Elena Kagan White House “Interview” Riles Reporters  —  The White House today posted on its website a video allowing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan to speak “in her own words” about her personal history and perspective.  —  In the interview, conducted by a White House staffer who produces videos …

Broad Approval For New Arizona Immigration Law  —  Democrats Divided, But Support key Provisions  —  The public broadly supports a new Arizona law aimed at dealing with illegal immigration and the law's provisions giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.

Arizona tourism loses more business in wake of immigration law vote  —  Arizona took another hit Wednesday as Republicans cast a vote for the home of their 2012 convention.  Phoenix made the short list but lost out to Tampa.  —  It was little surprise to tourism officials in Arizona.

1,000-page climate bill is unveiled  —  Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Wednesday unveiled their nearly 1,000-page climate change bill, flanked by environmentalists, religious and ex-military leaders and energy industry officials.  —  But the glaring absence …

Suspicions about Specter aid Sestak  —  PITTSBURGH - The first time Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) slipped up here Tuesday night at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, most in the audience pretended not to notice.  —  But at the end of his remarks when Specter again thanked the …

SC Gov. Sanford saw Argentine lover in Florida  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Wednesday he spent last weekend in Florida with his Argentine lover, hoping to rekindle the affair that wrecked his marriage and his political future and brought a formal rebuke from legislators for embarrassing the state.

DADT statement from Milbloggers  —  There was a recent exchange of letters between Sen. Levin and Sec. Def.  Gates about the study the military is doing about Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  In it Sec. Gates confirmed that the military was looking at how best to implement the policy on the assumption that the rule would be changed.

Galbraith: The danger posed by the deficit ‘is zero’  —  James Galbraith is an economist and the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. chair in government and business relations at the University of Texas at Austin.  He's also a skeptic of the prevailing concern over America's long-term deficit.

It's official: Charlie Crist won't give campaign refunds  —  Gov. Charlie Crist told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on April 30 that he would “probably” give refunds to donors who don't approve of him leaving the GOP.  Some donors to his U.S. Senate campaign were told before the switch …

Are We Greece?  —  David Leonhardt tries to draw parallels.  But how strong is the parallel, really?  —  I would really question this comparison: … Um, that's comparing a (highly uncertain) projection of debt 20 years from now — a projection that's based on the assumption of unchanged policy — with actual debt now.

Books of The Times: ‘The Promise: President Obama, Year One’ by Jonathan Alter  —  With relentless 24/7 media coverage of President Obama and a floodlet of books about him, the reader might well ask: Why another study of him and his White House, when his presidency is less than a year and a half old?

Tired of Big Government Spending?  Then YouCut it!  —  Two weeks ago, I wrote on BigGovernment that the GOP Today is much different than the party was a few years back.  I was glad that my post generated attention, and very pleased to read through the different responses - both positive and skeptical.

Backing Off the Tax Pledge?  —  Hungry Beast Giving Beast Women in the World  —  Blogs and Stories  —  White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, grilled about Obama's pledge not to raise middle-class taxes, left the president wiggle room.  Lloyd Grove reports.

The Contrast in Mood Between Today and 1983  —  The most astonishing and surprising thing I find about Washington DC today is the contrast in mood between DC today and what DC was thinking a generation ago, in 1983, the last time the unemployment rate was kissing 10%.

Stupak: Oil well's blowout preventer had leaks, dead battery, design flaws  —  A senior House Democrat said that the blowout preventer that failed to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a “useless” test version …