Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) “has spent the past year leading an effort to seize control of his state party, hoping to send a message that the kickoff presidential caucuses will be welcoming to all 2016 GOP hopefuls,” the AP reports.

“But as conservative prospects flood the state for a major annual gathering of evangelical Christians this weekend, it’s not clear whether the party makeover will make Iowa more attractive to a mainstream GOP contender. Evangelicals, tea partiers and libertarians remain strong in Iowa, which has been difficult terrain for more moderate Republicans in recent presidential cycles.”

“A file titled ‘War Room’ that spells out Gov. Scott Walker’s priorities while he was Milwaukee County executive, including groups he wanted to track, was part of thousands of documents released Friday that were originally collected as part of a now-closed investigation into Walker’s aides,” the AP reports.

“I don’t think Bill and Hillary Clinton could possibly be that politically naïve. New York is a solidly blue state that never votes Republican. Pennsylvania is a swing state whose margins are closer and closer. Where would you go?”

— Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), quoted by the New York Times, on reports the Clintons want the Democratic convention in Brooklyn rather than Philadelphia.

“New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s chances to be the 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee were hampered by a U.S. regulation that could have an even bigger impact on the next race for the White House,” Bloomberg reports.

“The three-year-old rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission effectively bars governors and other state officials from raising money from Wall Street for state or federal elections. Having Christie on the ticket would have complicated Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, which took in more money from securities and investment firms than any other industry.”

“Now, with governors including Christie, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana contemplating a White House run in 2016, two state Republican committees have filed a lawsuit to overturn the regulation.”

“The Indian Trail councilman who wrote his resignation letter in Klingon wants to beam up to Capitol Hill. David Waddell is running as a write-in candidate for U.S. Senate,” the Charlotte Observer reports.

Said Waddell: “Having campaign signs in Klingon is probably a bad idea. But maybe I’ll make up one or two and put one in the mayor’s yard.”

James Carville: “Democrats, myself included, tend to respect and value expertise, and find that people who have established a record of accuracy and developed a model that’s proven to be beneficial over time should be people accorded great deference when they opine on a topic that they have demonstrated past mastery over.”

“You don’t hear complaints about skewered polls, global cooling, tax cuts paying for themselves, people riding dinosaurs and other silly crap like that from Democrats. So that is why it’s disturbing news that David Wasserman, from The Cook Political Report, who is a smart person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like, recently changed his House rating’s model toward favoring Republicans. 538.com’s Nate Silver’s recent commentary that Republicans have a 60 percent chance of a Senate takeover is similarly disconcerting. The reasons are plentiful and valid; the obvious ones are that we’re in the sixth year of the presidential term, there’s a tepid presidential approval rating, we’re seeing high wrong-track numbers, and we’re facing an unfavorable map. In the past these numbers have proven to have a great deal of validity.”

Yahoo News reports that while Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “presents himself as a defender of Kentucky coal mining, a member of his own family who serves as a key campaign surrogate is taking a role in funding one of the most aggressive anti-coal campaigns in the country.”

“McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, sits on the board of directors of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has plunged $50 million into the Sierra Club’s ‘Beyond Coal’ initiative, an advocacy effort with the expressed goal of killing the coal industry.”

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll “shows an angry electorate that blames Washington for much of its pain. And with their blood boiling and Election Day only three months away, voters look ready to do… maybe not too much.”

“For all the displeasure with the country’s general direction – more than 70% say the country is on the wrong track, only 40% approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing and only 14% approve of Congress – there is less interest in this November’s voting than there was at this time in 2010. And that’s true across Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives and all age groups.”

Brendan Nyhan wonders why President Obama would risk taking executive action on immigration before the midterm elections.

“Of course, Mr. Obama faces short-term pressures to address the surge in migrant children being detained at the border, but news media reports suggest that the policy changes under consideration would be far broader, potentially providing legal status to many of the nation’s undocumented immigrants. Such a broad executive action could provoke a backlash in the midterm elections that might be avoided with a move just a few months later.”

“It’s easy to overstate the effects of policy on electoral outcomes, but there is a recent worst-case example: the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Research that I conducted with a group of political scientists found that the Republican landslide in 2010 was strengthened by health care reform.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) “convincing win over his tea party challengers in Thursday’s Republican primary sets up another battle the two-term incumbent is expected to win,” the Tennessean reports.

“But even though the Tennessee Democratic Party remains undermanned compared with the state’s dominant Republicans, it at least will have a candidate this fall who’s not a national joke — something the party couldn’t say two years ago.”

Roll Call: “His victory means no Republican senators have lost a primary challenge, ending the tea party’s streak at two cycles. None of the remaining primaries feature a Republican senator.”

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) “was clinging to what appeared to be a narrow victory over challenger Jim Tracy (R), defeating the state senator by 35 votes,” the Tennessean reports.

“The results are unofficial. Tennessee does not have an automatic recount law, but a candidate can request one from state and party officials. There also could be uncounted absentee or provisional ballots.”

Nashville Public Radio reports Tracy had already declared victory before the last votes were tallied.