Sunday was the 66th Anniversary of D-Day. That's something you would have missed if you only paid attention to statements by President Obama and the White House.

Last year, of course, there was much pomp and circumstance celebrating the 65th anniversary of the largest land invasion in history. In one of the first trips abroad in his young presidency, President Obama traveled to Normandy and delivered a much watched speech along with then British PM Brown and French President Sarkozy.

This year, however, not a word from Obama. Ironically, on the same weekend as the D-Day anniversary the President found time to release a statement on Friday noting the passing of William Miranda Marín, Mayor of Caguas in Puerto Rico, and another on Saturday noting the passing of legendary UCLA bastketball coach John Wooden.

On Sunday, the anniversary itself, President Obama and the First Lady held a reception in the East Room for guests and attended a concert celebrating the work from Ford's Theatre. D-Day was never mentioned, though in his opening remarks President Obama said this:

And I especially want to thank the members of one of our nation's most hallowed fraternities -- the men who were recipients of the Medal of Honor. Please give them another round of applause. (Applause.) To each of those men, I want you to know your heroism is unquestioned. Your stories are inspirational. Your actions above and beyond the call of duty have earned the admiration of a grateful nation. And we are incredibly honored that you could join us here tonight. (Applause.)

One would think that stories of inspirational military heroics would include at least a passing mention of the 66th anniversary of D-Day, but apparently not.

Obama's not alone, of course. We've been running this web site for eleven years now, and with each passing year columns and editorials commemorating the anniversary of D-Day are harder and harder to come by. That's regrettable, if not somewhat expected, from a class of professional journalists and pundits who are often as short sighted as they are self absorbed. It's a great deal more troubling to be seen in America's Commander-in-Chief.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch released the following statement regarding Helen Thomas:

Helen Thomas, 89, who is of Lebanese descent, claims to be a professional journalist. As such, she is subject to professional standards. Her statement that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to "Poland and Germany" is clear evidence that she is no longer in control of her emotions and cognitive powers and that she cannot carry out the impartial obligations of a journalist. She has disgraced herself.

Jews have lived in the area known in modern times as the British Mandate of Palestine, for thousands of years and up to the present time. Indeed, Israelite civilization goes back to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as to King David and King Solomon. We Jews spring from the loins of those patriarchs. The State of Israel sits where the Jewish Kingdoms of Judea and Israel reigned thousands of years ago.

Ms. Thomas has embarrassed not only herself, but also her employer, Hearst News Service, as well as her colleagues who attend the White House press conferences with her. Her apology is hollow, unbelievable and unacceptable. She would do everyone a favor by leaving the stage. Goodbye, Ms. Thomas.

UPDATE: Koch got his wish. Hearst Newspapers just announced Thomas's retirement, effective immediately.

Kyle Trygstad previews the big primaries on Tuesday and the week ahead in politics on Politics Nation. Also, check out RCP's polls page for the latest from the races in Nevada, California, South Carolina and Iowa.

John Tamny, writing on Forbes.com, argues that government's efforts to attack big business profits will hurt consumers.

On RCS, Tim Joyce breaks down Rafael Nadal's dominant performance in the French Open final. Finally, check out RCS' full coverage of the World Cup, including "The Cup Running Over" blog.

Charlie Crist is being crucified, or so he'd like you to think. On Friday, in an interview with The Hill Crist lamented about how lonely it is on the campaign trail as an Independent, and how he had "discovered that people he thought were friends turned out to be only Republican friends, who dropped Crist after he left the GOP."

The following day, Crist was hit with a bombshell when the lawyer for Jim Greer - the former Florida GOP Chairman and big ally of Crist who was arrested last week on six counts of fraud and corruption - said that Crist knew about the slush fund in question and had "personally signed off" on Greer diverting monies from the fund.

Crist responded to the charge yesterday on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley:

CROWLEY: Governor, let me turn your attention quickly, because politics still goes on. You are running for U.S. Senate as an independent. A friend of yours, someone that you helped put in as head of the Republican Party in Florida, as you know, has been charged with fraud and money-laundering having to do with some of the finances inside the state Republican Party.

And it revolves around something called Victory Strategies, a fund that state investigators say was said was used to sort of -- used to pocket money. What do you know about that entity, about Victory Strategies?

CRIST: Well, what I know about it is only what I have read in the newspaper. You know, it is an unfortunate situation. It is very disappointing and sometimes people disappoint you. And that's what has happened here.

CROWLEY: If I could just interrupt, because the attorney for Jim Greer, who is the former RNC chief, is quoted as saying: "The governor knew about Victory Strategies from the very beginning, they all worked on it together." Is that true?

CRIST: Absolutely untrue. You know, sometimes desperate people say desperate things. And it's very sad.

As if all this were not enough, Crist was blasted by Beth Reinhard of the Miami Herald on Friday for exploiting the Gulf oil spill catastrophe for political gain. Reinhard wrote:

As oil seeped toward Florida's coast Friday, endangering the livelihoods of God-knows-how-many people in an already shattered economy, as well as God-knows-how-many turtles and dolphins and birds and all manner of wildlife, Gov. Charlie Crist took time out to hustle for cash.

"Help me fight for Florida!'' implored the fundraising appeal circulated by his U.S. Senate campaign that should have added a footnote: "and my political career.''

Florida politicians are trained sometime around kindergarten to not, under any circumstances, ask for money when other, less geographically fortunate, people are frantically buying bottled water and batteries and canned tuna as a hurricane looms. America's worst oil spill qualifies as a similarly sensitive crisis.

In fairness, the spill is going to be around for a while, and candidates can't be expected to suspend fundraising altogether. (Crist's Republican rival, Marco Rubio, went to a $1,000-per-plate fundraising luncheon in Minnesota on Friday.) But we can expect candidates not to exploit the spill in tacky campaign appeals.

"I have and will continue to do all that I can to protect our beautiful state and navigate us through the challenges ahead,'' Crist says in the appeal, followed by this clumsy segue: "As you now know our campaign is about putting people ahead of politics. We are all tired of the same old excuses and politics as usual. I need your help to carry this message to Washington.''

Ick.

Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is the clear favorite to pick up the Republican gubernatorial nomination tomorrow, a new Iowa Poll from the Des Moines Register finds. While 57% say they'll vote for him, even more (70%) say he's best positioned to defeat incumbent Gov. Chet Culver (D) in the general election.

Branstad leads businessman Bob Vander Plaats and state Rep. Rod Roberts.

Branstad 57
Vander Plaats 29
Roberts 8
Und 6

The Iowa Poll also found that three-quarters of GOP primary voters think the state's voters ought to be able to vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

In April 2009, the state Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's ban, enacted in 1998, and the Democratic-controlled state legislature has since blocked debate on a constitutional amendment. Voters won't have a say until the legislature passes a constitutional amendment in two consecutive sessions.

Half of the Republicans polled think voters should vote against the justices who are up for retention in November; 45% don't think they should. And 62% disagree with the statement that some Iowans have overreacted to the issue, and that gay marriage isn't that big of a deal.

The Iowa Poll was conducted June 1-3 of 501 GOP LV with a MoE of +/- 4.4%.

News and notes on races from around the country:

The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts Dem are being challenged this year - by other Democrats who've signed up for primaries, and by GOP opponents in the general election:

Most members of Massachusetts' overwhelmingly Democratic congressional delegation are not accustomed to much of a challenge when they come up for reelection. But this year the old assumptions don't apply, providing a greater sense of urgency to the Fourth of July picnics and neighborhood political forums. [snip]

The 2010 election features double the number of House candidates than have run in other election years this decade. Even 1990 and 1994, active years in state and national elections, had fewer candidates qualifying for the primary ballot, though it is not yet clear who among this year's candidates can raise enough money and marshal enough volunteer support to mount serious challenges.

Ditto the Arizona Republic, which reports on the 10 Republican challengers - that's right, TEN - vying to win the August 24 primary to replace the retiring John Shadegg in Arizona's 3rd Congressional district.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on yet another primary challenge, this one in GA-4 where Democrat Hank Johnson - who raised serious eyebrows and concerns about his fitness for office when he asked recently during a Congressional hearing whether Guam was in danger of "tipping over and capsizing" - is trying to ignore six challengers.

Breaking the trend is a story out of Minnesota, where Sixth District DFL candidate Maureen Reed dropped out of the race, leaving state Sen. Tarryl Clark the lone DFL challenger to Michele Bachmann this fall.

In South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial primary, Nikki Haley's 20-point lead from two weeks ago is unchanged, despite recent allegations of extramarital affairs, a new Public Policy Polling survey finds (June 5-6, 998 GOP LV, MoE +/- 3.1%). However, 43% won't be enough to avoid a June 22 runoff against the second place finisher.

Rep. Gresham Barrett finishes second in this poll, followed by Attorney General Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. Haley would need a majority of Tuesday's vote to win the nomination outright.

Haley 43
Barrett 23
McMaster 16
Bauer 12
Und 7

Haley's numbers are moving in the right direction, but it will be difficult to take more than 50% of the vote in such a crowded primary.

A third straight poll in Nevada, released over the weekend, found Sharron Angle leading tomorrow's Republican Senate primary by a significant margin, while Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian split the rest of the votes. The Las Vegas Review-Journal poll (June 1-3, 625 RV, MoE +/- 4.5%) conducted by Mason-Dixon, also found that Lowden was the only one of the three to trail Sen. Harry Reid in a general election matchup.

Primary
Angle 32 (+3 vs. last poll, May 26)
Tarkanian 24 (+1)
Lowden 23 (-7)

Angle leads by 8.3 points in the RCP Average

General Election
Reid 41 - Angle 44 - Und 8

Reid 42 - Lowden 41 - Und 9

Reid 39 - Tarkanian 46 - Und 10

RCP currently rates this race a Toss Up.

Bill Halter holds a 4-point lead in Tuesday's primary runoff for the Democratic nomination in the Arkansas Senate race, a new DailyKos/Research2000 poll finds (June 2-4, 600 LV, MoE +/- 4%). Sen. Blanche Lincoln has apparently picked up no support since the May 18 primary, in which she led Halter by less than 2 points.

Halter 49 (+2 vs. last poll, May 26)
Lincoln 45 (+1)
Und 6

The winner of Tuesday's contest will take on Republican John Boozman, who's represented the northwestern corner of Arkansas in the House since a special election in November 2001. He won the GOP primary outright.

Boozman will likely be the favorite no matter who wins the runoff and despite the state's history: just one Republican has been elected to the Senate from Arkansas since 1873 (Tim Hutchison, 1996, lost re-election in 2002).

Coming off a primary victory Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial nominee Susana Martinez holds a slight lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in a new Rasmussen poll (June 3, 500 LV, MoE +/- 4.5%). Outgoing Gov. Bill Richardson (D) is term-limited.

Martinez 44
Denish 42
Und 10

Following Martinez's victory, RCP moved this race from Leans Democrat to Toss Up.