In recent elections, the pro-western Democratic Party won big by securing 38% of the vote . Their main opposition, the nationalist Radical Party received 29%. Both parties believe they can form a governing coalition.

HSBC has set aside another $3.2 billion for bad loans Ed. Note: (is that what they call a writedown?) due to continuing fallout of the mortgage crisis and increased credit card delinquencies. Five percent of mortgages were in arrears by 60 days or more.

On this day:

Lots of celebrity birthdays:
Comedian George Carlin (1937)
Libertarian Sci-fi Author L. Neil Smith (1946)
Punk/New Wave Singer Ian Dury (1942)
Baseball players Felipe Alou (1935) and Yogi Berra (1925)

Fourth generation NASCAR driver Adam Petty died in an accident during practice at the age of 20 (2000).

Texas Democrats flee the state in order to prevent Republicans from proceeding with redistricting plans . Democrats were needed in the chamber to constitute a quorum. (2003)

Hurray for the weekend! (at least for us wage jockeys!)

First Daughter (or was she second?) Jenna Bush is getting married at a private ceremony at her father's Crawford, TX ranch. Congratulations to Jenna!

Hezbollah rebels have taken over western Beirut and driven out the legitimate government. Fears are that this is a prelude to all out civil war in Lebanon.

On this day:

Former AG and US Senator John Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois (1942).
Edith Rodriguez died in an Los Angeles hospital after being refused treatment (2007).
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened formal impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon (1974).

Also, I received my $300 in economic stimulus today. Who else has and what do you plan to do with it?

The situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate and the estimated death toll continues to rise.

In a turn of events that surprised nobody, Putin has been confirmed as Prime Minister of Russia.

Good day for Kobe Bryant, who won the MVP and then went on to help the Lakers beat Utah for a 2-0 series lead. Open thread -- what's happening?

My car is making a funny grating sound at low speeds, as if something is rubbing together. We have mechanics in town that we trust and who do good work, so we dropped it off this morning. Despite my faith in the shop, I couldn't help thinking to myself I guarantee they'll find something wrong that a few hundred dollars will fix right up. Not fair of me, but then again they make money when the car requires substantial work -- they have an incentive, in a way, for my car to break down. It's arguably balanced somewhat by the potential for me to switch mechanics if I feel like I'm getting substandard service, but honestly how would I know?

On the local election scene, Indiana Democrat Jill Long Thompson eeked out a victory over Jim Schellinger for the party's nomination for Governor. She will face the rather unpopular incumbent Mitch Daniels.

Otherwise it's a slow news morning due last night's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Next up are the Clinton strongholds of West Virginia (5/13) and Kentucky (5/20), while a close race seems to be shaping up in Oregon (5/20).

On this day:

Journalist Tim Russert was born (1950).
Black supremacist Hulon Mitchell Jr. AKA Yahweh ben Yahweh , leader of the Nation of Yahweh, dies from cancer (2007).
A German U-boat sinks the RMS Lusitania (1915).

Bill Kristol beat me to the punch. After it was clear that John McCain would be the GOP nominee for president, many conservatives assuaged their frustration by saying that McCain would be acceptable if he kept to his word on judges and borders, AND if he picked a suitable running mate. In my view, it would be hard for conservatives to do better than Bobby Jindal . Why Jindal?

● He's brilliant. He graduated from high school at 16 and he's a Rhodes Scholar.

Granted, Paul Krugman is a Hillary supporter, but it looks clear to me that Obama's campaign dishonestly used a quote in Krugman's op-ed as it relates to the federal gas tax. Michael Dobbs has an excerpt of the ad. To be fair, he says that both campaigns "have been stretching the facts" on this issue. I've come to expect fact-stretching from Hillary because it's been a common occurrence ever since Bill Clinton trotted out the lie in 1992 that we had the worst economy in fifty years.

In Ohio news, Attorney General Marc Dann is rebuffing calls from members of his own party to resign -- including Gov. Ted Strickland. Assembly Democrats say they will start impeachment proceedings today. Note: For those not from Ohio, the Republicans control both the Ohio House and Senate, the latter by nearly a 2-1 margin. I have a feeling Republicans will be the ones starting impeachment proceedings.

The Indiana and North Carolina primaries are today. North Carolina looks like it's in the bag for Obama, while Indiana will be a lot closer. Of course, what really matters is delegate allocation, not the popular vote in each. Here are projected delegates for Indiana and North Carolina . I have family in Indiana ... I wonder if my conservative stepfather will be voting insincerely in the Democratic primary and if my Mom finally figured out which candidate she liked best.

I'll also be experimenting with the format today by adding a born/died/event that happened on this day x years ago.

Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud was born in the present-day Czech Republic (1856).
Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn died at the hands of an animal rights activist (2002).
Paula Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against Bill Clinton (1994).

On Saturday, Don Cazayoux (D-LA) won a special election in a very red district . This pickup by the Democrats reduces the number of Republicans in the House to less than 200. A special election was also held for Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R-LA) old district , which was easily won by Steve Scalise (R-LA).

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison received $192.9 million in executive compensation last year. I wonder if he would be willing to check his couch cushions for a few hundred thousand dollars for us regular folks.

Today is the birthday of Karl Marx . Anyone in London today may want to pay their respects or urinate on his grave. Happy Birthday, Karl!

The Kentucky Derby yesterday produced both triumph and tragedy, as favorite Big Brown won going away despite beginning the race in the outside position, and then the second-place filly Eight Belles broke down after the finish and had to be euthanized. In honor of the Derby and the beginning of Triple Crown season, we take a look this week at favorite children's books involving horses.

Obama winning Guam so far.

Kentucky Derby is today .

The University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Marshall University, and Johnson C. Smith University all agreed to make "Atlas Shrugged" required reading for certain curricula in exchange for charitable donations. Should universities be changing the curricula based on charitable donations? Does it make any difference if the university is state-funded?

Universal health care could create budget surpluses? That's what the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation say. The plan calls for private insurance subsidized for those up to 400% of the poverty level and tax changes including a 3%-26% tax on employers.

Across the pond, the Tories crushed the Labour Party in local elections. In fact, the Liberal Democrats are likely to beat Labour in terms of votes cast, but not council seats won.

Be happy! It's FRIDAY!!!