This ad may be the best Arlen Specter can do in the final week of his primary if Obama declines to come in for a final push:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-MqJFxMDOg]
(h/t PoliticsPA)
2012 Election
Morning Must Reads: Empathy and Envy
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
—John Dickerson examines Obama’s argument that Kagan, like Sotomayor, understands the everyman and brings empathy to court. It well may be her (and his) judicial philosophy, but it’s not something well-grounded in Kagan’s credentials or life story. But the purpose of the empathy narrative …
Ciao Gordon Brown
Reuters is reporting that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will resign this year, falling on his sword in hopes of salvaging power for his Labour Party. Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, had been in coalition talks with the Conservative Party – which won the most seats in last week’s election but failed to secure a large …
Mahalo, Neil Abercrombie
Except for Scott Brown in Massachusetts, Republicans have not had much luck with special elections to the 111th Congress. Dems have won all six of the races, including a Republican stronghold in New York’s 23rd district (who can forget the Dede Scozzofava mess?). Well, the GOP luck looks like it’s about to change: the Democratic …
Marshalled Opposition
Updated, see below.
Jay has a bit of RNC chair Michael Steele’s skeptical response to Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination, but there’s another facet in the full statement. He implicitly criticizes Kagan for her relationship with Thurgood Marshall, for whom she clerked early in her career (emphasis mine):
Given Kagan’s opposition to
…
First Reactions to Kagan’s Nomination
Clearly, President Obama’s choice of Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court came as no surprise to many. Reactions flooded my inbox before Obama was even done speaking. Here are some excerpts – in order that I received them – of statements reacting to Kagan’s nomination. Some interesting highlights: Mitch McConnell …
Winning the Immigration Lottery
Dems are still moving ahead with the legislation but here’s a story from me about why the GOP is unlikely to play this year. There’s actually more risk in the Democratic strategy than I’d previously seen: a lot of folks on both sides are concerned that the draft legislation thus far was released — the compromise that was being …
Morning Must Reads: Kagan
Photo by Ryan Kelly/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images
–Conventional wisdom played out; Obama will tap Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. The White House is rolling out with a 10 a.m. ET event where the president and his pick are both expected to speak.
–Never having served on the bench, Kagan’s record is …
The Call: Shaking Up The Establishment
This week’s podcast features Jay and Alex talking about Bob Bennett’s tough road to re-election, David Obey’s retirement and more. Enjoy:
God Save the Queen
The Senate just went out until Monday and Washington is settling into an early start of what looks to be a quiet weekend (barring any more suspicious packages in Times Square). But on the other side of the Pond it looks like another crazy weekend as Britons sort out the results of Thursday’s elections and what to do with a hung …
Tim Pawlenty’s Budget Problem
If this recent flattering Michael Gerson column is a preview of the case for Pawlenty in 2012’s GOP presidential primary, there may be a hitch. Gerson:
If the problem is deficits, Pawlenty believes he is the solution. From 1960 to 2002, state spending in Minnesota increased by an average of 21 percent every two years. As governor,
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Morning Must Reads: Spring
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
–The economy added jobs 290,00 jobs in April, the biggest jump in four years. The unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent as the labor force swelled with people looking for work. President Obama is expected to address the report at 11 a.m. ET.
–Last night in financial reform: The GOP …
Obama Gets Hands-On With Financial Reform
The White House’s general approach to legislation has been to be an interested party — a nudge here, a supportive statement there — while the president himself stays out of the nitty-gritty day-to-day process. Many a commentator insisted he was too aloof on health care, letting petty and parochial interests in Congress hijack his …