Columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks sort through the top political stories of the week, including the challenges facing congressional Democrats this election year -- from infighting to the prospects of unemployment remaining high.

With the new oil well containment cap in place for the past 24 hours and no new signs of oil leaking into the Gulf, President Obama called the news hopeful but reaffirmed the need for a permanent solution. Tom Bearden…

For the first time since April, the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico stopped -- at least temporarily -- Thursday after BP sealed a containment cap during the start of pressure tests on the device. Joel Achenbach of…

In other news Tuesday, BP began testing a new containment cap and the Obama administration unveiled a new strategy to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS in the U.S.