The Day In Politics, 5/12

Today in politics, we learned that Charlie Crist has the backing of his party's campaign arm, and that he's popular among GOP voters in his state; the Philadelphia Inquirer has hired John Yoo as a columnist; Liz Cheney thinks her father is right to speak out; new TV ads will pressure centrist senators on health care; President Obama plans to cut taxes for the rich; Pew and the Sunlight Foundation have mapped TARP's geographical influence; Arlen Specter receieved a warm--but not ecstatic--welcome from Philadelphia Democrats; and protesters interrupted a Senate hearing on health care reform.


We also ruminated on Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal's secret special ops resume; the lack of nuclear-warhead funding in Obama's budget; and the legal/intelligence relationship between the U.S. and Britain.

Tomorrow: President Obama meets with Judiciary committee chairman Pat Leahy and ranking Republican Jeff Sessions to talk about his Supreme Court pick. He then travels to Arizona State University to deliver a commencement address.  A bunch of cabinet secretaries testify on the FY 2010 budget. The judiciary committee holds the first hearing into the Bush administration's interrogation policies.