(Continued from page 33)

rado, Nevada and Ohio.
• A Republican super PAC called SOS for SOS has outlined plans to spend up to $10 million this year to bolster GOP secretary of state campaigns in at least eight states.
• "For too long I think we've been on the defensive on these issues," said Jeremy Bird, a founder of iVote and a former Obama campaign national field director. "We're fighting for people to be able to vote, to have easier access to voting and easier opportunities for voter registration."
• Republicans currently control 28 of the 50 state elections offices, some of which are part of the lieutenant governor's office, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State. Among the states that elect their top elections official, Republicans control 23 of the 39 offices.
• ___

• CAIRO (AP) -- Unknown only two years ago, the head of Egypt's military, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is riding on a wave of popular fervor that is almost certain to carry him to election as president. Many Egyptians now hail him as the nation's savior after he ousted the Islamists from power and as the only figure strong enough to lead.
• Still, if he becomes president, el-Sissi runs enormous risks.
• His presidency would enmesh the military even deeper into politics, putting the credibility of the powerful institution on the line if he fails to resolve the country's woes. Turmoil may only increase with a backlash from Islamists, who now despise el-Sissi for his ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and for the brutal crackdown on their ranks that has arrested thousands and killed hundreds since.
• And there is little indication of how he would rule.
• Secular critics fear a return of an autocracy similar to that led by Hosni Mubarak for nearly 30 years until his ouster in 2011's popular uprising. El-Sissi has said it is impossible to now return to Mubarak's style of rule and that the country must move to democracy. But elements of Mubarak's police state -- including top security officials and the business elite -- are among his fervent supporters, and the crackdown on Islamists has already expanded into a wider suppression of dissent.
• ___