PELOSI PREMIUM UPDATE. AAA reports that retail gasoline prices have increased for the sixth straight day, and hit their fifth consecutive record. The national average for regular unleaded is now at $3.72/gal., up $1.39 since the beginning of the 110^th Congress. This represents a nearly 60 percent increase during Nancy Pelosi’s speakership.

GALLUP DAILY TRACK. Obama 49, Clinton 45; Obama 47, McCain 44; Clinton 48, McCain 44. A Suffolk University Political Research Center poll of 600 likely Democrat primary voters in West Virginia shows Sen. Clinton leading Sen. Obama 60%-24% ahead of tomorrow’s primary in the Mountain State.

CHINA. Reuters is reporting that “a powerful earthquake in southwest China has killed up to 5,000 people and left as many as 10,000 injured, state media said, as hundreds of children remained trapped in at least eight collapsed schools. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan county of mountainous Sichuan province alone after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region during the early afternoon on Monday. The death toll was expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams made contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan, where phone lines have been cut off since the quake struck. It is now night in the affected area, hampering rescue efforts.”

BURMA. The AP says that “the United States delivered its first relief supplies to Myanmar on Monday, as the U.N. urged the reclusive nation to open its doors to foreign experts who can help up to 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation. The unarmed military C-130 cargo plane, packed with 28,000 pounds of supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao and landed in Yangon.” A government spokesman said that “the aid, which was transferred to Myanmar army trucks, would be ferried by air force helicopters to the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta later Monday. Two more U.S. air shipments were scheduled to land Tuesday.”

• Today’s papers note that the official death toll from the May 3 Cyclone Nargis is at 28,458, with another 33,416 still missing. It may take weeks to reach all the victims and come to a final death toll – one UN official maintains that as many as 100,000 may have perished. Also, the roughly 1.5 million who have survived may be subjected to epidemics of any number of potential life-threatening diseases, including cholera.

TORNADOES. In its lead story, USA Today says that the “the USA has been ravaged through mid-May by a near-record number of tornadoes that has pushed the death toll — including 47 killer twisters over the weekend — to a 10-year high. The deaths of 98 people attributed to tornadoes this year has made 2008 the deadliest year thus far for tornadoes since 1998 and the seventh-deadliest since modern recordkeeping began in 1950,” according to The Weather Channel. As the paper notes, “violent storms over the weekend that spawned tornadoes left at least 22 people dead from the southern Plains states eastward to Georgia, including seven deaths in the tiny town of Picher, Okla., and 10 deaths in nearby Seneca, Okla. … The storms remained active into the night as they swept eastward. The National Weather Service said tornado watches were in effect through 8 p.m. for southern Georgia into northern Florida, as well as south central Virginia, much of North Carolina and northern South Carolina.”

HOUSE GOP. On its front page, under the headline “House GOP seizes voters’ call for change,” The Washington Times reports that “House Republican leaders … will introduce a campaign message today in which they promise voters ‘the change you deserve’ while arguing that Democrats in Congress have dropped the ball… The message being circulated today is part of a campaign strategy on which the leadership will brief members this week. It includes a scheduled Wednesday announcement of the party's new ‘American Families Agenda.’ A top Republican aide … said the families agenda is a blueprint for addressing challenges confronting families and will seek to replace outdated laws to help women with children who work outside the home and families in which both parents work. These kinds of voters often lean Democratic. The overall election strategy includes short-term and long-term plans — to be introduced next week — that will tackle the rising costs of gasoline and diesel fuel… Beginning in June, Republicans will tout proposals to deal with health care, the economy and national security.” Roll Call does a similar story; The Hill and The New York Times have stories online.

BLUE DOGS. Roll Call reports on its front page that Blue Dog Democrats face a “$52 billion test” this week “when they have to choose whether to vote the fiscally conservative line and force Democratic leaders to either pay for a $52 billion new entitlement for veterans with spending cuts or revenue increases or rip it from the war supplemental.” Co-Chairman Mike Ross (D-AR) is quoted: “Absolutely it’s a test for the Blue Dogs. If we allow a mandatory program into the supplemental for the sole purpose of waiving PAYGO rules, then we will have lost our way.” The paper describes the Democrats’ PAYGO rule as “one that is so weak that Democrats have been able to all but ignore it.” Meanwhile, Democrat aides “suggested that either Blue Dogs will have to compromise, such as exacting a promise to pay for the program in the near future, or find an offset that can pass both chambers, or that the GI bill will have to be pulled from the bill, which would disappoint a key constituency and embarrass leadership.” An aide to one Blue Dog says that leadership “made the mistake of taking them for granted.”

IRAQ. The New York Times says that “In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city” of Basra, “to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias. Just as in Baghdad, Iraqi and Western officials emphasize that the gains here are ‘fragile,’ like the newly planted roadside saplings that fail to conceal mounds of garbage and pools of foul-smelling water in the historic port city’s slums.” The paper found that “in interviews across Basra, residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives.” The “principle factor for improvement” cited is “is the deployment of 33,000 members of the Iraqi security forces after the March 24 start of operations, which allowed the government to blanket the city with checkpoints on every major intersection and highway.”

• The Los Angeles Times reports that “fighting ebbed and residents emerged from their homes as a deal to halt fighting took effect Sunday in Sadr City, the Baghdad slum that has been the focus of ongoing clashes pitting U.S. and Iraqi forces against militiamen loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr.” At the same time, “after more than seven weeks of bloodshed, officials and residents alike were cautious about declaring the hostilities over.” The paper notes that “the agreement calls for a four-day halt to hostilities, during which the government wants Mahdi Army fighters to help it rid the area of unexploded bombs. Government troops will then be allowed to pursue wanted fighters, provided the troops have a warrant.”

HOUSING. The Wall Street Journal reports that “Democrats may be risking a backlash at the polls in November by pushing hard to use taxpayer money to rescue homeowners who can no longer afford their mortgages in the face of stiff resistance from President Bush and many other Republicans. … The Republican protests are striking a chord with some Americans who are paying their mortgages on time or who didn't buy more house than they can afford. While noting that the public is largely split on the issue, the paper says that “some Republican strategists say Democrats may misread the public. ‘There will be massive public opinion on the side of helping the single mom who got swindled,’ says Republican consultant Todd Harris. ‘But at the same time, there will be massive voter retribution against any plan that is perceived to bail out greedy and unscrupulous speculators and mortgage companies.’ Keith Hennessey, a top economic-policy adviser to President Bush, says ‘gut-level public opinion’ backs the White House. The reaction of people who are making mortgage payments on time, he says, is: ‘Hey, wait a second, why are you helping him when I'm making hard choices every single month to stay current on my mortgage?’”

SEN. MCCAIN. USA Today reports that “John McCain heads to the Pacific Northwest today to propose a climate-change plan, addressing an issue integral to his presidential bid in a region that could be crucial.” In a speech in Portland, the Arizona senator “plans to renew support for a ‘cap-and-trade’ system” that according to excerpts of his prepared remarks, "sets clear limits on all greenhouse gases, while also allowing the sale of rights to excess emissions.” The paper notes that Sen. McCain “plans to propose a series of goals for reduction of carbon emissions, ending at 60% below 1990 levels by the year 2050. … In the prepared remarks, McCain says that if China and India refuse to participate in an international solution to global warming, he would work with other governments to impose some sort of ‘cost equalization mechanism’ on those nations.” Sen. McCain will campaign tomorrow in Washington state, where he will continue to talk about the environment. In coordination with the tour, Sen. McCain’s campaign has released a new ad on climate change. You can access it here.

ISRAEL. Newsweek reports allegations have surfaced that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions from an American benefactor when he was mayor of Jerusalem." Olmert "pledged not to resign unless he was indicted," but "earlier in the week...Olmert sounded resigned to the possibility that he might stand down."

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports that Olmert, "whose grip on power seemed relatively solid just last month, is now seen in Israel as a political short-timer who could be jettisoned from office at any moment by a burgeoning corruption scandal." Though Olmert "has steadfastly denied" accepting any bribes and "has weathered several corruption investigations without any convictions," Israeli political analysts "say that this may be one scandal too many and that the latest accusations against him are the most serious yet."

VOTER ID. The New York Times says in its lead story that “the battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card. Voting experts say the Missouri amendment represents the next logical step for those who have supported stronger voter ID requirements and the next battleground in how elections are conducted.” The Times says that similar efforts are underway in at least 19 state legislatures, but the Missouri measure is the only one that may take effect before the November election. The paper points out that Missouri would not be the first state to implement a citizenship requirement: Arizona has demanded proof of citizenship since 2004, and in that time, “more than 38,000 voter registration applications have been thrown out.” Already, 25 states require some form of identification to vote. The Times adds that “Democrats have already criticized these requirements as implicitly intended to keep lower-income voters from the polls, and are likely to fight even more fiercely now that the requirements are expanding to include immigration status.”

NUCLEAR ENERGY. In its lead story, The Washington Post goes with the headline “Spread of Nuclear Capability Is Feared” and says that that “At least 40 developing countries from the Persian Gulf region to Latin America have recently approached U.N. officials in Vienna to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend that concerned proliferation experts say could provide the building blocks of nuclear arsenals in some of those nations.” In addition, at least six have said they want to enrich or reprocess nuclear fuel. The paper says that while most of the new interest is “driven by economic considerations,” for some Middle Eastern states with “ready access to huge stocks of oil or natural gas, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the investment in nuclear power appears to be linked partly to concerns about a future regional arms race stoked in part by Iran's alleged interest in such an arsenal.” One expert says: “This is not primarily about nuclear energy. It's a hedge against Iran.” Indeed, as the paper notes, “two of Iran's biggest rivals in the region, Turkey and Egypt, are moving forward with ambitious nuclear projects. Both countries abandoned any pursuit of nuclear power decades ago but are now on course to develop seven nuclear power plants -- four in Egypt and three in Turkey -- over the next decade.” Mohammed ElBaradei, the director general of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, is also quoted: “You don't really even need to have a nuclear weapon, "It's enough to buy yourself an insurance policy by developing the capability, and then sit on it. Let's not kid ourselves: Ninety percent of it is insurance, a deterrence."