most blatant and shameful we’ve seen in this state, which is saying quite a lot.”

Conservatives’ Last-Ditch Chance To Destroy Obamacare — And How The IRS Scandal Helps Them

Republicans haven’t been able to resist the temptation to link the IRS scandal to the Affordable Care Act, and use it to build support for mucking up or slowing implementation of the law.

IRS will administer key ACA revenue and subsidy provisions, and a major scandal at the agency offers the GOP a unique opportunity to question the wisdom of expanding its authority.

But some conservatives hope to draw a less direct, but in theory much more consequential, connection between Obamacare and IRS malfeasance — one which they hope will result in denial of benefits to millions of uninsured taxpayers, and perhaps the unwinding of the entire law.