On the Sunday shows, both sides say they’re optimistic about agreeing on a bipartisan financial regulation reform bill. Just not quite there yet.

President Obama will soon be delivering the eulogy for the 29 coal miners killed earlier this month in West Virginia. Vice President Joe Biden also is attending.

Watch the service live here or read Obama’s prepared remarks here.

“These miners lived – as they died – in pursuit of the American dream,” Obama will say.

Asked whether he would be withdrawing his endorsement from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Sen. Mitch McConnell said “Not today.”

New York magazine is out with its story on the commercialization of Sarah Palin. She pulled down a cool $12 million over the last year. But what’s more intriguing than that raw number is the underlying dynamic here: the mutual business relationship between Palin and the East Coast elites whom she rails against with populist invective and who scorn her as dumber than a moose. Money can soften any edge.

The RNC continues to send out deceptive mailers designed to look like census documents just weeks after Congress passed a law aimed at making such practices illegal and requiring certain information on the envelope to prevent recipients from being mislead. We have the mailer and the RNC’s response: The law doesn’t apply to us.

Brian Beutler has our guide to the top 5 potential surprises between now and this evening’s scheduled Senate vote on financial reform.

There are times when I’d like to give a literal translation of something said by the likes of South Carolina Lt. governor and gubernatorial candidate Andre Bauer (R). But in this case it’s probably the better part of wisdom not to give a South Carolina conservative to English translation. In any case, Bauer has identified the problem behind immigration — too many lazy South Carolinians on welfare.

Immigration has been roiling American politics for years. Anti-immigration politicking foreshadowed the Tea Party movement late in the Bush administration and eventually cut a rift through the Republican party. And reform advocates managed to mount a huge rally in favor of reform — though to very little press attention — on the same weekend Health Care Reform finally passed Congress. But as a potential key driver of electoral politics in 2010, it was almost off the map (aside from the meta-message behind birtherism) until bursting into view, almost out of the blue, over the last few two weeks. Read More

AP: “The conflict over a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration in Arizona intensified Monday as vandals smeared refried beans in the shape of swastikas on the state Capitol’s windows.”

When Tom Tancredo thinks your anti-immigrant bill goes too far.