The Note's Must-Reads for Monday, April 29, 2013

The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Jayce Henderson, Amanda VanAllen and Carrie Halperin

PRESIDENT OBAMA ABC News' Sarah Parnass: " White House Correspondents' Dinner: Obama's Top 7 Jokes" The president's job requires him to be many things: a diplomat, a scholar and for one night each year, a comedian. On Saturday, for a few hours, journalists and the lawmakers they cover put politics aside to dine together and at least pretend to laugh as President Obama poked fun at himself and others in Washington. LINK

The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin and Zachary Goldfarb: " After string of setbacks, more charm may be the last, best option for Obama" There was little time to mingle Tuesday night at the White House. Five minutes after greeting them, President Obama ushered 20 female senators into the State Dining Room and invited each to offer her thoughts on the issues of the day. And that was about it. "That took up our entire two hours, to go around the table," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), recalled in an interview. "It was not the kind of warm banter that can go back and forth. People had their points they wanted to make to the president. It was all business." LINK

TRANSPORTATION CHIEF The Hills' Brendan Sasso: " Obama to nominate Charlotte Mayor Foxx for Transportation chief" President Obama on Monday will nominate Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to be his next secretary of Transportation, a White House official confirmed to The Hill. Foxx would replace outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who announced his retirement earlier this year. LINK

BOSTON BOMBINGS The New York Daily News' Adam Edelman: " Sen. Lindsey Graham criticizes FBI for failing to better monitor Boston Marathon bombing suspect" A prominent Republican Senator accused the nation's main intelligence-gathering agencies on Sunday of failing to adequately keep tabs on the suspected Boston Marathon bombers. "I think information sharing failed," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CBS's "Face the Nation" of Tamerian Tsarnaev, who, along with his brother Dzhokhar, is suspected of having carried out the deadly attacks in Boston that killed three and left scores of others maimed. LINK

The Washington Times' Sean Lengell: " Rep. Michael McCaul: Boston bombing suspects had help" The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says evidence suggests the two brothers accused of the Boston bombings had help planning the attack - and he says he has concerns about a possible "wider conspiracy" stretching overseas. U.S. officials investigating the bombings have told The Associated Press that so far there is no evidence of a wider plot. LINK

ECONOMY The New York Times' Jonathan Weisman: " Push to Require Online Sales Tax Divides the G.O.P." Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they're losing. For years, conservative Republican lawmakers have been influenced heavily by the antitax activists in Washington, who have dictated outcomes and become the arbiters of what is and is not a tax increase. But on the question of Internet taxation, their voices have begun to be drowned out by the pleas of struggling retailers back home who complain that their online competitors enjoy an unfair price advantage. LINK

OTHER Politico's Maggie Haberman: " Could Kirsten Gillibrand run for president?" There's a female politician from New York who is beloved by gay rights activists, has amassed a national fundraising network and is viewed by many Democrats as a viable presidential candidate. And her name is not Hillary Clinton. If Clinton runs for president, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's time won't be in 2016. But the junior senator from New York, who holds Clinton's former seat and is often overshadowed by the state's better-known political figures, is quietly building a résumé that would allow her to be taken seriously should she ever decide to run for president. LINK

USA Today's Michael Wolff: " Kochs to buy lamestream media?" The Koch brothers, the unimaginably rich and combatively conservative oil heirs, are telling people that they might like to buy the newspapers owned by the recently bankrupt Tribune Co. - Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant andThe Baltimore Sun, among them. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO "This Week" LINK " Comedian-in-Chief: Obama Breaks Bread with White House Correspondents" LINK

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