Hotline Sort: Elizabeth Warren Explains It All

By Sean Sullivan  //  May 31, 2012 | 8:12 a.m.

Welcome back to Hotline Sort. Warren admits listing herself as a Native-American at Harvard and UPenn, Crossroads hits Claire McCaskill on health care, Michael Bloomberg plans to crack down on large sugary drinks, and guess which Senate races fall into Mitch McConnell's top tier of GOP pickup opportunities. Here's today's rundown:

10) If you haven't yet seen this impassioned rant from Illinois state Rep. Mike Bost, you really should.

9) Monday's Fox & Friends included a controversial four-minute segment that resembled a negative ad against President Obama. In a statement, Fox News Vice President of Programming Bill Shine said, "The package that aired on Fox & Friends was created by an associate producer and was not authorized at the senior executive level of the network. This has been addressed with the show's producers." Co-host Steve Doocy said the video took weeks to produce and the segment ran twice during the show, which seems to indicate more people at the network might have been aware of it. Fox News removed the video from their website but it is still available to watch on YouTube here

The liberal media watchdog Media Matters estimates the four-minute spot on the cable news show would be the equivalent of a $96,000 paid advertisement.

8) In an effort to combat obesity, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration plans a ban on large sugary drinks at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts, the New York Times reports.

7) Over the next few days, National Journal is taking a look at California's upcoming House primaries, and how the combination of redistricting reform and the new all-party primary has upended the usual calculus in the Golden State. There's no better example than California's 26th District, which got newly Democratic-leaning but may not even have a Democrat in the general election, if independent Linda Parks can finish in the primary's top two behind the lone Republican in the race. Parks has obvious appeal at a time when voters profess disgust with both parties. The question is whether she can actually turn out independent voters for the primary, and whether she can overcome a serious financial disadvantage -- Parks is running her campaign out of her house right now.

6) Expect to hear more from Mitt Romney's team about this Wall Street Journal story on the Obama administration awarding $1 billion to companies to make batteries for electric cars. The most important line in the story: "Halfway to a six-year goal of producing one million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, auto makers are barely at 50,000 cars."

5) Romney, meanwhile, was endorsed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday. Foreign policy is back in the news this week, and the NYT is out with a front page story today about the tough spot the situation in Syria has put the administration in.

4) Keep an eye on outside money in two key Republican Senate primaries, as underdogs Ted Cruz and Dan Liljenquist try to pull off upsets in the Texas and Utah Senate races. Joe Ricketts, whose super PAC helped propel Deb Fischer to victory in Nebraska, is considering getting involved in Utah and Texas.

Liljenquist, in particular, could use an infusion of outside money, given his cash disparity with Sen. Orrin Hatch.

3) In an interview with Roll Call, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell lays out what he sees as the three different tiers of competitive Senate races. At the top: North Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, and (surprisingly, ahead of some other equally competitive races) the Virginia race between Republican George Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine. McConnell also offered a sharp warning to his fellow Republicans, if Romney wins the White House and Republicans retake the Senate. "Governing is hard. The things that we need to do to straighten this country out are not going to be popular," he told Roll Call. "I think you need to start out with humility, but with determination to deal with the truly big problems in the country." 2) Crossroads GPS is spending $516,000 on a new TV spot hitting Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., over her support for Obama's health care law. Crossroads GPS has spent big bucks in Missouri, a sign they're trying to badly damage McCaskill's already-tenuous standing before Republicans even choose their nominee. It also shows that Republicans plan to tie Democratic Senate candidates to President Obama's controversial health care plan -- as they did with success in the 2010 midterms. 1) Elizabeth Warren offered her first acknowledgement on Wednesday that she told Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania that she was Native American, the Boston Globe reports, though she maintained that race didn't play a role in her recruitment. As we've written, it's remarkable how long the heritage story has remained in the Boston headlines -- it's been nearly a month since the scandal first broke in the Boston Herald. Meanwhile, Warren is getting a boost from Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, who is endorsing her despite previously saying he would wait for the party to pick a nominee. It's a timely nod for Warren, given her struggles lately. Patrick is very popular and comes just ahead of the weekend's state Democratic convention, where she faces a challenge from Marisa DeFranco. If DeFranco wins 15 percent of the delegates, she qualifies for the Democratic primary ballot. -- Scott Bland and Christopher Peleo-Lazar contributed

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