“Riskiest of all, it will involve reaching out to casual voters – including independents and Democrats – to swell the electorate with Mississippians who may not have participated in this week’s first round of voting. Mississippi allows crossover voting in primaries, though voters who already cast ballots in Democratic primaries this week are barred from participating in the runoff.” – POLITICO

“The U.S. Senate race in Iowa is a dead heat. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Iowa Voters finds Republican Joni Ernst, the winner of Tuesday’s crowded party primary, with 45% support to Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley’s 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while nine percent (9%) are undecided.” – Rasmussen

“I realize there has been lots of discussion and controversy around this,” Rice said. “But what I was referring to was the fact that this was a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. That, in and of itself, is a very honorable thing.” – CNN

“Employment rates for college graduates are dismal. Aggregate student debt is staggering. But university administrative salaries are soaring. The campus climate of tolerance has utterly disappeared. Only the hard sciences and graduate schools have salvaged American universities’ international reputations.” – Victor Davis Hanson/National Review

“So that’s what James Rosen meant on Hugh Hewitt’s show last night. If this is true, the ‘Eclipse Group,’ an intel outfit run by a former CIA bigwig with an array of paid informants in Afghanistan, was receiving reports on Bergdahl starting shortly after he disappeared in 2009 through 2012. Circa 2010, Bergdahl had already tried to escape from the Taliban and was put in a ‘metal cage’ as punishment. Fast-forward two years and he was allegedly a soldier for Allah. From an Eclipse report:” – Hot Air

“White House national security adviser Susan Rice on Friday defended her remark about how Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had served in the military with ‘honor and distinction.'” – The Hill

“After Monday’s announcement of imbecilic and destructive new carbon-emission standards, I’m not so sure that the White House is well-meaning or that this president really cares about the working men and women of this country. These regulations on energy use and carbon dioxide emissions will be a severe self-imposed wound to an economy already stuck in a slow-growth rut.” – Stephen Moore/National Review

“Want to know why Obama now seems prepared to throw the county into another recession in pursuit of solving global warming? Want to know why he has been so clueless in dealing with the Bowe Bergdahl mess? It’s been said before but it’s worth saying again. The ‘first African-American President’ has very little of the African-American experience in his background. Instead his home base since he matriculated has been groves of academe.” – American Spectator

“But in the course of three days in late May, Obama sought to wrest control back by demonstrating progress on two of his longest-held goals: ending America’s overseas wars and closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. On May 28, in a commencement speech before cadets graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Obama declared that all combat troops would be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016. And three days later, in announcing the transfer of five senior Taliban officials, all designated at ‘high risk’ to return to battle, Obama demonstrated his determination to shutter the detainee facility.” – Stephen Hayes/Weekly Standard

“A small team of American military advisers will soon head to Ukraine to assess that embattled nation’s ‘mid- and long-term needs for defense reform,’ a Pentagon official said Thursday.” – Air Force Times