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Gonzales "Disappointed" With Self Over DOJ Hirings

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he was "disappointed" in himself for not doing more to stop the politicization of the system of hiring Justice Department attorneys, according to the National Law Journal.

"Obviously everyone is smarter in hindsight. In hindsight you wish you would do some things differently and ... I feel disappointment in myself... I, the attorney general, am ultimately responsible," he said in a recent deposition.

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How Did Huley Do It?

With most of the vote in, LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn (D) and businessman Craig Huley (R) appear likely advance to the July 12 runoff election to replace former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), according to the LA Times. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen (D), once considered a frontrunner, narrowly trails Huley in third place, with many absentee ballots still uncounted.

Chris Cillizza speculates how Huley pulled off what must be considered an upset in the heavily-Democratic district: "Huey likely also benefited from the nastiness between Hahn and Bowen in the final days of the race. Hahn accused Bowen of taking money from “big oil,” while Bowen hit Hahn for ties to lobbyists."

He also speculates that anti-war activist Marcy Winograd (D) may have siphoned away progressive voters who would have otherwise gone to Bowen.

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Students Walk Out On Portman

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), the commencement speaker at the University of Michigan Law School's graduation ceremony, encountered a chilly reception last Saturday when over one hundred students walked out to protest Portman's opposition to gay rights, ThinkProgress reports.

Said one student: "If anybody's going to take the lead and stop the fight... it's going to be the law community."

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Bill Clinton Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Former President Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law, supports efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Said Clinton: "For more than a century, our Statue of Liberty has welcomed all kinds of people from all over the world yearning to be free. In the 21st century, I believe New York's welcome must include marriage equality."

The statement comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is making a major push for passing marriage equality.

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Hispanic Polls Skew Left?

Pollster André Pineda makes the case that because pollsters tend to call samples of people with typically Latino surnames, polls of Hispanic voters tend to skew left.

"The four statewide polls of Latino voters I have conducted in that manner suggest that the assumptions on which Hispanic surname polling relies do not hold up. Significant numbers of Latino voters do not have Hispanic surnames. Furthermore, Latinos that do not have Hispanic surnames are more likely to be U.S.-born Latinos rather than immigrants, resulting in predictable demographic and political differences compared to voters with Hispanic surnames. As a result, any poll of Latino voters that relies only on voters with Hispanic surnames is introducing bias even before the first interview is conducted."

Surnames of Hispanic voters typically excluded from such polls include Smith, Smedley and Zook.

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Feingold Expects Kohl To Run

Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) says he is confident that his one-time colleague Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) will run for reelection, according to National Journal. "I assume he will run. I hope he'll run. I want him to run," said Feingold, who  was narrowly defeated last cycle by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Kohl has not made up his mind whether he'll run again, and progressives have touted Feingold as a possible Senate candidate should he retire, or else as an challenger to Gov. Scott Walker (R) down the line. A Public Policy Polling survey last month showed both Kohl and Feingold leading all proposed GOP challengers by similar margins of around 7-15 points.

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Kloppenburg Declares Victory Over Prosser

JoAnn Kloppenburg has declared victory over incumbent Justice David Prosser in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. With 100% of the vote counted, Kloppenburg has a narrow 204 vote lead out of over 1.5 million cast, according to WISN Milwaukee, with a likely recount on the horizon.

Kloppenburg's statement: "Wisconsin voters have spoken and I am grateful for, and humbled by, their confidence and trust. I will be independent and impartial and I will decide cases based on the facts and the law."

Greg Sargent: "the current results reflect a massive and astonishingly fast swing of support away from Prosser and in Kloppenburg’s favor. In a primary election in February (Wisconsin judicial elections are nonpartisan, and the top two primary victors face off in the general), Prosser beat Koppenburg by 30 points, 55-25. The current results show she doubled her vote share in just over six weeks, while Prosser has lost ground. This huge shift happened for one reason: Scott Walker."

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Poll: Republicans More Unpopular

Over the last two years, the "leading quartet" of Republicans running for president have all become more unpopular, according to Public Policy Polling. Between April 2009 and now, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich have all seen their favorability spread fall by margins ranging from 15 to 23 points.

PPP's Tom Jensen: "The fact that the more Americans are exposed to them, the less they like them certainly does not bode well for their competitiveness next year."

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Romney Would Waive HCR Requirements

Mitt Romney has proposed an innovative way of effective repealing huge swaths of the health care reform law, saying that on his first day in office he would sign an executive order allowing every state to obtain a waiver from the law's requirements. In an op-ed for the National Review, he writes:

"As I have stated time and again, a one-size-fits-all national plan that raises taxes is simply not the answer. Under our federalist system, the states are “laboratories of democracy.” They should be free to experiment. By the way, what works in one state may not be the answer for another."

Ezra Klein notes that "An executive order can’t overturn the requirements in the Affordable Care Act. It can’t free Michigan from having to comply with federal law."

Jonathan Chait: "Hmm. I don't think this argument is going to hold up. I think Romney needs to try another tack. He should say that he destroyed the freedom of the people of Massachusetts becausethe people of Massachusetts do not deserve to live in freedom. This would be in keeping with the long-standing Republican position that Massachusetts is not part of America."

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Health Care Reform Summarized

From Ezra Klein: health care reform in 1,000 words.

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Poll: Americans Oppose Defunding Health Care Reform

A new poll from CBS finds that 55% of Americans oppose cutting off funds for the health care law, with only 35% in favor. Notably, only 57% of Republicans say the law should be defunded, as opposed to 38% of independents and just 12% of Democrats.

Other Key Findings: Americans trust Obama and Congressional Republicans equally to reduce the deficit, at 42% each. And unsurprisingly, 59% say the deficit can be reduced without cutting programs that benefit them, with 37% saying the opposite.

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Hello

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Bush Cancels Swiss Trip Over Torture Accusations

Former President George W. Bush has canceled a trip to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish gala, due to possible legal actions against him over torture and other human rights abuses, Reuters reports.

"Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

  Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say."

One of the events organizers says security concerns, and not the criminal complaint, caused the visit's cancellation.