**President Obama
*Gallup reports that Obama averaged a 63% approval rating in his 1st quarter in office, the highest since Jimmy Carter in 1977.

*In Mexico, Obama said the two countries "both needed to strengthen and coordinate their drug war efforts," Reuters reports. "Obama said he had not 'backed off' from the idea of trying to reinstate an expired ban on assault rifles -- which are showing up in droves at Mexican crime scenes -- but for the time being he would focus on halting the smuggling of arms and cash over the Mexican border, which would yield faster results."

*AP: Obama said the Summit of the Americas "offers the opportunity of a new beginning" in the region. "And he expected the major focus to be on the global economic crisis, which has America's Latin American neighbors reeling as their prime export markets shut down. The summit will aim to 'jump-start job creation, promote free and fair trade, and develop a coordinated response to this economic crisis,' Obama said."

*The Washington Post reports that the newly-released interrogation memos included "previously unacknowledged strategies of slamming a prisoner into a wall and placing an insect near a detainee terrified of bugs." "The documents lay out in clinical, painstaking detail a series of practices intended to get prisoners to share intelligence about past wrongdoing and future attacks."

*Responding to Republican critiques of the release of the memos, Robert Gibbs told ABC "that when making the decision as to what he should do with the memos -- which human rights groups were seeking through the Freedom of Information Act -- President Obama 'wrestled with a number of issues related to national security, related to the rule of law, and related to national security.'" Gibbs: "I don't think and the president doesn't believe it's the existence of enhanced interrogation techniques in memos that has made us less safe,. It's the use of those techniques in the view of the world that has made us less safe. And that's precisely why the president moved swiftly."

*The Washington Post checks in with Gov. Bill Richardson, who is "at peace in the political desert." "I've been there, I've done service in the Congress, Cabinet, the U.N.," he said. "I don't miss it one bit. I really don't."

**Congress
*"Wall Street's machinations will be laid bare for all to see if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has her way. In an unexpected pledge -- a response to a question during a speaking gig in San Francisco -- the California Democrat promised to create a commission to investigate what led up to the financial collapse and exactly what taxpayers are forking over to dig the economy out of its current mess," Portfolio reports.

*Sen. Dianne Feinstein, meanwhile, wants to hold hearings on wiretapping "after new reports that recent wiretapping went beyond what Congress has authorized."

*IBD editorial: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a broad "probe" of Wall Street, much like the 1932 Pecora Commission that led to sweeping bank reforms. Good idea. Let the probing begin -- with Pelosi's Congress."

**Palin Watch
*At the Right to Life Conference, Sarah Palin said she thought about having an abortion when she found out she was pregnant during an out-of-state trip. "I knew, 'Nobody knows me here. Nobody would ever know,'" she said. "It is easy to think maybe of trying to change the circumstances." But in the end: "I clung to a faith that taught me that we could meet the challenges, that we won't be given anything that we can't handle and really, at times, that faith was all that I had."

*Meanwhile, former McCain chief Steve Schmidt will use a speech at the Log Cabin Republicans' convention to urge Republicans to drop opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN reports.

**Campaign Stuff
*The Washington Post reports that a number of donors to Del. Brian Moran's Virginia governor campaign have business before Rep. Jim Moran, a member of the Appropriations Committee. "Many of the firms are Virginia-based, and those executives who would speak about the gifts said they have long been politically active in the state and have known both brothers for years. Others have been heavy federal contributors with little involvement in state politics. Most have benefited from Jim Moran's role in crafting defense spending bills each year."

New York Times also looks into how one Moran may be helping the other.

* Wapo also reports that "Seven people who have given Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe at least $5,000 have slept in the Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton administration, according to campaign reports released last night."

*And here are Kyle's pics and story from the Shad Planking event in southern Virginia.

*IL-Sen: Sen. Roland Burris raised $845 in the 1st quarter, Politico reports.

*NY-20: "With about two-thirds of absentee ballots now counted, things are looking very dim for Republicans," The Hill reports.

"Elections officials in the 20th Congressional District are down to the last ballots in many places, but counting has stalled because of confusion over a court order state Supreme Court Justice James Brands issued Wednesday," reports the Albany Times-Union.

Politico: "More notably, as the count begins to wind down, it seems like the GOP is prepared for a protracted court battle, at least by the sound of this internal memo sent this afternoon by a National Republican Congressional Committee staffer..."

*MN-Sen: How bad is it for Norm Coleman? Some kid egged his house Tuesday night.

**Sports Alert: Here's a raise of the glass to John Madden, who announced yesterday he's retiring from broadcasting NFL games after more than 30 years in the booth.

--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad