TEA PARTY POLITICS: A battle from the right is brewing for Bennett: Tax protesters target him for backing $350B bailout for banks.

In his third term in the Senate, Bob Bennett finds himself in unfamiliar and unfriendly waters, roiled by public frustration with Washington and with at least two sharks circling, believing the Republican senator might be vulnerable.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is expected to announce his Senate bid today and Tim Bridgewater abandoned his bid for state party chairman last week, saying he heard all over the state that delegates wanted a more conservative choice for senator.

Bennett was a prime target of tax protesters at “Tea Party” rallies last month, who booed the junior senator for supporting a bank bailout last year; conservative state legislators are breaking with Bennett and lining up with his challengers; and Shurtleff’s internal polling shows Bennett might have cause for concern.

Read the whole thing. Related item here.

A ROUNDTABLE on Pontiac’s demise.

PREHISTORIC Gangsta Grills.

GOING TO COURT: “Three of Chrysler’s secured creditors are mounting a fresh attempt to thwart the carmaker’s Chapter 11 reorganisation on the grounds that it violates their legal rights and the US government’s authority under the Troubled asset relief programme.” Amusingly, they’re pension trusts for unionized state employees.

UPDATE: Related: Chrysler’s chickens, coming home to roost. “Pacific Investment Management Co., Barclays Capital and Fridson Investment Advisors have joined Schultze Asset Management LLC in saying lenders may be unwilling to back unionized companies with underfunded pension and medical obligations, such as airlines and auto-industry suppliers, because Chrysler’s creditors failed to block Obama’s move. The reluctance may put additional pressure on borrowers seeking capital in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

THE FIERCE MORAL URGENCY OF CHANGE: Obama: Plame Lawsuit Should Not Be Reconsidered By Supreme Court. “Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argues the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. It is surprising that the first time the Obama administration has been required to take a public position on this matter, the administration is so closely aligning itself with the Bush administration’s views.” Not so surprising. The shoe is on the other foot now, and that foot aims to . . . well, never mind.

WHY LET PUBLIC INTEREST SUFFER FROM PRIVATE GREED? Nationalize Martin Luther King, Jr.

JOHN PODHORETZ: The old Time and the new Newsweek. The old Time sounds like a lot more fun. . . .

QUESTIONS ABOUT Wolfram Alpha’s terms of use.

PAUL MIRENGOFF: The Testiness Test:

Aggressive questioning of advocates at oral argument is hardly a vice; often it is a plus. Naturally it’s better for judges not to get testy with the lawyers, and certainly the lawyers should be permitted to answer. But judges are human and come with varying demeanors. This variation is evident, for example, on the current Supreme Court.

Nothing I have read about Sotomayor’s demeanor and questioning at oral argument remotely suggests that this set of concerns makes her an objectionable nominee. There really shouldn’t be a “niceness” test for judges and Justices, and judicial temperament in an appellate judge should be measured almost exclusively by what the judge writes in opinions, not by how he or she questions from the bench.

Well, lawyers get unhappy with judges suffering from “black robe fever,” but that’s really only a severe problem in trial-court judges. Plus, this take: “Really, does anybody care if lawyers are intimidated?”

NOW THAT’S COOKING: Memorial Day Burgers with Bourbon Slush.

REASON TV: All The President’s Newsmen: Should Obama Bail Out the Press? Why not? They’ve done it for him already, and he no doubt figures he’ll need their services again. . . .

REASON TV: Privatization In The Age of Obama.

TURNABOUT: Craigslist CEO Files Suit Against South Carolina Attorney General. Craigslist has a lot of users in South Carolina, and I think they should be informed of the situation. . . .

TOYOTA LAUGHS AT THE CHEVY VOLT, indirectly.

L.A. TIMES: California voters don’t just say No; They say NO way!

OBAMA VS. CHENEY: White House Blinks.

MEGAN MCARDLE: The Moral Hazard of a State Bailout.

YOU DON’T SAY: Media displeased at California results.

IN THE MOUNTAINS, Rhododendrons bloom.

TOM MAGUIRE: Richard Armitage Plays “To Tell the Truth.”

HEROISM: Passersby save woman from drowning in car in N. Knoxville.

TRACKING AFGHANISTAN: A cool photo, and much more, from Michael Yon.

FIERCE MORAL URGENCY: Democrats on Capitol Hill Rebel Against President Obama’s Guantanamo Bay Plan.

IN THE MAIL: Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior.

TIME TO retire Chris Dodd?