The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Senators often talk past Kagan on opening day of confirmation hearing
Elena Kagan was the nominee at her confirmation hearing Monday for the Supreme Court, but you would not be faulted for believing the real spotlight was on those not attending– the conservative members of the bench who drew so much attention from senators on the Judiciary Committee. Time and again, the lawmakers - mostly Democrats– chose to concentrate on the high court's impact on a range of issues - business disputes, privacy and free speech. They set the tone for the intense questioning of Kagan to follow this week - probing how the 50-year-old lawyer who has never been a judge would impact the court for perhaps decades to come.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Senators signal contentious hearing on Supreme Court nominee
Leading senators on the Judiciary Committee signaled a contentious hearing starting Monday on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination, with some Republicans saying a GOP filibuster was possible. Democrats countered that no nominee from President Barack Obama would have satisfied Republicans. In an exchange on CNN's "State of Union," Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey chided Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas over what Menendez joked were unattainable GOP standards.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNNMoney: Wall Street reform debate goes on and on
Tired lawmakers worked into the early hours of Friday to meld two different versions of Wall Street reform. Just before midnight Thursday, lawmakers finished tackling one of the last and more controversial issues: Cracking down on the big banks' investment activities and risky bets. However, negotiations were going slow on another controversial measure requiring Wall Street banks to spin off their swaps desks. Top White House and Treasury officials met with Democrats in backrooms, talking about how to crack down on risky bets.

CNN: House passes campaign finance legislation
The U.S. House on Thursday passed a bill that would require most independent groups that pay for campaign ads to disclose their donors. The measure passed on a 219-206 vote, with most Democrats in support and Republicans opposing. The Senate is considering taking up its own version of the bill.

CNNMoney: Unemployment benefits extension nixed for nearly 1 million
Nearly a million people have lost their unemployment benefits because the Senate failed for the third time Thursday to extend the deadline to file for this safety net. Hoping to overcome deficit concerns, the Senate trimmed down the bill yet again on Wednesday night so that it would only increase the deficit by $33.3 billion over 10 years, instead of $55.1 billion. The main changes were to scale back additional Medicaid funding for the states and to reallocate some stimulus and Defense Department spending. The legislation failed by a 57-41 vote.

CNN Poll: Majority angry at both political parties
Americans are angry at both the Republican and Democratic parties, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Thursday. But the survey also indicates the public continues to blame the GOP more than the Democrats for the country's current economic woes even though the Democrats have controlled both the White House and Congress for a year and a half. Fifty-three percent of people questioned say when it comes to the way the Democrats and Republicans have been dealing with the nation's problems, they are angry at both parties, with nine percent saying they're mad only at the Republicans and seven percent angry only at the Democrats. Just over three in ten say they're not angry at either party.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN Poll: Uptick in economic optimism
Most Americans believe that the country is still in a recession, but one in five now say that the recession is over – the highest number since October, 2008, and double the number who felt that way last May, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national survey released Wednesday indicates that 78 percent of the public says the economy is still in a recession, with 21 percent saying the recession is over, more than double the number of Americans who believed the recession was over in May of last year.

Washington Post: Lawmakers across country taking immigration policy into own hands
Five states - South Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Michigan - are looking at Arizona-style legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. NDN, a Washington think tank and advocacy group, said lawmakers in 17 other states had expressed support for similar measures. Since it was adopted in April, the Arizona legislation, which gives law enforcement officers the power to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, has triggered bitter debate and been challenged in court by advocacy groups.

CNN: SC Democratic candidate Alvin Greene vows to stay in the race
Seated in the living room of the modest home Alvin Greene shares with his father, the surprise winner of this month's Democratic Senatorial nomination is still trying to deal with the notoriety and series of questions that victory has brought. On questions of how he could afford the $10,000 filing fee necessary to enter the primary race, he again insisted it was his own personal money savings he had accumulated during his time in the military. Greene, who was discharged last August, is not currently working and is drawing a monthly unemployment check. Some state Democrats have speculated he was a plant by someone hoping to disrupt the race and want the origins of the filing fee funds to be investigated.

New York Times: Cuomo Accepts Millions From Interests He Assails
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, declaring his candidacy for governor of New York, could not have been clearer. “The influence of lobbyists and their special interests must be drastically reduced with new contribution limits,” Mr. Cuomo said last month. “We will be taking on very powerful special interests which have much to lose. We must change systems and cultures long in the making.” But as he delivered his announcement, Mr. Cuomo was sitting on millions in campaign cash from the very special interests whose influence he said he wanted to limit.

CNN: In David vs. Goliath fight, candidate aims to beat Alaska GOP senator
Many voters may never have seen or heard of him, but Joe Miller is determined to make Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the next victim of an angry, anti-incumbent movement. And helping him is the Tea Party Express. Miller, an attorney in Fairbanks, is little-known in Alaska. He has been endorsed by the Tea Party Express as a true "constitutional conservative" and by former Gov. Sarah Palin. Murkowski holds a GOP leadership post in the Senate but is also under fire for being a moderate.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: South Carolina drama tops four runoffs on Tuesday
South Carolina Republicans made state Rep. Nikki Haley their first female gubernatorial nominee, handing her an easy victory in her primary runoff race against U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett. Haley just missed out on winning the nomination outright in the June 8 primary, capturing 49 percent of the vote in a four-candidate field. She was short of the 50 percent-plus-one needed to take the nomination. Once facing long odds for the GOP nomination, Haley rose in the polls thanks in part to endorsements by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The Hill: Son of one-time segregationist loses to black Republican in S.C.
Republican Tim Scott earned a landslide victory against challenger Paul Thurmond in the Republican runoff in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. There was no question that Scott was the candidate of the party's D.C. establishment in South Carolina's 1st congressional district.

CQ Politics: Lee Wins Utah GOP Nomination
Attorney Mike Lee won Utah's GOP Senate nomination Tuesday night and all but assured he'll be headed to Congress next year to represent his overwhelmingly Republican state. Lee's victory comes as the second rebuke of Sen. Bob Bennett (R) by state Republicans in two months. Bennett, whose willingness to occasionally partner with Democrats in the Senate made him a top target of tea party groups and conservative activists this cycle, was kept from the primary by finishing in third place at the GOP nominating convention on May 8.

CNN: Key Senate Democrat calls for McChrystal to resign
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, became the first member of the Senate Democratic leadership on Tuesday to suggest that Gen. Stanley McChrystal should resign. Asked by CNN in a Capitol Hill hallway if McChrystal's comments in Rolling Stone magazine warrant resignation, Dorgan replied that if McChrystal "said what it was reported that he said, the answer is yes." Dorgan, who chairs the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, was visibly annoyed by McChrystal's comments, as were many of his colleagues.

St. Petersburg Times: Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene trade barbs in Democratic U.S. Senate debate
You know a campaign is getting down and dirty when one candidate tells his opponent to quit insulting his mother. "How dare you attack the character of my mother," demanded Kendrick Meek of rival Jeff Greene on Tuesday, in the first debate between the major Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.”How dare you, Jeff Greene." Greene didn't apologize for attacking the Miami congressman for seeking earmarked federal funds from a developer who had hired Meek's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek. Kendrick Meek denies any wrongdoing and says he didn't know developer Dennis Stackhouse — now facing fraud charges — had given his mother $90,000 and a Cadillac Escalade for consulting work.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN Poll: Half say Gulf will never recover
Nine in ten Americans say that the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is still out of control, but roughly half say that it is not getting any worse, according to a new national poll. But will the oil spill get any better? A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday indicates that about half the public says that the Gulf will eventually recover, with half saying that will never happen.

CNN: Democrats continue hammering GOP over Barton apology to BP
A top Democrat kept up the Joe Barton drumbeat Sunday, saying the Republican legislator's defense of BP last week was an example of GOP ideology that favors big business. Republicans seeking to change the subject countered that the nation's focus should be on efforts to stop the Gulf oil gusher and criticized the Obama administration for failing to make that happen.

Washington Post: Five governor's races could indicate GOP success in 2012
The roots of a Republican political renaissance in 2012 lie in the Rust Belt. That swath of manufacturing- based states in the Midwest - Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan - with tentacles that reach as far east as Pennsylvania, has been the epicenter of the economic difficulties in the country over the past few years. Each state is hosting a competitive gubernatorial race this fall. Republicans argue that a clean sweep (or close to it) would immediately change the electoral calculus heading into the nationwide redistricting in 2011 and President Obama's reelection race in 2012.

CNN: Lieberman: Comprehensive energy bill can be done this year
Echoing President Obama’s Oval Office address to the nation last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, said Sunday that a comprehensive energy bill can be done during this midterm election year. Lieberman added that he hoped the Gulf oil spill would help motivate lawmakers to support the controversial legislation. Lieberman, one of two principal architects of an energy bill that includes a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, also suggested that support for his bill is about 10 senators shy of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster.

CNN: Kagan e-mails show confident, brassy side to Supreme Court nominee
More old documents unveiled are offering more fresh signs that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was an eager, tough-talking political player while working as a lawyer in the Clinton White House. In one e-mail, she criticizes one of President Bill Clinton's most important speeches as "presumptuous." The latest and final batch of more than 80,000 pages - mostly e-mails– were released Friday by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. The 50-year-old Kagan was nominated to the high court May 10 by President Barack Obama, and her confirmation hearings begin June 28.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN Poll: Rise in disapproval of Obama handling of oil spill
Six in ten Americans disapprove of how President Barack Obama's handling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a jump from last month, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey also indicates that vast majority of the public disapproves of how BP has handled the environmental disaster and two-thirds say making a profit rather than cleaning up the spill is oil giant's top priority. Fifty-nine percent of people questioned say they disapprove of how the president is dealing with the spill, up eight points from May. Forty-one percent say they approve of how Obama's handling the crisis, down five points from last month.

Washington Post: Gulf oil spill puts industry-friendly Republicans in tight spot
Who says there's no such thing as loyalty in politics? Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), who has received more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from the oil industry during this election cycle, revealed Thursday that he may be the only person in America who believes that BP deserves an apology for the way it has been treated during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is not the moment to be seen as coddling Big Oil. The GOP leadership has laid out a set of talking points that spread blame in all directions - toward the company, the White House and the regulators who looked the other way. But some Republicans are having trouble bringing themselves to say anything bad about an industry that has been so good to them.

CNN: Arizona governor: Government planning to sue over immigration law
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is fuming over a comment by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to an Ecuadorean television station that the government will file a lawsuit against Arizona's new immigration law. In a statement Thursday, Brewer said she learned of plans for the lawsuit from the June 8 interview Clinton gave to NTN24. According to a transcript of the interview, Clinton said that President Barack Obama had spoken out against the law because he believes the federal government should set immigration policy.

Des Moines Register: Rep. Steve King draws criticism from right for remarks
Some conservatives are backing away from U.S. Rep. Steve King after the Iowa Republican's recent comments about blacks and immigration, but one political expert doubts King will face consequences at the polls this November. The most widely distributed comment from King this week came in a national radio interview, in which he said President Barack Obama "favors the black person." He also said this week on the floor of the House that racial profiling "has always been an important component of legitimate law enforcement." And, in a statement released last week, he said the shooting death of a 15-year-old Mexican high school student by a U.S. Border Patrol agent could have been avoided if the Obama administration "had lived up to its responsibility under the Secure Fence Act to build fences on our border."

CNN: Democrats unveil midterm election get-out-the-vote effort
The Democratic National Committee announced details Thursday of a new addition to their get-out-the-vote efforts, which includes a website and a focus on recruiting new voters for the midterm election. Democratic leaders vowed to spend $50 million, which they describe as an unprecedented sum, for their "Vote 2010" efforts, which include the unveiling of a new "Raise Your Vote" campaign. Party officials say the new campaign is specifically geared toward making voting registration and getting information about voting as easy as possible for people in any state across the country to access. DNC staffers say this is the first-ever comprehensive voting information and registration hub ever housed at the party headquarters.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Democrat: Lawmakers going to take Hayward's 'hide off'
Democratic lawmakers will try to build the case of a corporate culture which chose riskier, cheaper methods over safety concerns as they grill BP CEO Tony Hayward on Capitol Hill Thursday. "Members are angry. Members are frustrated," Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, told CNN's Dana Bash. "They're going to take his hide off, as they should." Stupak, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, outlined evidence his committee has put together from thousands of pages of internal BP documents. In Thursday's hearing, Stupak intends to focus on what the lawmaker sees as a pattern of behavior on BP's part that risked safety in order to contain costs and make up for the drilling project's being behind schedule.

CNN: RNC alleges Obama ‘dithered’ in Gulf crisis
The Republican National Committee accuses President Obama of failing to focus his full attention on the Gulf oil spill, specifically criticizing him in a new web video of waiting 58 days to meet with BP executives to discuss how to address this environmental disaster. Obama met with BP officials Wednesday morning in the Roosevelt Room, less than 24 hours after he returned from the Gulf and delivered a primetime address from the Oval office outlining his plan to revive the region.

CNN: Poll: Rossi front-runner in Washington GOP Senate race
Dino Rossi holds a large lead over two other Republican candidates in the battle to challenge Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, according to a new survey. An Elway Poll of registered voters in Washington state indicates that 43 percent back Murray, who's bidding for a fourth term in the Senate, in the state's August 17 primary. Thirty-one percent support Rossi, with fellow Republicans Clint Didier at five percent and Paul Akers at two percent.

Charleston Post and Courier: Rawl will cite irregularities
Vic Rawl, the defeated candidate in the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate, will allege irregularities in voting-machine programming when he protests the primary results today in Columbia. It's questionable whether Alvin Greene, the certified winner, will show up to defend his victory even after being invited in a hand-delivered letter from party officials. Efforts to reach Greene were unsuccessful Wednesday, but during a telephone interview Tuesday he said "I'm not going." He immediately hung up.

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Obama details oil spill response, calls for energy reform
President Barack Obama used his first Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday to say 90 percent of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico will be captured within weeks, and to call for a new clean energy policy to end U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. The 18-minute speech, televised nationally, described what happened in the April 20 explosion and fire on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig that led to what Obama called "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced." He compared the millions of gallons of oil leaking into the ocean to an epidemic "we will be fighting for months and even years." Obama meets Wednesday with the chairman of oil giant BP, which owns the broken well at the bottom of the Gulf, and the president made clear he expects BP to pay all clean-up costs and damages from the massive leak.

CNN: GOP fights Democrats on Gulf moratorium, liability
Partisan bickering over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster intensified Tuesday as top Republicans once again slammed the Obama administration for imposing a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium and stepped up their fight against a Democratic move to lift current liability caps for oil spills. Republicans also lashed out at Democrats for allegedly using the disaster to push an alternative energy agenda that the GOP contends will cripple the economic recovery.

CNN: Poll: Disapproval of Obama handling of oil spill jumps
Nearly half of all Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a new national poll released hours before the president gives a prime-time address from the Oval Office on the crisis. An AP-GfK survey released Tuesday indicates that 48-percent of the public disapproves of how Obama's handling the oil spill, up 15 percentage points from a month ago. Thirty-nine percent approve of how the president's dealing with the crisis, down three points from May. According to the survey, 13- percent say they neither approve nor disapprove. Other recent polls also indicate that a minority of Americans approve of the way Obama and his administration are handling the massive spill.

CNN: In Dem vs. Dem race, Meek slams Greene as a 'carpetbagger'
The bitter Democrat-versus-Democrat race to become Florida's next senator on Tuesday saw a new salvo, with one candidate slamming his opponent as a "carpetbagger" who is trying "to buy Florida's senate seat." Rep. Kendrick Meek's campaign has also said that Jeff Greene has lived in Florida for such a short time that he would be ineligible to run for other key statewide offices. Meek's campaign made the charges in a campaign statement released Tuesday. Meek and Greene are locked in a battle for the Democratic senate nomination that will be decided in a late August primary.

Politico: S.C. lawmaker proud 'redneck'
Republican South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts is a redneck, he’s proud of it, and he plans to stay in the state Legislature even though his party wants him to resign. The Lexington County GOP passed a resolution earlier this week demanding Knotts resign after he called President Barack Obama and state Sen. Nikki Haley, the leading contender for the Republican nomination for governor, “ragheads.”

FULL POST

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: BP boss facing 'nightmare well' Hill grill
BP chief Tony Hayward should be prepared to face tough questioning about the cause of the Gulf oil disaster when he appears before a key House committee this week, according to a letter released Monday by the committee's chairman. The letter to Hayward from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-California, says a congressional investigation alleges that the besieged oil company took a low-cost, speedy approach to drilling the broken deepwater well responsible for the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

FULL POST