New JK post on TPM Cafe: Why Elena Kagan Is A Terrific Choice

[beachmom]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/11/why_elena_kagan_is_a_terrific_choice/index.php

Massachusetts has been Elena Kagan's adopted home, but it's not for such home state boosterism, parochial reasons why I think she's a terrific choice.

No, it's because I got to know her well not in Boston, but here in the Senate. In the spring of 1998, Elena was hard at work in the Clinton White House, and I was handed the assignment on the Commerce Committee to work on a bi-partisan tobacco bill - an uphill fight if there ever was one, back in the days when we were in the minority. It was a tough issue for both caucuses because the tobacco industry had jobs on the line in both red and blue states.

...

When we started out, no one gave us a hope of getting close to passage. The tobacco industry was too strong, we had a Republican Congress that was just a few months away from impeaching the President- it was a tough environment. But we fought hard and moved the ball much further down the field than anyone expected. We navigated and negotiated our way towards passing the bill out of the Commerce Committee 19-1 -- and despite an onslaught from all sides, we only missed clearing the filibuster threshold on the floor by 3 votes.

It was a tough assignment and a difficult outcome - but it is with absolute certainty that I know we wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as we did without Elena Kagan. She camped out in the Vice President's office off the Senate floor, shuttling between there and the White House, and we worked together constantly, working on how to craft something that could secure as much support as we could. She worked on it night and day, working every angle, thinking through every approach. At every turn, she could keep the strategic path in mind while adapting to every move.

Read the rest at the link.

It shows she is good in working across the aisle and getting a tough issue done. It shows Sen. Kerry likes her, was impressed by her, and seems to know her well.