MCCONNELL CASE DEVELOPMENT. BuzzFeed. “The head of a group accused of illegally taping private meetings of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign visited the White House days before the group’s Twitter account began actively attacking the Kentucky Republican, according to White House visitors logs.”

BACHMANN BOOK ISSUE. Story here. “The Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into Rep. Michele Bachmann has reportedly widened to include questions about the use of staff to promote her book tour, according to sources who spoke with the Minneapolis Star Tribune.”

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS. Politico. “Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is questioning whether a lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig, a K Street law firm, tipped off Height Securities, a political intelligence firm, regarding a soon-to-be-announced increase in Medicare Advantage rates.”

H MAJ PAC ATTACK. NJ. “House Majority PAC released a blistering attack ad on Wednesday, going after former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford for going on a ‘taxpayer-fueled spending spree’ during his time in office.”

SC: ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FORD. Story here. “The Senate Ethics Committee has found probable cause that Sen. Robert Ford committed multiple ethics violations.”

TN: NO LIMIT INCREASE. Story here. “In this session’s first real defeat for the Republican leadership, the House just refused to raise contribution limits for state political campaigns. The vote was 48-41—two votes short of the majority needed for passage.”

VT: CFR BALK. News here. “Did Sen. Peter Galbraith, the former diplomat, make a strategic miscalculation just as his effort to ban corporate campaign contributions was about to pass the Senate?”

VA: RETURNS SOUGHT. The Post. “While calling on candidates to release their tax returns is standard in presidential elections — Republican Mitt Romney partially gave in to such demands and released two years of returns last year — gubernatorial candidates traditionally have not released theirs.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.