Opponents of the new anti-immigration law in Arizona rallied outside the state capitol in Phoenix Sunday:

A lot could still happen before this evening’s vote, but let’s at least acknowledge for the moment the hard-ball political tactics Harry Reid is using right now in the Senate. He’s now playing for keeps in a way that a lot of his critics from within Democratic and progressive circles have been urging him to do for the three-plus years he’s been majority leader.

First off, Reid has not backed down (though it’s still possible he could) from tonight’s scheduled vote on financial reform, even though Republicans say they will filibuster and even though negotiations over a bipartisan compromise continue. What Reid is doing is so rare for Democrats that you might not immediately recognize it for what it is: it’s called pressing your political advantage. Read More

As the SEC wrestles with how it ignored numerous warnings that accused Ponzi schemer Alan Stanford was a fraud, a decent amount of the fingers pointed at former FCC enforcement officer who sat on numerous warnings about Stanford and then went to represent him after leaving the SEC. Now there’s another example of Spencer Barasch’s MO. Here’s his pitch to get the gig defending Texas billionaire Mark Cuban.

“I am friends with and helped promote two of the guys who signed the Complaint against Mark. Someone should tell Mark to look at my profile on my firm website, my SEC press releases, and advise Mark to add me to his defense team.”

Connecticut’s McMahon pulls the plug on cash for GOP registration’s plan.

We had some hints that comedian Sara Benincasa was preparing a new impersonation of none other than Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). And it turns out it’s true. Sara apparently spent a couple weeks immersing herself, perhaps literally, in all things Bachmann. And now she’s released her first Bachmann video. See it below the fold. Read More

The Senate is voting right now on whether to bring the financial reform bill to the floor, with Republicans so far lining up in united opposition to the bill, but they just got a political fig leaf from Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who sided with the GOP in refusing to allow debate on the bill.

The Republicans held together and successfully filibustered the financial reform bill. The final vote was 57 Democratic votes in favor of bringing the bill up for debate and 39 Republicans plus Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson and Harry Reid voting no (in Reid’s case, the no vote was procedural and preserves his right to bring the bill back up for a vote again at a future date). That leaves one two Republicans not voting. We’re tracking down who that is now.

Late Update: Sens. Kit Bond (R-MO) and Robert Bennet (R-UT) did not vote.

Sen. Ben Nelson’s most prominent constituent (if you exclude Tom Osborne, of course) is billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who was opposed to provisions in the financial reform bill that would regulate existing derivative contracts. There was a move afoot to exempt those pre-existing derivatives from the bill’s reach, but it failed. That may explain why Nelson deserted his party and voted not to bring the bill to the floor for debate.

Sen. Kerry (D-MA) says news of the death of the climate bill is greatly exaggerated.

TPM’s Financial Reform Wire can’t be filibustered. We’re still tracking every last development in the legislative and political battle here.