White House aide Jim Messina helped shut down objections from Henry Waxman in a 2009 health-bill episode.

Press release from the Federal Election Commission:

WASHINGTON ? The Federal Election Commission has declared Gary Earl Johnson eligible to receive federal matching funds. Johnson sought and won the Libertarian nomination for president for 2012.

To become eligible for matching funds, candidates must raise a threshold amount of $100,000 by collecting $5,000 in 20 different states in amounts no greater than $250 from any individual. Other requirements to be declared eligible include agreeing to an overall spending limit, abiding by spending limits in each state, using public funds only for legitimate campaign-related expenses, keeping financial records and permitting an extensive campaign audit.

Based on documents filed by Gary Johnson 2012, Inc. on April 27, 2012, contributions from the following states were verified for threshold purposes: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. All of the materials included with this submission may be viewed here. Based on Johnson?s initial threshold submission, the Commission requested on May 25 that the United States Treasury make an initial payment of $100,000 to Johnson?s campaign.

Once declared eligible, campaigns may submit additional contributions for matching funds on the first business day of every month. The maximum amount a primary candidate could receive is currently estimated to be about $22.8 million.

The presidential public funding program is financed through the $3 check-off that appears on individual income tax returns. The program has three elements: grants to parties to help fund their nominating conventions, grants available to nominees to pay for the general election campaign and matching payments to participating candidates during the primary campaign.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance laws. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Established in 1975, the FEC is composed of six Commissioners who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

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Michigan U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter’s re-election petition snafu was the butt of jokes earlier this week. Now, the situation is becoming more serious. Michigan’s Republican attorney general said Thursday his office is launching a probe of possible fraud by Mr. McCotter’s re-election campaign, following the revelation that petitions the campaign filed to put his name on the GOP primary ballot appeared to contain hundreds of duplicate signatures. Mr. McCotter, whose dry humor and Stars and Stripes Telecaster briefly enlivened the GOP presidential race earlier this year, was a favorite to win re-election to represent Michigan’s 11th Congressional District in suburban Detroit after a potential primary challenge from a well-known state senator failed to materialize.

The fight over how to deal with an impending increase in some student loan rates was reignited Thursday when Congressional Republicans sent a letter to the White House offering some suggestions of how to pay for an extended lower loan rate.

Republicans opened a new front in their battle against abortion Thursday, by calling a House vote on legislation to ban abortions conducted for the purposes of sex selection.

The producer, Chris White, had been offered a job by CNN before the video was broadcast, but a CNN spokeswoman said Thursday that the network would not be hiring him.

President Obama put partisanship aside for a few hours to pay tribute to his predecessor at the official unveiling of George W. Bush's official White House portrait.

On May 31, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle granted injunctive relief to some organizations that wish to register voters in Florida. Here is the 27-page order. The case is League of Women Voters of Florida v Browning, 4:11cv628.

The laws that were enjoined were passed by the legislature in 2011. The first law that is enjoined is one that says groups that register voters must return all such completed forms to the elections office within 48 hours of the voter’s having signed the form.

The second law is one that requires groups to identify every person who works on a voter registration drive, even if the individual only hands out leaflets.

The third law enjoined is one that requires everyone who works on a voter registration drive to sign a sworn statement that suggest anyone who submits a voter registration form that includes false information is guilty of a felony. That law makes little sense, because people who help others fill out voter registration forms must submit all completed forms to elections officials, whether there is any misinformation on the form or not. Furthermore, a volunteer in a voter registration form probably wouldn’t know if anything a voter wrote on a card is false or not.

A fourth law enjoined is one that requires voter registration groups to account for every blank form.

The jury in the John Edwards trial could not reach a verdict on five of six counts of campaign finance violations against him, the AP reports. The judge sent them back for further deliberations.

However, the jury found Edwards not guilty on whether he received an illegal campaign contribution from Bunny Mellon.

Update: The Raleigh News & Observer reports the judge declared a mistrial.

Former President Bill Clinton will travel to Wisconsin Friday to stump for Tom Barrett, the Democrat seeking to oust Gov. Scott Walker.