CNN's GUT CHECK for April 9, 2014

CNN's GUT CHECK | for April 9, 2014 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

AT LEAST 20 HURT IN PA HIGH SCHOOL STABBING SPREE … A teenage boy went on a stabbing spree at his high school in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, early Wednesday, the town's police chief said. At least 20 people at Franklin Regional Senior High School, about 15 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh, were injured, and the alleged attacker is in custody, Thomas Seefeld said. – Ashley Fantz

EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN TELLS CNN: “Schools are generally the safest places in communities. And until we as a nation are willing, really willing to take on the larger issue of violence in our broader communities, schools will continue to have some challenges.”

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… WHILE PRESIDENT OBAMA VISITS FORT HOOD… President Obama traveled to Texas on Wednesday to honor the victims of last week’s shooting at Fort Hood.

“To the parents of these men, as a father, I cannot begin to fathom your anguish, but I know that you poured your love and your hopes into your sons,” Obama said at a memorial service at the base. “You gave your sons to America, and just as you will honor them always, so, too, will the nation that they served.”

HOUSE GOP PUSHING FOR PROSECUTION OF LERNER… House Republicans took two significant swings at former IRS official Lois Lerner on Wednesday, voting to refer her to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution and releasing previously confidential documents related to her role in the tax agency’s targeting of conservative groups. – Lisa Desjardins

… AS E-MAILS SHOW LERNER TALKED ABOUT GETTING A JOB WITH THE PRO-OBAMA GROUP ORGANIZING FOR ACTION:
According to emails the (House Ways and Means Committee) reviewed, Ms. Lerner emailed a colleague in response to a news story about the formation of Organizing for Action, an offshoot of President Barack Obama‘s campaign: “Oh – maybe I can get the DC office job!” – Wall Street Journal’s John C. McKinnon

GOP BLOCKS 'PAYCHECK FAIRNESS' BILL IN SENATE … Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a Democratic-backed proposal that aims to even the pay gap between men and women. Republicans argued there are already laws against pay discrimination, and that the Democrats’ bill would lead to excessive government interference in the workplace.

SETBACK FOR N.J. INVESTIGATION OF CHRISTIE … Two key figures caught up in the George Washington Bridge traffic controversy that has upended the administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will not have to hand over information sought by a state legislative committee investigating the matter. (LINK) http://cnn.it/1qjiKa2

NEW IOWA POLL SHOWS “Hillary Clinton Strong and GOP Field Scattered” … From Suffolk University: “A subset of self-described Iowa caucus goers were asked their first choice for their party’s nomination for president, 63 percent of Democrats indicated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 12 percent chose Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and 10 percent favored Vice President Joe Biden.”

“The picture was much cloudier on the Republican side, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (10 percent each), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and medical professor emeritus Ben Carson (9 percent each), and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (7 percent). Six others had 6 percent each: Congressman and 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), former Alaska Gov. and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), former Sen. Rick Santorum, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.”

INSIDE POLITICS: HILLARY CALLS MEDIA ‘DEHUMANIZING’ … Hillary Clinton, who has lived in the public eye for decades, says she feels “dehumanized” by the media.

“It gives you a sense of being kind of dehumanized, I guess, as part of the experience,” Clinton said Tuesday at a World Affairs Council event in Oregon. “You know, you really can’t ever feel like you’re just having a normal day. And you have to get over that.” Earlier that day, Clinton acknowledged for the first time that she is “thinking” about 2016 run. But “I’m not going to make a decision for a while because I’m actually enjoying my life,” Clinton said at the Marketing Nation Summit in San Francisco.

HUCKABEE: ‘I’M NOT HOMOPHOBIC’ … Mike Huckabee told an Iowa crowd on Tuesday that he’s "not homophobic," but added that believing marriage should be between one man and one woman is being “on the right side of the Bible.”

Huckabee, who is also a pastor, told conservatives at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, "I'm not against anybody. I'm really not. I'm not a hater. I'm not homophobic … I honestly don't care what people do personally in their individual lives … This for me is not about the right side or the wrong side of history. This is the right side of the Bible. And unless God rewrites it, edits it, sends it down with his signature on it, it's not my book to change."

THE BUZZ: POLITICAL DRAMA 'CAMP DAVID' CHRONICLES MESSY PATH TO PEACE … Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Lawrence Wright chronicles that trip in "Camp David," a new play about the secret 13-day negotiations at the famed presidential retreat that ultimately resulted in a historic peace agreement between long-time adversaries Israel and Egypt.

The 100-minute stage production directed by Molly Smith focuses on the efforts of President Jimmy Carter (played by Richard Thomas, star of "The Waltons") to referee, cajole, arm-twist, threaten, and, on more than one occasion, pray his way to a peace deal between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. – Robert Yoon

MARKET WATCH: U.S. stocks rally on earnings and Fed minutes. Dow ends with 180 point gain. NASDAQ adds 1.7%. S&P 500 rises 1.1%.

TRAIL TRIVIA
(Answer below)
Which senator led one of the longest filibusters in U.S. history in an effort to block passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

the LEDE
Did you miss it?

Leading CNNPolitics: Hillary Clinton, through the lens
The photojournalist behind the iconic image of Hillary Clinton that spawned the viral phenomenon "Texts from Hillary" is releasing a book of behind-the-scenes photos of the potential 2016 presidential contender.

Leading Salt Lake Tribune: Appeals court to hear arguments on Utah's same-sex ban
On Thursday morning, a three-judge panel at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will hear from the lawyers as they present the first appellate case in the nation on gay marriage rights since last summer’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which struck down a provision in the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Leading Drudge: Stabbings At High School Injure 20
At least 20-people have been injured in a stabbing at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville. Murrysville police Chief Thomas Seefeld says 19 of the victims are students, one of them is a school security guard.

Leading HuffPo: Christie Move Slammed As 'Whitewash'
Most New Jersey voters believe an internal investigation clearing Governor Chris Christie of any wrongdoing in a scheme to snarl traffic on one of the world's busiest bridges was a "whitewash," according to a poll released on Wednesday.

Leading Politico: Chasing Sean Eldridge
The 27-year-old husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has turned his congressional campaign for New York’s 19th District into a multimillion-dollar start-up — a gambit that veteran election watchers say is as unique as it is brazen. – Alex Isensdadt

Eldridge’s response: 'We're not really concerned with a D.C.-based blog'

Leading New York Times: Senate Committee Begins Its Review of Comcast Deal
Comcast took its case for acquiring Time Warner Cable to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, arguing at a Senate hearing that its proposed $45 billion takeover would benefit consumers by generating greater investment and more competition among cable-television and broadband companies. – Edward Wyatt

HOT SOTS
The political bites of the day

- Snowden: I crossed that line–
EDWARD SNOWDEN INTERVIEW WITH VANITY FAIR: “Every person remembers some moment in their life where they witnessed some injustice, big or small, and looked away, because the consequences of intervening seemed too intimidating … But there’s a limit to the amount of incivility and inequality and inhumanity that each individual can tolerate. I crossed that line. And I’m no longer alone.”

- Bill Clinton on Snowden: An 'imperfect messenger' -
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON TO STUDENTS AT THE U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY: “Mr. Snowden has been sort of an imperfect messenger from my point of view for what we need to be talking about here. But the Snowden case has raised all these questions about whether we can use technology to protect the national security without destroying the liberty which includes the right to privacy of basically innocent bystanders.”

- Cumming to Issa: Shades of McCarthy in IRS targeting case -
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, D-MARYLAND, IN A REPORT: “We oppose Chairman Issa's efforts to re-create the Oversight Committee in Joe McCarthy's image, and we reject his attempts to drag us back to that shameful era in which Congress tried to strip away the constitutional rights of American citizens under the bright lights of hearings that had nothing to do with responsible oversight and everything to do with the most dishonorable kind of partisan politics.”

- Perry: I wasn’t ready in 2012 -
TEXAS GOVERNOR RICK PERRY IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: "America is a great place for second chances …The experience was good for me … What took me out (of the 2012 campaign) was ill preparation."

- Scott Walker: College degree not a 'requirement' for higher office -
WISCONSIN GOV. SCOTT WALKER AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT IN GEORGIA: “I got to be governor without it … So I don't think it's any base requirement out there … I don't think I needed a college degree to be in the state assembly or to be county executive or to be governor. I don't know about any other position, but in the end I think most people, for example [as] governor, judge me based on performance and what we're able to do."

Gut Check Full Service: Contrary to some media reports, Rand Paul also has no bachelor's degree

TOP TWEETS
What stopped us in 140 characters or less

Elizabeth Plank ‏(@feministabulous)
Because libido? RT @srjones66: Mike Huckabee: Men Like to Hunt Together While Women Like To Go To Bathroom Together http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04

Katie Pavlich ‏(@KatiePavlich)
I would hope Mike Huckabee understands women don't just "go to the bathroom together," we also hunt and fish, with women and men, gasp!
Ronald Brownstein (‏@RonBrownstein)
Dems counting on #women to save '14 should note Obama '12 lost white women by 14 pts-most since Mondale. In '10 D's lost white women by 19

Gabriel Debenedetti ‏@gdebenedetti)
The not-too-invisible primary: the next two weeks will see Huckabee in IA and NH, Cruz and Paul in NH, and Santorum in SC.

Chad Pergram ‏(@ChadPergram)
Boehner's office says there is no plan at this pt for Speaker to meet with embattled Rep. Vance McAllister (R-LA).

Peter Hamby (@PeterHambyCNN)
interns already lining up at Kramerbooks RT @HuffPostPol: Hillary Clinton's new book will be released on June 10 huff.to/1i1Px0u

davecatanese ‏(@davecatanese)
Bill Clinton was asked to go everywhere in 2012, but when he was asked to campaign for @SenWarren, he declined http://goo.gl/LWO5n1

Meredith Blake ‏(@MeredithBlake)
FXX has acquired all 500+ episodes of The Simpsons and will make available to watch via "ultimate Simpsons app" developed by the network.

Adam Sharp (‏@AdamS)
Gotta think @NateSilver538's 2% likelihood of @UConnHuskies championship has @SenateDems feeling better about his 2014 oddsmaking…

TRIVIA ANSWER from @sarafischer

On June 10, 1964, Senate Republicans mustered enough votes to end Sen. Robert Byrd’s filibuster attempt to block the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The end to the West Virginia Democrat’s 14 hour and 13 minute address was the first time the Republican Party had enough votes to cut off a filibuster on a civil rights bill. Prior attempts had been made unsuccessfully, most notably against Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1957

Georgia Democrat Richard Russell offered the final arguments in opposition of the bill, while Minority Leader Everett Dirksen led the Republican arguments in favor. It was during this historic vote that Sen. Claire Engle, a paralyzed war vet, pointed to his eye to indicate his affirmative vote.

President Obama will join former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas Thursday to commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

GUT CHECK WINNER’S CIRCLE
(why aren’t you in it)

Congrats to Steve Liguori (@SteveL3877) for correctly answering today’s Gut Check Trivia question.

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