Tony Blair gets a new job, while Gordon Brown finally gets Blair's old one.

On immigration, the Senate narrowly killed Sen. Hutchinson's amendment adding a touchback provision, 53-45, but roundly spanked Sen. Webb's amendment offering a path to legalization for those who've been in America for at least 4 years, 79-18.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) goes subpoena happy, slaps White House, Cheney, NSC, and DoJ.

Fred Thompson got a "rousing welcome" in South Carolina, then got hit with an anonymous YouTube attack on abortion, then responded to that attack. Jonathan Martin was in SC with Thompson and has more.

Bill Richardson: talk to Iran with no conditions, no illusions.

The Paul-aholics will love this: Rep. Ron Paul plans on crashing an event in Iowa this weekend.

Court throws out bogus Ronnie Earle "conspiracy" charge against Tom DeLay, but the Hammer still faces two other felony counts.

Wyndham Owens, a 57-year-old builder in South Carolina, gives Fred Thompson a rather backhanded compliment in this AP article looking at Thompson's fast-rising popularity in the Palmetto state:

"To be honest with you, it seems to be a personality thing. From what little I've seen, he seems to be conservative, yet not stupid."

There's been a lot of talk about Thompson being a substance-free Republican flash in the pan - most notably by George Will two weeks ago - and also speculation that Thompson's high watermark in the polls will be the day before he gets in.

I remain unconvinced by such arguments, if only because the other top tier contenders in the Republican field continue to have major problems that, even though it remains early in the contest, they either haven't addressed or seem unable to put to rest.

Thompson has his own issues with the base from a policy standpoint, though none of them appear to be hugely significant. Furthermore, personality is not an unimportant piece of the pie, and when you combine policy preferences with the kind of likable demeanor Thompson possesses, it naturally generates a level of comfort among Republican primary voters that few, if any, of the other top tier candidates can match.

The issue of Thompson's experience - or lack thereof - does present a challenge, especially to the extent Republican primary voters are interested in and can be persuaded by the argument in favor of executive level "competence." Again, I'm not sure that isn't something Thompson can't overcome in the primary, and it hardly seems reasonable Thompson will suffer in the general election on the experience question when matched up against Clinton, Obama, and Edwards (though Thompson or any other Republican nominee will face the drag of the Bush administration and the charge of its "incompetence.")

Thompson has often said that while he hasn't gone around ambitiously knocking down doors in his life, when doors have opened he's had the good sense to walk through them. When you look at Thompson in the context of the Republican primary field, the door could hardly be open any further than it is right now.

Vice President Cheney still part of the Executive Branch.

Rudy Giuliani spoke at Pat Robertson's Regent University yesterday where he - and the audience - focused on foreign policy rather than social issues.

The New York Sun's Russell Berman reports Giuliani was met with a standing ovation by more than 650 students and business leaders by "plugging his record as mayor, pledging to prosecute the war on terrorism aggressively, and offering a none too subtle reminder" of his role after 9/11. Giuliani "never uttered the word abortion" and omitted one of his "12 Commitments" that pledges to reduce abortions. Giuliani said the abortion dodge wasn't a "conscious decision" because the speech was about leadership, so it would "actually have been a conscious decision to go out of my way to mention it."

When the audience was given the chance to ask Giuliani questions, they asked him about "Iran, Iraq, and immigration, not abortion, gay rights, or gun control."

The New York Times' Marc Santora reports Giuliani said it was pointless for the U.S. to negotiate with Hamas and instead should work with Egypt and Jordan to bolster Fatah. For the first time, Giuliani said he didn't think waterboarding was necessary for interrogations, but thought interrogation needed to be aggressive. Giuliani "likened what he meant to more traditional means of obtaining information," like police pressure on suspects.

Giuliani also hit Democrats on terrorism and Iraq. Giuliani said President Clinton "did not respond" to the 1993 World Trade Center attack and Democrats running for president "want to go back, to put the country in reverse to the 1990s." Giuliani also said leaving Iraq prematurely would cause the US to have to return at some point in the future incurring greater casualties "at the dimension of the Vietnam war."

Meanwhile, Fred Thompson defended his past as a lobbyist, reports the Associated Press. "Nobody yet has pointed out any of my clients that didn't deserve representation," Thompson said. Thompson "lobbied for a savings-and-loan deregulation bill that helped hasten the industry's collapse and a failed nuclear energy project that cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars." Thompson was also a "lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide," and made a call on his behalf to the White House chief of staff in 1991, records show. Aristide had been "widely criticized for endorsing" the use of burning tires around a person's neck as an execution method.

In Mike Bloomberg news, the New York Sun's Jill Gardiner reports an anonymous source says Bloomberg is the mystery donor of $30 million to more than 500 New York City organizations.

On the Democratic side, Warren Buffett helped Hillary Clinton raise $1 million last night and told a big donor, Wall Street crowd that Democrats are better than Republicans at taking care of the less fortunate.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama's campaign has swapped one supporter for another in one of its new Iowa ads, Marc Ambinder reports. The president of the SEIU's Chicago union has been replaced in the "Carry" ad after he was concerned his membership on the SEIU's executive board would give the impression that the union endorsed Obama. The campaign replaced him with Jerry Kellman who hired Obama as a community organizer in the 1980s.

Get these and today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.

From the special election to replace Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald in CA-37:

Early results showed [Laura] Richardson, who is African American, with 36.79% of the total, versus [Jenny] Oropeza with 29.52%. In third place was Democrat Valerie McDonald, daughter of Millender-McDonald, with 10.38%, followed by Republican John Kanaley with 8.30%.

Since no candidate reached 50%, there will be a run off between the top vote getter from each party.

Three new 08 state polls this morning, which we'll look at in order of importance.(UPDATE: Ohio and Pennsylvania polls have been added to this post.)

IOWA
First, a Strategic Vision poll in Iowa. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has rebounded from last month closing the gap on her competitors:

Democrats
Edwards 26 (-3 vs last poll 5/18-20)
Obama 21 (-3)
Clinton 20 (+4)
Richardson 11 (+2)
Biden 4 (+1)
Undecided 15 (-1)

Edwards leads by just +1.2% over Clinton in the RCP Avg in Iowa.

On the Republican side, Romney's 2-point lead over Giuliani in the SV poll last month has turned into a 6-point lead over Thompson this month, as Fred continues to rise and Giuliani and McCain both sink:

Republicans
Romney 23 (+3 vs last poll 5/18-20)
F. Thompson 17 (+7)
Giuliani 14 (-4)
McCain 10 (-6)
T. Thompson 6 (-1)
Huckabee 5 (+2)
Gingrich 4 (-1)
Brownback 3 (+1)
Undecided 11 (-1)

Romney now leads by 4.2% in the RCP Avg for Iowa.

FLORIDA
In Florida, Quinnipiac is out with a new poll showing Hillary Clinton continuing to dominate the Democratic field:

Democrats
Clinton 38 (+4 vs last poll 5/24-6/4)
Obama 15 (-1)
Gore 13 (nc)
Edwards 8 (-3)
Undecided 15 (+1)

Clinton leads in the RCP Avg for Florida by 16.0%.

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani's once considerable lead is threatened by the rise of Fred Thompson:

Republicans
Giuliani 27 (-4 vs last poll 5/24-6/4)
Thompson 21 (+7)
McCain 13 (+3)
Gingrich 7 (nc)
Romney 6 (-2)
Undecided 18 (-3)

Rudy's lead in the RCP Avg for Florida has slipped to 11.0%

Quinnipiac's Head-to-Head Match Ups in Florida are as follows:
Clinton 42 - Giuliani 48
Clinton 44 - McCain 43
Clinton 46 - Thompson 41

Obama 39 - Giuliani 47
Obama 42 - McCain 42
Obama 43 - Thompson 41

Gore 40 - Giuliani 49
Gore 43 - McCain 44
Gore 45 - Thompson 42

OHIO
In Ohio, Quinnipiac shows Clinton and Giuliani maintaining strong leads, while Barack Obama appears to have dropped considerably:

Democrats
Clinton 40 (+2 vs last poll May 16)
Obama 12 (-7)
Edwards 12 (+1)
Gore 12 (+2)
Undecided 16 (+2)

Republicans
Giuliani 25 (+2 vs last poll May 16)
Thompson 17 (+2)
McCain 16 (-1)
Romney 7 (-4)
Gingrich 6 (nc)
Undecided 22 (+4)

Head-to-Head Matchups In Ohio are:
Clinton 43 - Giuliani 43
Clinton 44 - McCain 42
Clinton 47 - Thompson 38

Obama 40 - Giuliani 42
Obama 43 - McCain 38
Obama 43 - Thompson 35

Gore 44 - Giuliani 43
Gore 41 - McCain 43
Gore 44 - Thompson 38

PENNSYLVANIA
Quinnipiac also has numbers from Pennsylvania, which are as follows:

Democrats
Clinton 32 (-1 vs last poll May 31)
Obama 18 (+5)
Gore 16 (nc)
Edwards 7 (-4)
Undecided 15 (-1)

Republicans
Guiliani 29 (+1 vs last poll May 31)
Thompson 15 (+5)
McCain 15 (+4)
Gingrich 5 (-3)
Romney 3 (-5)
Undecided 24 (+1)

Head-to-Head Matchups In Pennsylvania are:
Clinton 45 - Giuliani 45
Clinton 46 - McCain 42
Clinton 49 - Thompson 38

Obama 43 - Giuliani 44
Obama 44 - McCain 39
Obama 50 - Thompson 33

Gore 44 - Giuliani 46
Gore 48 - McCain 41
Gore 50 - Thompson 37

GEORGIA
Finally, a new Strategic Vision poll in Georgia shows Hillary Clinton maintaining a small lead over Obama on the Democratic side and Fred Thompson rocketing into first place ahead of Mayor Giuliani on the Republican side:

Democrats
Clinton 29 (+4 vs. last poll 4/5-4/7)
Obama 26 (+4)
Edwards 18 (-2)
Richardson 7 (+3)
Biden 4 (+1)
Undecided 14 (-7)

Republicans
Thompson 25 (+13 vs. last poll 4/5-4/7)
Giuliani 20 (-3)
McCain 11 (-6)
Gingrich 7 (-3)
Romney 6 (+1)
Huckabee 5 (+3)
Brownback 4 (+1)
Undecided 14 (-4)

This afternoon Elizabeth Edwards called into Hardball with Chris Matthews and confronted Ann Coulter on the air, asking her to stop using personal attacks against her husband. Guess how that went over?

The video is on MSNBC's web site here.

Can Newt Gingrich make the Ames straw poll cool again?

Ben Smith and Greg Sargent report that Hillary is testing out negative messages against her opponents in early primary states.

Campaigns scramble for cash. Fresh off a winning a head-to-head fund raising battle against Barack Obama in Chicago last night, Clinton is back in New York with Warren Buffet headlining an event tonight.

Voinovich joins Lugar in criticizing Iraq policy and calling for a new direction.

Dems target Cheney's office funds.

How bad of a week has it been for Giuliani? Let me count the ways.

Where is Fred on campaign finance? Marc Ambinder has the low down.

Now airing in New Hampshire. Quite well done, if you ask me:

Get more clips on the RCP Vlog.

It's not there anymore, but if you visited the Drudgereport sometime in the last 24 hours or so you probably recognize the picture to the right of Curtis Michael Allgier. Allgier is the freakishly-tattooed white-supremacist skinhead who escaped police custody yesterday in Salt Lake City while visiting the University of Utah's Orthopedic Center for an MRI.

Allgier somehow managed to wrest the gun from the 60 year-old corrections officer accompanying him to the hospital, shot him dead, and then led police on a high-speed chase through the city, eventually ending at an Arby's.

Stop for a minute and think about how you'd react if you were sitting there eating a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich at 8:25 in the morning and this monster comes tearing into the parking lot in a blue SUV and hops out with a loaded gun. What would you do?

If you're Eric Fullerton, you run outside and body slam the tattooed maniac, despite the fact he's eight inches taller and twenty-two years younger than you. You heard that right. Fullerton, a 59 year-old military veteran, tackled the 27 year-old Allgiers in the parking lot and wrestled the gun away from him, sustaining a neck wound in the process that required several stitches.

After returning to the Arby's from the hospital, Fullerton ran into reporters desperate to hear from the hero, but he brushed aside the praise with the kind of modesty we see too little of these days:

"I don't feel like I'm a hero," he said. "I don't know why I did it, I just did what I had to do."

Fullerton drove off, saying he was going back to work.