With Congress gone this week and President Barack Obama out of town for most of today, Washington turns to its two traditional inside-the-Beltway sporting events: handicapping a Supreme Court nominee’s chances of confirmation, and watching the nerve-wracking finals of the National Spelling Bee.

Sonia Sotomayor, picked by Obama on Tuesday, is already being praised in an ad by liberal groups and vilified as a racist by conservatives, including radio talk jock Rush Limbaugh, whom the White House has tried to style as the de facto head of the Republican Party. Obama himself stumped for his choice on a Western swing yesterday to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The president returns to Washington for a late afternoon meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Vice President Joe Biden was also out West yesterday too, giving a commencement speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy. When wind blew down the teleprompter, Biden told the crowd: “What am I going to tell the president when I tell him his teleprompter is broken? What will he do then?”

U.S. initial jobless claims fell for the second week in a row, but the total number of people who get unemployment insurance benefits hit a new record.

A few blocks from the White House, school children are gathered with their families and fans in a hotel basement for the final rounds of the National Spelling Bee. Formerly a curiosity followed mostly by the students’ parents and friends, this event is now a big media deal. Semifinals are shown on ESPN, with the finals broadcast on ABC this evening. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, will be there.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Students from Missouri participate in the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC, May 27, 2009)

President Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail.

But this time he’s not trying to win himself a job …he is trying to win over support for his Supreme Court nominee,  Sonia Sotomayor.

Even though regular Americans — or the elite Democrats attending fundraisers — don’t get to vote for Supreme Court nominee, they can pressure their senators.

Sounding like he did while stumping for more than a year on the campaign trail, Obama spoke passionately about his choice of Sotomayor — the first Hispanic woman ever nominated to the high court — to Democrats at a fundraiser for Democratice Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas.

 He also sent around a video message about Sotomayor to supporters, campaign-style.

“This decision affects us all — and so it must involve it all. I’ve recorded a special message to personally introduce Judge Sotomayor and explain why I’m so confident she will make an excellent Justice … The discussions that follow will be among the most important we have as a nation. You can begin the conversation today by watching this special message and then passing it on.”

Obama is using the network that proved so effective for him during the campaign to try to get Senate approval for his first nominee to the court, to replace retiring Justice David Souter.

The president is in Las Vegas for the day before flying to Los Angeles for a fundraiser in the evening. During the day he will talk about the economic stimulus package and highlight areas of progress made in the economy over the past 100 days.

While the Supreme Court nominee got top billing in the newspapers and morning TV shows, investors are still thinking about the future of General Motors.  The largest U.S. automaker is moving closer and closer to a bankruptcy filing that is expected in the next week or so.

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed (Obama speaks at fundraiser in Los Vegas); REUTERS/Christinne Muschi (GM dealership in Montreal)

President Barack Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for the Supreme Court this morning.

Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic named to the court and would increase the number of women currently sitting on the court to two.

A reading of the tea leaves — via the presidential and vice presidential schedules — had increased chatter this morning that President Barack Obama could announce his nominee for the Supreme Court as soon as today.

Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are in town — at least for the morning — today before heading west on separate trips. Obama leaves the White House at 4 pm for Las Vegas where he will attend a fundraiser for Senate majority leader Harry Reid before going to California until Thursday. Biden is around for a bit before heading to Denver to host the Middle Class Task Force and talk about green economy jobs.

Obama had been considering a short list of mostly women for a seat on the nine-member, male-dominated high court. The pick is unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court since Obama is expected to pick a liberal like Justice David Souter, who announced his resignation on May 1.

Other candidates believed to be considered included Judge Diane Wood of the appeals court in Chicago, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and  Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has also been mentioned as a possible candidate.

Asked about his Supreme Court choice, Obama said in an interview on C-SPAN over the weekend that he wanted “somebody who has the intellectual firepower but also a little bit of a common touch and has a practical sense of how the world works.”

Also on the radar screen this week is the looming bankruptcy of General Motors. United Auto Workers’ officials will gather on Tuesday to hear how many more U.S. factory jobs GM will cut as the auto maker enters what could be its last week outside bankrupty.

GM has been struggling to cut costs and reduce debts in order to continue receiving government aid.

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Obama talks in Rose Garden)

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who has ended up on many media lists speculating about potential Supreme Court nominees,  says she is not looking for a new job.

At a news conference to introduce the new head of FEMA and talk about hurricane preparedness — the season starts June 1 — the former governor of Arizona was asked about the chatter that she may be a contender for the vacancy of retiring Justice David Souter.

“I have a job,” Napolitano said.

“And as you can tell from this press conference it’s a pretty big one,” she said to the reporters gathered in the FEMA press room. “I’m not looking for another job.”

Analysis — A fairly standard Washington response. Officials possibly being considered for other posts almost never want to divulge anything for fear of appearing eager, and always try to make sure they verbalize satisfaction with their current jobs.

In the parlor game of who will take Souter’s robe, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s visit to the White House for an announcement on emissions got tongues wagging about whether that was cover for a chat with President Barack Obama about the Supreme Court.

And the answer is… drum roll please…

We don’t know.

As usual with these guessing games, Washington works itself into a froth, and then the true candidate finally steps forward when the White House is ready to let the cat out of the bag.

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- Photo credit: Kevin Lamarque (Supreme Court justices listen to Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress)

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has lunched at the White House and paid his respects to Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.

On Wednesday it was the turn of the judiciary.   

Obama visited the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land that he could reshape after becoming president next week.Obama, who has vowed to name judges with empathy for ordinary people, met privately for one hour with Chief Justice John Roberts and seven other justices.

There were no details of the meeting and tour, which included Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

The only absent justice was Justice Samuel Alito, a spokeswoman said. She did not know why he did not attend, even though he had had been at the court for the morning arguments.

As senators, Obama and Biden both voted against Roberts and Alito, President George W. Bush’s two conservative appointees to the court. Obama said they were more likely to side with the powerful than the powerless.
Roberts, who will administer the oath of office to Obama next Tuesday, invited Obama and Biden to visit the Supreme Court in a Dec. 5 letter, to “become better acquainted.”

There currently are no vacancies on the Supreme Court. But with the oldest justice at 88 and four justices in their 70s, Obama could get at least one and possibly several appointments during the next four years, allowing him to reshape the court.

Obama, who formerly taught law at the University of Chicago, often praised the court’s liberal-leaning members during the campaign while criticizing the conservatives.

Obama might not shift the balance of power on the court, which has been closely divided with a 5-4 conservative majority, if liberal justices depart. But he could replace them with younger justices who could serve for decades. Federal judges enjoy lifetime tenure.

Detroit CEOs drive their hybrid cars over to the House of Representatives for another serving of humble pie this morning. But it’s still not clear if they’ll get the $34 billion bailout they’re looking for, as several senators remained skeptical after yesterday’s testimony on that side of the Capitol. 
     
Testimony before the House Financial Services Committee begins at 9:30 a.m. 

     
The last outstanding Senate race may finally reach a resolution today, as Minnesota could complete its recount in the contest between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. 

But any resolution will be preliminary: there are still about 6,000 ballots that have been challenged and will need further review.

     
The Supreme Court will announce what cases it will hear for the year. 
     
The Drug Enforcement Administration has built its own meth lab! The drug-fighting agency holds a ceremony to dedicate its new facility “that will enable DEA chemists to teach students how to synthesize controlled substances, and conduct research into illicit manufacturing methods.” No word on what they do with the final product. 
    
And somewhere over the Pacific, the Pentagon will test its “Star Wars” ballistic missile defense system this afternoon.

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (Auto CEOs on Capitol Hill)

REUTERS/Eric Miller (Franken, Coleman at campaign appearances)

DENVER - Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is urging voters to think about what type of justices they want on the U.S. Supreme Court before they decide who they want in the White House.

Biden said U.S. President George W. Bush’s two conservative appointees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito — have pushed the nation’s highest court far to the right.

This, Biden charged, has threatened civil liberties and set back efforts to desegregate schools and obtain equal pay for women.

“Other than ending the war in Iraq, the single most significant thing that Barack Obama can do — and I hope I’ll be able to he help him — will be to determine who the next members of the Supreme Court are going to be.”

“It will effect the lives of all of our children,” Biden told a roundtable discussion with working mothers hosted by Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

During the next four years, Biden said, citing life expectancy estimates, there may be as many as three vacancies on the nine-member court.

“It’s not merely the woman’s right to choose (to have an abortion) which is at stake,” Biden told a mostly female crowd of several hundred people.

“It’s whether or not you are going to be able to have a fair shot at a fair wage,” Biden said. “It’s whether or not you are going to able to demand that you are treated equally in every aspect of your life.”

“So please help us,” Biden said. “The country needs Barack Obama.” 

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- Photo credits: Reuters/Mike Segar (Biden arrives at the Democratic National Convention); Larry Downing (Supreme Court justices)