Centrists Nurse Third-Party Dreams, bin Laden's Bumbling Minions, Chicago Pays Big for Repeat-Offender Cops: P.M. Links

• Political elites continue to dream of a centrist third-party presidential candidate, even as pollsters warn that the public isn't really looking for a stroll down the middle of the road.

• Obama will likely do well with young voters, but increasingly libertarian views in that group are eroding his base and driving many one-time boosters to look elsewhere.
• Osama bin Laden "was frustrated by what he viewed as the incompetence" of his followers, and their tendency to kill Muslim civilians, according to documents released a year after he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs.
• Attorney General Eric Holder is getting ever-closer to facing a contempt order for "refusal to cooperate" in the investigation of the Fast and Furious gun-walking operation.
• The ACLU filed a motion to open the trial of accused 9/11 conspirators to the general public, allowing the airing of allegations about their treatment by the CIA.
• After four weeks of rising jobless claims, applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week. Even so, the labor force participation rate is at its lowest ebb since 1984.
• "Prevailing uncertainty" dominates the outlook for the European economy, warns European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
• Chicago is paying millions of dollars to settle lawsuits sparked by police officers who repeatedly engage in abusive conduct without suffering personal consequences.
• Refused help by school officials, a bullied gay teen warned off his assailants by brandishing a stun gun. Now he faces expulsion.

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