With engineers testing the Deepwater Horizon well’s new cap, national incident commander Thad Allen is hoping for some much-needed good news. Here’s a Time.com profile of the man in charge of the government’s response to the oil spill.

–An awful workplace shooting roils Albuquerque.

–As Politico reports, a typically combative remark by former Congressman Tom Tancredo underscores former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton’s shift to the right to repel a challenge in Colorado’s Republican Senate primary.

–Newt Gingrich is really, truly, seriously pondering a presidential …

Back in April, when Scott Brown was a no-show for a Tea Party rally on the Boston Common, the activists who helped propel him into office didn’t take it personally. It was a non-issue, they told me; Brown was busy looking after their interests in Washington. But as Adam noted, the Tea Party’s love affair with Brown has soured. And now …

As Jay wrote a few weeks ago, Sharron Angle has quickly become Harry Reid’s biggest asset. Whether she’s threatening to sue Reid for posting her own political positions, ducking the press like the plague or forcing her staff to assure folks that no, she’s not in favor of armed revolution, Angle’s candidacy has underlined the political …

I have a micro-profile of Bobby Jindal in this week’s dead-tree edition that managed to sneak through the newly erected paywall. Jindal’s hands-on approach to the oil-spill crisis has drawn plaudits; he’s been a ubiquitous presence in the Gulf, and his withering assessment of the allegedly sluggish federal response seems to match the …

–As West Virginia’s Attorney General examines the state’s ambiguous succession process, Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin is pushing for a speedy special election. He said he would “highly consider” running for the seat but will not appoint himself in the interim.

–A British panel basically cleared the University of East Anglia scientists …

Our colleague Elizabeth Dias files this dispatch:

Washington’s 102-degree heat is nothing new for the Arizona activists wrapping up a 24-hour prayer vigil at the White House. For 79 straight days—ever since SB1070 passed in April—several hundred faith and community leaders have knelt on the Arizona Capitol’s sweltering steps,

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–Virginia becomes the first state to hold oral arguments in its court challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Twenty other states are also trying to invalidate the law. According to the New York Times’ Kevin Sack, the federal judge hearing the case, a George W. Bush appointee, “predicted that the challenges to the health care law ‘will at …

–Nearly 10 years in, the war in Afghanistan may have hit its nadir, at least by one crucial measure: June was the deadliest month yet for coalition forces in Afghanistan. 59 of the 102 casualties were U.S. servicemen. Over to you, Gen. Petraeus.

–By some estimates, the BP oil spill is now the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico, …

Former President Bill Clinton’s endorsement of Andrew Romanoff in Colorado’s Aug. 10 Democratic Senate primary sent shock waves through the media this afternoon. Clinton’s decision to buck the White House — which is backing sitting Sen. Michael Bennet — and support Romanoff’s underdog bid is the sort of juicy morsel pundits feast …

A few month ago I posted a piece I wrote about a controversial proposal to construct a federal anti-terrorism training center on a rural patch of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At the time, opponents of the project–which was to receive at least $70 million in stimulus funding and provide hundreds of jobs–seemed locked in an uphill battle. …