SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 5:17 P.M. ET: 

HELL FOR HILL – She's behind in New Hampshire.  From The Hill:  "Hillary Clinton trails three of her Republican challengers — former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) — in a new WMUR Granite State Poll from the University of New Hampshire.  Bush staged an 18-point turnaround since February. He now leads Clinton by a margin of 47 percent to 41 percent, after Clinton led in February by a margin of 51 percent to 39 percent.   Paul also turned around his fortunes from February, when he trailed by 10 percentage points, and now leads Clinton 47 percent to 43 percent.  Rubio leads Clinton by 5 percentage points, 47 percent to 42 percent, while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ties her with 44 percent each."   It's still early, but already there are signs that Clinton is in trouble.  Maybe Americans are finally taking character seriously.

WHAT A SURPRISE – From The New York Times:  "The Justice Department will investigate whether the Baltimore Police Department engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing, law enforcement officials said on Thursday, a day after the mayor asked for an inquiry.  The request by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake came days after the state’s attorney for Baltimore filed criminal charges against six officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died April 19 after being injured while in police custody, setting off large demonstrations, arson and looting."  Obviously, this was a setup.  You may be sure that the Justice Department either asked to be asked, or the mayor got assurances before making her public request that the reply would be affirmative.  Baltimore seems to have classic Democratic hack leadership, with nary a Republican in sight.   Dems have been in power for decades, and only now are they expressing concern about "unconstitutional" policing.  Not terribly impressive.

LATEST BRITISH RESULTS – Confirming our earlier bulletin, actual vote counts are showing a major Conservative tide.  Labour did far worse than expected.  Its leader, Ed Miliband, will now be sent to the great backbench in the sky.  Similarly, the Liberal party, which is actually part of the current governing coalition, was all but wiped out, going from 57 seats to an estimated 10.  Its leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, may barely hang on to his seat in Commons.  Prime Minister Cameron will still need votes from other parties to have the parliamentary majority needed to form a government, but it's expected he will get them easily.  We hope this is an omen for this side of the Atlantic come 2016.

BULLETIN:  Exit polls show conservatives ahead in Britain.  From Sky News:  "An exit poll carried out for the major broadcasters forecasts the Tories will be the largest party after the General Election.  The poll put the Conservatives on 316 seats, Labour on 239, the Scottish National Party on 58, the Liberal Democrats on 10 and UKIP on two.  The Greens are predicted to win two seats, Plaid Cymru four and others 19, according to the survey.  There are 533 parliamentary constituencies in England, 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland.  The parties are therefore trying to get 326 seats to command a majority."

UPDATE:  Other exit polls are now showing similar results.

May 7, 2015