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Democrats Breathe A Bit Easier
CQ reports: “Senate Democrats on Wednesday were as upbeat about their midterm election prospects as they have been in several months, celebrating Sen. Blanche Lincoln ‘s hard-fought primary runoff victory Tuesday night and expressing optimism that Majority Leader Harry Reid may be making a comeback…Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) offered that Republicans probably would have ‘run the table’ had the midterm elections occurred in late January when Sen. Scott P. Brown (R) won a Massachusetts special election to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D). But Carper predicted Wednesday that, come Nov. 2, the economy will have improved, the federal deficit will be smaller, and the new health care law will have grown more popular.”

Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET. He will receive a briefing at 10:30 a.m. ET on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He will meet at 11:15 a.m. ET with a bipartisan group of members of Congress. He will meet at 1:30 p.m. ET with family members of those killed on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. He will meet at 2:30 p.m. ET with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), and at 3 p.m. ET with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He will meet at 3:45 p.m. ET with business leaders and energy experts to discuss energy reform.

Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden departed Kenya this morning, en route to South Africa. He will meet with former South African President Thabo Mbeki to discuss implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan and the situation in Darfur. In the evening, the Bidens will attend the FIFA Kick-off Celebration Concert at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

Hillary Clinton: U.S. Will Continue To Support Colombia
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a press conference Wednesday with outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that the United States would continue to support the country in its anti-drug and counterinsurgency efforts. “The security threats have not completely been eliminated and therefore the United States will continue to support the Colombian military, the Colombian people and their government in their ongoing struggle,” Clinton said. “There is no resting until the job is done.”

Democrats Seek Votes On spending Bill
The New York Times reports: “Senate Democrats searched Wednesday for support to pass a $140 billion package of tax breaks, safety-net spending and tax increases on the affluent as lawmakers worried that a final chance to take broad aim at unemployment before the November elections could slip away. Increasingly caught between demands to end deficit spending and the push to invest federal dollars to create jobs, Democrats were trying, so far unsuccessfully, to find a balance that could attract at least 60 votes to advance the bill.”

Dems Seek To Shine Spotlight On Financial Reform Debate
Roll Call reports: “Beleaguered Democrats are eyeing the financial reform conference committee, set to get under way today, as a golden opportunity to tar Republicans as tools of Wall Street — and they want the biggest audience as they can get…open, televised conferences that last a week or more are all but extinct. But in a sign of Democrats’ confidence that they have the public and the votes solidly on their side this time around, Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (Mass.) sent a letter Wednesday urging C-SPAN to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of what he said will be a historic event.”

Senate Gearing Up For Climate Showdown
The Hill reports: “The president is threatening to veto a resolution from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would ban the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating carbon emissions. But if the president were forced to use his veto to prevent legislation emerging from a Congress in which his own party enjoys substantial majorities, it would be a humiliation for him and for Democrats on Capitol Hill. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and other Democratic leaders are doing what they can to stop it. They are floating the possibility of voting on an alternative measure from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from the coal state of West Virginia, which they previously refused to grant floor time, Senate sources say.”

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