But not for long.

Woods played 13 holes under hazy sunshine, far different conditions from what he saw two weeks ago in the wind and rain that made the shortest U.S. Open course in nine years feel much longer. He was among a scattering of players who spent a lazy afternoon getting to know a golf course that last held a major championship 32 years ago.

But while no one in the field played in that 1981 U.S. Open that David Graham won with a flawless final round, Kevin Chappell is among those getting reacquainted.

Chappell played four competitive rounds in 2005 during the U.S. Amateur, the litmus test for the USGA to make sure Merion was still current with the modern game. He lost in the third round that year, and while the surroundings look different with the grandstands and hospitality areas, one thing hasn't changed.

"It's a tour event on steroids," Chappell said.

Merion is 6,996 yards on the scorecard, making it the first major championship under 7,000 yards since Shinnecock Hills (also 6,996 yards) for the 2004 U.S. Open. But the yardage can be deceiving. One of the par 5s is 628 yards, and Geoff Ogilvy figured there would be dozens of players who struggle to reach the green in three shots, much less get home in two. Another par 5 has been shifted to the right, bringing out-of-bounds close to the edge of the fairway.

It has a par 3 of only 115 yards the other par 3s all are over 240 yards.

And perhaps the biggest change from most recent U.S. Opens is the rough. It's long and thick.

"The rough is longer than we've seen," said Ogilvy, who had never seen Merion until arriving this weekend. "You can't make grass grow in four days, but you can cut. Although I don't think they will."

USGA executive director Mike Davis was making the rounds Sunday afternoon, checking on a course that received about 3 inches of rain Friday, so much that the creek near the par-4 11th green was starting to creep over the rock wall. It was back to normal Sunday, though the forecast is suspect for a big part of week.

Chappell played 18 holes with former Masters champion Zach Johnson and Tim Clark, and he couldn't help but notice how many of the fairways have shifted to move closer to the trouble. Then, he clarified what he meant by "trouble."

"Closer to the boundary stakes," he said.

Some of the fans leaned against the railing by the road on the left side of the 15th hole, so close to the fairway that they could have a personal conversation with Hunter Mahan, and even applaud his short iron to about 12 feet.

Merion has a lot of meat early in the round, particularly the opening six holes. What follows is a seven-hole stretch of par 3s and par 4s, the longest at 403 yards, which is short by today's standards. It's where the birdies are to be made, assuming the ball is placed in the correct part of the fairway. And then comes the strong finish.

Mahan opted for a driver off the 15th hole it's about 290 yards to cover the bunkers dotting the right side, so he picked out a tall fir tree just left of them. It was an aggressive play, and that's that Chappell expects to see from several players. But not all of them.

"There will be a big discrepancy in play," Chappell said. "You can challenge some of these holes if you want to."

The winning score at Merion has improved each of the previous four U.S. Opens. Olin Dutra won at 293 in 1934, followed by Ben Hogan at 287 in 1950, Lee Trevino at 280 in 1971 and Graham at 273 in 1981.

Chappell can see something along the lines of 10-under par if the week gets enough rain to make the greens soft. Yes, Merion can hold its own against the best in the world.

"There's too many wedges," he said, referring to the middle stretch of the golf course.

Ogilvy was walking up the 12th fairway when he pointed to the thick grass framing the landing areas and said, "There won't be any scoring records this week."

There was rain early in the week at Olympia Fields in 2003, which softened the course. Vijay Singh shot 63 in the second round. Jim Furyk was at 10-under 200 to set the 54-hole record at the time, and despite bogeys on the last two holes, his 272 tied what was then the U.S. Open record. It was soft at Congressional in 2011 when Rory McIlroy set the new standard, finishing on 16-under 268.

"I think there will be low rounds, but I don't think the total will be low," Ogilvy said.

There's no telling what this week will bring at Merion, though Ogilvy figured it would start from the tee.

"It takes a lot of practice to work out some of these lines," he said. "On 10 of the holes (minus the par 3s), you've got to be comfortable. There's no specific clue where to hit it. You have to know it. Off the tee, it's quite awkward. Someone who drives it the best this week will fare quite well not the straightest, but the best."

Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker played Merion in the 1989 U.S. Amateur. Chappell, defending U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson and New Orleans winner Billy Horschel were among those at the 2005 U.S. Amateur, while Morgan Hoffmann and Rickie Fowler played Merion in the 2009 Walker Cup.

The biggest difference? Except for one qualifying round at the U.S. Amateur, that was match play. The worst anyone could do was to lose a hole. Starting Thursday, they have to count every stroke on every hole.

Duncan Keith will sit out Thursday under a one-game suspension for high-sticking Los Angeles' Jeff Carter. Keith hit Carter with a one-handed blow in the second period of the Kings' 3-1 victory in Game 3, opening a 20-stitch gash on the star forward's face and cracking three of his teeth.

Chicago has a 2-1 series lead and could take control with a win in Game 4, but the uncertainty of Keith's fate hung over both teams' practices Wednesday. Keith is enormously important to the powerful Blackhawks, easily leading the club in ice time and ranking third in playoff scoring with 10 points.

Sheldon Brookbank, the likely candidate to take Keith's place in the Blackhawks' lineup, hasn't played in the postseason.

"It's been our strength pretty much all season, our depth on our blue line," Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said before the suspension was announced. "So whatever happens with that, I think we're going to be all right. I'm sure if something happens, Brookbank is going to come in and play good. All of the D-men have to step up a little more if that happens."

Keith, whose ungloved hand was nearly slashed by Carter an instant earlier, got a double minor penalty for his high stick, but was allowed to stay in Game 3. Keith had a hearing with the NHL's department of player safety Wednesday, but spent the day uneasily waiting for a decision.

"I said my piece," Keith said before the suspension. "Said the same thing last night, that it was an accident, and I didn't mean to get him where I got him."

Keith is classified by the NHL as a repeat offender a factor in suspension decisions after elbowing Vancouver's Daniel Sedin in the head late last season, sidelining Sedin well into the playoffs. San Jose's Raffi Torres, another repeat offender, was suspended for the rest of the second round after an illegal hit on Los Angeles' Jarret Stoll in the opener of the clubs' seven-game series.

Keith attempted to apologize to Carter on the ice, claiming the high stick was an accident. The Kings' top goal-scorer shrugged off the apology in much the same way he dismissed any concern about his carved-up face Wednesday at Los Angeles' training complex.

"There's bigger things to worry about right now," Carter said, shrugging off his broken teeth with a hockey player's nonchalance. "We're in a fight here, down two games to one. I don't think that's on our minds."

Keith is averaging nearly 25 minutes per game in the postseason, nearly four minutes more than any other Blackhawks player. His 10 points are nearly more than the rest of the Chicago defense's 12 combined points.

The rest of the Kings also tried to downplay the conflict described as "retaliation" by Kings coach Darryl Sutter after the game. Los Angeles already lost Stoll and Mike Richards to head injuries earlier in the postseason, although Stoll has returned and Richards is skating again after a big hit in Game 1 kept him out of the past two games.

"I moved on right after the game," Sutter said. "Had my feelings on it. I think I'm correct."

The NHL agreed, and the Blackhawks' attempt to end the defending Stanley Cup champions' 15-game home winning streak got tougher.

The Blackhawks realize Keith's absence won't matter if they can't figure out how to crack the Kings' incredible home-ice advantage. Los Angeles hasn't lost at Staples Center since March 23, and the Kings have won nine straight playoff games in their downtown building dating to last season's Stanley Cup clincher.

The Blackhawks gave credit to the Kings' superb start in Game 3, putting them in an early 1-0 hole and matching Chicago's urgency from the first two games at United Center. But the Presidents' Trophy winners are confident they can match the Kings' start in Game 4.

"I thought we were really prepared for what was coming here in this building, but obviously we were not," Hjalmarsson said. "They came out flying. We know they're a tough team. Especially here in this building, they're a really tough team to beat. We've got to step it up and find a way to get back to the way we were playing in Chicago to have a chance to win the next game, because the last game wasn't good enough, not even close."

The Kings lost in regulation just four times all season at home, but this dominance is hardly a team tradition. They lost three home playoff games during their 16-4 rampage to the Stanley Cup last season, and they lost five consecutive postseason games at Staples Center during first-round exits in their previous two playoff runs in 2010 and 2011.

And Los Angeles is still struggling to score in its title defense, managing no more than two goals without an empty-netter in its last eight games. Carter and Justin Williams have six goals apiece in Los Angeles' 16 playoff games, but nobody else has more than defenseman Slava Voynov's five goals.

Low scores are no surprise in a tense playoff series between two elite teams with strong defenses, but Chicago forward Patrick Kane's struggles are increasingly inexplicable. The six-time 20-goal scorer hasn't found the net in seven games, and he's got just two goals in the postseason after scoring 23 in the lockout-shortened regular season.

Kane realizes the Blackhawks depend on his scoring, and he's staying confident in his skills.

"You've got to give them credit for the way they're playing defensively," Kane said of the Kings. "They've been a good defensive team for the last three, four years. ... In the playoffs, it hasn't been happening for me for some reason. I don't know why. Me personally, I think it's all about willpower, just getting the puck and making things happen that way."

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ten years ago, poker shows proliferated on TV and then faded but with several states and federal legislators moving to legalize the game online, some networks are betting that TV poker is back.

"Online poker will introduce a lot of new people to the game and I think that will bring another big wave to television," said Jamie Horowitz, vice president original programming and production for Walt Disney's ESPN.

ESPN televises the popular World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament, currently taking place in Las Vegas through July 6. ESPN will air 26 segments on WSOP starting on July 23.

On Wednesday, CBS's Showtime will air for the first time on TV a 2009 documentary called "All In - The Poker Movie," about how poker has come to be part of the mainstream culture.

Hollywood agents, TV executives, poker and gaming executives have been meeting to discuss and pitch new poker programs, from reality shows about female tournament players, to shows potentially featuring new online gaming companies.

Others caution, however, that a resurgence in poker TV needs more than the three states, Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey, that have passed online gambling laws to kickstart the game on TV again.

"Although online gambling may only have momentum in three states right now, it could be a great lead-in for programming," said Alec Driscoll, director of gaming development for American Casino and Entertainment Properties LLC.

Off-shore poker websites such as PokerStars were the forces behind the poker TV boom, starting around 2003, serving as on-air sponsors and buying air time for their own shows.

But that all changed on April 15, 2011, known in the gaming industry as "Black Friday," when the U.S. Department of Justice indicted the founders of these sites on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses.

The sites were closed to U.S. online players, sending shockwaves through the poker world and the TV industry.

Networks slashed shows. But then the DOJ in late 2011 clarified its stance on the Wire Act, enabling states to legalize online gambling.

CASINOS AND NETWORKS EXPECT BIGGER MARKET

Nevada was the first state to go live in late April, while others like New Jersey and Delaware are preparing to start online poker in coming months. Several others are considering similar laws, while lawmakers in Congress are also working on legislation to allow online poker gambling across the United States, giving casinos and TV networks a bigger market.

Larry Gerbrandt, principal of Media Valuation Partners, said the last poker TV boom helped offshore online poker sites to drive viewers to their sites. Gerbrandt said it will take similar investment by fledgling online gaming companies to fuel television, although he believes poker show ratings are rising.

Comcast's NBC Universal's E! Network is developing a new reality show called "Queens are Wild" that follows four top female poker players who room together as they travel the world and compete to win millions.

Ben Spector, of Los Angeles-based Tollin Productions, said he was approached by top Hollywood agency CAA to pitch the reality show on female poker players to networks.

Taiwanese-born professional poker player Maria Ho, who has accrued more than $1 million in tournament earnings, is one of the women featured. Ho is no stranger to TV and has appeared on "The Amazing Race" and "American Idol" and is a commentator on the "Heartland Poker Tour" syndicated TV series.

"When I got into poker, I didn't see myself going down the TV path," Ho said. She gave up plans to go to graduate school to play poker. "It's been the ride of my life."

Gary Quinn, vice president, programming, NBC Sports Group, said the unit is in discussions about different poker projects. It airs the "National Heads Up Poker Championship" and brought back "Poker After Dark" in 2012 after withdrawing it a few years earlier.

New online gaming companies are mulling TV opportunities. Station Casino Inc's Ultimate Gaming, the first company to take online bets in the U.S. in Nevada last April 30, is in discussions with networks.

"We are speaking with NBC and Fox and several other networks to see what the appetite is for the category over the next 24 months," said Joe Versaci, Ultimate Gaming's chief marketing officer.

Versaci and others are watching California closely because of its size and entertainment footprint. "What happens in California in late 2014 and 2105 will be key, not only because it's the epicenter of where TV is produced, but because it's like a country itself and can support a large poker market," he said.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Grant McCool)

Pulling off our species' firstwill require many decades of hard work by some of the planet's best minds. Some scientists and engineers are pushing for that work to begin now.

"An interstellar mission will be a pan-generational initiative requiring an immense investment of intellectual and financial capital, and so the necessary programs need to begin today," Richard Obousy, president and co-founder of Icarus Interstellar, a nonprofit group devoted to pursuing space travel to another star, said in a statement. []

"It's time to take action so that our children and grandchildren look back upon this era as the time when we made the decision to work together instead of against one another," Obousy added. "And as the time when true human history began."

Interstellar spaceflight conference

To help make all of this happen, Icarus Interstellar is hosting a conference called Starship Congress this August. The meeting, held Aug. 15-18 in Dallas, will bring together space scientists, engineers and other experts to discuss the possibilities and implications of interstellar flight.

Some of those implications are ethical, conference organizers say. If humanity sends a probe to a star system hosting , for example, how will the residents respond?

"Aside from the , just by taking into consideration our own record of human contact with one another makes it plainly obvious these topics are of astounding consequence," Mike Mongo, creative strategy director for Starship Congress, said in a statement.

The conference will take a practical look at instellar spaceflight, investigating how it can be achieved on a step-by-step basis. The first day, for example, will address the near future (the next 20 years), while the second and third days will take a longer view (20 to 50 years out and 50 to 500-plus years away, respectively).

Starship Congress organizers plan to publicize the meeting in part using money raised via a campaign on the crowdfunding website . This 30-day campaign, which began May 17, aims to raise $10,000; as of today (June 5), it has hauled in about $4,600.

New tech needed

will require advanced propulsion technology capable of propelling spacecraft far faster than today's chemical rockets.

Possible alternatives include harnessing the power of nuclear fusionor matter-antimatter reactions, or beaming super-focused light onto a probe equipped with a gigantic sail. Some engineers are even studying the possibility of faster-than-light travel using a spacetime-bending "."

None of these technologies are close to flight-ready, but Obousy is optimistic that one of them will send humanity's first interstellar spacecraft on its way by the end of the century.

"I think a lot of people tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in the short term, in the next five to 10 years," he told SPACE.com earlier this year. "But they also vastly underestimate what we can accomplish in the long term, decades or a century from now."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitterand.Follow us , or . Originally published on

His success in an office he was forced out of by a military coup in 1999 will hinge on how quickly he can address Pakistanis' most basic needs such as electricity and jobs, but many analysts believe his strong mandate at least gives him a fighting chance at success.

Sharif, whose party won the May 11 nationwide elections, was formally chosen by parliament and sworn in by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday.

In a speech long on rhetoric but short on specifics, Sharif vowed to address the myriad of problems facing the country of 180 million people, including unemployment, electricity blackouts, inflation, corruption, a disillusioned youth and extremism and lawlessness.

"I will do my best to change the fate of the people and Pakistan," he said.

Sharif is the first Pakistani leader to serve three terms. He was elected prime minister in 1990 and again in 1997. He then was ousted by a military coup in 1999, spent nearly eight years in exile, then five years in opposition before returning to power.

During the campaign, he sometimes lashed out at the U.S. and its policy of using drones to kill militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Speaking to parliament after being elected, he once again called for an end to the drone policy.

"This daily routine of drone attacks, this chapter shall now be closed," Sharif said to widespread applause. "We do respect others' sovereignty. It is mandatory on others that they respect our sovereignty."

But he gave few details on how he might end the strikes. Many in Pakistan say the strikes kill large numbers of innocent civilians something the U.S. denies and end up breeding more extremism by those seeking retribution.

The U.S. considers the drone program vital to battling al-Qaida and other insurgents who use the tribal areas of Pakistan as a safe haven.

Many analysts say such anti-American sentiment may mellow or take a backseat to more pressing economic concerns in Sharif's administration. Pakistan will require American support for the likely economic bailout it will need from the International Monetary Fund, and the two sides both have an interest in finding a peaceful solution to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

Sharif has also said that he would like good relations with the U.S. and in his speech noted the need to pay attention to the concerns of "other countries."

But for most Pakistanis the drones are secondary to the issues that will define Sharif's tenure in office: the economy and electricity.

Over the last five years of the previous administration, power outages some as long as 20 hours have plagued the country. People suffer through sweltering summers, and in recent years gas shortages in the winter have left people unable to heat their houses.

Companies struggle to find a way to run businesses without a reliable source of electricity.

Sharif and his team of advisers have been meeting continuously with officials from the country's power-related industries and interim government officials from affected ministries to map out a strategy.

Outside the parliament, Mohammed Aslam, who came from Sharif's hometown of Lahore to the capital for the ceremony, said he voted for Sharif because he promised to solve the electricity crisis. But he warned that Pakistanis will not tolerate bad governance for another five years.

"If he fails, he will go home next year," he said.

One thing going in Sharif's favor is his strong mandate. The previous Pakistan People's Party government kept their fragile coalition together for five years but had to constantly make concessions to smaller partners.

Sharif's party has a 176-seat majority in the 342-member house and a strong platform from which to address the country's economic problems. Sharif, who comes from a Pakistani business family that made its wealth in the steel industry, has widespread business support.

"I do actually see a lot of resolve. They have a very strong mandate," said Werner Liepach, country director in Pakistan for the Asian Development Bank.

Sharif made little mention of the militant attacks and the fighting in Pakistan's tribal areas that have killed thousands of civilians and security forces. He has been accused of failing to go after extremist groups accused of sectarian violence that have a fairly open presence in Punjab province, despite the fact that Sharif's PML-N has controlled the province and its police for the last five years.

Sharif noted the historic nature of Wednesday's ceremony. His assumption of office marks the first time a democratically elected government has handed over power to another in the country's 65-year history.

"Now it should be decided forever that Pakistan's survival, protection, sovereignty, progress, prosperity and respect in the international community depends upon strengthening democracy in Pakistan," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed, Asif Shahzad and Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.

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Some people worry that Google might respond to Facebook Home by blocking this kind of approach in a future release.We want to be a very, very open platform, but we want a way by which end users are getting a good experience overall. We have to figure out a way to rationalize things, and do it so that it makes sense for users and developers. Theres always a balance there. Its no different from the kind of decisions that Facebook has to make about its own platform. But right now, we dont plan to make any changes we are excited theyve done good work.

Hold on. Youre saying that you like innovation like Homebut at some point in the future you might decide that an invasive software approach like this isnt good for users and cant be done in a future Android release?No. Let me clarify. Users get to decide what apps and what choices they want. Some users really want this. We dont want to get in the way of that. [But] in the end, we have to provide a consistent experience. As part of that, with every release of Android, we do go through changes. So we may make changes over time. But if this is what users want, I think Facebook will be able to do it. We want it to be possible for users to get what they want.

There is plenty of room for interpretation there. In the end though, it seems as if Google is leaving the door open but isnt afraid to close it slightly if the need should arise. What might make the need arise? Google is leaving that up to its discretion if it determines any particular Android app is standing in the way of users getting a good experience overall, it could definitely block the software from its mobile platform.

This article was

The ambassador, Martyn Roper, said there had been "misunderstandings" after the BP chief executive, Bob Dudley, said in early May that the projects in In Amenas and In Salah would be pushed back.

Roper says "BP will stay in Algeria. It is very engaged and will pursue these projects."

Dudley also has said the company will continue energy exploration activities in Algeria.

Danish supermodel Nina Agdal took Upton’s place, and attended the dance with him in Sherman Oaks, Calif. on Thursday, San Bernadino’s The Sun newspaper.

Davidson said that Agdal, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition’s 2012 rookie of the year, was “[s]o down to earth. Really cool. Really nice.”

He produced a YouTube video earlier this year inviting Upton to his prom, but her schedule would not allow it. The video of him shaving and doing pushups in order to impress her went viral, ultimately generating over 2.6 million views. He didn’t end up with Upton on his arm, but he did show up at the prom with a supermodel — most famous for her sexy Carl’s Jr. commercial — as his date.

Davidson told “Inside Edition” that Adgal is “as beautiful as it gets,” and Agdal tweeted a photo of the couple together with the message, “Had such a great prom night. Thank you @jakedavidson23 for being an awesome date!”

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

Members of Congress from both political parties say the current uproar over the targeting of conservative political groups underscores that overly complex tax provisions have given the IRS too much discretion in interpreting and enforcing the law.

"This is the perfect example of why we need tax reform," said Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. "If you want to diminish and limit the power of the IRS, you have got to reduce the complexity of the tax code and take them out of it."

There are still formidable obstacles to completing a major tax overhaul this year or next. Democrats and Republicans start off with opposite views on whether the government should levy more taxes and on who should pay what share. The two sides also don't trust one another, making it difficult to envision agreement on which popular tax breaks to keep and which to scrap.

Most taxpayers pay someone to do their taxes or they buy commercial software to help them file. In a report earlier this year, national taxpayer advocate Nina E. Olson ranked complexity as the most serious problem facing both taxpayers and the IRS. People simply trying to comply with the rules often make inadvertent errors and overpay or underpay, she said, while others "often find loopholes that enable them to reduce or eliminate their tax liabilities."

The IRS scandal has little, if anything, to do with most everyday taxpayers, yet some lawmakers hope the attention will help galvanize support for the first major tax overhaul since 1986.

A little over two weeks ago, the IRS revealed that agents assigned to a special team in Cincinnati had targeted tea party and other conservative groups for additional, often burdensome scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. The targeting lasted more than 18 months during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns, hindering the groups' ability to raise money, according to a report by the agency's inspector general.

The ensuing storm has cost two top IRS officials their jobs, and a third has been placed on paid administrative leave. Investigations by Congress and the Justice Department are underway.

The IRS was screening the groups' applications because agents were trying to determine their level of political activity. IRS regulations say that tax-exempt social welfare organizations can engage in some political activity but the activity cannot be their primary mission. It is a vague standard that agents struggled to apply, according to the inspector general's report. Lawmakers in both parties have complained for years that overtly political groups on the left and right have taken advantage of the rules, allowing them to claim tax-exempt status and hide the identities of their donors.

"There are countless political organizations at both ends of the spectrum masquerading as social welfare groups in order to skirt the tax code," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "Once the smoke of the current controversy clears, we need to examine the root of this issue and reform the nation's vague tax laws pertaining to these groups."

Baucus' counterpart in the House, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, said he, too, thinks the scandal could boost efforts to simplify the tax code.

"The complexity of the law didn't require the IRS to target people for their political beliefs," said Camp, a Michigan Republican. But, he added, "I think giving the IRS less discretion is going to be important, and that's what a simplified code would do."

Camp and Baucus have been working for months on the herculean task of simplifying a tax code that has undergone about 5,000 changes since 2001. At nearly 4 million words, Camp likes to say the code is "10 times the size of the Bible with none of the good news."

Their committees have held dozens of hearings over the past two years and the two chairmen have started a website, taxreform.gov, where they solicit ideas from readers on how to change the laws. Camp has created bipartisan working groups of Ways and Means committee members to develop options for simplifying the various sections of the tax code. He has published several preliminary proposals.

Some Republicans hope to use an upcoming debate over increasing the federal government's borrowing authority to trigger action on tax change. The government is expected to reach the limit of its borrowing authority by early fall, raising the possibility of another debt standoff like the one in 2011 that brought it to the brink of default.

Details are fluid, but congressional aides have been working on mechanisms to streamline the process of passing a tax package, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, perhaps guaranteeing floor votes on bills approved by the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate. Camp and Baucus chair those committees.

President Barack Obama, however, has said he won't negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.

Obama has called for an overhaul of corporate taxes, and he laid some groundwork to accomplish that in his latest budget proposal. The president has also said he wants to do comprehensive tax reform as part of a broad budget deal that cuts spending and reformulates entitlement programs. Such a grand bargain has proven elusive.

Camp and Baucus say they are open to a process that links tax reform to the debt ceiling. But Baucus warns, "I don't want to be part of something that's political or partisan. But I do want to be part of something that's practical and pragmatic that looks like it's going to advance the ball."

Baucus, who has been in the Senate since 1978, announced in April he won't run for re-election in 2014. He said he will focus much of his remaining time in the Senate trying to steer a tax package through Congress.

Camp says he is committed to passing a tax bill out of his committee by the end of the year. There is no guarantee the full House would take up the bill, but Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has signaled his support for the effort by reserving the prestigious bill number HR 1 for a tax overhaul measure.

Lawmakers in both parties are convinced that simpler, easier-to-understand tax laws would spur economic activity. But there are significant partisan differences.

The Republican recipe calls for reducing or eliminating tax breaks that benefit targeted taxpayers, and using all the additional revenue to reduce overall rates for everyone. At the end of the day, the tax system would raise about the same amount of money, but businesses could focus on being more efficient instead of trying to take advantage of targeted tax breaks, supporters say.

Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress also want to reduce or eliminate various tax breaks. Overall income tax rates would be lower, but the wealthy would pay more each year because they would lose certain exemptions, deductions and credits.

Choosing which tax breaks to scale back is a big hurdle. For all of the work Camp and Baucus have done building support for the idea of tax reform, they have yet to answer hard questions about which breaks to scrap.

That's because Americans like their credits, deductions and exemptions the provisions that make the tax law so complicated in the first place. In exchange for lower tax rates, would workers be willing to pay taxes on employer-provided health benefits or on contributions to their retirement plans? How would homeowners feel about losing the mortgage interest deduction?

Those are among the three biggest tax breaks in the tax code, according to congressional estimates. Together, they are projected to save taxpayers nearly $300 billion this year.

"We're going to have to come to that," Baucus said. "Those are very big important questions and we're going to tackle them."

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

The major college football conference commissioners named the new postseason system that starts in 2014 on Tuesday, the first of three days of meetings at a resort hotel in the Rose Bowl's backyard.

Out with the Bowl Championship Series and in with the College Football Playoff.

"I don't think you can ever go too wrong calling something what it is," Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said. "Things that make sense tend to stand the test of time."

Next on the agenda is to pick three more bowls for the six-bowl semifinal rotation the Rose, Orange and Sugar are already in and where the first championship game will be held on Jan. 12, 2015. That comes Wednesday.

Four bowls have bid to be part of the rotation. The clear front-runners are the Cotton, Chick-fil-A and Fiesta. The Holiday Bowl in San Diego also put in a bid, but even its organizers acknowledged they are a long shot at best.

The finalists to host the first championship game are Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the billion dollar home of the NFL team and the Cotton Bowl, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., home of the NFL's Buccaneers and the Outback Bowl.

Arlington is the favorite, but the competition has been serious.

"I'm glad it has," Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday. "I think it will give us a better outcome."

Even before an official announcement about the name was made on Tuesday, the website www.collegefootballplayoff.com was up and running and allowing fans to vote on a new logo. And there also was a Twitter handle: (at)cfbplayoff.

"It's really simple. It gets right to the point," BCS executive director Bill Hancock, who will hold the same position in the playoff system, said at a short news conference.

"Nothing cute. Nothing fancy. We decided it would be best to call it what it is."

Premiere Sports Management in Overland Park, Kan., was hired to help come up with a name and brand the new system. A committee of commissioners handled the naming of the new system, and Hancock said they ran through "in the neighborhood of three dozen" names.

Scott said: "We're clearly trying to make a clear break from the BCS."

The new postseason format will create two national semifinals to be played New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, with the winners advancing. The six bowls in the playoff rotation will host marquee, BCS-type games on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day during the seasons they do not host a semifinal.

The first semifinals will be played at the Rose and Sugar bowls on Jan. 1, 2015.

Also on the agenda this week for the commissioners will be the composition of the selection committee that will set the field for the playoff. They have said they would like the committee to be similar to the one that picks the teams for the NCAA basketball tournament, made up of conference commissioners and athletic directors.

Bowlsby said he expected both current and former administrators to have a spot on the committee.

"The hardest thing is making sure we're arming whoever is on the committee with the tools that it takes to differentiate among closely proximal teams," Bowlsby said. "You have to have some metrics available to differentiate between three, four, five, six and seven.

"You can't just say we like blue uniforms and not gold uniforms. You've got to arm the committee with the tools that it takes to do their job."