WaPo reports: After a long day of campaigning on July 8, candidate Barack Obama arrived at his Chicago headquarters for a three-hour brainstorming session about a suddenly hot issue: energy and climate change.
He had summoned a cross section of experts, including top executives from three utilities and two oil companies, the chief energy economist of an investment bank, a climate scientist, a California energy and environment expert, an oil consultant-historian, and several campaign staffers. Despite the late hour, one participant recalled, "He walked in as if he had just gotten up after a refreshing night's sleep to lead a class. He was clearly there to harvest information and then do something with it."
May 31, 2009
May 17, 2009
Indiana Says 'No Thanks' to Cap and Trade
Governor Mitch Daniels oped: This week Congress is set to release the details of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill that purports to combat global warming by setting strict limits on carbon emissions. I'm not a candidate for any office -- now or ever again -- and I've approached the "climate change" debate with an open-mind. But it's clear to me that the nation, and in particular Indiana, my home state, will be terribly disserved by this cap-and-trade policy on the verge of passage in the House.
The largest scientific and economic questions are being addressed by others, so I will confine myself to reporting about how all this looks from the receiving end of the taxes, restrictions and mandates Congress is now proposing.
Quite simply, it looks like imperialism. This bill would impose enormous taxes and restrictions on free commerce by wealthy but faltering powers -- California, Massachusetts and New York -- seeking to exploit politically weaker colonies in order to prop up their own decaying economies. Because proceeds from their new taxes, levied mostly on us, will be spent on their social programs while negatively impacting our economy, we Hoosiers decline to submit meekly.
The Waxman-Markey legislation would more than double electricity bills in Indiana. Years of reform in taxation, regulation and infrastructure-building would be largely erased at a stroke. In recent years, Indiana has led the nation in capturing international investment, repatriating dollars spent on foreign goods or oil and employing Americans with them. Waxman-Markey seems designed to reverse that flow. "Closed: Gone to China" signs would cover Indiana's stores and factories.
Our state's share of national income has been slipping for decades, but it is offset in part by living costs some 8% lower than the national average. Doubled utility bills for low-income Hoosiers would be an especially cruel consequence of the Waxman bill. Forgive us for not being impressed at danglings of welfare-like repayments to some of those still employed, with some fraction of the dollars extracted from our state.
And for what? No honest estimate pretends to suggest that a U.S. cap-and-trade regime will move the world's thermometer by so much as a tenth of a degree a half century from now. My fellow citizens are being ordered to accept impoverishment for a policy that won't save a single polar bear.
We are told that although China, India and others show no signs of joining in this dismal process, we will eventually induce their participation by "setting an example." Watching the impending indigence of the Midwest, and the flow of jobs from our shores to theirs, our friends in Asia and the Third World are far more likely to choose any other path but ours.
Politicians in Washington speak of a reawakened appreciation for manufacturing and American competitiveness. But under their policy, those who make real products will suffer. Already we observe the piranha swarm of green lobbyists wangling special exemptions, subsidies and side deals. The ordinary Hoosier was not invited to this party, and can expect at most only table scraps at the service entrance.
No one in Indiana is arguing for the status quo: Hoosiers have been eager to pursue a new energy future. We rocketed from nowhere to national leadership in biofuels production in the last four years. We were the No. 1 state in the growth of wind power in 2008. And we have embarked on an aggressive energy-conservation program, indubitably the most cost-effective means of limiting CO2.
Most importantly, we are out to be the world leader in making clean coal -- including the potential for carbon capture and sequestration. The world's first commercial-scale clean coal power plant is under construction in our state, and the first modern coal-to-natural gas plant is coming right behind it. We eagerly accept the responsibility to develop alternatives to the punitive, inequitable taxation of cap and trade.
Our president has commendably committed himself to "government that works." But his imperial climate-change policy is government that cannot work, and we humble colonials out here in the provinces have no choice but to petition for relief from the Crown's impositions.
The largest scientific and economic questions are being addressed by others, so I will confine myself to reporting about how all this looks from the receiving end of the taxes, restrictions and mandates Congress is now proposing.
Quite simply, it looks like imperialism. This bill would impose enormous taxes and restrictions on free commerce by wealthy but faltering powers -- California, Massachusetts and New York -- seeking to exploit politically weaker colonies in order to prop up their own decaying economies. Because proceeds from their new taxes, levied mostly on us, will be spent on their social programs while negatively impacting our economy, we Hoosiers decline to submit meekly.
The Waxman-Markey legislation would more than double electricity bills in Indiana. Years of reform in taxation, regulation and infrastructure-building would be largely erased at a stroke. In recent years, Indiana has led the nation in capturing international investment, repatriating dollars spent on foreign goods or oil and employing Americans with them. Waxman-Markey seems designed to reverse that flow. "Closed: Gone to China" signs would cover Indiana's stores and factories.
Our state's share of national income has been slipping for decades, but it is offset in part by living costs some 8% lower than the national average. Doubled utility bills for low-income Hoosiers would be an especially cruel consequence of the Waxman bill. Forgive us for not being impressed at danglings of welfare-like repayments to some of those still employed, with some fraction of the dollars extracted from our state.
And for what? No honest estimate pretends to suggest that a U.S. cap-and-trade regime will move the world's thermometer by so much as a tenth of a degree a half century from now. My fellow citizens are being ordered to accept impoverishment for a policy that won't save a single polar bear.
We are told that although China, India and others show no signs of joining in this dismal process, we will eventually induce their participation by "setting an example." Watching the impending indigence of the Midwest, and the flow of jobs from our shores to theirs, our friends in Asia and the Third World are far more likely to choose any other path but ours.
Politicians in Washington speak of a reawakened appreciation for manufacturing and American competitiveness. But under their policy, those who make real products will suffer. Already we observe the piranha swarm of green lobbyists wangling special exemptions, subsidies and side deals. The ordinary Hoosier was not invited to this party, and can expect at most only table scraps at the service entrance.
No one in Indiana is arguing for the status quo: Hoosiers have been eager to pursue a new energy future. We rocketed from nowhere to national leadership in biofuels production in the last four years. We were the No. 1 state in the growth of wind power in 2008. And we have embarked on an aggressive energy-conservation program, indubitably the most cost-effective means of limiting CO2.
Most importantly, we are out to be the world leader in making clean coal -- including the potential for carbon capture and sequestration. The world's first commercial-scale clean coal power plant is under construction in our state, and the first modern coal-to-natural gas plant is coming right behind it. We eagerly accept the responsibility to develop alternatives to the punitive, inequitable taxation of cap and trade.
Our president has commendably committed himself to "government that works." But his imperial climate-change policy is government that cannot work, and we humble colonials out here in the provinces have no choice but to petition for relief from the Crown's impositions.
NYT Magazine: The China Puzzle
David Leonhardt reports: Over the past decade, China and the United States have developed a deeply symbiotic, and dangerous, relationship. China discovered that an economy built on cheap exports would allow it to grow faster than it ever had and to create enough jobs to mollify its impoverished population. American consumers snapped up these cheap exports — shoes, toys, electronics and the like — and China soon found itself owning a huge pile of American dollars. Governments don’t like to hold too much cash, because it pays no return, so the Chinese bought many, many Treasury bonds with their dollars. This additional demand for Treasuries was one big reason (though not the only reason) that interest rates fell so low in recent years. Thanks to those low interest rates, Americans were able to go on a shopping spree and buy some things, like houses, they couldn’t really afford. China kept lending and exporting, and we kept borrowing and consuming. It all worked very nicely, until it didn’t.
To access the article - click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17china-t.html?_r=2
To access the article - click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17china-t.html?_r=2
May 15, 2009
May 4, 2009
States still trying for a piece of the NetBy
CQPolitics.com reports: With the economy stalled and tax receipts shrinking, state governments are making another run at federal legislation that would allow them to impose levies on out-of-state Internet and catalog sales, which they say could bring in about $13 billion a year.
May 3, 2009
Specter Braces for Democratic Challengers in Pennsylvania Primary
FNC reports: Sen. Arlen Specter said he anticipates facing Democratic challengers in the Pennsylvania Senate primary, disputing the notion that party leaders would clear the field for him following his defection from the GOP.
Specter told NBC'S "Meet the Press" Sunday that he was offered no incentives from Democrats to switch parties. And he said despite public support voiced for his decision by President Obama, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, those leaders have not seen to it that he'll have a clear path to the 2010 nomination.
"I didn't ask them to clear the field. The reality is you can't tell other people what to do," Specter said. "I'm prepared to run in a contested primary."
Specter told NBC'S "Meet the Press" Sunday that he was offered no incentives from Democrats to switch parties. And he said despite public support voiced for his decision by President Obama, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, those leaders have not seen to it that he'll have a clear path to the 2010 nomination.
"I didn't ask them to clear the field. The reality is you can't tell other people what to do," Specter said. "I'm prepared to run in a contested primary."
California Sagging
George Will writes: California's increasingly severe and largely self-inflicted economic crisis will deepen on May 19 if, as is probable and desirable, voters reject most of the ballot measures that were drafted as part of a "solution" to the state's budget deficit. They would make matters worse. National economic revival is being impeded because one-eighth of the nation's population lives in a state that is driving itself into permanent stagnation. California's perennial boast -- that it is the incubator of America's future -- now has an increasingly dark urgency.
Under Arnold Schwarzenegger, the best governor the states contiguous to California have ever had, people and businesses have been relocating in those states. For four consecutive years, more Americans have moved out of California than have moved in. California's business costs are more than 20 percent higher than the average state's. In the last decade, net out-migration of Americans has been 1.4 million. California is exporting talent while importing Mexico's poverty. The latter is not California's fault; the former is.
If, since 1990, state spending increases had been held to the inflation rate plus population growth, the state would have a $15 billion surplus instead of a $42 billion budget deficit, which is larger than the budgets of all but 10 states. Since 1990, the number of state employees has increased by more than a third. In Schwarzenegger's less than six years as governor, per capita government spending, adjusted for inflation, has increased nearly 20 percent.
Liberal orthodoxy has made the state dependent on a volatile source of revenues -- high income tax rates on the wealthy. In 2006, the top 1 percent of earners paid 48 percent of the income taxes. California's income and sales taxes are among the nation's highest, its business conditions among the worst, as measured by 16 variables directly influenced by the Legislature. Unemployment, the nation's fourth highest, is 11.2 percent.
Under Arnold Schwarzenegger, the best governor the states contiguous to California have ever had, people and businesses have been relocating in those states. For four consecutive years, more Americans have moved out of California than have moved in. California's business costs are more than 20 percent higher than the average state's. In the last decade, net out-migration of Americans has been 1.4 million. California is exporting talent while importing Mexico's poverty. The latter is not California's fault; the former is.
If, since 1990, state spending increases had been held to the inflation rate plus population growth, the state would have a $15 billion surplus instead of a $42 billion budget deficit, which is larger than the budgets of all but 10 states. Since 1990, the number of state employees has increased by more than a third. In Schwarzenegger's less than six years as governor, per capita government spending, adjusted for inflation, has increased nearly 20 percent.
Liberal orthodoxy has made the state dependent on a volatile source of revenues -- high income tax rates on the wealthy. In 2006, the top 1 percent of earners paid 48 percent of the income taxes. California's income and sales taxes are among the nation's highest, its business conditions among the worst, as measured by 16 variables directly influenced by the Legislature. Unemployment, the nation's fourth highest, is 11.2 percent.
It's all on Obama now
LAT reports: In the span of a single week -- from the day Arlen Specter turned Democratic to the moment Congress passed the White House's budget blueprint and on through the opening of a spot on the Supreme Court -- President Obama crossed a fateful line: From now on, it's his country.
GOP Leaders Try to Polish Party's Image
WaPo reports: A group of prominent GOP leaders yesterday launched an effort to improve their party's sagging image, hosting an event at which they did not directly attack President Obama, rarely used the word "Republican" and engaged in a healthy dose of self-criticism.
At a pizza restaurant in Arlington, where they officially unveiled the National Council for a New America, party leaders attempted to portray Republicans as sensitive to the concerns of average Americans and to shake off the "Party of No" label that Democrats have tried to affix to the GOP.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) rejected the idea that yesterday's event, the first in a national series, was about "rebranding" the GOP, but it gave the impression of a party looking for a fresh start. Cantor, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney sat on stools and lobbed criticism at "Washington" and "liberals." They took few shots at Obama as they pledged to start a "conversation" with voters around the country.
The three men were flanked by banners bearing the name of the council and its Web address (http://www.wethepeopleplan.org), but there were no obvious signs that it was a major Republican initiative. They repeatedly noted that they were speaking about policy, not politics, and they touted conservative ideas on issues such as health care and education while bemoaning initiatives that involved more government intervention.
At a pizza restaurant in Arlington, where they officially unveiled the National Council for a New America, party leaders attempted to portray Republicans as sensitive to the concerns of average Americans and to shake off the "Party of No" label that Democrats have tried to affix to the GOP.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) rejected the idea that yesterday's event, the first in a national series, was about "rebranding" the GOP, but it gave the impression of a party looking for a fresh start. Cantor, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney sat on stools and lobbed criticism at "Washington" and "liberals." They took few shots at Obama as they pledged to start a "conversation" with voters around the country.
The three men were flanked by banners bearing the name of the council and its Web address (http://www.wethepeopleplan.org), but there were no obvious signs that it was a major Republican initiative. They repeatedly noted that they were speaking about policy, not politics, and they touted conservative ideas on issues such as health care and education while bemoaning initiatives that involved more government intervention.
Feds are looking at Edwards' campaign
Charlotte Observer reports: Federal investigators are sifting through the records of money that helped John Edwards' presidential campaign to determine if any was used to keep quiet his affair with Rielle Hunter.
Edwards, a Democrat and former U.S. senator, acknowledged the investigation to The News & Observer.
“I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly,” Edwards said in a statement.
“However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter. We appreciate the diligence and professionalism of those involved and look forward to a conclusion.”
Edwards, a Democrat and former U.S. senator, acknowledged the investigation to The News & Observer.
“I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly,” Edwards said in a statement.
“However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter. We appreciate the diligence and professionalism of those involved and look forward to a conclusion.”
Louisiana Voters Lukewarm on Vitter
TG's PolititcalWire reports: A new Southern Media & Opinion Research survey found that Louisiana voters are "markedly ambivalent" about Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).Though 58% of likely voters say he's doing at least a good job, only 30% said they would definitely vote to reelect him while 28% percent said they would vote for someone else, and 35% said they would consider an alternative.The bottom line: If Vitter gets a credible opponent next year, voters seem quite willing to think about a change.
May 1, 2009
Supreme Court Vacancy Means Cash for Conservative Interest Groups
Jonathan Allen of CQ reports: Few political battles energize movement conservatives quite like a Supreme Court nomination fight. And word that Justice David H. Souter plans to retire at the end of this session sent a jolt through the right-wing fundraising circuit late Thursday night.
“This is a nuclear weapon for the conservatives out there,” said Dan Morgan, a veteran conservative fundraiser who founded Morgan, Meredith and Associates. “When you do fundraising, there’s an emotional component in this and boy the emotion is there magnified times 100.”
Abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, school prayer and property rights all converge at the justices’ white marble den across from the U.S. Capitol. That should all add up to a lot of money for conservatives who fear that “activist” jurists will liberalize America’s laws — even if the liberal-conservative balance on the court isn’t likely to shift — according to fundraising experts.
“Although Souter may be a more difficult case to make as his voting record is center-left, it does open the door for discussion of who, and how left a replacement, President Obama may choose,” said Linus Catignani, a partner at LCM Strategies who raised money for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. “It also gives clarity to the power of the presidency and generates lots of chatter regarding the fact that Obama may make up to four replacements in short order. That obviously paints a very scary picture for many conservatives.”
“This is a nuclear weapon for the conservatives out there,” said Dan Morgan, a veteran conservative fundraiser who founded Morgan, Meredith and Associates. “When you do fundraising, there’s an emotional component in this and boy the emotion is there magnified times 100.”
Abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, school prayer and property rights all converge at the justices’ white marble den across from the U.S. Capitol. That should all add up to a lot of money for conservatives who fear that “activist” jurists will liberalize America’s laws — even if the liberal-conservative balance on the court isn’t likely to shift — according to fundraising experts.
“Although Souter may be a more difficult case to make as his voting record is center-left, it does open the door for discussion of who, and how left a replacement, President Obama may choose,” said Linus Catignani, a partner at LCM Strategies who raised money for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. “It also gives clarity to the power of the presidency and generates lots of chatter regarding the fact that Obama may make up to four replacements in short order. That obviously paints a very scary picture for many conservatives.”
Kasich running for Ohio governorship
Former Ohio GOP congressman and O’Reilly Factor guest host John Kasich will be running against Gov. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio).
Columbus Dispatch reports: Republican John Kasich is expected to file papers today so that he can begin raising money for the 2010 race for governor.Sources told The Dispatch that the former congressman from Westerville will file papers this afternoon with the Ohio secretary of state designating a treasurer for his gubernatorial campaign. The move will permit Kasich to raise cash and hire staff for his anticipated campaign against Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.
"We're off and running," said a source who has been helping Kasich prepare for a gubernatorial bid.Kasich, a former 18-year congressman and a Fox News on-air personality, is expected to formally declare his candidacy by early June.
Columbus Dispatch reports: Republican John Kasich is expected to file papers today so that he can begin raising money for the 2010 race for governor.Sources told The Dispatch that the former congressman from Westerville will file papers this afternoon with the Ohio secretary of state designating a treasurer for his gubernatorial campaign. The move will permit Kasich to raise cash and hire staff for his anticipated campaign against Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.
"We're off and running," said a source who has been helping Kasich prepare for a gubernatorial bid.Kasich, a former 18-year congressman and a Fox News on-air personality, is expected to formally declare his candidacy by early June.
A Tribute to Margaret Thatcher--30 Years On
By Robin Harris, D. Phil : Thirty years ago, Britain embarked upon a conservative revolution that not only transformed the country but left an indelible and unmistakable impact on the rest of the world. Only two British Prime Ministers--Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher--have by force of personality and power of example done anything like this.
In The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill wrote of his initial thoughts after his election as Prime Minister in May 1940:
As I went to bed at about 3 a.m., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with destiny and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.[1]
While it is not recorded whether Mrs. Thatcher felt the same way in the early hours of May 4,
1979, she very well may have.
Britain Before Thatcher: The Sick Man of Europe
Britain, when Margaret Thatcher took office, was, as the phrase had it, the "sick man of Europe" and the sickness, also known as the British disease, looked incurable. Indeed, the consensus, which most of the Conservative Party (like the rest of the political class) shared, was that cure was not the issue. Rather, and to change to another contemporary expression, what was required of any British government was the "orderly management of decline."
The last period of the Labour government had, of course, been disorderly. Militant trade unionists that winter brought the country to a halt, while the dead lay unburied and the rubbish piled up in Trafalgar Square. Hardly anyone believed that a fresh leader could reverse decline, recreate the conditions for prosperity, rebuild capitalism, and restore the country's international standing. So the question most frequently asked--not least within the cynical, defeatist ranks of the Conservative Party, which Mrs. Thatcher had just dragged to electoral success--was how long before this "tiresome" woman and her ideological cronies could be ditched.
At times it was a close-run thing. She needed luck, and in this case fortune did favor the brave. So on through strikes, a war, recession, attempted assassination, simmering dissension, and outright political revolts, she ploughed until the job (or most of it, at least) was done.
That continuing inspiration is, indeed, a crucially important element of the Thatcher legacy. In Britain, much of what she did is being, or has already been, reversed by the Labour government's financial profligacy, class-hate-driven tax policy, and sweeping centralization. The eventual outcome will depend on a new generation of conservatives able and willing to fight the same battles she did. At least they have something she (of necessity) lacked, because--to adapt the words of her eulogy to Ronald Reagan--they have her example.
In The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill wrote of his initial thoughts after his election as Prime Minister in May 1940:
As I went to bed at about 3 a.m., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with destiny and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.[1]
While it is not recorded whether Mrs. Thatcher felt the same way in the early hours of May 4,
1979, she very well may have.
Britain Before Thatcher: The Sick Man of Europe
Britain, when Margaret Thatcher took office, was, as the phrase had it, the "sick man of Europe" and the sickness, also known as the British disease, looked incurable. Indeed, the consensus, which most of the Conservative Party (like the rest of the political class) shared, was that cure was not the issue. Rather, and to change to another contemporary expression, what was required of any British government was the "orderly management of decline."
The last period of the Labour government had, of course, been disorderly. Militant trade unionists that winter brought the country to a halt, while the dead lay unburied and the rubbish piled up in Trafalgar Square. Hardly anyone believed that a fresh leader could reverse decline, recreate the conditions for prosperity, rebuild capitalism, and restore the country's international standing. So the question most frequently asked--not least within the cynical, defeatist ranks of the Conservative Party, which Mrs. Thatcher had just dragged to electoral success--was how long before this "tiresome" woman and her ideological cronies could be ditched.
At times it was a close-run thing. She needed luck, and in this case fortune did favor the brave. So on through strikes, a war, recession, attempted assassination, simmering dissension, and outright political revolts, she ploughed until the job (or most of it, at least) was done.
That continuing inspiration is, indeed, a crucially important element of the Thatcher legacy. In Britain, much of what she did is being, or has already been, reversed by the Labour government's financial profligacy, class-hate-driven tax policy, and sweeping centralization. The eventual outcome will depend on a new generation of conservatives able and willing to fight the same battles she did. At least they have something she (of necessity) lacked, because--to adapt the words of her eulogy to Ronald Reagan--they have her example.
Souter Replacement Watch: Master List
Marc Ambinder reports: The list takes five sources into account: articles/posts today from CNN, the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, The Los Angeles Times, SCOTUSblog, The BLT (the Blog of the Legal Times), and The Huffington Post's Sam Stein.
The two most mentioned candidates are Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood, each mentioned by all of the sources above. Next comes Elena Kagan, mentioned by six of seven. Ties are listed in no particular order.
Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit appellate judge originally appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton. She would be the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court justice. (CNN, AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost
Diane Wood, 7th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton in 1995 (CNN, AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)
Elena Kagan, incoming U.S. solicitor general, served in the Clinton White House, worked as a clerk but has no judicial experience (AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former federal prosecutor (CNN, AP, WSJ, SCOTUSblog)
Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School and former Harvard law professor (AP, WSJ, BLT, HuffPost)
Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, first African American woman to serve as a superior court judge in Georgia (AP, WSJ, HuffPost)-Kim McLane Wardlaw, 9th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton (AP, BLT, LA Times)
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former assistant attorney general for civil rights under Bill Clinton (CNN, AP, BLT)
Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale Law School, has been nominated by Obama to be legal adviser to the State Dept. (AP, BLT, HuffPost)
Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago law professor (AP)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (BLT)
Ann Claire Williams, 7th Circuit appellate judge originally nominated by Ronald Reagan, elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton (CNN)
Sandra Lea Lynch, chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)-Johnnie B. Rawlinson, 9th Circuite appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)
Ruben Castillo, district court judge for Northern Illinois, nominated by Bill Clinton, also would be first Hispanic Supreme Court justice (AP)
Merrick B. Garland, DC Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)
M. Margaret McKeown, 9th Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)
Pamela Karlan, Stanford law professor (AP)
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (BLT)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (BLT)
Seth Waxman, former U.S. solicitor general, argued Boumediene v. Bush before the U.S. Supreme Court (HuffPost)
Teresa Wynn Roseborough, deputy assistant attorney general under Bill Clinton (HuffPost)
William Fletcher, 9th circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (HuffPost)
The two most mentioned candidates are Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood, each mentioned by all of the sources above. Next comes Elena Kagan, mentioned by six of seven. Ties are listed in no particular order.
Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit appellate judge originally appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton. She would be the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court justice. (CNN, AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost
Diane Wood, 7th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton in 1995 (CNN, AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)
Elena Kagan, incoming U.S. solicitor general, served in the Clinton White House, worked as a clerk but has no judicial experience (AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former federal prosecutor (CNN, AP, WSJ, SCOTUSblog)
Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School and former Harvard law professor (AP, WSJ, BLT, HuffPost)
Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, first African American woman to serve as a superior court judge in Georgia (AP, WSJ, HuffPost)-Kim McLane Wardlaw, 9th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton (AP, BLT, LA Times)
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former assistant attorney general for civil rights under Bill Clinton (CNN, AP, BLT)
Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale Law School, has been nominated by Obama to be legal adviser to the State Dept. (AP, BLT, HuffPost)
Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago law professor (AP)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (BLT)
Ann Claire Williams, 7th Circuit appellate judge originally nominated by Ronald Reagan, elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton (CNN)
Sandra Lea Lynch, chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)-Johnnie B. Rawlinson, 9th Circuite appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)
Ruben Castillo, district court judge for Northern Illinois, nominated by Bill Clinton, also would be first Hispanic Supreme Court justice (AP)
Merrick B. Garland, DC Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)
M. Margaret McKeown, 9th Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)
Pamela Karlan, Stanford law professor (AP)
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (BLT)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (BLT)
Seth Waxman, former U.S. solicitor general, argued Boumediene v. Bush before the U.S. Supreme Court (HuffPost)
Teresa Wynn Roseborough, deputy assistant attorney general under Bill Clinton (HuffPost)
William Fletcher, 9th circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (HuffPost)
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