Britain has a new Prime Minister, Conservative David Cameron, and it may be years until the Labour Party gains back power, but that doesn’t make the struggle to replace Gordon Brown at its helm any less interesting, especially when that struggle is between two brothers: David and Ed Miliband. TIME’s London Bureau Chief Catherine Mayer …
2012 Election
The Call: Wall Street Sheriffs and Primary Pageantry
Michael and Jay join me for this week’s podcast. Check it out:
Morning Must Reads: Sheriffs
Jim Young / Reuters
—NPR reports Deepwater Horizon may be dumping oil into the Gulf at 10 times the originally estimated rate, suggesting the spill has already far outpaced the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
–Congress is investigating and federal regulators are coming out the other side looking really bad.
–Obama is
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Alter’s New Book
The first draft of history is always going to be controversial, especially when it’s on something as touchy as health care reform – monstrous legislation the full effects of which we will not know for years to come. So it should probably come as no surprise that Jonathan Alter’s take on Barack Obama’s first year in the White …
How The Ratings Agencies Were Tamed
A few weeks ago, as Congress raked various Goldman suits over the coals for peddling financial products they had later bet against, some observers complained lawmakers’ ire was being directed at the wrong culprits. It was the ratings agencies, the critics argued, that had made these doomed-to-fail packages of debt glimmer and shine. (Our …
A Simple Questionnaire
Ever want to be a Supreme Court Justice? Aside from getting a President to nominate you, all you have to do is answer this little questionnaire and let a few senators ask you questions about it.
Morning Must Reads: A Different Beast
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Some initial reactions to the Kerry-Lieberman energy and climate bill here and here. Brad Johnson has a useful side-by-side comparison with the House bill. Our colleague Bryan Walsh looks at the big picture.
–The politics are a different beast from health care or financial reform. As …
Kerry, Lieberman Unveil Climate Bill
What is it about Senator Lindsey Graham that brings out the Mr. Smith in the most inveterate politicians? First, Chuck Schumer unveils their working draft of immigration legislation in the vain hope that by making a good faith, bipartisan bid some other Republicans might sign on; the response has not been deafening. Now Senators John …
The Stupak Curse?
As Adam notes, incumbents should take Rep. Allan Mollohan’s loss of his primary as a shot across the bow but there are 13 members it should terrify. Mollohan was one of the 14 Democrats who voted for Bart Stupak’s amendment in November and for health care reform on final passage. Republicans are targeting this group, accusing them of …
Morning Must Reads: Brave Face
Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
–Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Washington today for meetings with President Obama. Our colleague Tony Karon writes it will be a tense debate over when and how to strike a deal with the Taliban. Marc Ambinder describes the optics: “two parents who tolerate each other and cannot …
Anti-Incumbency’s First Real Casualty
Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia lost his bid for a 15th term in Congress Tuesday night as state Senator Mike Oliverio wrested the party nomination from the 28-year veteran lawmaker’s grasp.
Mollohan, whose father represented West Virginia’s first district before him, fell prey to a fierce anti-Washington campaign …
To List or Not to List?
It seems increasingly likely that the Pakistani Taliban were behind Faisal Shahzad’s attempted bombing of Time Square for all that they disavowed him. Which is why Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and New Jersey’s Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez sent a letter to the State Department on Tuesday …
The Next Bob Bennett (Only Blue)?
Today is primary day in Nebraska and West Virginia. There’s really only one race worth watching here, but it could be a doozy: West Virginia Rep. Allan Mollohan, a 14-term Democrat, is facing one of the toughest primaries of his career. Mollohan, who is in perennial trouble with the Ethics Committee for his profligate porking, is being …