Morning Must Reads: On the Fence

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Reuters

Reuters/Jim Young

–Russ Feingold is a “no” on financial reform. Maria Cantwell is still on the fence; her office tells me she is still examining the final language.  Susan Collins has joined Scott Brown in protesting the $18 billion financial sector tax tacked on in the 11th hour to pay for implementation. Snowe’s in a similar place.

–Obama is meeting with lawmakers today at the White House to sketch out a path forward on energy. Republican Senators Alexander, Murkowski, Lugar, Gregg, Snowe and Voinovich are all expected to attend. Notably absent: Lindsey Graham.

–Confirmation hearings for David Petraeus begin today. He will have no trouble getting through, but expect lawmakers to use the platform to raise concerns about the administration’s approach in Afghanistan. Republicans want to hear Petraeus say the July 2011 deadline is fluid (or even meaningless), and some on the left will press the general to commit to a hard and fast withdrawal date (which the Obama deadline isn’t.)

–As for Petraeus, it looks like he’ll hew closely to Obama’s own language.

–Kagan is back before the Senate this morning facing her first of two days of questioning. You can watch if you’re so inclined.

–Karl Rove’s independent expenditure arm American Crossroads is hammering Harry Reid in Nevada. Their latest, a statewide $120,000 TV ad buy,  pounces on some incredibly ill-conceived comments he made back in March:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HmOOTgjh1A]

–Meanwhile, Sharron Angle is braving an interview with indispensable Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston this evening. She hasn’t been doing many media appearances since winning the primary, and Ralston won’t be lobbing softballs.

–Joe Biden heads to the Gulf Coast today. The White House has typically deployed him to focus on a few niche issues (stimulus, Iraq, etc.); it will be interesting to see if he becomes the face of the administration’s efforts to clean up the spill.

–And The Atlantic posts a classic 1975 profile of Robert Byrd.

What did I miss?

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