–By a 13-6 margin, the Senate Judiciary Committee backed Elena Kagan’s nomination for a spot on the Supreme Court, sending her candidacy to the full Senate for final confirmation. The vote split nearly along party lines, with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham the only Republican to cross the aisle in support of Kagan. The New York Times has a handy GOP vote tracker.
–ABC News illustrates how the oil spill is reshaping races around the country, as candidates scramble to “seize the opportunity created by this crisis.” In light of the pounding President Obama has absorbed over his handling of the disaster, Slate examines how a Republican chief executive might have handled the issue differently.
–Real Clear Politics surveys the fall’s statehouse races, and says the Democrats could be in for a drubbing.
–William Finnegan explains why “the battle to pass immigration reform may end up making the struggle over health care look mild.”
–Nowhere is the art of manufacturing controversy more prized than on Capitol Hill, but Politico raises the bar in this piece, which wonders whether reporter William Arkin’s past stints with groups like Greenpeace and Human Rights Watch compromise the Washington Post’s trenchant look into the post-Sept. 11 national security system. I’m not sure whether it’s more staggering that the story mentions only a sole complaint from an avowedly conservative website, or the fact that the (excellent) series it objects to is devoted to exposing redundancy and the growth of government–phenomena to which conservatives are traditionally opposed.
–And the Economist takes a look at the hubbub surrounding Proposition 19, a November ballot initiative that would revolutionize California’s marijuana industry.
