SCOTUS screens prevent surprises

by James Oliphant

First, a note of thanks to everyone who has stayed with us during this transitional period--which continues. The Swamp will soon have a new operator and the site will return to a more robust presentation. And we appreciate the heated exchanges back in forth in the comments--it wouldn't be the Swamp without them--with the standing expectation, of course, that the discourse can remain civil.

Second, I thought I would post something that landed in my inbox this morning from the Pentagon, and I do so to not make any sort of political statement, but simply reaffirm the meaning behind this holiday. And I couldn't help but note, as an aside, that Maj. Culver, whom you will read about, was exactly my age.

Commentary: Airman Touched by Memorial Service in Iraq

By Air Force Master Sgt. Darrell Habisch
Special to American Forces Press Service

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, May 31, 2010 -- This Memorial Day in Iraq, I have shed many tears for a soldier I never met.

I was asked to videotape a memorial service for an Army major killed in action May 24 when an improvised explosive device pierced his mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle near Numaniyah in southern Iraq.

The memorial service took place May 27 at Memorial Hall here. Seats were set for 560 people, and it was already half full as soldiers waited for the 10:15 a.m. start time.

It was very quiet with hardly a whisper or sound of a weapon placed on the concrete floor. A projector cast photos of the major on a screen at the front of the stage.

Soldiers filed in and filled up seats until the hall was standing room only. To videotape, I positioned myself toward the front and to the side.

The members of his brigade wore the usual Army combat uniforms, with a few exceptions: instead of camouflaged caps, the members from the 2-108th Cavalry Squadron wore the traditional black Stetson hat with gold tassels, some with blue tassels in reference to that soldier's infantry background. Many wore silver or gold combat spurs on their combat boots to honor their cavalry heritage.

President Obama, in Chicago for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, waves Friday morning as he boards Air Force One to depart to Louisiana. (AP/Evan Vucci)

by Ashley Powers, Jim Tankersley and Bettina Boxall

As BP continued its effort to gain control of its untamed deep-sea well, President Obama announced more restrictions on offshore oil drilling Thursday and insisted his administration is firmly in charge of the response to the spill, now believed to be the largest in U.S. history.

Batting away suggestions that the federal response has been lackluster and that BP executives have been calling some of the shots, Obama insisted that "BP is operating at our direction."

"Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance," Obama said. If the Coast Guard orders BP to do something, he added, "they are legally bound to do it."

More than 24 hours after BP began a crucial "top kill" effort to plug the deep-sea well with heavy drilling mud, company executives said the procedure was going as planned but they were not ready to declare success.

Although incident commander Adm. Thad Allen of the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday morning that BP had temporarily stopped the flow of oil, the company's chief operating officer later said petroleum was still flowing. "Once the well has stopped flowing then we would pump cement down into the hole to fully seal it," Doug Suttles said. "We might finish this in the next 24 hours, or it might take longer." Engineers next plan to inject heavier "bridging material" above the mud to prepare to put a cement seal on the well.

The developments came on a day when a new spill estimate indicates that the BP leak is more than twice the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, making it the worst oil disaster in U.S. history.

by Julian E. Barnes

A proposal to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military passed two critical tests Thursday, with the House of Representatives and an important Senate committee endorsing a compromise to end the divisive "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

In a late-night vote in the House, lawmakers endorsed an amendment that would repeal the ban, 234 to 194. In the largely party-line vote, 26 Democrats joined 168 Republicans in opposition. Five Republicans supported the repeal.

Earlier, in a closed session, the Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed the plan, 16-12. The measure still faces a vote in the full Senate.

The compromise between White House and congressional negotiators would not formally lift the ban on openly gay service members until the Pentagon completes a review, due Dec. 1, and President Obama and top Defense leaders certify that ending the 1993 prohibition would not affect military readiness.

Activists have pressed for congressional action, fearful that if lawmakers wait until the next legislative session to tackle the repeal, potential Republican gains in Congress this fall would make changing the law more difficult.

By adding the compromise to a defense authorization measure, Democratic leaders hope to avoid an attempt by opponents to block the repeal. To stop it, Senate Republicans would have to take the extreme step of filibustering the entire authorization measure, which sets overall parameters for military spending.

In Thursday's Senate committee vote, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R- Maine) joined the panel's Democrats in approving the proposal.

Although the compromise has the blessing of the White House and top Pentagon officials, some military leaders remain skeptical. The uniformed heads of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps all oppose legislation to repeal the ban until the Pentagon finishes its review.

"I believe that repealing the law before the completion of the review will be seen by the men and women of the Army as a reversal of our commitment to hear their views before moving forward," wrote Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff.

100 senators, 100 meetings, 100 pictures like this: Elena Kagan meets with Florida Sen. George LeMieux on Thursday. (AP/Drew Angerer)

by James Oliphant

In her first weeks as dean of Harvard Law School in 2003, Elena Kagan put the warring sides of the gun rights debate in a room and let them fight it out.

The debate between gun control advocates and 2nd Amendment purists was sponsored by the law school's target shooting club, and Kagan showed her support by moderating the exchange. But her own views on gun rights went unaired.

With her Supreme Court confirmation pending, those views have become of extreme interest to pro-gun groups such as the National Rifle Assn. The NRA is already skeptical that it can support Kagan -- and in Washington, when the NRA gets worried, senators become nervous.

"There are serious problems," said Andrew Arulanandam, public affairs director for the NRA. "We will work with senators to make sure tough questions are asked during hearings."

A concerted effort by the NRA to scuttle Kagan's confirmation could prove problematic for Republicans and moderate Democrats who fear falling from its good graces.

There appears to be enough evidence to stoke the NRA's concerns. Kagan worked in the Clinton administration for four years, first as a lawyer in the White House and later as a senior domestic policy advisor. Gun rights advocates already have locked in on a 1997 Kagan memo that paved the way for an executive order banning dozens of semiautomatic weapons as an example of the nominee's anti-gun views.

They also point to Kagan's background working for judges, such as federal Judge Abner Mikva, who later brought Kagan into the White House to serve as his deputy and who once likened the NRA to a "street-crime lobby."

But Kagan more recently has pledged her fidelity to the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in the case, District of Columbia vs. Heller, that found a constitutional right to own a handgun for personal protection. The White House maintains that Kagan would view her role as a justice differently from that of a policy-crafter in the Clinton White House.

"As a White House aide, Elena Kagan provided legal advice and evaluated policy proposals for President Clinton, whose views on these issues were well established," said Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman. "In her confirmation hearing for solicitor general, Ms. Kagan made clear that she considered Heller to be settled law, and the upcoming hearing will present the opportunity for further questions about her views of the law to be asked and answered."

by Lisa Mascaro

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will get a little help in his re-election bid next week as he welcomes First Lady Michelle Obama to Nevada to tout healthy living initiatives in Reno and Las Vegas.

Michelle Obama will headline a Women's Summit in Reno on Tuesday morning before heading south to Las Vegas for a swearing-in ceremony for Junior Rangers a the Red Rock Conservation Area that afternoon.

The First Lady's visit comes as Nevadans are in the midst of early voting for the June 8 primary. Several Republicans are in heated campaigns for the chance to challenge the majority leader this fall. Republican frontrunner, Sue Lowden, suffered setbacks after recent gaffes, and she is losing ground to Tea Party-backed Sharron Angle.

Reid has hosted a long list of administration officials to Nevada during his uphill battle for a fifth-term. Joining the first lady and the majority leader at the event will be an assistant secretary from the Interior Department and other administration officials.

by Jim Tankersley

HOUMA, La.--Engineers have at least temporarily stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government's top oil-spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.

The "top kill" effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting. The top kill effort is not complete, officials caution.

Once engineers had reduced the well pressure to zero, they were to begin pumping cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help in that effort, he said, engineers also were pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.

As of early Thursday morning, neither government nor BP officials had declared the effort a success yet, pending the completion of the cementing and sealing of the well.

Allen said one ship that was pumping fluid into the well had run out of the fluid, or "mud," and that a second ship was on the way. He said he was encouraged by the progress.

"We'll get this under control," he said.

Allen also said that, later Thursday, an interagency team would release a revised estimate of how much oil had flowed from the well into the gulf before the "top kill" effort began. The Coast Guard had estimated the flow at 5,000 barrels a day, but independent estimates suggested it was much higher, perhaps tens of thousands of barrels a day.

The senator, at a hearing last month. (Getty/Chip Somodevilla)

by Lisa Mascaro

After delivering a floor speech against the financial overhaul bill last week, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) walked out of the Capitol into the spring sunshine and spoke optimistically of getting back to raising money for his reelection campaign -- never mind the looming ethics cloud stemming from his admitted affair with an aide.

Days earlier, the scene couldn't have been more different when another member of Congress, Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), stood grim-faced behind a lectern and resigned his seat after admitting to an affair with a part-time staff member.

Souder's final day in Congress was Friday. But Ensign -- who like Souder is a conservative Christian who stresses family values -- soldiers on, determined to keep his seat in Congress.

The Nevadan has started organizing fundraisers and making calls to donors for help in winning a third term in 2012. Ensign, once a rising star in the Republican leadership, collected a mere $50 during the first quarter of this year, but he's confident that is about to change.

"We just took some time off," Ensign said as he walked back to his Senate office. "We're getting it geared back up."

The reasons why one member of Congress stays and one goes are as varied as the egos involved, the politics of the moment and the proximity of the next election.

Supporters of Arizona's immigration law earlier this week protest a decision by the Los Angeles City Council to boycott Arizona. (AP/Damien Dovarganes)

by Richard A. Serrano and Kate Linthicum

Top Justice Department officials have drafted a legal challenge asserting that Arizona's controversial immigration law is unconstitutional because it impinges on the federal government's authority to police the nation's borders, sources said Wednesday.

At the same time, the government officials said, the department's civil rights section is considering possible legal action against the law on the basis that it amounts to racial profiling of Latinos who are legally in Arizona but conceivably could be asked to provide documents proving their citizenship.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. met Wednesday with nine top police chiefs who object to the Arizona legislation and promised them he would act on the recommendations soon, a spokesman said.

The police chiefs urged Holder and the Obama administration, which has grave reservations about the Arizona measure, to stop the law. The chiefs said it would seriously hamper local police work if officers had to serve as border patrol policemen.

"He did say that the Justice Department is seriously considering what they would do and that could come very soon," said Chuck Wexler, the director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank that helped bring the police chiefs together with Holder.

by Kathleen Hennessey

After a dismal first turn on the national stage, the Rand Paul campaign was expected to follow a familiar path for a rattled campaign: Stay in your home state. Keep a low profile. Reorganize your campaign. Check. Check. And, as of today, check.

But because this is Rand Paul we're talking about, the final to-do on the list doesn't quite look like what you might expect. Paul hasn't brought in an establishment political hand to project stability and appease Republicans worried about his Kentucky Senate bid. He's brought on a top aide from his father's renegade 2008 presidential campaign. (Not to be confused from his father's 1988 bid as the Libertarian Party nominee.) Since then, Benton has been acting as the senior vice president of Rep. Ron Paul's nonprofit, Campaign for Liberty.

Benton also was working as a consultant for the Rand Paul campaign and now takes the title of campaign manager from David Adams, he tells Washington Post blogger David Weigel.

Pulling from his father's organization might not curry favor with some traditional Republicans, but at least it makes Paul's libertarian-leaning base happy, right? Apparently not. AP reports:

"Despite his pedigree as the son of former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, Libertarian Vice Chairman Joshua Koch said Rand Paul has betrayed the party's values with stands he's taken, and they were considering finding a candidate to run for the seat."

by Kathleen Hennessey

There's more unfolding today on the adultery scandal involving Nikki Haley, a Republican candidate for governor in South Carolina.

See if you can follow this: The website founded by the blogger who says he had an "inappropriate physical relationship" with married lawmaker and candidate Nikki Haley has now published a series of text messages as evidence. The messages appear to show that the Haley campaign and blogger Will Folks were worried about this story coming out. They say a lot less about whether the allegation is actually true. Haley has said it is not. Folks has hinted there's more to come.

A consultant for a rival campaign, who was involved in this swirl of SMS, has said he won't dispute the texts.

Haley is the Tea Party favorite and Sarah Palin-endorsed candidate running as reformer and a breath of fresh air. Her problem is this type of scandal is oh-so familiar to South Carolina voters still smarting over Gov. Mark Sanford's hike on the Appalachian Trail. The primary in June 8.

In a side note, Palin's picks have had a rough week.

The president apparently had a different view of Tuesday's meeting with Republican senators than some of the senators themselves. (Getty/Alex Wong)

by Janet Hook

President Obama paid a rare visit Tuesday to Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, seeking their support on energy, immigration and other top-priority measures. But he hit a buzz saw of criticism and resentment that bodes poorly for the remainder of his legislative agenda.

In the tense closed-door meeting, Obama told Senate Republicans he did not want legislative business to grind to a halt just because an election was approaching, and asked for their cooperation on ratifying the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, confirming Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court and passing legislation to improve the economy.

But at least one angry Republican accused Obama of treating members of the opposition like political props, saying the president's bipartisan words have repeatedly been followed by partisan deeds on such issues as regulation of Wall Street, healthcare and economic stimulus.

"I told him I thought there was a degree of audacity in him showing up today," said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who accused the administration of sabotaging efforts to write a bipartisan Wall Street bill. "I asked him how he was able to reconcile that duplicity."

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said Obama's response to the GOP criticism showed he was so "thin-skinned" that he should "take a Valium" before he comes to talk to Republicans again.

As Obama left the Capitol, he told reporters, "It was a good and frank exchange." Later, White House spokesman Bill Burton said the session was "civil in tone" and that Republican accounts of the meeting were overblown.

But the byplay underscored the depth of the suspicions that Obama faces even as he presses for legislation on which he dearly needs Republican support -- a bill now before the Senate to provide more funding for the war in Afghanistan. The war is opposed by many liberals and, especially in the House, war spending will be almost impossible to pass without Republican votes.

A hand-lettered sign marks the closed beach on Elmer's Island in Grand Isle, La. (AP/Gerald Hebert)

by Richard Simon and Jill Leovy

There were warning signs of a valve leak nearly five hours before the deadly gulf oil rig explosion, according to an internal BP investigation, which also found that a number of equipment and system failures may have caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

BP's preliminary inquiry raises questions about the cementing of the deep-sea oil well and the blowout preventer that failed, members of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations were told Tuesday.

The BP investigation identifies "new warning signs of problems" before the explosion, including "whether proper procedures were followed for critical activities throughout the day," Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), leaders of a congressional investigation into the disaster, said in a memo released late Tuesday.

As federal officials were briefed by BP, the company prepared for its much-anticipated "top kill" procedure, which could take place as soon as Wednesday. If it works -- and BP executives have said there is no guarantee it will -- the complicated underwater operation would finally stop the flow of crude, offering some relief to the embattled oil giant.

If it doesn't, BP has said it will try other fixes to cap the oil gusher. But another failure would add to growing political and public anger over the untamed spill, which has closed fisheries, fouled shorelines and tainted Gulf of Mexico waters.

The technique, never attempted at 5,000 feet, the depth of the BP leak, involves pumping heavy drilling mud into the well at a rate of 40 to 50 barrels per minute, followed by cement. The company had planned to turn off its live video feed of the leak during the procedure, but at the request of President Obama and the National Incident Center has decided to keep it on.

Against a background of mounting criticism of the federal response to the disaster, Obama changed his Memorial Day weekend plans to include a Friday trip to the gulf, where he will review cleanup efforts. And Capitol Hill lawmakers began considering tough new measures to ensure that industry pays the economic and environmental costs of oil spills.

A Border Patrol truck travels along the newly constructed fence in March that stands between California and Mexico. (Getty/David McNew)

by Ken Dilanian

President Obama will send up to 1,200 additional National Guard troops -- and request $500 million in additional funds -- to support law enforcement efforts along the Southwest border, the White House said Tuesday.

The move was widely seen as offering the president political cover for his pursuit of immigration reform.

The National Guard will target the trafficking of people, money, drugs and weapons, national security advisor James L. Jones and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said in a letter to Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), noting that more than 300 troops were already on the ground. The troops won't make arrests or otherwise intervene directly, according to an administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The White House said the money would allow the U.S. Border Patrol to zero in on more smuggling routes, and it would fund more prosecutions in overstretched federal courts along the border.

"This is the latest step in an ongoing effort to ensure the federal government fulfills its responsibility to secure the Southwest border," the official said.

The move comes a month after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate committee that the U.S.-Mexico border "is as secure as it has ever been" and pointed out that crime rates on the U.S. side had declined, despite a spate of drug-related violence on the Mexico side.

Republicans criticized her remarks, and have been demanding that the administration step up efforts to tackle illegal immigration and border violence.

Obama's announcement also comes as illegal immigration is believed to be at its lowest levels in years. Apprehension rates, considered the best available indicator of illegal border crossings, have steadily declined over the last decade. The Border Patrol arrested 556,000 people last year, down from a high of 1.6 million in 2000.

But Republicans have been hammering Obama on the issue. In a letter to the president last week, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, both Republicans, called for sending at least 6,000 National Guard troops to the border.

A Gallup poll released May 5 showed that two-thirds of Americans wanted the federal government to do a better job of securing the border. Concerns about border security helped drive the passage of the recent Arizona law empowering local police to help identify, arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

Obama argues that the answer to concerns about immigration rests in a new law that combines tough enforcement with a path to legalization for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. President George W. Bush tried and failed to pass such a measure in 2007, and many observers think there is even less chance of it succeeding this year, with midterm elections approaching.

The deployment of additional National Guard troops undermines the Republican assertion that the White House is lax about strengthening the border, said a second Obama administration official, not authorized to speak on the record.

"They're running out of excuses," the official said. "For those who are making the case that we have to be more vigorous about enforcing the law, it does call the question."

by Kathleen Hennessey

In another year, we could all be forgiven for not following the GOP primary in Idaho's 1st congressional district. But true junkies have been watching -- and cringing.

For the rest of you, an update: The gaffe-prone campaign of Republican candidate Vaughn Ward stumbled into another one yesterday, the day before the primary.

Ward, a GOP operative who ran the McCain-Palin campaign in Nevada, sounded a lot like Barack Obama in his announcement speech. Too much like Obama, says a conservative blogger who accused Ward of plagiarism. Was the speech a gesture of bipartisanship? No, Ward's campaign tells POLITICO it's a sign he's winning and under attack.

This comes after Ward described Puerto Rico, the birthplace of his opponent, as a "country." When corrected, Ward said, "I really don't care what it is. It doesn't matter."

The former Marine also took heat for cribbing portions of his website from other political candidates, and admitted to posing with someone else's pickup truck in a campaign ad.

Still, Sarah Palin has endorsed Ward and campaigned for him in the district. But the Tea Party vote appears to be split. Tea Party Express, a national group run by Sacramento consultants, is supporting the Democrat in the race. The Boise Tea Party has endorsed Republican Raul Labrador.

Idaho Republican will decide today.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), pictured earlier this month, is an architect of a deal that would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

by Christi Parsons and Lisa Mascaro

President Obama reached a deal with key Democrats on Monday that could repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy governing gays and lesbians in the military -- assuming Congress signs on.

The proposal would let lawmakers vote now to repeal the law and allow people who are openly gay to serve, once the president and top military leaders certify that the repeal wouldn't threaten the military's "readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention," according to documents the sponsors sent to the administration.

The White House replied that the proposal "meets the concerns" raised by the Pentagon and that the Obama administration supported it.

Voting before the November election -- in which Democrats are expected to lose seats -- gives the proposal its best chance at passage.

The House could take up the proposal, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, as early as Thursday. But the House's third-ranking Republican said his party would oppose it.

"The American people don't want the American military to be used to advance a liberal political agenda," Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told the Associated Press.

Democrats hold a commanding lead in the House and probably could pass the proposal without Republican support, unless conservative Democrats defected.

In the Senate, which expects to act in June, 60 votes are required to cut off debate. Republicans hold 41 seats and could filibuster if they choose.

Gay rights activists hailed the proposal, while conservatives condemned it.

Residents of Grand Isle, La. express their frustration with BP Monday. (EPA/Bevil Knapp)

by Kim Geiger and Tom Hamburger

It was close to 2 a.m. when Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and others on a House-Senate conference committee saw just how much clout the oil industry had when it came to winning special tax breaks and other financial benefits from Congress.

At issue was the 2005 Energy Policy Act -- the largest energy bill in years. The committee chairman, Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Texas), a friend of the industry, had saved some big issues for the end: billions of dollars in tax and royalty relief to encourage drilling for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico and other offshore areas. There was even a $50-million annual earmark to support technical research for the industry.

At the time, drilling was already proceeding at a brisk pace, and industry profits were setting records. "With all the money they are making," Markey said to his top energy aide, who recalled the scene, "why does the government need to subsidize their work and their research?"

That point of view did not prevail. The bleary-eyed lawmakers wanted no part of Markey's amendments. The bill was eventually passed in both houses with bipartisan support. Notably, then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois voted in favor.

Today, Markey and other critics complain that these policies have cost the U.S. Treasury tens of billions in lost revenue, and led to a reckless search for oil in fragile environments like the deep floor of the Gulf of Mexico. He and others say the unfolding catastrophe at the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded April 20 in a disaster that killed 11, can be directly linked to oil-friendly legislation over the last two decades.

by Kathleen Hennessey

The Obamas will honor Sir Paul McCartney with a concert at the White House next week.

The June 2 concert in the East Room will celebrate the ex-Beatle as he's awarded the 3rd Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress. The prize commemorates American songwriters George and Ira Gershwin and is a sort of lifetime achievement honor.

For McCartney, it might also mark the achievement of a very public goal. The vocal Obama fan has said he wants to serenade First Lady Michelle Obama with, of course, "Michelle." And McCartney reportedly dedicated the song to Michelle Obama during a Washington-area concert.

The White House concert will be taped and broadcast on PBS stations on July 28.

By Katherine Skiba

WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama and his family head home to Chicago for the Memorial Day weekend, an administration official said.

The first family will arrive Thursday and stay through the holiday, the official said.

The president will participate in a Memorial Day ceremony at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, the official said. The cemetery is about 50 miles south of Chicago.

Last year Obama marked Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery. This year, Vice President Biden will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony there, the official said.

Obama has visited the Windy City three prior times as president. His first trip in February 2009 was for three nights; trips last June and July were in-and-out visits for part of the day.

He said after winning the presidency that the South Side of Chicago would be his "Kennebunkport," a reference to former President George H.W. Bush's summer retreat in Maine.

But trips to "Sweet home, Chicago" have been scarce.

First lady Michelle Obama has said their two daughters' schedules--extracurricular activities, sleepovers and friends visiting from Chicago--are among the reasons they haven't returned more often.

Another concern is disruption, she has said. The first lady, remembering the Valentine's Day visit in 2009, said "we shut down Lake Shore Drive and shut down our neighbors."

by Kathleen Hennessey

Sarah Palin has jumped to defend Republican Nikki Haley, the South Carolina candidate for governor who woke up this morning to an accusation of infidelity. Palin took to her Facebook page - her medium of choice - to say Haley had become a target because she, like Palin, is a reformer taking on the establishment.

When Nikki and I held her endorsement rally on the steps of the beautiful and historic South Carolina state house a few weeks ago, I warned her and her family that she would be targeted because she's a threat to a corrupt political machine, and she would be put through some hell. That, unfortunately, is the nature of the beast in politics today - especially for conservative "underdog" candidates who surge in the polls and threaten to shake things up so government can be put back on the side of the people.

South Carolina: don't let some blogger make any accusation against your Nikki if the guy doesn't even have the guts or the integrity to speak further on such a significant claim. And don't believe anything a liberal rag claims or suggests unless the reporter involved has the integrity and the facts to report to you so you can make up your own mind. For traditional media to rely on an accusation via some blog entry is almost laughable, but I know the seriousness of it because that's exactly what my family and colleagues have had to put up with, every single day, for the past couple of years.

Haley denies having an affair Will Folks, a blogger and former aide to Gov. Mark Sanford. And yes, Sanford is the one who did not deny having an affair with an Argentine mistress.

by Kathleen Hennessey

A couple of us here at the Swamp have a special affection for Nevada politics. So we just couldn't resist posting this Associated Press report with one of the greatest ledes we've seen in a long time.

RENO, Nev. (AP) _ Voters dressed in chicken costumes won't be allowed inside Nevada polling places this year.

We can't help but image the dozens (hundreds?) of voters from Elko to Pahrump reading that story and sadly packing away their Election Day chicken suits for next year. This year, of course, wearing a chicken costume would be considered blatant electioneering, state officials decided.

They have Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden to blame (or thank) for that. Ever since Lowden suggested that people should barter for health care -- like when "our grandparents would bring a chicken to the doctor" -- Nevada politics has been awash in poultry puns and chicken jokes. Pundits and bloggers far and wide have mocked the comments as the "chickens for checkups" plan. The state Democratic Party has been sending volunteers to Lowden events in chicken costumes. But there were no plans to send the chickens to the polls, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid said.

Lowden is running to challenge Reid in November. The GOP primary is June 8.

by Ashley Powers and Richard Fausset

The public-private response to the Gulf of Mexico oil leak showed more signs of strain Sunday as members of the Obama administration bashed BP's progress even as they acknowledged they had to rely on the oil giant's equipment and expertise to plug the blown-out well.

In one of the harshest government condemnations of the company to date, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said BP had blown "deadline after deadline" and had not "fulfilled the mission it was supposed to fulfill."

"I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this oil from leaking and to stop the pollution from spreading," Salazar said at a Houston news conference. "We are 33 days into this effort and deadline after deadline has been missed."

The federal government could resort to taking over tasks now controlled by BP, Salazar suggested. "If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately," he said.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry later accused BP of not responding efficiently enough as oil bore down on Louisiana communities west of the Mississippi River.

Unlike previous news conferences, in which federal officials referred to the oil giant as "our partner," Landry referred Sunday to BP as "the responsible party."

"I did have to apply pressure to BP over the last few days," she said in a news conference in Louisiana. "There was a lot of equipment there that wasn't being deployed appropriately or quickly enough for my satisfaction. So we put our foot down with that."

Those comments stood in contrast to morning news show remarks from Landry's superior, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, who said he trusted Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, and described the company as responsive.

"When I give them direction or the federal on-scene coordinator gives them a direction, we get a response," he told host Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union" show. "I've got Tony Hayward's personal cellphone number. If I have a problem, I call him."

by Lisa Mascaro

Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate who helped popularize "Drill, baby, drill" as a slogan, suggested Sunday that President Obama's campaign ties to the oil industry were impeding cleanup of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded that Palin should better inform herself about oil politics and policy.

Speaking on " Fox News Sunday," the former Alaska governor said she remained a "big supporter" of oil drilling but believed "these oil companies have got to be held accountable."

Pointing to what she termed the White House's relationship with "the oil companies who have so supported President Obama in his campaign and are supportive of him now," Palin questioned whether "there's any connection there to President Obama taking so doggone long to get in there, to dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico."

by Kathleen Hennessey

In a week when the Tea Party movement's newest national spokesman had to promise not to try to repeal the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A mini-controversy about Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams probably isn't helping tea partiers' attempts to appear mainstream.

Mad about a proposed memorial for Ground Zero, Williams wrote this on his blog this week:

The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god and a "cultural center" to propagandize for the extermination of all things not approved by their cult.

(Williams, in a crafty bit of marketing, has made the blog post available only to those who buy his book.)

Clearly, Williams knows how to get attention and isn't shy about acknowleding his intentions. "When that kind of stuff goes viral, it starts the discussion. It brings the attention," he told The Washington Post David Weigel. Still, Tea Party Express isn't fringy or irrelevant. It's the group that hosted a cross-country tour featuring appearances from Sarah Palin. It's spent big money on ad campaigns in Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada. If Sharron Angle pulls off a win in the Nevada GOP primary for Senate, she'll have Tea Party Express and Williams to thank.

Harry Reid will too.

An exuberant Sen. Chris Dodd is flanked by Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin, with Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Warner in the background, after the Senate passed a sweeping regulatory overhaul bill Thursday night. (Getty/Mark Wilson)

by Janet Hook and Jim Puzzanghera

The Senate Thursday evening approved the most sweeping rewrite of financial rules since the Great Depression, a milestone in President Obama's drive to expand government oversight and safeguard against another crisis like the Wall Street meltdown of 2008.

The 59-39 vote was mostly along party lines: Four Republicans joined all but two Democrats in supporting the legislation.

Obama applauded as the Senate neared the end of its three-week debate on a top administration priority.

"Our goal is not to punish the banks but to protect the larger economy and the American people from the kind of upheavals that we've seen in the past few years," Obama said. "And today's action was a major step forward in achieving that goal."

An exultant Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was less diplomatic.

"When this bill becomes law, the joyride on Wall Street will come to a screeching halt," Reid said.

by David S. Cloud and Christi Parsons

National Intelligence Director Dennis C. Blair announced his resignation Thursday after a rocky 16-month tenure during which he found himself on the losing end of turf battles and struggled to develop a close relationship with President Obama.

The White House has been interviewing candidates to replace Blair but has not chosen one, several officials said.

Blair's departure surprised his staff and many members of Congress. He had told associates that he intended to remain in the job for four years.

(Photo: AP/Charles Dharapak)

But he never seemed to form a close bond with Obama, and one senior official said Thursday that the retired Navy admiral had been forced out. Several officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

After a series of attempted terrorist attacks and intelligence breakdowns that included the 13 shooting deaths last year at Ft. Hood, Texas, and the failed Christmas Day airliner bombing attempt, Obama's confidence in Blair had suffered, several officials said.

In a statement, Blair said he was stepping down with "deep regret." He said the intelligence community had "worked tirelessly to provide intelligence support for two wars and to prevent an attack on our homeland."

Paul at his campaign headquarters Wednesday. (AP/Ed Reinke)

by James Oliphant

Well, that didn't take long.

Little did we know here at the Swamp that when we posted the clip below of the newly minted Republican senatorial candidate from Kentucky, Rand Paul, on the Rachel Maddow Show last night that his remarks regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would result in a full-blown mini-controversy in Washington before lunchtime.

Paul just put out a statement saying he wouldn't support any move to repeal the act. You'll find it after the jump.

The Salahis in their more infiltrating days. Now, not so much. (WH/Samantha Appleton)

by Kathleen Hennessey

Infamous state dinner crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi apparently just couldn't stay away from the White House during last night's state dinner.

The Virginia socialites were riding in a limousine that was stopped near the White House as the Obamas toasted Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Secret Service Edwin Donovan says. The vehicle was attempting to enter a restricted area near the Ellipse.

The Salahis first made headlines last November when they made it past security and attended a portion of a state dinner for the prime minister of India. The Salahis were not on the guest list, but still managed to get their picture taken with Vice President Joe Biden before slipping out just before dinner. They posted the photo on Facebook.

The incident led to a Congressional hearing on presidential security and much embarrassment at the White House. Social Secretary Deriree Rogers eventually resigned. The Salahis reportedly were cast in the Brave reality series "The Real Housewives of D.C."

The Associated Press says last night's stop led to a ticket for the driver, who ran a red light. The Salahis and others in the limo went on to have dinner in the neighborhood. No pictures on Facebook -- yet.

Sen. Arlen Specter is driven away after his defeat in the Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Senate primary Tuesday. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

by Janet Hook and Seema Mehta

In a year where the entire political establishment is being challenged by rank-and-file activists, Sen. Arlen Specter is a standout. He managed to run afoul of both parties in one election cycle.

Specter, Pennsylvania's Republican turned Democrat, is one of the tallest trees to fall in this spring's electoral storm, ending a career that survived three decades of U.S. political history.

Yet despite all the things that make Specter exceptional, his defeat -- coupled with the results of other primaries and special elections this week -- sends a message that resonates with career politicians across the spectrum. Voters are not just turning against established power; they are also trying to reshape their parties.

The primary season is far from over and already the political world has been rocked by the defeat of one senior Republican for being part of Washington's big-spending culture; the defeat of a GOP candidate backed by national party leaders; and the forced runoff of a Democratic committee chairwoman for being too cozy with moneyed business interests.

The message: Many surly voters are looking for a new brand of leadership that is missing from old hands in Washington who seem to care more about their own career longevity than about their constituents or the principles of their political party.

Specter met his match in a volatile mid-term climate in which his assets (seniority, connections, ability to deliver concrete benefits to constituents) had been devalued and his liabilities (being a candidly self-seeking party-switcher) were crippling in an election defined by the question: "Whose side are you on?"

Specter's primary opponent, Rep. Joe Sestak, broadcast a television ad that focused on Specter's party switch in 2009, when the senator acknowledged he could not be reelected as a Republican.

"Arlen Specter switched parties to save one job: His, not yours," the ad said.

The message was especially powerful in a state where unemployment runs high and many areas have never recovered from the decline of steel and other heavy industries.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul was interviewed last night on Rachel Maddow's program. A year ago he announced his political ambitions on the same program.

by Mark Z. Barabak and Kathleen Hennessey

Republicans got a wake-up call this week.

For months, the GOP has been buoyed by the notion that 2010 will be a big year, delivering control of the House and perhaps even the Senate in November. But Tuesday's election results -- arguably the best campaign day for Democrats since President Obama's victory in 2008 -- suggest the climb back to a majority may be steeper than Republicans thought.

Democrats nominated probably their strongest Senate contender in Pennsylvania, where Rep. Joe Sestak eliminated party-switcher Arlen Specter. In Kentucky's Senate contest, Democrats drew their preferred opponent in state "tea party" founder Rand Paul (though he could be underestimated in the fall as he was this spring.)

Probably the most significant outcome, however, was the Democratic victory in a special House race in rural Pennsylvania. The district -- anti-abortion, gun-loving, wary of Washington -- is precisely the sort of place Republicans need to prevail to win back the House.

But Democrat Mark Critz, running on a parochial platform of job creation, easily defeated GOP businessman Tim Burns, who sought to turn the contest into a referendum on Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

Republicans should have won the race hands-down. Obama lost the district in 2008 and his popularity has plummeted since; Burns admitted he hadn't even prepared a concession speech. Instead, the defeat extended the GOP's losing streak in special House contests to four this election cycle and 11 going back to 2008 -- making it that much more difficult to capture the 40 seats the party needs to win the House.

"This should not have been rocket science," said nonpartisan election handicapper Charles Cook. "How can you win 40 if you can't even focus on one and get it done?"

by Kim Geiger

In the final days before yesterday's primary and special elections, Democrats and labor unions wildly outspent their opponents in Arkansas and Pennsylvania, according to preliminary reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Unions dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Arkansas primary to support Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in his bid to replace Sen. Blanche Lincoln. In Pennsylvania, Democrats outspent Republicans by tens of thousands to protect the seat formerly occupied by Rep. John Murtha - who died earlier this year - from a Republican challenger in Tuesday's special election. Lincoln, a Democrat, had angered unions earlier this year when she opposed the Democrats' healthcare bill.

In six days, the Service Employees International Union's Committee on Political Education spent $331,000 on phone-banking and television ads in support of Halter. Working America, an activist arm of the AFL-CIO, spent $50,000 on salaries, lodging, rental cars and meals for campaign workers, phone center rentals and radio ads. More on that group's work in Arkansas here.

Just one group - Arkansans for Common Sense - made independent expenditures in those final days on behalf of Lincoln. That group spent $33,625 on ads.

by Lisa Mascaro

Despite last-minute efforts to win hold-outs, the Senate fell two votes short this afternoon of the 60 needed to advance the financial regulation bill. A do-over vote could come as soon as Thursday.

Two Democrats broke from their party and voted no, and Democratic leaders converged on one of them, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, as the minutes ticked away. Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin also voted no.

But Republicans declined to help move the bill along. All but two Republicans - Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine - crossed party lines to vote yes. Democratic leaders promised Snowe a vote on an amendment.

Complicating the effort, Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Democrat who lost his primary election on Tuesday, was absent. Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) was returning late from a previously-planned family event.

The vote was held open well past the 15-minute cutoff. Even still, Democrats could not secure the 60 votes needed to bring the weeks-long debate to a close.

"We ought to have unity on this," said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who has led the debate for his party on the floor. "Our Republican friends decided to take a walk."

Democrats hope to continue working through more amendments before trying again on Thursday. One Republican senator said those from his side of the aisle who were inclined to vote for the bill decided to wait it out once it became clear the Democrats were not unified.

It's her Destiny to perform at tonight's dinner: Beyonce at the Grammy Awards in January. (LA Times/Jay Clendenin)

by Katherine Skiba

And the prize goes to: Beyonce.

The Grammy award-winning superstar will perform Wednesday night on the South Lawn of the White House after a state dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the White House announced.

She'll be joined by two Mexican performers known as Rodrigo y Gabriela. According to a White House blog post, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero met as teens in Mexico City when both were fans of heavy metal. They played in some of the roughest clubs there while working day jobs before trying their luck in Dublin, Ireland. Speaking no English, with about a thousand dollars between them, they turned to busking on the streets of Dublin before finding fame and fortune. They released a debut record in 2003 entitled "Re-Foc," followed a year later by "Live: Manchester and Dublin." Their recently sold-out concert at Radio City Music Hall featured a guest performance by Robert Trujillo from Metallica, the blog post said.

As for Beyonce, the White House blog did not mince words:

"With a mesmerizing stage presence and visionary artistry, Beyoncé has earned her place in arts and culture globally," it said, calling her "a phenomenal entertainer who continues to dazzle on and off stage."

About 200 guests are invited to the dinner and more are expected for the musical performance in a temporary pavilion.

Wish you were at the state dinner? You may catch glimpses via a live-stream on the White House Web site, www.whitehouse.gov.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon and President Obama hold a joint news conference Wednesday in the Rose Garden of the White House. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

by Kathleen Hennessey

Arriving at the White House on his first official state visit, Mexican President Felipe Calderon took aim at Arizona's new stricter immigration law, calling it divisive and discriminatory against Mexican immigrants.

Speaking through a translator during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, Calderon praised his meeting with President Barack Obama as an attempt to "seal a pact of friendship" and called for a U.S.-Mexico border that unites rather than divides.

"We can do so with a community that will promote a dignified life and an orderly way for both our countries," he said.

He added that some Mexican immigrants are "still living here in the shadows, with such laws as the Arizona law that is placing our people to face discrimination."

The immigration issue, which is politically charged in both countries, hangs over the talks between the two leaders during the visit by Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala. The couple will be feted Wednesday with a state dinner. Calderon is scheduled to visit Congress on Thursday.

In his remarks, President Obama spoke of the two countries' economic and family ties. He spoke more generally of the need to "ensure that our common border is secure, modern and efficient, including immigration that is orderly and safe."

"We've forged a new era of cooperation and partnership between our countries based on mutual interest, mutual respect and mutual responsibility," Obama said.

The Mexican leader and his wife were met at the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, his wife Jill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries. A raft of school children and media, including a large contingent of Spanish-language reporters, looked on.

The elaborate arrival ceremony for a visiting head of state, a longstanding White House tradition, included military honors, a 21-gun salute and a review of the troops.

The ceremony began a day that would be more pomp than policy. The president was scheduled to hold a news conference with Calderon while his wife visited a Maryland school with Zavala.

The state dinner this evening will be the second of the Obama presidency, and is promising to be a more secure and discreet affair than the November dinner for the Indian prime minister. That event became best known as the party crashed by Virginia socialites and reality television hopefuls Tareq and Michaele Salahi.

Since then, White House social secretary Desiree Rogers has moved on. Wednesday's state dinner will be a sort of coming out for Rogers' replacement Julianna Smoot.

Celebrity chef Rick Bayless is cooking. More details on the menu, guest list and entertainment are expected to be released later in the day.

by Lisa Mascaro

In "The Good Fight," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's 2008 autobiography, he writes of then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter - he's always with us when we don't need him.

No more. After Specter was defeated Tuesday night in the Democratic primary to Rep. Joe Sestak, Reid acknowledged the loss.

"Without Arlen's support, we could not have passed health insurance reform, the Recovery Act or other key parts of our agenda," Reid said in a statement.

As a Republican, Specter had been a key cross-over vote on the stimulus package. Later, as a Democrat, he was a vote for health care.

Reid, of course, welcomed Sestak's win, saying, "We will wholeheartedly support" him as the Democratic nominee.

Another chapter in the long history of relationships in the Senate.

by Jim Tankersley

Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign won him a cult following - we'll never forget his supporters chanting "Kill the Fed! Kill the Fed!" on election night in New Hampshire - but it didn't get him anywhere close to the White House.

This morning, though, Paul can bask in a family triumph that is a direct offshoot of his presidential run, its libertarian message and the "Tea Party" movement it helped spawn: Paul's son, Rand, is the runaway Republican nominee for an open Senate seat in Kentucky.

Rand Paul is an opthamologist and political activist who ended up trouncing Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson in the primary last night. This morning, Ron Paul - a Republican congressman from Texas - confessed to some nervousness about his son's chances going into the election.

"I thought it was an overwhelming task," Ron Paul told Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends "and, as a parent I don't want to see him put a lot of energy into it and you know be hurt. What he has done is way beyond my expectations and that is a very pleasant thing that has happened."

"I was very pleased," he added, "but I was also concerned because I didn't know how far we've moved with the freedom movement."

Tea Party voters and donations fueled Rand Paul's campaign, with a force that surprised even his father.

"I think It's much bigger than anyone of us has ever dreamed," Ron Paul told Fox, "bigger than what I even thought."

White House staffers deliver Elena Kagan's questionnaire responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday. (AP/Harry Hamburg)

by David G. Savage

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan says she has $1.76 million in assets -- mostly in bank accounts and retirement funds -- and no debts or liabilities, according to her financial statement released Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Kagan sent nearly 200 pages of material to the committee in response to its standard questionnaire. She included dozens of articles she wrote for the Princeton school newspaper, a detailed list of her speaking engagements and copies of academic articles she wrote over the last two decades.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) praised Kagan for submitting her answers just eight days after her nomination. He said the committee expected to receive thousands of pages of files from the Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas that document her time as a lawyer and domestic policy advisor to President Clinton.

These files "put us well down the road toward our preparation for her confirmation hearing," Leahy said. "I intend to announce the schedule for her confirmation hearing soon."

Five-term Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, standing with his wife Joan, concedes defeat in Philadelphia Tuesday evening. (EPA/Chris Gardner)

by Mark Z. Barabak

Delivering a powerful message of discontent, voters Tuesday swept out veteran Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, nominated a "tea party" movement founder for a Senate seat in Kentucky and forced Sen. Blanche Lincoln into a runoff for the Democratic nomination in Arkansas.

Looking shell-shocked and speaking to fewer than 100 supporters in a half-empty ballroom, Specter delivered a brief speech in Philadelphia conceding the Democratic race to two-term Rep. Joe Sestak -- marking the end of his 30-year Senate career. Specter was a Republican the whole time save the last year, when he switched parties in a failed bid to keep his seat.

"It has been a great privilege to serve the people of Pennsylvania," he said, with teary eyes, surrounded by his wife, son and grandchildren.

In Kentucky, political novice Rand Paul delivered the tea party its biggest win since the movement's emergence last year amid a backlash over bailouts and President Obama's expansive agenda.

Although Paul's victory had been telegraphed by his big lead in polls, it was nonetheless seismic in scale, marking a significant breakthrough for the loosely knit protest movement. Up to now, activists have mainly lent their support to candidates who shared their principles, as opposed to backing one of their own.

"I have a message," Paul told supporters at a victory party in Bowling Green, "a message from the tea party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: 'We have come to take our government back.' "

In a fourth race watched closely for its national implications, Democrat Mark Critz defeated Republican Tim Burns in the fight to fill a Pennsylvania House seat vacated by the late Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha. Exultant Democrats seized on the win as a sign that they can withstand an expected Republican tide in November and keep control of the House.

But the outcome elsewhere could give pause to many longtime lawmakers.

by James Oliphant and Mark Z. Barabak

On a day when the political futures of established Washington incumbents appeared to hang by a thread, the anti-establishment Tea Party movement scored its first measurable electoral victory.

Rand Paul, who ran an insurgent campaign against the hand-picked Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Trey Grayson, pulled off a convincing win in the GOP primary. Early returns showed Paul with a double-digit lead.

Paul, 47, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist who had never sought political office, started far behind the establishment favorite Grayson. But he surged ahead with a plain-spoken style and a platform rooted in small-government, anti-Washington thinking: term limits, a balanced-budget amendment, a requirement lawmakers read every word of legislation before it passes and a stipulation that laws spell out their constitutional underpinning.

"I think it's towards people in power who are part of the problem," Paul said on the Fox Business Network after the polls closed Tuesday. "They are worried about those who keep spending the money and seem to have no restrain. I think it's an anti-big government message going on."

Paul said he's "not going to run away from the Tea Party message."

Blanche Lincoln and her husband, Steve, file provisional paperwork at a polling place in Little Rock Tuesday. (AP/Danny Johnston)

by James Oliphant

Probably not the way Blanche Lincoln and her campaign wanted things to go.

Lincoln, trying to hold onto her Senate seat, showed up at her precinct polling place in Little Rock Tuesday ready to cast her vote. But she was told she couldn't. Apparently, she has already requested an absentee ballot to be sent to her home in Virginia.

In a year where voters hold strong anti-Washington sentiments, appearing to be an "absentee" member of Congress is not, by any means, the message any incumbent wants to send.

Lincoln and her husband had to fill out a provisional ballot instead.

The embarrassing moment was first reported by CNN's Dana Bash via Twitter.

Lincoln is trying to stave off a challenge from Democratic Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. But the presence of a third candidate in the primary race, D.C. Morrison, means Lincoln could win but finish with less than 50 percent of the vote. If that happens, Lincoln would face Halter in a runoff June 8.

Most political observers in Arkansas have long believed that Lincoln would only grow weaker as a candidate the longer she is exposed to Halter's attacks. Right now, Lincoln's undeniable advantage is her name recognition, an asset that is diminishing over time.

A delay would harm Lincoln in another way. She's the author of tough legislation that would heavily regulate the derivatives market, and she has campaigned on a message of standing up to Wall Street.That bill, however, is expected to be modified on the Senate floor in the coming weeks.

U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal address the press about his Vietnam service record Tuesday. (EPA/Matthew Cavanaugh)

by Kathleen Hennessey

Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal says that he occasionally "misspoke" about the nature of his Vietnam-era military service, but claims the misstatements were "totally unintentional."

Appearing before a lineup of Marine vets, the Connecticut attorney general held a news conference in West Hartford today to push back against this New York Times story. The Times reports that Blumenthal repeatedly described himself as having served in Vietnam, even though he received five deferments before serving stateside in the Marine Corps Reserves. Blumenthal's campaign never corrected media reports that described the candidate as a Vietnam veteran, the Times says.

"On a few occasions I have misspoken about my service and I regret that and I take full responsibility," Blumenthal said. "I will not allow anyone to take a few misplaced words and impugn my record of service to our country,"

Blumenthal ignored a question about whether his comments constituted an apology. He called the mischaracterizations "totally unintentional."

Indiana Rep. Mark Souder at a House committee hearing in February. (AP/Alex Brandon)

by James Oliphant and updated

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Indiana congressman Mark Souder will step down today over an affair he carried on with a female member of his staff.

[NOTE: He has resigned.Here is his resignation statement.]

Souder, a Republican, was first elected to the House in 1994. According to POLITICO, Souder informed House Minority Leader John Boehner of the indiscretion Sunday and Boehner told Souder he should resign.

Souder, who represents northwestern Indiana, has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. in Fort Wayne. (Here at the Swamp we're not sure if that's Eastern or Central Time because, frankly, the time zones in Indiana have always confused us.) He's married with three children. A staunch conservative, he recently narrowly edged out two challengers in a GOP primary.

Earlier this year, Rep. Eric Massa, a Democrat from New York, walked away after it was revealed he was under an ethics investigation for allegedly sexually harassing a male staffer.

The timing of Souder''s announcement is fitting on a day when a couple of notable incumbents such as Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) could see their political futures imperiled.

In case you're wondering what he looks like, here's Ohio Lt. Gov Lee Fisher, who won't be standing with President Obama today in Youngstown. (AP/Jason Miller)

by James Oliphant

Does Lee Fisher, Ohio's Democratic candidate for Senate, consider President Obama a political liability?

That's a question being asked after it appears that Fisher will avoid appearing with Obama in public in Ohio, a moderate swing state, for the second time. The president will be in Youngstown today, talking about the stimulus package and job creation.

Here's the Cleveland Plain Dealer's take:

Gov. Ted Strickland will be there. So will congressmen Tim Ryan and John Boccieri. You could say they certainly don't see it as toxic to appear with President Barack Obama today in Youngstown.

* * *
Fisher "had private meetings" and "couldn't reschedule," spokesman John Collins says via e-mail. But Fisher is "looking forward to joining the president next time."

Obama visited Ohio in March, and Fisher didn't appear in public with the president then either--and his staff again cited a scheduling conflict.

By Jim Tankersley

He's the senator with nine political lives, the rider who always seems to stay one trail bend ahead of the law, that kid in the arcade who always seems to race past the time check and extend his game with no seconds to spare.

Today, he'll either write another chapter in his book of great escapes.

Or Arlen Specter will come to the end of the line.

The Pennsylvania Democrat-turned Republican-turned Democrat was first elected to the Senate in 1980, on the GOP ticket. Ever since, he's roamed the increasingly lonely political center, riling conservatives and liberals alike, but always hanging on to his seat.

Specter narrowly dodged an upset six years ago in the Republican primary, when Rep. Pat Toomey, running to Specter's fiscal right, came within two points of a victory. Toomey signed up early for a rematch this time, and Specter saw the writing on the polls: Facing near-certain defeat in the GOP primary, he switched last year to the Democrats, handing President Obama's party a temporary 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority.

Obama, in turn, threw his support behind Specter in the Democratic primary. But all the president's entreaties weren't enough to knock Rep. Joe Sestak, running from Specter's left, out of the race. Sestak has surged in recent days, and he enters Election Day in a virtual tie with Specter in the polls.

Various media reports suggest Specter's backers are feeling glum about his prospects. Check out, for example, CBS's Bob Schieffer (above) reporting Obama's team is bracing for a Specter loss.

On a day of interesting races, this figures to be the biggest story: Does Arlen Specter have one more miracle escape left?

Don't make him angry. You won't like him if he's angry. Lou Dobbs at a Tea Party event in April in New York. (AP/Mary Altaffer)

by Kathleen Hennessey

And in more tea party news ... Lou Dobbs, formerly of CNN and now of unknown political ambitions, will be headlining the second National Tea Party Convention to be held in Las Vegas in July. (Apparently by people who haven't spent much time in Las Vegas in July.)

The convention is organized by Tea Party Nation and is a reprise of the Nashville meeting, which got criticized for its pricey tickets and pricier headliner. (Sarah Palin charged organizers more than $100,000 for her appearance.) No word on what Dobbs' speaking fee is.

He'll be joined at the convention by World Net Daily's Joseph Farah, an interesting choice for a "unity convention." Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips acknowledges as much in his announcement on Farah.

"While he can be a polarizing figure, his message of unity within the Tea Party movement will be well-received," Phillip said.

Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Co., addresses reporters during the West Virginia mine disaster last month that killed 29 workers. (AP/Haraz N. Granbari)

by Kim Geiger

Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship has a tough week ahead. Blankenship, whose actions at the Massey helm have been under scrutiny after a massive explosion at the company's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers last month, will face shareholders tomorrow at the company's annual meeting.

Angered over Massey's flawed safety record, CtW Investment Group, a shareholder with voting rights, has called for Blankenship's resignation and is now seeking a management shakeup by urging the removal of three Massey directors.

"In our view, Massey's alarming record of non-compliance ultimately reflects the board's fundamental inability to exercise independent oversight of Donald Blankenship, a domineering Chairman and CEO who fosters a reckless, 'production first' culture and takes a confrontational approach to regulators, shareholders and workers," CtW wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Tom Hamburger and Andrew Zajac wrote last month about Blankenship's history pushing coal production over safety. Months after that memo was issued, two miners died in a fire at the Massey-owned Aracoma mine. Criminal fines and civil penalties from that incident totaled $4 million.

"An Oct. 19, 2005, company memo obtained in Aracoma litigation indicates that before the Aracoma fire, all of the company's deep mine superintendents -- including at Upper Big Branch -- were put on notice by Massey Chief Executive Don Blankenship that coal production trumped any other concerns."

Massey has estimated that the explosion could cost the company as much as $212 million - up to $150 million in "benefits being provided to the families of the fallen miners," and $62 million in damage to equipment, mine development and mineral rights.

by Kathleen Hennessey

For those of you monitoring the tea party movement's attempts to get organized, here's a small nugget.

You may remember the rather extensive list of tea party groups that formed a federation last month. The groups said this was about messaging only and not the formation of a single tea party organization. (Tea partiers pride themselves on their independence. Many believe it can be a short drive from "federation" to "establishment hijacking.")

The federation news was somewhat undercut by the absence of one big name. Tea Party Patriots - likely the largest online networks of local tea party groups - refused to join and dismissed the federation as going against the whole tea party ethos. TPP National coordinator Mark Meckler said that some "may believe that the thousands of local tea parties around the nation need someone to tell them how to message and how to be 'unified,' but from our perspective, the movement is operating beautifully."

(Photo: Getty/Bill Pugliano)

Does this mean Tea Party Patriots is in the fold? Meckler hasn't returned a phone call yet today. Take a look at the Tea Party Patriots list after the jump.

by Jim Tankersley

To paraphrase a favorite Obama administration phrase, primary elections have consequences. In the case of some key Senate races where Republican and Democratic voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, the biggest consequence could be which party starts the general election in better position.

Put another way; In several primary races - including Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania -- polls show one candidate has a clear advantage over party rivals when it comes to winning in November.

Often, primary voters must choose between November "electability" and party purity. But this year, that's not always the case, as the incomparable stats/politics guru Nate Silver explains at fivethirtyeight.com.

As Silver notes from polling analysis,Democrats in Arkansas and Pennsylvania appear to face a choice between a better-known incumbent and a more liberal- -and, it appears, more electable - challenger. (He adds that candidates running farther to the left appear to have a general election edge in upcoming Democratic Senate primaries in Colorado and North Carolina.)

Republicans, Silver says, face the more classic dilemma: The more conservative candidate in Kentucky fares worse in general-election matchups than the establishment, more moderate primary candidate. (We'd also note that in each of those three states, any Republican starts as the favorite in the general election, but to varying degrees.)

Kendrick Meek greets Charlie Crist in less combative times in this April 2009 file photo. (AP/Lynne Sladkey)

by James Oliphant

It's time to update you on the most compelling race in the nation--at least by our lights--the cavalcade that is the Florida Senate race.

Previously: Gov. Charlie Crist was the favorite, the handpicked candidate of the GOP. Then he was deer-meat on the highway, courtesy of his moderate voting record and a primary challenge from conservative Marco Rubio. Then Charlie went independent, dodging the primary, game-changing the race and giving him, for the moment, the edge. All the while, Rep. Kendrick Meek, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has been lurking in the background, a supporting cast member waiting for some press attention to come his way,

Well, unfortunately for Meek, it has. The Miami Herald reports that an aide to the congressman received some cash for a down payment on a home from a developer of a Miami project that Meek was championing. The developer also hired Meek's mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek, and gave her a car to drive, the Herald said.

Kendrick Meek, who has been trailing in polls behind both Crist and Rubio, said he wasn't lobbied by his mother on the Miami project--which was never built--and knew nothing about the mortgage given his aide.

Hello there! Kagan outside Sen. Ben Cardin's office while visiting Capitol Hill last week. (AP/Alex Brandon)

by Christi Parsons and James Oliphant

In college Elena Kagan wrote an essay lamenting Republican gains in the 1980 election and referring to candidates backed by the Moral Majority as "avengers of 'innocent life' and the B-1 bomber."

Now that Kagan stands as a nominee to join the Supreme Court, some conservatives believe the 30-year-old remark may reveal a personal animosity toward their side of the abortion rights cause.

But liberal activists also wonder about Kagan's position. They point to memos she wrote as a policy staffer in the Clinton White House urging President Clinton to take a compromise position on some late-term abortions.

President Obama's advisors say he has no doubt that Kagan is a legal progressive who will maintain the current balance of the court if confirmed to replace the retiring liberal John Paul Stevens. But with the constitutional right to an abortion apparently hanging by just one vote on the court, Kagan's record is giving pause to both sides.

The essay Kagan wrote after the 1980 election for the Daily Princetonian, her college newspaper, indicates that on the brink of her career she was a committed liberal.

She wrote of her immediate reaction to Ronald Reagan's election that "the world had gone mad, that liberalism was dead and that there was no longer any place for the ideals we held or the beliefs we espoused," according to a copy of the essay republished this week by the Princeton newspaper.

"Even after the returns came in, I found it hard to conceive of the victories of these anonymous but Moral Majority-backed opponents," she wrote, "these avengers of 'innocent life' and the B-1 bomber, these beneficiaries of a general turn to the right and a profound disorganization on the left."

In those words, and in their punctuation, conservatives detect a personal dislike.

"Did she mean to express such contempt, or did she have something else in mind?" asked Douglas Johnson, the longtime legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee. "Does she still hold the same attitude? And can she set it aside when viewing legislative enactments, not only in the area of abortion, but others as well?"

U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul talks to voters this weekend at a diner in Lexington, Ky. (AP/John Flavell)

by Mark Z. Barabak

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--With anger all around, voters in three states will signal on Tuesday the depth of the country's anti-establishment mood, which threatens lawmakers in both parties and raises prospects for an even more polarized Congress after November.

On the left, two veteran U.S. senators, Democrats Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, are fighting for political survival, despite the support of party leaders from President Obama on down. Their opponents say neither is a true Democrat.

On the right, the hand-picked candidate of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader on Capitol Hill, is struggling to rally against a "tea party" insurgent who spends nearly as much time criticizing Republicans as he does Democrats. Rand Paul, son of presidential hopeful Ron Paul and the front-runner in the Senate race, won't even commit to backing McConnell for party leader if elected.

"We'd have to know who his opponent was and discuss it at that time," Paul said.

The Kentucky race will offer the clearest test yet of the loosely knit tea party movement and its small-government, anti-Washington message; unlike other candidates who have tapped tea partyers for support, Paul is one of the movement's founders here in the Bluegrass State.

More broadly, Tuesday's primaries could test Obama's campaign vow to achieve a more harmonious Washington.

Stuart Rothenberg, who analyzes congressional races for his nonpartisan Political Report, said many conservative and liberal activists had one thing in common: unhappiness with the president and Democrats running Congress. One side feels they have gone too far, the other not far enough. The upshot, Rothenberg said: "Both think they need to elect people who are going to be louder, more ideologically motivated and more confrontational."

by Lisa Mascaro

Just when the Senate was poised to change an arcane rule that let even a single senator paralyze the entire chamber, a single senator stood up and invoked another arcane rule to derail the whole thing.

It happened late Thursday and appeared to represent just the kind of episode that has helped stir public frustration over Washington's seemingly dysfunctional ways.

The issue was a relatively modest proposal to require Senators to disclose their identities within two days if they put a "hold" on a bill or a presidential nomination.

But beneath the surface, the incident may reflect a growing possibility that the Capitol could actually be in the process of changing, albeit slowly.

Newer senators complain that rules originally created to protect the rights of the minority have turned into impassable obstacles to dealing with big issues.

The junior members are getting unlikely support from their seniors, who are loath to be seen as defending the status quo at a time when some voters seem ready to punish incumbents regardless of party.

Against that background, the Democratic leadership has promised to reexamine some of the old rules -- including that most vaunted of time-encrusted mechanisms for delay, the filibuster.

by Ken Dilanian

A high-tech "virtual fence" to catch illegal border crossers. Next-generation nuclear detectors at ports. Tamper-proof driver's licenses in every state.

These were signature Bush administration initiatives to protect the country against terrorism and secure its borders. All have been proven to be flops, according to government and outside experts, and expensive ones at that.

The Department of Homeland Security paid defense contractor Boeing Co. $1.1 billion to build what is sometimes called the virtual border fence. But the system of radars and cameras can't consistently tell terrorists from tumbleweed, according to the Government Accountability Office. In March, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano froze funding on the project.

In February, she overhauled plans to install so-called Advanced Spectroscopic Portal radiation detectors to screen cargo at ports. The units were prone to false alarms and hadn't proved themselves in testing, according to the accountability office. Developed by defense contractor Raytheon under a $1.2-billion program, the $822,000 detectors will now be relegated to a secondary screening role.

Last May, the Transportation Security Administration removed 37 explosive trace detection machines -- or "puffers" -- that had been deployed at airports to screen airline passengers at a total cost of $30 million. The machines had maintenance problems and didn't work consistently.

"DHS was pushing technology pretty hard under the Bush administration, and we were willing to risk failure because of the risks," said Stewart Baker, the former Homeland Security policy chief and author of a forthcoming memoir, "Skating on Stilts." "I'd put all of those things in the category of course corrections based on new data, perhaps made easier because this administration had not started the projects and so it could declare them failures without taking blame for the failure."

Workers check for tar balls and other signs of the oil spill on Dauphin Island in Alabama Friday (EPA/Larry W. Smith)

by Kim Geiger

In light of the news today that BP and Coast Guard officials may have seriously low-balled their estimates of how much oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, this seems like a good time to revisit the cleanup issue.

A professor at Purdue University has suggested that as much as 70,000 barrels -- nearly 3 million gallons-- could be leaking into the Gulf each day. That's much more than the 210,000 gallon-per-day estimate that BP officials have been repeating for the past three weeks.

Is it possible to remove even a fraction of that amount from the Gulf? Are there enough crews and equipment available? Probably not. (Although hair salons are doing their part to pitch in.)

Last week, Tom Hamburger and I wrote a story about the history of flawed cleanup responses by the oil industry and its private contractors.

Fred Felleman, a marine biologist and environmental advocate in Seattle, told us that two spills in Louisiana over the past two years produced inadequate responses even though they occurred in the heart of oil country, where resources should be plentiful.

"If we can't pull off a decent operation here, under these conditions, it shows that the clean-up emperor is butt naked," Felleman said.

Read the full story here.

President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar address the media following a meeting with Cabinet members and administration officials. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

By Christi Parsons and Jim Tankersley

Angrily condemning "finger pointing" by oil executives over the spill in the gulf, President Obama this afternoon pledged to tighten up federal oversight of fuel companies and ordered a rigorous review of domestic oil and gas exploration in the U.S.

Recent congressional hearings about the accident were a "ridiculous spectacle" in which BP, Transocean and Halliburton executives blamed others, Obama said, even though there's clearly "enough responsibility to go around."

"That includes, by the way, the federal government," Obama told reporters after a morning meeting with top advisors at the White House. "For a decade or more there has been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill."

Obama said he is ordering a new examination of the environmental procedures for oil and gas exploration and development, along with inspections of all deep-water operations in the gulf. No plans to drill will go forward at least until his initial thirty-day review is complete, the president said.

The orders come on the heels of BP requests for government assistance in the clean-up of crude oil now headed toward the coast, the result of the recent rig explosion some 40 miles off shore.

Along with its pledge to help clean up and contain the spillage, the Obama administration has also promised a vigorous federal effort to figure out what caused the spill, and who is responsible for it.

On Friday, Obama made it clear he thinks federal officials are among the responsible parties. The federal agency that issues permits to drill has done so "based on little more than assurances" from the oil companies that their plans were safe, he said.

"We will trust but we will verify," Obama said of the future permitting process.

Sarah Palin speaks at an event in Washington Friday. (Getty/Mark Wilson)

by Kathleen Hennessey

Sarah Palin got personal today in a speech before an anti-abortion group in Washington.

The possible 2012 presidential candidate broke from the usual political rhetoric to talk at length about what it was like to learn she would be having a child with Down Syndrome.

When she heard the news, Palin said, she had doubts that she was patient and nurturing enough to handle a special needs child. She said she heard "God whispering in my ear saying, 'Are you going to trust me? Are you going to walk the walk or are you going to talk the talk?'"

Palin described holding her now 2-year-old son Trig for the first time and thinking, "See, God, knows what he's doing."

"I have tremendous empathy for the woman who does find herself in less than ideal circumstances," she said. "I now understand why a woman would be tempted, perhaps, to think that, well, it might just be an easier way out, to try to change the circumstances to take the situation in my own hands and change this. I understand what goes through her mind, if even for a moment, a split second, because I've been there."

An image of the broken underwater pipe taken by BP earlier this week. (EPA/BP PLC)

by James Oliphant

A mechanical engineering professor says that oil is flowing out of the Deepwater Rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico at a far greater rate than has been estimated.

BP and the federal government have said that oil is rushing from the underwater pipe at a rate of 5,000 gallons per day. But Steve Wereley, a professor at Purdue University studied a video of the gusher and said that estimate is far too low

"I spent a couple of hours this afternoon analyzing the video, and the number I get is 70,000 barrels a day coming out of that pipe," Wereley said Thursday.

"BP has said you can't measure this. I agree you can't measure [the flow] to a very high degree of precision," he added. "But that doesn't mean you can't get a good estimate. This estimate, I think, is much better than the 5,000 barrels a day they have previously been floating."

Wereley said his estimate could be off by as much as 20 percent either way. In response to his claims, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass) said he would open a congressional inquiry into the flow rate.

"I am concerned that an underestimation of the oil spill's flow may be impeding the ability to solve the leak and handle the management of the disaster," said Markey, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Here's the full story in the Los Angeles Times.

LeBron stars into the abyss and wonders. (Reuters/Adam Hunger)

by James Oliphant

It's Cleveland.

Anyone who is fan of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers had to muttering those words, or likely a more profane variation of them, last night.

Last night, the Cavaliers, who have the league's best player in LeBron James, were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics.

Dennis Manoloff, a writer for the hometown paper, The Plain Dealer, couldn't have expressed the familiar shock and disappointment any more succinctly:

"Only In Cleveland can a team finish with the best record in back-to-back regular seasons, and have the MVP on its roster, and not even make the finals of its sport," Manoloff wrote.

Only in Cleveland.

And, of course, it had to be Boston. Flash back to 2007. The Cleveland Indians were one game away from the World Series. Then they lost three straight---to whom? The Red Sox.

Boston is Tom Brady. Cleveland is Brady Quinn. At least it was Brady Quinn. The former number one draft pick was traded to Denver this spring because he was a bust.

Boston is Downtown Scott Brown. Cleveland is George Voinovich. Have you ever heard of George Voinovich? He's a good guy, but not exactly a household name. Voinovich has represented Ohio in the Senate since 1998. He's the former mayor of Cleveland. But it's a good thing politics isn't like professional sports or he would have moved to New York or some place a long time ago--like Hillary Clinton did.

I was unknowingly made a fan of Cleveland sports when I was a young boy by my father and grandfather and to them I can only say: Why did you do this to me? Didn't you love me?

by Janet Hook and Jim Puzzanghera

The debate over the Senate's financial reform bill is setting up an unusual battle on Capitol Hill between two powerful groups: automobile dealers and the military.

Car dealers, a well-organized small-business lobby with members in nearly every legislative district, have swarmed the Senate in recent weeks clamoring to be exempt from the legislation's proposed protections against loan scams.

They say the tough new government oversight should focus on the big Wall Street firms that caused the financial crisis, not auto dealers struggling to recover from it.

"There's a lot of dealers that are still on the brink, and taking their finance revenue away from them could be the straw that breaks the camel's back," said John Symes, who owns three auto dealerships in Pasadena.

But in a letter released Thursday, a top Pentagon official said soldiers need to be protected from "unprincipled auto lending" so they can concentrate on their primary mission: "protecting our great nation."

"Soldiers who are distracted by financial issues at home are not fully focused on fighting the enemy, thereby decreasing mission readiness," Army Secretary John M. McHugh wrote Wednesday to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).

Top Pentagon officials don't usually weigh in on non-military legislation. But they have complained that shady car loans have been particularly harmful to military personnel -- often young, inexperienced consumers who have other worries when they walk into car lots near military bases.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan visits with Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania Thursday. (AP/Alex Brandon)

by David G. Savage and James Oliphant

A controversy over military recruiting at Harvard Law School while Elena Kagan was dean may say less about her views on the military than it does about her strong belief in equal rights for gays and lesbians, one of the foremost unsettled issues before the Supreme Court.

In a series of memos to the faculty and students, Kagan described the military's policy of excluding openly gay men and women as "a profound wrong -- a moral injustice of the first order."

"It is a wrong that tears at the fabric of our own community because some of our members cannot, while others can, devote their professional careers to their country," she wrote in 2003, shortly after becoming dean.

By contrast, "the Law School remains committed to the principle of equal opportunity for all persons, without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation," she said.

It marks one of the few times during her career in which she voiced a strong and deeply held view on a matter of legal controversy. It is also one of the issues sure to come before the high court in the years ahead.

T

President Obama speaks after touring an industrial facility in Buffalo. (AP/Susan Walsh)

by Christi Parsons

Accusing Republicans of sitting idly by during the economic collapse, President Obama today claimed credit for helping to "keep the American Dream alive in our time."

He didn't want to bail out Wall Street banks last year, Obama told factory workers this afternoon, but it was necessary to avert disaster.

"If we simply gave in to the partisan posturing in Washington - all the poll-taking and calculation that caused an entire party to sit on the sidelines - the same party that was in charge when this crisis unfolded - millions more Americans would lose their jobs, their businesses, and their homes," Obama said this afternoon to a crowd in a Buffalo, N.Y.

The remarks came in an address to employees at Industrial Support, Inc., a manufacturing company that does metal fabrication, stamping and welding. It was another stop in the president's ongoing "Main Street" tour, focused on promoting his administration's programs and the Democratic lawmakers who have helped him implement them.

Sen. Scott Brown meets with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan Thursday afternoon in his Senate office. (EPA/Michael Reynolds) Brown will be in Pennsylvania Friday stumping for GOP House candidate Tim Burns.

by Kathleen Hennessey

The fight over the seat once held by the late Democratic powerhouse John Murtha is drawing some star power ahead of Tuesday's special election. The face of the Republican resurgence - Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown -- is heading to the western Pennsylvania district to give Republican Tim Burns a boost. Bill Clinton will answer with a Sunday appearance for Mark Critz, a former Murtha aide running on the Democratic side.

The two appearances tell the story of the race. Burns is hoping to be the next Brown - a Republican who snags a seat once held by a Democratic giant. Critz isn't running from the establishment and is happily touting his former boss's long record of delivering for the district.

In the current "incumbent beware" climate, Critz seems to be taking a risk, but a recent poll shows him leading. The race is being look at as a bellwether for November and could show the limits of the anti-incumbent fervor.

By Jim Tankersley

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) officially rolled out their stab at an energy and climate bill on Wednesday, and the early reception was largely what they'd hoped for: Most environmental groups embraced the plan; several business leaders, including utility and oil executives, lauded it; and some key lobbying heavyweights, such as the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stayed neutral for now while they study the details.

The proposal, which includes limits on greenhouse gas emissions and a variety of measures to accelerate domestic energy production, also drew some expected criticism. Conservatives warned it would drive energy prices skyward. Some green groups called it an appeasement to industry that won't do nearly enough to combat climate change.

Not surprisingly, the cheering camp included President Obama. He heaped praise on Kerry and Lieberman's "American Power Act" - even if he got its name wrong.

Shortly after the bill introduction, the White House released a "Statement by President Obama on the Clean Energy Security Act."

That, unfortunately, isn't Kerry and Lieberman's bill. It's the name of the climate legislation, penned by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) that passed the House a year ago - a bill that Kerry and Lieberman have tried hard to distance their bill from, in hopes of winning support from groups who opposed the House effort.

The White House has taken pains to rebrand the climate debate with aggressive messaging, downplaying talk of "cap and trade" and, to a certain extent, "global warming" in favor of a focus on "energy independence," national security and "clean-energy jobs."

But this doesn't appear to be anything more than a slip of the press release: Team Obama has since corrected the statement to reflect the Senate bill's actual name.

Didcha miss her? Sarah Palin at the Rosemont (AP/Jim Prisching)

by James Oliphant

We couldn't help but notice that some Swamp denizens are wondering what happened to this page's near-obsessive coverage of Sarah Palin, the former Alaska gover....oh, you know who she is.

Well, we don't want anyone going home disappointed and Palin rarely disappoints. She makes news wherever she goes.

Last night, that was Chicago. According the Chicago Tribune's Clout Street blog, the former vice presidential candidate gave an address at the Rosemont Theatre and used the occasion to blast officials at Highland Park High School, who canceled a trip by the school's girls basketball team to Arizona because of that state's immigration crackdown.

Palin urged the girls to "go rogue."

"Keeping the girl's basketball team off the court for political reasons? Those are fighting words," Palin said. Noting the school has allowed student trips to China, Palin questioned whether school officials knew "how they treat women in China."

School officials said the Arizona immigration law that requires police to check the immigration status of suspects was not "aligned with our beliefs and values."

"An economic and political boycott of one of our sister states is not a way to secure our borders," Palin said, using the title of her first book to encourage the team members to "go rogue, girls."

Rallying cry? Book plug? Both? You decide.

She's not backing off "Drill, baby, drill" either, btw.

Read the full story here.

Challenger Bill Halter and Sen. Blanche Lincoln debate last month in advance of next Tuesday's Democratic primary. (AP/Danny Johnston)

By James Oliphant

CONWAY, Ark.--The cramped conference room at the Howard Johnson's off the interstate held this night a small smattering of locals. In turn, they fretted about the economy and blasted Congress. Some carried hand-made signs that smacked Goldman Sachs, the current punching bag of choice for anti-Wall Street set.

But this was no Tea Party rally. They were here to listen to Bill Halter, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, sell his brand of progressive populism--which was anti-spending, anti-bailout, but mostly anti-Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas' resident Democratic senator. "There's an intense feeling out there of folks fed up with the Washington way," Halter said after the event.

But that same day, a thousand miles away in Washington, Lincoln was making her own bid for the populist vote, pushing forward an aggressive bill that would reform the derivatives market as part of the financial regulatory overhaul effort, to ensure, as Lincoln has said, "Main Street won't pay the price for reckless behavior on Wall Street."

This election season, no one wants to come off as an incumbent, as the favored candidate of special-interest-driven politics. Everyone wants to run as Everyman. But it's particularly true in Arkansas, where Lincoln is embroiled in the fight of her political career. With just a week before the May 18 Democratic primary, polls showed the two-term senator staving off Halter, the current lieutenant governor--but not by much.

While Halter and Lincoln have both attempted to portray themselves as people-first politicians, their campaigns have been fueled by money pouring into the state from outside, from labor unions, trade organizations and front groups. The cash has nationalized the race, transforming into one of the hardest-fought and vitriolic in the country.

(Getty/Tim Sloan)

by James Oliphant and Lisa Mascaro

Elena Kagan, President Obama's choice as the nation's next Supreme Court justice, has never been a judge and until recently had never argued a case in court. Ever since her nomination was announced this week, Republicans and Democrats have been debating whether that matters.

Kagan, 50, has spent most of her career as a law professor, Clinton White House lawyer and dean of Harvard Law School. Her courtroom experience consists of the six cases she has argued in the last 14 months as solicitor general, the government's top lawyer before the high court.

Kagan made her first rounds on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, visiting senators and attempting to allay GOP qualms about her background. But it was clear that some have doubts about her qualifications for the lifetime appointment.

"My view is that her experience is very thin," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, after an hourlong meeting with Kagan. "She indicated she felt she had the experience to do the job."

While he was mulling over potential nominees, Obama was urged by many Democrats to consider someone from beyond the "judicial monastery" -- a candidate with a different kind of background

Each of the nine justices on the current court spent time as a federal appeals judge. When Sonia Sotomayor was chosen by Obama last year, she had a nearly 20-year track record as a New York trial and appeals court judge for senators to examine.

Kagan has no such paper trail, which is both an advantage and disadvantage. Sotomayor's decisions in several cases were criticized by Republicans.