IRAN PREPARED TO HOLD DIALOGUE; WON'T GIVE UP "NATURAL NUCLEAR RIGHTS": The Bush administration offered for the first time yesterday to join European talks with Iran over its nuclear program, but only if the Iranian government suspends efforts to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel, which the administration calls part of a covert attempt to make bombs. Iran this morning issued a wary but apparently less than final reply to the Bush administration's offer. "Iran welcomes dialogue under just conditions but won't give up our rights," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, in remarks quoted by Iranian state television. "We won't negotiate about the Iranian nation's natural nuclear rights but we are prepared, within a defined, just framework and without any discrimination, to hold dialogue about common concerns." Washington Post: Iran Welcomes Talks, Rebuffs U.S. Terms

SECURITY FUNDS SLASHED FOR DC, NYC; $$$ GIVEN TO OMAHA, LOUISVILLE: After vowing to steer a greater share of antiterrorism money to the highest-risk communities, Department of Homeland Security officials on Wednesday announced 2006 grants that slashed money for New York and Washington 40 percent, while other cities including Omaha and Louisville, Ky., got a surge of new dollars. The release of the 2006 urban area grants, which total $711 million, was immediately condemned by leaders in Washington and New York. "When you stop a terrorist, they have a map of New York City in their pocket," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York said. "They don't have a map of any of the other 46 or 45 places." New York Times: Security Cuts for New York and Washington

TRYING TO REASON WITH HURRICANE SEASON: After months of hand-wringing and calendar counting, the long-dreaded first post-Katrina hurricane season officially begins today. But if this year is anything like every year since 1855, don't expect to see many hurricanes in the Gulf for the next month or so. In more than 150 years, not a single hurricane has come near New Orleans in June. During the same period, only four tropical storms have hit the city in summer's first weeks. As for July, only three of 28 hurricanes have hit the New Orleans area in that month, with the only serious storm being a Category 3 that hit land in 1916. While the hurricane season officially lasts six months -- ending Nov. 30 -- those given to panic likely won't need to run for the hills until about mid-August, when the Gulf Coast storm season starts to peak. New Orleans Times-Picayune: Hurricane season starts today

NO MORE FREE TIX FOR HARRY: Pssst. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas after all. A day after The Associated Press reported Reid accepted free ringside seats to boxing matches from a Nevada agency trying to influence him on federal boxing legislation, the senator offered his own ethics justification to a home state audience in Las Vegas. But Reid's comments Tuesday quickly reached Washington, where several ethics experts concluded the Senate leader had misstated the Senate rules to his constituents. Within hours of being questioned by AP about the ethics experts' assertions, Reid's office abruptly reversed course and acknowledged Wednesday night he had misspoken about the ethics rules. The Senate leader also has decided not to take free boxing seats in the future even though he still believes it was ethical to do so in 2004 and 2005, Reid's office said. AP via Yahoo! News: Reid says he won't accept free tickets

OH COIN DEALER PLEADS GUILTY TO ILLEGAL BUSH DONATIONS: Thomas W. Noe admitted yesterday that he broke federal laws to get credit for raising money for President Bush's re-election campaign. During a hearing before U.S. District Judge David A. Katz, Noe changed his not-guilty pleas to three federal felony charges related to illegally giving $45,400 to 24 friends, politicians and associates to donate to Bush in their names. Katz delayed sentencing Noe until a pre-sentence report is completed. But according to suggested sentencing guidelines, Noe could face 2 1/2 years in prison plus fines and probation, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said they also plan to seek additional penalties because of the potential loss of public confidence in the presidential-election process. Columbus Dispatch: Noe pleads guilty to federal charges

ASHCROFT WOULDN'T HAVE AUTHORIZED CHRON SUBPOENAS: Subpoenas issued last month to reporters for The San Francisco Chronicle were criticized yesterday by a former chief spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "reckless abuse of power." The former spokesman, Mark Corallo, made similar statements in an affidavit filed in federal court yesterday. He said Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto R. Gonzales, had acted improperly in issuing the subpoenas. "This is the most reckless abuse of power I have seen in years," Mr. Corallo said in an interview. "They really should be ashamed of themselves." The subpoenas, part of an effort to identify The Chronicle's sources for its coverage of steroid use in baseball, would not have been authorized by Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Corallo said. "You just don't ride roughshod over the rights of reporters to gather information from confidential sources," he added. New York Times: Justice Dept. Is Criticized by Ex-Official on Subpoenas

GIVING REFORMED FELONS THE VOTE: Andres Idarraga is a sophomore at Brown University in Providence studying comparative literature and economics. He dreams of putting his Ivy League education to good use and one day casting a ballot. But he will be 58 before he can legally vote in his home state for the first time. That's because Idarraga, 28, spent about six years in prison for drug and gun possession. Under current Rhode Island law, convicted felons can't vote until they have completed parole and probation, a date 30 years away for Idarraga. So he is speaking out to support a state ballot initiative in November that would allow felons to vote after they leave prison. Its passage would "send a message that we're willing to embrace you, to afford second chances, instead of every step along the way putting up roadblocks," he says. Rhode Island is one of several states where lawmakers and advocacy groups are working to change laws that deny many felons the right to vote. USA Today: R.I. to revisit felons' voting rights

CANDIDATES "MUST ACCEPT THE PRESIDENT'S SHAKY PUBLIC STANDING": Staring down politically difficult moments in his presidency, President Bush often turns to self-deprecating humor. This month's fundraising dinner for Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) -- to which Bush brought an unsavory 29 percent approval rating -- was no exception. Davis "really wanted Laura" to appear at his side before the shaken party faithful and the unforgiving media, Bush quipped. "Unfortunately, she was tied up. But she’s a believer." The audience laughed, but the gravity of Bush’s joke lingers. House Republicans walking an electoral tightrope as the midterms approach must accept the president's shaky public standing to benefit from the White House's still-muscular fundraising power. The Hill: They 'really wanted Laura'

EHRLICH WELCOMES BUSH IN B-MORE: Despite President Bush's record-low approval ratings in Maryland, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. welcomed him to a Baltimore-area fundraiser yesterday that Republican officials say brought in $1 million for the Maryland GOP. "Mr. President, it's a big deal to have you here," the Republican governor told a crowd of about 200 gathered in a ballroom at the BWI Airport Marriott. "We thank you for supporting us, the citizens of Maryland." Though Ehrlich, who faces re-election this fall in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one, said he was pleased to stand with Bush, his partner in the State House -- Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, a candidate for U.S. Senate -- was absent. Baltimore Sun: Bush backs Ehrlich's campaign at benefit

BYRD SET TO BREAK RECORD: Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), unofficial historian of the Senate and widely acclaimed master of its rules and folkways, will become the chamber's longest-serving member June 12, surpassing the mark set by South Carolina's Strom Thurmond (R). On that day, Byrd will have served 17,327 days in the upper chamber. The adopted son of a coal miner, Byrd rose to majority leader -- and higher, in his estimation, to the Appropriations Committee chairmanship -- during a Senate career that began in 1959. He has been held up as a paragon of the cultural conservatism that his party long ago discarded and as a hero to liberals who oppose the Iraq war. The Hill: Byrd poised to break Thurmond's record

COUNTDOWN TO CA DEM PRIMARY: In its closing days, the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination has evolved into two parallel contests. There is the tawdry one seen by millions of Californians in TV commercials: a brawl between rivals Phil Angelides and Steve Westly over corruption and environmental misdeeds. And there is the other one, more civil but less visible: the two men traveling the state, saying where they stand on schools, taxes, healthcare, immigration -- areas where a governor can make a difference in voters' day-to-day lives. With Tuesday's election five days away, Angelides and Westly have opened new lines of attack this week in the TV ad fight, a clash that has often misled or, by some accounts, deceived viewers. Los Angeles Times: Rivals for Gov. Run Parallel Races

WILL KY LG TAKE ON FLETCHER NEXT YEAR? Lt. Gov. Steve Pence left open the possibility yesterday that he could run for governor in 2007 against Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Pence, 52, said he told Fletcher he was dropping off the governor's 2007 ticket and had "no plans" to run for a statewide office that year. "But I have to tell you this: When I became a candidate in 2003 for lieutenant governor, the month before that I had not planned on becoming lieutenant governor," Pence said at a news conference at the Capitol. He thanked Fletcher and described him as honest and smart, but he declined to endorse his re-election bid. Louisville Courier-Journal: Pence could run against Fletcher

HILLARY GETS NOD AT NY DEM CONVENTION: Sen. Hillary Clinton triumphantly accepted the unanimous renomination of her party yesterday with a video and speech that did absolutely nothing to slow speculation about a 2008 presidential bid. If you didn't pay very close attention, you'd have thought she was already running for President -- against George W. Bush. She didn't even acknowledge having any Senate race opponents, but did a fair amount of Bush bashing and gleefully opened her campaign video with a shot of the President predicting she would lose in 2000. New York Daily News: Dems pick Hil for Senate

KT TAPS BEAUTY QUEEN AS PRESS SECY: Senate candidate KT McFarland's new press secretary once had a little-known title in a past life -- Miss Florida Citrus. Morgan Ortagus, the willowy brunette who joined McFarland's campaign in recent weeks, doesn't like to talk about it, but she was a beauty queen in the Sunshine State four years ago. "I needed scholarships to get through school," she explained, saying it gave her access to college tuition. "It's not something I advertise," the 23-year-old said, adding, "I don't think I'm that interesting." New York Post: Cutie KT Flack Has Juicy Past

KASS: DALEY TAKES ON BALD PEOPLE: "I never thought I'd see the day when Mayor Richard Daley would publicly reveal himself as a baldophobe. But he did, in front of reporters and TV news cameras on Wednesday when, rather than answer questions about the City Hall corruption trial in federal court, he ridiculed a bald fellow. That bald man is the Swede, the reporter who helps me with the column. He avoided the Swede's questions this way: "It's silly. Baldheaded!" Daley shouted at the Swede. "HA HA HA HA. He's baldheaded! Is that silly. No. C'mon!... That is the silliest thing I've ever heard. Next question."... Clearly, Daley has committed a political blunder of gargantuan proportions, because many American men are either bald or balding, according to various bald-guy support groups. Later, the wife of the founder of Bald-Headed Men of America called on Daley to recant his baldophobia and publicly apologize to the Swede." Chicago Tribune: Dealing with Daley gets a little hairy