SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:29 P.M. ET:

SALVATION IN LONDON – British Conservatives took a beating in yesterday's municipal elections, but there was one beam of bright light.  Boris Johnson was re-elected mayor of London, obviously Britain's most important city.  His opponent was former Mayor Ken Livingstone, a left-wing extremist with openly stated dreams of making London a major Muslim center.  Johnson now becomes a significant national figure.  There is chatter that he might someday challenge sitting Prime Minister David Cameron.

LUGAR FADING – Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana appears to be fading in his primary race for a nomination to a seventh term.  His opponent, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, is ten points ahead of Lugar in the latest statewide poll.  The primary is Tuesday.  If Lugar loses, despite the support of much of the Republican establishment, it may well be because Hoosiers feel he has lost touch with the state.  Lugar's main areas of interest are in foreign policy.

YOUNG GENIUS – A two-year-old girl with an I.Q. of 135 has been admitted to Mensa, the organization that limits its membership to those in the upper two percent on accepted intelligence scales.  I hope her parents are wise enough to keep her away from Mensa meetings until she's a well-grounded adult, though, as they must be utterly obnoxious affairs.  I've only known a few Mensa members, and they proved beyond a doubt that high intelligence and the ability to use it well are two different things.

YEAH, I GUESS SO – It is reliably reported that the now 101-year-old heiress whose cash helped John Edwards cover up his affair with a videographer and the love child that resulted from same, believed that Edwards was using her only for her money, and that he should have spent his own.  Yeah, heiresses can sometimes come to the right conclusions, when presented with the facts.  Rachel “Bunny” Mellon funneled $750,000 to Edwards during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.  She also gave another $6.4-million to a group tied to the Edwards presidential campaign.  She's a charitable woman and deserved better than John Edwards.

May 4, 2012