The Night Beat: Primary Questions; Kagan's Smooth Week

Primary Questions || UK Foreign Policy Revived || Next Big Oil Spill Hearing 


Watch for a major "healthy food" initiative unveiled by the Grocery Manufacturing Association tomorrow...

Five key questions ahead of Tuesday's primaries:  (1) Can the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee transfer its "Special Election In A Box" field operation to Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District? (2) Will the White House make nice to Joe Sestak? (3) Assuming she does win, how did Sen. Blanche Lincoln pull it off? And what did labor get for its $7 million? (And will DC -- Morrison, that is, force a run-off?)  (4) Is Rand Paul ... Ron's Son, Or A sui generis Tea Party Success?  (5) What's a good night for Democrats? What's a good night for Republicans?

Does the White House believe that the money it spent to help elect Arlen Specter was worth it, even if he loses?  Yes. Joe Biden's orchestrated party switch helped get health care done. And the DSCC made sure that the money they spent on Specter was raised by Specter for the campaign committee.

For the most part, the first week of Elena Kagan's rollout went smoothly enough. There remain a few things to smooth over with the left, including Kagan's opinions on cocaine sentencing disparities and free speech.  Key point from the Sunday shows: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) admitting that Kagan is not extreme enough to filibuster.

Sen. Harry Reid is expected to file a cloture motion tomorrow for the financial regulatory reform bill. Still, a bunch of senators still want to offer amendments. Earliest a vote would be is Wednesday.

An Associated Press/GFK poll puts the generic ballot at plus five for Democrats, perhaps an outlier, but also perhaps a leading indicator of trends: President Obama's approval ratings have been creeping up in almost every poll; his ratings on the economy are up among
independents. 

A renaissance for British foreign policy and diplomacy? During the Gordon Brown years, and after the reputational body blow suffered during the Blair years, morale at the Foreign Ministry in the UK could not have been lower. But with the new Tory-liberal government in place, things are already changing. First, Prime Minister David Cameron selected as his national security adviser the permanent undersecretary of the foreign office. Second: the Foreign Minister, William Hague, is the first minister of state, giving his priorities above all those other ministers with bits of foreign policy in their portfolios. Third, the word from Number 10 is that creative diplomacy is back.  And budget cuts aren't.

Will Iran announce a new nuclear fuel swap deal tomorrow? The National Security Staff wants to know...

Vice Admiral William McRaven, commander, Joint Special Operations Command, is in Afghanistan, inspecting his units.  ... Mark Bowden on the Conflicker worm.

On Tuesday, the Nixon Center hosts an invitation-only foreign affairs symposium at a hotel in Washington, including a dinner discussion with National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones and others.

Ultralight aircraft hovering over Arizona triggered a NORAD response today. The craft returned to Mexico.

The next big oil/BP spill hearings begin Tuesday: testifying will be Adm. Thad Allen, USCG commandant, Jane Lubchenco, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BP's Chairman, Lamar McKay, Steve Newman of Transocean and more. If you did not see tonight's 60 minutes, you missed the best explanation of the spill to date.