Progressives — and particularly retiring Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) keep bucking their Senate leadership on Finance Reform.
Jonathan Tasini (D) becomes the latest would-be candidate to give way before the electoral leviathan Kirsten Gillibrand.
The Daily Show has a pretty clever compendium of Glenn Beck’s obsession with comparing everything to Hitler or the Nazis. Watch.
Blanche Lincoln’s plan to force banks to spin off their derivatives desks has garnered enemies all around in Washington. And it seems all but certain to get defanged or revised in some major way. But Lincoln’s been flogging it like crazy back home in Arkansas as an example of her populist cred. Indeed, it seems pretty likely that that’s the reason she — quite unexpectedly — came forward with such an uncharacteristically left-populist leaning proposal in the first place. But Senate Dems and the White House don’t want to trip her up in her primary on Tuesday. So it seems they’re delaying any changes until after the election is over.
Under Obama, the federal government has actually resumed doing its regulatory work. That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
You might not have thought a Supreme Court nomination would have much to do with a Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. But the Kagan nomination has come at the worst possible time for Arlen Specter and could provide Sestak with the lever to pry him out of the Senate.
Another data point from the latest Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania released this morning suggests Rep. Joe Sestak would fare better than incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter in a general election contest against Republican Pat Toomey. Eric Kleefeld has the details.
Longtime TPM Reader JB says it’s not looking good for Specter …
I am in Pittsburgh for 24 hours for a meeting. While watching TV intermittently, I have seen a wide variety of commercials from both candidates, which provide some good insight into this race. Based on these ads, I think Specter is toast.
Who’s more likely to be gay? Unmarried, middle-aged woman or televangelist / family values pol? Discuss.