Updated, 7:25 a.m.
Tea Party activists on Tuesday punctuated a primary season with no shortage of surprises by delivering their sharpest blow yet to the Republican establishment. In the race for the party’s Senate nomination in Delaware—one of seven states (plus the nation’s capital) where voters headed to the polls in the last …
—The Fed sees “deceleration in overall economic activity.”
–Preisdent Obama used the word “Boehner” more than the word “hope” in his speech on the economy yesterday.
–A few bright spots from this morning: New jobless claims dropped to a two-month low last week and exports hit a near two-year high.
—Ezra Klein talks to …
–BP says the Deepwater Horizon well is sealed and the government is saying most of the oil is gone. That doesn’t mean you won’t be hearing about it on TV this fall:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn43pS3YEPY]
–Sharron Angle’s ads are still focused on Nevada’s abyssal …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–John Dickerson reads the polls, sees a failure in salesmanship.
–The White House will get another chance today with the release of the Council of Economic Advisers’ latest stimulus report. Chairwoman Christina Romer will present her findings — that the Recovery Act “saved or created” …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–BP has placed a new cap on the Deepwater Horizon leak and it appears as if oil has stopped gushing into the Gulf. They’re doing tests now to determine if the worst spill in American history is finally over.
–Financial reform has reached 60 and Harry Reid says he’ll call a vote this …
Photo credit: Stephen Crowley/pool
Senator Robert Byrd’s flag draped casket is lying in state for most of the day on the Senate floor — note his black draped desk with white flowers on it. Much of Congress, the President and the Vice President will head tomorrow morning to West Virginia for a memorial service on the steps of the …
(Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
Official White House Photo
–You can read Rolling Stone‘s full piece on Stanley McChrystal here. The general and his inner circle were something beyond cavalier and insulted a lot of people, but probably the most troubling aspect to the White House is that the commander of American forces in Afghanistan brazenly impugned the …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–BP CEO Tony Hayward is testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee this morning. You can watch the brutal proceedings unfold here.
–If criminal charges come down the pike, BP is on the hook for a lot of money.
–Scott Brown throws cold water on cap-and-trade, which …
Arlen Specter has survived a lot of things: a brain tumor, two bouts with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and five squeaker elections for the U.S. Senate. But in an anti-establishment year where the far right hates the moderates and the far left hates the moderates, Specter – whose voting record over the past 30 years is almost perfectly down the …
Vice President Joe Biden took no questions Monday during his brief Briefing Room appearance at the White House. He was there to drive a message, not discuss. Iraqi security forces, with U.S. military support, had killed the two most senior leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq, operational leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and spiritual leader Abu Omar …
As President Obama noted after arriving in the East Room Tuesday morning, spring has arrived in Washington. The signs of life inside the White House were everywhere, in the whoops and hollers of Democratic members of Congress, the broad smiles, the “Fired up, ready to go” chants, the constant hugging.
The partisan crowd from the House …

Photo courtesy of Ben Nelson’s office
–After so many months of vitriolic debate and soap-operatic drama, one might be skeptical when they hear this is the week health reform faces its ultimate test. But it is. House markup of the reconciliation package is scheduled to begin at 3 pm today. The final CBO score is forthcoming. The …