Even the most optimistic Democrat knows that for McAuliffe, ginning up turnout to presidential levels in an off-year election is near impossible.

Behind the scenes, however, the Democratic frontrunner has been trying to build an Obama-style, technologically savvy, grassroots campaign to crank out voters who helped the president carry the state twice but don't normally vote in gubernatorial elections. The November vote will be the first statewide election since the 2012 vote to test whether the Obama campaign model can be applied to candidates other than the president. In Virginia, turnout has seesawed from 45 percent in 2005 to 75 percent in 2008, and from 40 percent in 2009 to 72 percent in 2012.

"You're going to see the same huge dramatic drop from 2012 to 2013," said Joe Abbey, a Democratic strategist who served as the campaign manager for 2009 Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds. "To employ the Obama tactics and tools that were used in 2008 and perfected in 2012 is something Terry should try to do, but it's more of a two or three percent kind of game. Even a small percentage difference could make a huge difference."

First Lady Michelle Obama's appearance at a fundraiser for Terry McAuliffe Thursday night will be the first and most explicit sign of the White House in the Virginia governor's race.

The McAuliffe campaign boasts top field coordinators from the Obama campaign in North Carolina and Wisconsin as well as the president's digital advertising and direct mail consultants. It has a database with information gleaned from the Obama campaign about voters' preferences in the 2012 election and top issues. The campaign can also guide supporters who use Facebook to share information with friends who are likely to be persuaded to vote for McAuliffe.

"Many of the volunteers and neighborhood leaders who made the Obama field effort a success stayed engaged in Virginia and are the basis of Terry's grassroots campaign in 2013," said McAuliffe spokesman Brennan Bilberry. "Because they have experience and networks built throughout 2012, Terry's volunteer-driven organization is uniquely suited to explain the stakes in this election."

while Mitt Romney was still sewing up the Republican primary, McAuliffe plans to get a jump start with 75 staffers in 34 offices by mid-June. That would represent a huge advantage over Deeds, who had a bare-bones staff and little money at the same point in the campaign cycle four years ago.

The Republican nominee, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, currently has 10 campaign offices, according to his website. His campaign would not release the number of staffers, but with half as much money as McAuliffe, the operation is likely to be smaller. Cuccinelli raised $2.2 million in the last two months and reported $2.7 million cash on hand, while McAuliffe collected $3.7 million during the same time period and has $5.4 million.

When it comes to investing that money in the field, McAuliffe is taking his cue from Obama, who had roughly double the number of field offices as Romney in Virginia in 2012.

"The philosophy we had regarding field offices was if we build it they would come," said Mitch Stewart, who served as Obama's battleground states director in 2012 and ran his Virginia campaign in 2008. "It shows that you take the community seriously and gives people a home where they can go and build a campaign organization."

Cuccinelli boasts the advantage, however, when it comes to voter turnout in governor's races in Virginia, especially when compared to presidential turnout. The electorate in 2008 and 2012 was only 70 percent white. Roughly 20 percent of the voters were 29 years old or younger. Democrats made up 39 percent of the vote.

Compare those figures to the 2009 electorate, which was 78 percent white. Only 10 percent of the voters were 29 years old or younger. Democrats comprised only 33 percent of the electorate. The older, whiter and more conservative crowd typical of gubernatorial elections tends to favor Republicans.

"If Obama ain't on the ballot, they ain't showing up," quipped Cuccinelli's campaign consultant Chris LaCivita. "Democrats tried the same thing in 2009. What makes them think they're going to be more any more successful when you consider that the Democratic base is not entirely enamored of this guy?"

found McAuliffe leading by five percentage points but noted that only 38 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of him, while 58 percent don't know enough to form an opinion. In contrast, the attorney general is viewed favorably by 64 percent of the Republican voters; only 31 percent don't know him well enough.

"The challenge for McAuliffe in trying to use Obama's campaign strategy is that Obama was a known quantity," said Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University. "Terry has to get into people's living rooms and introduce himself, which much tougher to do in a gubernatorial election."

Without competitive primaries, both of the nominees have been able to get early starts on their general election advertising. McAuliffe began airing his first television spot on May 1, more than five weeks before Deeds defeated him in the Democratic primary four years ago. "We emptied the tank to win the primary in 2009, so Terry is leaps and bounds ahead of where we were," said Abbey.

So how does McAuliffe get those Obama voters to the polls in November? The strategy is similar to the one Obama used against Romney: scare voters about the opposition's record on social issues, like abortion. The McAuliffe campaign plans to remind voters of the when he has talked about his opposition to abortion and gay rights, as well as the disparaging remarks he and t, have made about Obama.

"The voters in the middle who turned out in 2012 but don't necessarily turn out in gubernatorial elections are uniquely concerned about the extreme social agenda of Cuccinelli," Bilberry said. "A Democrat like Terry who is focused on opportunity for the middle class and education is what they want to hear."

Cuccinelli's campaign is skeptical that the attacks will work. In fact, they could backfire by depressing turnout and creating an even friendlier electorate for Cuccinelli. "That they can't provide their voters a reason to vote for their guy and have to present voters with a reason to vote against Ken is indicative," LaCivita said. " 'Vote against the other guy' has never been a successful premise and narrative for a candidate for governor."

The latest examples of the trend emerged Tuesday as two major technology companies announced acquisitions aimed at seeding their own clouds.

Cloud-computing pioneer Salesforce.com Inc. said it will spend about $2.5 billion to buy ExactTarget Inc., a specialist in helping other companies manage marketing campaigns and other business functions through email, social networks and a variety of digital services that can be reached on any device with an Internet connection.

The more time-tested IBM Corp. is snapping up SoftLayer Technologies Inc., a privately held company that leases extra computing horsepower to startup companies and medium-size businesses that don't have the resources or desire to build their own data centers. IBM didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal, but The Wall Street Journal pegged the cost at about $2 billion. The Journal cited an unidentified person familiar with the matter.

ExactTarget, based in Indianapolis, and SoftLayer, based in Dallas, are just the latest in a batch of billion-dollar babies hatched by what was once viewed as a kooky craze.

Cloud computing refers to the practice of renting software and other computing accessories over the Internet, an approach that once seemed to out of step with the long-standing policies of corporate customers and government agencies who preferred to own their machines and the applications running on them.

But that sentiment has changed in the past six years as the popularity of powerful smartphones and tablet computers has driven the demand for services that can be reached from any Internet-connected device.

The phenomenon has helped propel cloud computing, and driven lucrative deals in the space. In the past two years alone, long-established technology companies such as IBM, Oracle Corp. and SAP AG have each spent several billions of dollars acquiring cloud-computing vendors.

"Deals begat deals," said Peter Falvey, a Boston investment banker specializing in technology. "There are no doubt other companies now saying, 'What else is there to buy out in this space?' It's all part of the maturation process."

Questions are already being raised whether the buyers are getting overzealous and paying too much.

Investors seemed particularly troubled by Salesforce's decision to buy ExactTarget for $33.75 53 percent above ExactTarget's market value before the deal was announced. It's a steep premium for a company that has suffered losses in each of the past four years, including nearly $58 million since the end of 2009.

Wall Street's misgivings about the deal caused Salesforce's stock to plunge $3.24, or 7.9 percent, to close Tuesday at $37.80. It was the steepest one-day decline in the stock in 13 months.

ExactTarget's setbacks came during a period of rapid growth. The company's annual revenue climbed from $72 million in 2008 to $292 million last year while its payroll has ballooned from under 400 employees in 2008 to nearly 1,700 now.

Salesforce expects ExactTarget to trim its adjusted earnings during its current fiscal year ending in January 2014 by 16 cents per share. The deal is expected to close by the end of next month.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has become accustomed to shaking off the skeptics. He was frequently mocked when he started his San Francisco-based company in 1999 and boldly predicted its model for leasing business software applications would revolutionize the technology industry. Even after Tuesday's sell-off, Salesforce now boasts a market value of $22 billion. Benioff's personal fortune stands at an estimated $2.6 billion.

Benioff, an executive known for sweeping statements, hailed the ExactTarget deal "as really a historic date for cloud computing" during a Tuesday conference call for analysts. He is counting on ExactTarget to help Salesforce sell more marketing services on mobile devices. As part of its marketing expansion, Salesforce previously spent nearly $1.1 billion to buy Buddy Media and Radian6 Technologies during the past two years.

Once the ExactTarget deal is completed, Benioff said Salesforce plans to take a "vacation" from deal making for 12 to 18 months.

"That's really because we're going to double down and focus on the success of ExactTarget," Benioff assured analysts.

NUEVA YORK (Reuters Health) - Una herramienta online para

tomar decisiones que alerta a los cardilogos cundo no deberan

realizar distintos estudios clnicos reduce la indicacin de

procedimientos innecesarios.

"Esta herramienta educativa ayuda a los mdicos a determinar

cul es el mejor test para cada paciente", dijo el doctor James

Min, director de investigacin de imgenes cardacas del Centro

Mdico Cedars-Sinai, en Los ngeles.

"Aun cuando el gasto no sea una preocupacin, hay muchos

motivos para no someterse a un test innecesario, como los falsos

positivos o la deteccin de algo sin importancia real", opin el

doctor Gilbert Welch, del Instituto de Polticas de Salud y

Prctica Clnica de Dartmouth, en New Hampshire.

Para Welch, que no particip de un nuevo estudio del equipo

de Min, ese exceso en la evaluacin y el diagnstico empuja a

los mdicos a usar tratamientos innecesarios y potencialmente

peligrosos para los pacientes.

Investigadores ya haban detectado que, en muchos casos, el

uso excesivo de pruebas clnicas surge de la falta de

actualizacin mdica en el campo de las herramientas

diagnsticas.

Entonces, el equipo de Min cre un cuestionario online para

ayudar a los mdicos que participaron en un estudio a decidir si

un test era o no adecuado para los pacientes.

Los mdicos demoraron dos minutos en ingresar detalles en un

formulario online para que el programa pudiera determinar si la

indicacin del test coincida o no con las recomendaciones del

Colegio Estadounidense de Cardiologa (ACC, por su nombre en

ingls).

Durante el estudio, que se realiz entre mediados del 2010 y

comienzos del 2011, los autores evaluaron la toma de decisin de

los mdicos de tres centros de cardiologa de St. Louis.

Todos los pacientes tenan cobertura privada a travs de

United HealthCare, que acept suspender los requisitos de

autorizacin previa para que los mdicos participantes pudieran

decidir libremente qu estudios diagnsticos deban indicarles a

sus pacientes.

En total, 100 profesionales aplicaron la herramienta online

en las consultas de 472 pacientes cardacos, principalmente

hombres de mediana edad con enfermedad coronaria.

El equipo se concentr en tres estudios cardacos por

imgenes de uso comn: la MRI (mtodo para evaluar la funcin

del msculo cardaco); el ecocardiograma por estrs (imagen por

ultrasonido para saber cmo funciona el corazn durante el

ejercicio), y la angiografa por TC (radiografa de alta

resolucin para detectar obstrucciones vasculares).

En ocho meses, el uso inadecuado de esos estudios se redujo

del 22 al 6 por ciento, mientras que la indicacin de los

estudios que recomienda el ACC crecieron del 49 al 61 por

ciento, segn publica el equipo en Journal of the American

College of Cardiology.

Para los especialistas, reducir el uso de pruebas

innecesarias le ahorrara mucho dinero al sistema de salud de

Estados Unidos. Por slo dos de los tres test evaluados,

Medicare desembols en el 2008 ms de 1.000 millones de dlares

en honorarios mdicos nicamente.

"Es un buen estudio; refuerza y replica lo que otros ya

haban demostrado en el campo de la asistencia para la toma de

decisin sobre el uso de imgenes: se puede hacer y funciona",

dijo el doctor Chris Sistrom, radilogo y economista de la salud

de Partners HealthCare de la University of Florida.

Sistrom, que no particip del estudio, haba identificado

una tendencia similar en el sistema de asistencia mdica del

Hospital General de Massachusetts. All, la cantidad de TC

(tomografas computarizadas) innecesarias se redujo del 20 al 10

por ciento en un mes.

Welch opin que cada vez ms sistemas hospitalarios

implementarn estas herramientas de retroalimentacin clnica en

tiempo real a medida que aumente el uso de computadoras para

almacenar la informacin clnica de los pacientes y solicitar

exmenes.

Pero adelant que en ese proceso habr que establecer un

equilibrio con la utilidad de la informacin que reciban los

profesionales para evitar imponerles otra exigencia cuando cada

vez tienen menos tiempo para las consultas.

FUENTE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 21 de

mayo del 2013

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study based on pairs of Canadian twins suggests that genetics play a strong role in how long kids sleep at night, but their environment may be more important for afternoon naps.

Researchers compared sleep patterns for close to 500 sets of identical or fraternal twins. They found that especially as kids got older, environmental influences - which include when parents put kids in bed, for example - explained more and more of their napping differences.

"Even though the results do not explicitly state which are the environmental factors," said Sonia Brescianini, "researchers in the field think that familial habits at bed time, sleeping routines, and in general sleep hygiene measures are for sure a means of improving sleep in children."

Brescianini, a researcher with the Italian Twin Register at Rome's Istituto Superiore di Sanit who was not involved in the new study, told Reuters Health in an email that past research has also suggested a child's environment may be more important than genetics for daytime sleep habits.

The new study involved 983 individual children born in greater Montreal, Canada, from 1995 to 1998. Mothers were asked about each twin's daytime and nighttime sleep patterns at age 6, 18, 30 and 48 months.

By comparing sets of identical and fraternal twins, Dr. Jacques Montplaisir from the University of Montreal and his colleagues were able to determine how much of kids' sleep variation was due to genes - which are the same in identical twins - and how much to environmental factors.

For example, Brescianini explained, the more identical twins are similar and fraternal twins are not for a given trait such as sleep schedules, the more that trait is likely to be genetic. But if both types of twins resemble each other in similar ways, the trait is likely affected by a child's environment.

At three of the four time points, genetics accounted for between 47 and 58 percent of nighttime sleep duration. The majority of children slept 10 or 11 continuous hours at night.

The one age when environment seemed to play a strong role in overnight sleep was at 18 months. That suggests that age "might be an appropriate time of intervention in children with not satisfying sleep duration and quality," Brescianini said.

But genes never explained more than about one-third of daytime nap length, the researchers reported Monday in Pediatrics.

Family routines and other shared environmental influences, on the other hand, accounted for between 33 and 79 percent of whether or not twins were napping during the day, and for how long. That association became stronger as children got older and average nap length shortened.

The researchers said a similar study needs to be done using more exact tools to measure sleep, such as movement sensors or laboratory monitors.

In addition, it will be helpful to look at what family-related factors may affect daytime sleep, Montplaisir and his colleagues wrote.

"Good sleep duration and quality is very important for children's physical and mental health because sleeping behavior has been associated with obesity, poor school performance and other behavioral disorders," Brescianini said.

"In order to promptly intervene, more knowledge is needed on how sleeping behavior changes through childhood."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online May 27, 2013.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators will get access to Chinese companies' audit documents under a deal announced on Friday, opening the way to probes of bungled audits after a two-year stand-off between China and the United States.

The nonbinding deal is only a partial victory for the United States, which has been blocked from investigating accounting scandals at dozens of Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges.

It applies only to enforcement cases against auditors, not against China-based companies suspected of accounting fraud. And it does not allow U.S. regulators to do on-the-ground inspections of auditors in China - a key part of efforts to combat fraud.

"This deal would allow investors to find out after the fact how they were defrauded but would do nothing to prevent the fraud in the first place," said U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.

If a more complete agreement cannot be quickly reached, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should consider de-registering Chinese firms, he said.

The pact was the result of more than two years of negotiations between the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the U.S. regulator for audit firms, and its counterparts in China - the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance.

Effective on May 10, it calls for the PCAOB to cooperate with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance on the exchange of documents.

Any nonpublic documents exchanged will be kept confidential, according to a memorandum of understanding between the agencies.

BILLIONS LOST

"We will be proceeding on a good faith basis that this is going to open up some access to work papers for us," said PCAOB Chairman James Doty. "It does not replace the duty of inspecting audit engagements regularly."

The signing of the memorandum "is a significant step in China-U.S. audit oversight" and paves the way for cross-border enforcement assistance between the two countries, the CSRC said in a statement.

Investors have lost billions of dollars on Chinese companies selling shares on U.S. exchanges in accounting scandals since 2010. Many of those companies have been booted from U.S. exchanges, but hundreds still have shares trading in the United States.

The deal will have no impact on a lawsuit filed by the U.S. SEC against five top audit firms in China over their refusal to turn over documents, said SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar.

Under Friday's agreement, the PCAOB can share documents with the SEC, but only if they were obtained for a PCAOB enforcement action.

In December, the SEC charged the Chinese affiliates of accounting firms Deloitte , KPMG , PricewaterhouseCoopers , BDO and Ernst & Youngwith securities violations for refusing to produce documents.

The firms said that turning over the papers would put them in violation of China's state secrets law.

Even if the SEC is able to get documents through the PCAOB, it still faces hurdles in fraud investigations, attorneys said.

"For an enforcement case, the SEC would need to serve a complaint on the accused, which may be extremely difficult if a potential defendant is in China," said Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC lawyer and now a partner at Shulman Rogers.

CHINA RESISTS

The PCAOB has been negotiating with China for more than two years to get access to documents and permission to do joint inspections with the Chinese.

China resisted out of concern about exposing state secrets, triggering a high-stakes standoff and raising the risk that China-based auditors would be deregistered by the PCAOB.

That in turn could have triggered massive stock exchange delistings of China-based companies, which have to file audited financial statements to meet exchange requirements.

The deregistration of China-based auditors is not yet off the table, because they have to be inspected to have the right to audit U.S. companies, the PCAOB's Doty said.

Negotiations are continuing with China over joint inspections, Doty said.

Jason Flemmons, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting who once played a leading role at the SEC in cases against the China-based auditors, expressed skepticism about the deal.

"It could be that the Chinese are trying to change their ways and enter into this agreement in good faith," he said. But the SEC previously entered into similar agreements with China, and China has yet to turn over documents covered by those deals, he said.

Accounting firms welcomed the agreement.

"As PwC has always maintained, this has been an issue that could only be resolved between governments," PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a statement on Friday.

KPMG global Chairman Michael Andrew praised the progress made "through commonsense dialogue" among the regulators.

Edward Nusbaum, chief executive of global audit firm Grant Thornton International, said many of his firm's Chinese clients would like to do initial public offerings in the United States, and this deal might make that easier.

"It's the first time we're seeing some major movement and agreement between two regulators for such important economies," Nusbaum said.

(Reporting by Dena Aubin; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Leslie Adler)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie's auction house raised $38.8 million through a charity art auction and donations, Christie's said on Tuesday, with proceeds to benefit environmental and conservation causes.

The 33 works in The 11th Hour Auction organized by the star of the new film "The Great Gatsby" sold for $31.74 million on Monday evening and set 13 records for artists including Carol Bove, Joe Bradley, Mark Grotjahn, Raymond Pettibon and Mark Ryden among others.

A $5 million matching donation for three of the lots and additional gifts from donors brought the overall total to $38.8 million for The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, according to Christie's.

"All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you," DiCaprio told the audience at the end of the auction.

Many of the works, which were created for and donated to the auction by the artists, sold in spirited bidding in a packed auction house. Art collectors from around the globe also placed bids by telephone.

"Christie's is thrilled with the exceptional results of the sale, which realized $38.8 million," said Loic Gouzer, international specialist at Christie's and the head of the sale.

"The works of art were of incredible quality and range, and highlight the generosity of the many artists who donated," he added.

A panel of environmental experts and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation will decide which conservation projects will benefit from the proceeds of the sale.

At the opening of the auction, DiCaprio, who has supported environmental issues through his foundation since 1988 and also produced and narrated the 2007 documentary "The 11th Hour" about the state of the environment, urged the audience to dig deep into their pockets.

"Bid as if the fate of the planet depended on us," he said.

And they did. All of the 33 works were sold and many fetched prices that were three or four times their pre-sale estimates.

The top lot of the sale was an oil on cardboard mounted on canvas by Mark Grotjahn called "Untitled (Standard Lotus No. II, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth Face 44.01)," which sold for $6.2 million as two determined bidders pushed up the price.

Zeng Fanzhi's "The Tiger," an oil on canvas, fetched nearly double its high estimate with a price of $4.8 million, and Bharti Kher's sculpture "The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own" went for $1.7 million.

Each of the three works had a pre-sale estimate of $1.5 million to $2.5 million.

DiCaprio donated "Ocean V" by Andreas Gursky, which sold for $600,000, and he bought an acrylic on canvas by Takashi Murakami for $700,000.

A portrait of DiCaprio painted by Elizabeth Peyton sold for $1 million.

Gouzer and DiCaprio had approached the artists and explained what they had hoped to accomplish with the auction, which they have been planning for a year.

"We explained that we wanted great works and they were very reactive because of the cause. The artists are very sensitive to the fact that we are destroying our planet," Gouzer said in an interview ahead of the sale.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Vicki Allen)

* Sharapova crushes American qualifier McHale (Adds Sharapova result, byline)

By Iain Rogers

MADRID, May 7 (Reuters) - World number one and defending champion Serena Williams continued her serene progress at the Madrid Open when she eased past Spanish wildcard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2 7-5 in the second round on Tuesday.

Chasing a fourth title of the year and the 50th of her career, Williams had too much power for the slightly-built Dominguez Lino, who nonetheless managed to unsettle her illustrious opponent with some clever drop shots and lobs.

Williams was joined in the third round by Maria Sharapova after the Russian second seed thumped American qualifier Christina McHale 6-1 6-2 in Tuesday's night session.

Sharapova, a former number one who won her 29th career title in Stuttgart last month, will play Sabine Lisicki for a place in the last eight. The unseeded German upset 15th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 7-6 7-6.

Williams, 31, said she had enjoyed the test against Dominguez Lino and the experience would stand her in good stead the next time she came up against a player like the 47th-ranked Spaniard, who likes to mix up her shots.

"I made a lot of errors, but her game kind of forces you to make errors," the American told a news conference. "It was a really good claycourt tennis match for me.

"Seeing as I have a few more tournaments on clay, it was perfect to play a match like this, so I know if I face another opponent like that I'll have that experience and I'll know how to play."

A 15-times grand slam singles champion, Williams will play unseeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic or 13th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko for a place in the quarter-finals. (Editing by Clare Fallon and Nick Mulvenney)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators on Thursday stalled the confirmation of President Barack Obama's pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying they were "completely unsatisfied" with answers provided by Gina McCarthy on several topics.

Their decision to boycott the Senate Environment Committee meeting on her nomination was the latest in a series of procedural moves by Republicans that have made it difficult for Obama to get his second-term Cabinet in place. Obama has complained that Republicans have stymied his agenda at every turn.

The dispute over McCarthy stems from more than 1,000 written questions Republican senators asked her after her confirmation hearing - what Democrats say is a new record for the number of written questions asked of a nominee.

An administration official said she answered every one.

David Vitter of Louisiana, the top Republican on the Environment Committee, told reporters their boycott was not related to McCarthy's qualifications but to her refusal to answer questions about transparency within the agency.

All eight committee Republicans refused to participate in a scheduled vote on McCarthy, leaving her nomination in limbo and unable to advance to the next stage - a full Senate vote.

The White House responded with outrage. "There has been a historic level of obstructionism from the Senate on this nomination and others," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Republican senators noted that Environment Committee Democrats, when in the minority, staged a similar boycott in 2003 of EPA nominee Michael Leavitt, forcing a vote to be rescheduled. Leavitt was ultimately confirmed.

It was not immediately clear when the committee would reschedule the vote, which McCarthy is expected to clear, given that Democrats hold a majority on the panel.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt, who is not a member of the Environment Committee, has already said he will put a hold on McCarthy in the full Senate because of delays in approvals for a floodway project in his home state of Missouri.

PAGES OF QUESTIONS

The number of written questions for McCarthy far exceeded those faced by other Cabinet members and previous EPA picks.

Republicans asked Lisa Jackson, Obama's first EPA administrator, 118 questions after her nomination hearing, said a Democratic official familiar with the nomination process.

Jack Lew, now treasury secretary, fielded 462 written questions after his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

"Part of the goal is to wear down and make untenable the nomination," said George Washington University's Sarah Binder, an expert on Congress, who said in an interview that Obama has had a difficult time getting Senate approval for his Cabinet choices compared to previous presidents.

Although the Democratic majority controls the Senate and its committees, congressional rules give some procedural advantages to the minority Republicans enabling them to stall or block legislation and nominees.

The boycott of McCarthy's vote comes a day after Republican senators used an obscure procedural rule to delay a scheduled committee vote on Obama's nominee for labor secretary, Thomas Perez.

The nomination of Ernest Moniz, Obama's pick to head the Energy Department, has also stalled over a dispute with a South Carolina senator about the government's management of a nuclear waste disposal project in the state.

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan also had tough work getting Senate confirmation.

AGGRESSIVE EPA RULES

In his first term, Obama aggressively used EPA authority to try to cut pollution, although the White House ultimately killed a rule that would have regulated ozone levels because it would have cost too much.

Republicans have argued that various EPA rules have hurt jobs, and the coal industry in particular, and have accused the agency of not being transparent in its policies, including in the way it handles internal communications, the use of personal emails and the way it uses data in EPA rulemaking.

McCarthy was in charge of developing many of those regulations in her previous job at the EPA. She is well-known among lawmakers, and industry groups regulated by the EPA, including the American Petroleum Institute backed her nomination when it was announced. The API had no immediate comment on Thursday's actions.

McCarthy was a state environmental official in Connecticut and Massachusetts before joining the EPA in 2009 as assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation. She sailed through the Senate nomination process for that role. She was the top environmental enforcer for Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Environmental groups called the Republican tactics "new lows" given her qualifications and popularity.

"By any measure, Gina McCarthy deserves to be confirmed, but Republicans on this committee are apparently more concerned with scoring political points than protecting public health," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware said McCarthy had gone "above and beyond the requirements of a nominee" in answering more than 1,000 questions and meeting with almost half the 100-member Senate.

Wyoming Republican John Barrasso said the delay in McCarthy's nomination would not pose an operational problem for the agency, calling acting administrator Bob Perciasepe was "more than qualified" to run the EPA in the meantime.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Roberta Rampton; additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai; writing by Ros Krasny; editing by Vicki Allen and Jackie Frank)

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "The 12th of Never" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown,

$27.99) 18

2. "The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99) 1

3. "Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $27.95) 2

4. "Daddy's Gone a Hunting" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster, $26.99) 4

5. "Fly Away" by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's, $27.99) 3

6. "NOS4A2" by Joe Hill (William Morrow, $28.99) -

7. "Best Kept Secret" by Jeffrey Archer (St. Martin's, $27.99) -

8. "Paris: The Novel" by Edward Rutherfurd (Doubleday, $32.50) 5

9. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 9

10. "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson (L,B/Reagan Arthur, 27.99) 10

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. "Waiting to Be Heard" by Amanda Knox (Harper, $28.99) -

2. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 4

3. "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris (Little Brown, $27.00) 1

4. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 7

5. "Cooked" by Michael Pollan (Penguin, $27.95) 6

6. "It's All Good" by Gwyneth Paltrow (Grand Central, $32.00) 9

7. "Life Code" by Dr. Phil McGraw (Bird Street Books, $26.00) 11

8. "Jumpstart to Skinny" by Bob Harper (Ballantine, $25.00) 5

9. "Bunker Hill" by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, $32.95) -

10. "The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace" by Cy Wakeman (Jossey-Bass, $27.95) -

Week ended May 5, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Chris Michaud and Eric Beech)

The top-seeded Penguins won the first game of the best-of-seven series 4-1.

"I think we did a great job all game of putting a lot of pressure on them but when we gave up chances they were pretty big ones," Crosby said.

"We want to limit those big chances we give up but I feel good about how many shots we got off and the pressure we put on them."

Crosby fired in his first goal after just three minutes of the opening period although seventh-seeded Ottawa's Kyle Turris scored a power play goal at 13:15 to level the score.

Crosby then scored two more goals, one late in the first period and another just over a minute into the second to wrestle control back and claim his second career playoff hat-trick.

Colin Greening kept the Senators in striking range with a goal just 40 seconds later but Brenden Morrow tipped in a goal mid-period to extend the lead.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave the visitors hope with an early third period score but the Penguins held firm ahead of Games Three and Four in Ottawa.

(Reporting by Ben Everill in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)