>Mike Allen's Playbook is largely devoted to Dana Priest's new intelligence contracting series for the Washington Post. The project, which has been in the works for nearly two years, includes a database tracking the 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies involved in counterterrorism work and asserts redundancy and waste within the system. The Post gave government officials a preview of the database to troubleshoot errors and national security concerns. Allen's big question about the series: Will it "show we are LESS SAFE because of the waste?"
Chris Cillizza's Morning Fix zooms in on tomorrow's Republican gubernatorial primary in Georgia, where former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel is leading her three male competitors by a narrow margin. Handel received a boost from Sarah Palin's recent endorsement of her, and this weekend accused one of her opponents of sexism after he issued a release stating that "real women" support him. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, as is likely, the top two will face a run-off on August 10.
Ezra Klein's Wonkbook notes a BusinessWeek story that finds that investors in credit default swaps think California and Illinois are more likely to default than Portugal. Michigan, New York, and New Jersey are less likely than Portugal but more likely than Ireland and Spain.
The Daily Beast's Cheat Sheet points to the Associated Press' report that, despite hints of seepage, the government is allowing BP to retain its latest cap on the leaking oil well. The two parties are apparently at odds over how long to keep the cap closed before opening it to siphon oil up to the surface.
ABC's The Note links to a Wall Street Journal article about new developments in Senate races in California, Wisconsin, and Washington. Democrats have worried for some time that Republicans could retake the House in November, but they are now predicting that these newly competitive races could put the Senate into play as well.
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