Rep. "Dollar Bill" Jefferson (D-LA) has lost his seat in tonight's Louisiana elections to Republican candidate Joseph Cao, giving the Dems their own case of Ted Stevens Syndrome -- that is, a safe and well-entrenched incumbent, who holds a seat that ought to be an easy win for his party, going down to defeat on a corruption scandal.

Jefferson, of course, is the New Orleans Congressman who is currently under a multi-count federal indictment on corruption charges, in a bizarre case that involved, among other things, $90,000 in cash being found in his freezer back in 2006. That scandal wasn't enough for him to lose re-election in 2006, but the indictment that has come down since then appears to have done it.

This is a solidly-Democratic, majority-black district, so the idea of any Republican getting elected here is a real shocker, even under these circumstances. As such, look for the Dems to put up a strong candidate in 2010 -- maybe one who isn't under indictment -- and make this seat their top pick-up target.

Late Update: With 100% of precincts reporting, Cao has defeated Jefferson by a 50%-47% margin, with a little bit under 65,000 total votes cast.

Obama Discusses Economic Recovery Program, Focusing On National Infrastructure
In his newest Presidential YouTube Address, Barack Obama discusses the recent news about job-losses and his own plan for economic recovery, which involves creating jobs through massive investments in infrastructure, ranging from roads to schools and government buildings, plus more access to broadband connectivity:

"When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately," Obama says. While a skeptic might think he's sticking too closely to the "one president at a time" rule by delaying the work with Congress until January, there is another important point to consider: The new Congress that will convene in January will have widely-expanded Democratic majorities, and thus be much more likely than the current Congress to pass something like this.

Obama Taping Meet The Press Interview
Barack Obama is taping an interview today with Tom Brokaw for Meet The Press, set to air tomorrow. Joe Biden is in Delaware, and has no public event scheduled.

Tonight: Two House Elections In Louisiana
Louisiana is holding two elections today for the House of Representatives. Rep. Bill Jefferson (D), who is currently under indictment for corruption charges, is expected to win re-election over Republican Joseph Cao in this solid-Dem district. The open seat of Rep. Jim McCrery (R) has a tight race between Republican John Fleming and Democrat Paul Carmouche. The polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

Reid To Keep Biden Out of Dem Caucus Meetings
Harry Reid will reportedly be barring Joe Biden from Senate Democratic caucus meetings, rather than allow him to continue to attend as the nominal presiding officer of the Senate. The move is intended to restore the system of checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches by undoing what had been a common practice for Dick Cheney and the Senate Republicans.

Obama Campaign's Next Question: What To Do With $29.3 Million
The Hill reports that the Obama campaign has ended the race with $29.3 million left on hand, after all remaining bills are paid, and has a variety of options regarding what to do with it. The campaign could do any or all of the following: Save money for the 2012 re-election campaign; give it to national, state and local party committees; give some to individual candidates or PACs, subject to standard donation limits; spend it on issue advocacy; or give some to charity.

Obama Could Announce Veterans Affairs Pick Tomorrow.
Barack Obama is holding a press conference tomorrow in Chicago at 2 p.m. ET, officially billed as an event to honor veterans on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Reuters reports that Obama will also be announcing his pick for Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Ted Kennedy Steps Down From Judiciary Committee To Focus On Health Care Policy
Ted Kennedy is leaving his long-held seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to focus more of his time on health-care policy. Kennedy will have one full chairmanship with the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, plus one subcommittee chairmanship within the Armed Services Committee.

Kenneth Blackwell -- who gained infamy as Ohio Secretary of State in 2004, when the state threw the presidential race to George W. Bush -- has officially jumped into the race for Republican National Committee chair, according to a letter he's circulating among committee members.

"After prayerful consideration, I have decided to become a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee," Blackwell writes in the letter, which was forwarded to us by a Republican operative. "I write today to ask for your vote and endorsement."

Blackwell's entry means there are now two African-American candidates for the chairmanship of the GOP, the other being former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who lost a high-profile Senate race against Dem Ben Cardin in 2006 by 10 points.

The entry of two African American candidates into the race comes at a time when the GOP is struggling with minority outreach and is under pressure to prove that it's not devolving into a rump party held hostage by far-right or intolerant elements. Blackwell suggested that he'd be a good public face for the GOP at this time, saying that the party needs "a completely new direction."

Indeed, Blackwell could be better positioned than Steele to make that case while simultaneously appealing to the Republican base. During his career, Blackwell has been closely linked to the religious right. While Steele is definitely a hardcore conservative, he's never worn his faith on his sleeve as aggressively as Blackwell has.

Still, Blackwell's association with groups like the Family Research Council could arouse opposition among some more pragmatic Republicans who think the party needs to broaden its outreach beyond its traditional base.

In one amusing touch, Blackwell showcases the disdain he's won among liberals -- during the 2004 campaign and elsewhere -- to appeal for support for his candidacy.

"I've survived interviews with Keith Olbermann, testified before Congress, prevented voter fraud from overturning the results of a U.S. presidential election and fought the left in federal court more times than you can imagine," Blackwell writes in the letter. "I have been tried and tested, though I'll admit that I've never been called `mavericky' by Tina Faye."

Late Update: We'd missed this before, but apparently Blackwell's depth of experience taking on the liberal media didn't enable him to avoid misspelling Tina Fey's name.

This is kind of big. Health care advocates hoping that Barack Obama will fast-track health care reform had been waiting for a crucial sign: A public indication from the new Obama administration that they view health care reform as crucial to fixing the economy, a key talking point of reformers.

Today they got that sign.

In the Obama team's first public statements on health care since the election, top Obama health adviser Tom Daschle gave a speech today in which he hit exactly that note, describing health care reform as a "top priority" in rescuing the economy.

"There is no question that the economic health of this country is directly related to our ability to reform our health-care system," Daschle said.

Daschle cited the fact that high health care costs are preventing U.S. businesses from staying competitive and creating jobs. "That's what makes this so urgent and so much a part of the economic recovery process," Daschle said. "I believe that for the first time in American history, health-care reform will be done."

That last line is thrilling advocates and unions who are vowing a major push for reform. In a statement, SEIU hailed Daschle for "confirming the commitment of the new administration" to reform, which the union said was "great news."

To be sure, all the good feelings are easy to have right now, before the gristly business of agreeing on how to pull off reform gets under way. But for now, reform advocates have heard what they were hoping to hear.

"We're absolutely thrilled that Daschle took the opportunity to emphasize how important it is to fix health care in order to fix the economy," Jacki Schechner, a spokesperson for Health Care for America Now, a major umbrella group of reform advocates, unions, and providers, told us.

Four votes.

That's how many votes the Franken campaign just said they're leading Norm Coleman by, with the hand recount now officially finished. In other words, with every single precinct in Minnesota now done counting (except for the one where they're still searching for the missing votes), the Franken campaign is claiming the lead. An extremely slim lead, but a lead nonetheless.

"We are not declaring victory -- we are moving into the next stage of the process," said Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias, in a press briefing going on now with reporters. "But we are going into that ahead by four votes."

At the end of this hand count, it's worth restating a few necessary caveats. The Franken camp's methodology involves taking down the opinions of the local election officials regarding the challenged ballots, and assuming that the local referees' calls will be upheld by the state canvassing board. As such, we are dependent on the Franken camp's numbers and assumptions.

The state canvassing board are going to be the ones who truly decide this race, as they rule on each challenge one by one. The Franken camp thinks this process will end with them ahead by four votes, or possibly even more, but clearly there is plenty of potential variation left.

Late Update: Just to be clear, the Franken camp is also assuming that those missing ballots in Minneapolis, which give Al an edge of 46 votes, will be found. And as we reported earlier, the votes could potentially be credited back into the totals even if they aren't recovered.

Fun stuff: In an interview set to air tomorrow on "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," Howard Dean joked about a bit of a sensitive subject: The fact that Rahm Emanuel wasn't an early fan of Dean's 50-state strategy, which helped put Emanuel's new boss in the White House.

Asked if he felt vindicated, Dean joked that he would have felt more vindicated if Obama had given him the chief of staff gig instead of giving it to Rahm:

"Rahm ended up as chief of staff to Barack Obama," Dean said, "so I don't feel too vindicated." When he was informed that he had been right, Dean cracked: "I might have been right but I'd rather be chief of staff."

DNC spokesperson Stacie Paxton emailed to assure us that Dean was kidding. "Dean was clearly joking," Paxton wrote, adding that Dean had recently praised Rahm on MSNBC as "tough," "smart," and "loyal."

"As he's said previously, Dean has a lot of respect for Rahm Emanuel and thinks he'll do a great job as Chief of Staff," Paxton said.

No doubt, but as James Thurber put it, "the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing" he is simply revealing people's "true nature."

The interview is set to air tomorrow night at 10 P.M.

So what exactly happens if that missing envelope from Minneapolis, which is believed to contain 133 votes that heavily favored Al Franken, is simply never found? Could the recount just be certified without it?

A state official just confirmed to Election Central that the state does have an option: Including the Election Night total instead for this particular precinct.

This could be big for Franken: If the state avails itself of this option to give the candidates their Election Night vote numbers instead of the recounted ones in this precinct, Franken would avoid losing a net 46 votes if they were disregarded -- a scenario that otherwise could potentially give the election to Coleman.

Beth Fraser, the director of governmental affairs for the Secretary of State's office, said that there's actually a recent precedent for such a move, going back to a 2002 recount of a state legislative race that also had ballots missing from the recounted data set. "In that case, the state canvassing board gave each of the candidates the higher number of votes," said Fraser.

But would such a decision, if it made the difference between a Franken win and a Coleman win, lead to a lawsuit? "Probably," said Fraser. "I think that most people would be surprised if there were not a legal challenge in this race."

Late Update: Meanwhile, Sam Stein has confirmed that while city officials were looking for this particular missing envelope, they found another envelope containing votes that weren't counted on Election Night, though the exact number of votes and the margin are not yet known. Things are suddenly looking better for Al.

Late Late Update: City spokesperson Matt Laible just informed Election Central that the new envelope contains about 10 absentee ballots, which are not being tallied for now.

Still more poll numbers find that a solid majority of Americans are remaining steadfastly confident in Obama as they watch him assemble his cabinet -- including that group that some pundits have chosen to label the "angry left."

The new Gallup poll finds that 65% say they're confident in him, while 25% say they're not -- virtually identical to Gallup's polling back on November 23rd.

Notably, despite all the talk that the "angry left" is upset with Obama for his supposedly "pragmatic" cabinet picks and his supposedly "centrist" administration, Dems aren't bothered at all: Ninety one percent say they're confident in him now, virtually the same as in November.

While there's been a very slight erosion of support among liberals, from 91% to 84%, the numbers taken all together suggest that the "angry left" meme is more or less a fiction.

You know those missing 133 ballots in Minneapolis, which if never recovered could cause a net loss of 46 votes for Al Franken? The Coleman campaign now appears to be denying the conclusion that they even exist, even though city and state election officials have publicly said that the ballots do indeed exist and are missing.

Minneapolis elections chief Cindy Reichert explained yesterday that the ballots were placed in envelopes numbered 1 to 5 -- and they're missing the "1" envelope, probably still in storage at the warehouse. The precinct has obtained a waiver from the Secretary of State to keep their recount officially open while a thorough search goes on.

"We do not know that there are any ballots missing, and it is premature and simply irresponsible to suggest that they are," Coleman's lead recount lawyer Fritz Knaak said in a statement sent to the Pioneer Press.

Actually, we do know that there are ballots missing. The Minneapolis elections chief told us so, and we know which envelope is missing.

Barack Obama, responding to today's announcement of the worst job losses in over three decades, puts out a statement heavy on the "crisis as opportunity" rhetoric:

"The 533,000 jobs lost last month, the worst job loss in 34 years, is more than a dramatic reflection of the growing economic crisis we face. Each of those lost jobs represents a personal crisis for a family somewhere in America. Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend.

"There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. But now is the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. At the same time, this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come."

The key line, of course, is the assertion that the crisis affords an opportunity for genuine transformation. It will cheer many liberals, such as Robert Borosage, who have been arguing that the crisis affords Obama an enormous opportunity to be bold and think big.

Obama Raised Nearly $750 Million, With Over $100 Million In Home Stretch
Barack Obama's fundraising for the 2008 campaign has now come to a record-breaking $750 million, a demonstration of just how successful his fundraising model of seeking small donors and getting them to come back again and again really was. In addition, over $100 million of that came simply during the final weeks of the race, as the campaign was stepping up its ads and outspending John McCain.

No Obama Or Biden Public Events Today
Barack Obama is holding private meetings in Chicago, while Joe Biden is holding private meetings in Delaware. Neither have public events scheduled for today.

Dems Complain Of Obama Inaction During Interregnum
The Associated Press reports that many Democrats are growing impatient with a lack of action from Barack Obama during the lame-duck period. The sentiment was best expressed by Barney Frank: "At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He's got to remedy that situation."

NYT: Obama Actually Putting Together Administration At Record Speed
In contrast to people criticizing Obama for inaction, the New York Times points out that Obama has actually been assembling his cabinet at the fastest clip of any president-elect in modern history. Obama has now filled 13 of 24 top posts, compared to only one from Bill Clinton at this point in the transition, two each for Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and eight from George H. W. Bush.

RNC Spent $111K On Palin's Stylists
Obama might have been outspending John McCain on the campaign trail, but it sure looks like the GOP was able to outspend the Dems in one crucial area: Cosmetics for the VP candidate. Sarah Palin's makeup artist was paid a total of $68,400 over the two-month period, and her hair stylist was paid $42,000.

Today: The Final Day (Of The First Phase) Of The Minnesota Recount
Today is the last day of the first stage of the Minnesota recount -- that is, when (nearly) all of the ballots shall have been reviewed by hand. But many stages remain: The canvassing board will be reviewing all the challenged ballots the week after next, there could be continuing litigation about wrongly-rejected absentee ballots -- and if those missing ballots in Minneapolis aren't found, the whole race could be thrown even further into limbo.

Former Rep. David Bonior, who has deep roots in the labor movement, has mounted an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign, with letters and personal lobbying, to press the Obama transition team and top labor leaders to get behind his pick for labor secretary: Union activist Mary Beth Maxwell, who would make history as the first openly gay cabinet member.

Bonior, who has been trying in vain to get his own name taken off the shortlist for the post, is also confirming for the first time that if asked by Obama, he would take the job, though he would prefer Maxwell.

"I would do anything President-Elect Obama asks me to do, but I think it's time to pass the torch to a new generation of leadership with a fresh vision for working families," Bonior said in a statement that was sent to us by his spokesperson.

"That's why I'm behind Mary Beth," continued Bonior, who has made his preference known but has shied away from making public statements about the labor sec post.

Bonior has also sent a letter (which we've obtained) to leaders at top labor organizations such as the AFL-CIO and SEIU, as well as leading progressive organizations, making a strong case for Maxwell. And Bonior has also privately made the case for Ms. Maxwell directly to Obama's top transition team officials, a source familiar with the discussions said.

Some labor leaders are reported to be worried that an older, more experienced hand with more stature would make a better pick for the post than Maxwell, who heads the pro-labor group American Rights at Work. But Bonior argued in his letter that Maxwell would be more in sync with Obama's change message.

"I believe that it is time to pass the torch to a new generation of leadership that puts a fresh new face on the labor movement and our vision for working families," Bonior wrote, adding that an old-guard figure would amount to "looking in the rear-view mirror and represent past Washington battles."

Separately, The Politico reports that a key coalition of gay and lesbian groups has thrown its support to Maxwell.

Late Update: A bio of Maxwell here.

Louisiana GOP Senator David Vitter would have seemed like a prime candidate for retirement this cycle. After all, he went through a particularly nasty scandal last Summer when it was revealed that he was on the D.C. Madam's client list, a prostitute came forward and said he'd been a client of hers back in Louisiana, and he confessed to a "very serious sin."

But not so -- local Louisiana station KTBS reports that Vitter has decided to run again! And considering the generally Republican nature of Louisiana's voters these days, he probably starts out at the very least as the slight favorite to win, too.

Vitter will be launching his re-election campaign with a fundraiser next week, flanked by other big-name Louisiana pols like Gov. Bobby Jindal and members of the House delegation.

Somewhere in America right now, Eliot Spitzer is kicking himself.

Forget politics. Let's talk about food. Okay, both.

Some of the most prominent foodies and food policy types in the country have sent a letter to the Obama team laying out some of their demands for the next Secretary of Agriculture. They want him or her to be less tight with industrial agribusiness and commodity farming than previous holders of the post, and are even holding out for someone with a coherent vision of the interconnections between food, health and the environment.

Among the foodies who signed the letter: Prominent food economy analyst Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation, and Rick Bayless, a Mexican cookbook writer who (as I know from personal experience) has a mean recipe for escabeche sauce. They write:

"From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, global warming and air and water pollution, we believe our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a vision that calls for: recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment, biodiversity and the health of our children while implementing policies that place conservation, soil health, animal welfare and worker's rights as well as sustainable renewable energy near the top of their agenda."

That's a mouthful.

There was some early talk about Tom Vilsack getting the gig, but as Ezra Klein noted recently, that stirred worry because he's from a state that relies on corn subsidies, a no-no to people who care about food policy. The foodies' six top picks for the post are here.

In a briefing with reporters just now, the Franken campaign essentially confirmed what many of us have suspected: That if those 133 ballots there were reported to be missing yesterday in Minneapolis are not recovered, Al Franken will lose the paper-thin lead that the campaign claimed he had yesterday.

Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias said that under the campaign's methodology -- which is not unreasonable, but has some necessary caveats -- they believe Franken is ahead by 10 votes as the first stage of the recount winds down.

The big catch, however, is that the campaign is not including the loss from those missing ballots in their tally for now, while election officials keep the recount in that precinct officially open in order to figure out what is going on. If that apparent loss is not undone, Al would suddenly be down by 36 votes under the campaign's counting method.

Read more »

So how exactly do Pennsylvania Democrats feel about the possibility of Chris Matthews running for Senate?

Abe Amoros, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, confirmed to Election Central that Matthews has been talking to Democrats in the state about a run, and says Dems think Matthews could have a real shot.

"It's in its infancy right now," Amoros said. "He's just talking to people. Conversations are going on, obviously. We will know whether or not he's a serious candidate some time early next year."

So could Matthews win? "Sure," Amoros said. "It'll be a dogfight, but every campaign is a dogfight."

Amoros also said it's simply too early to know whether one specific potential weakness Matthews might have -- women Dem activists and donors who could have it in for him on account of his treatment of Hillary Clinton during the primaries -- would still be an obstacle to securing the nomination in 2010.

As for the general election, he pointed out that GOP Sen. Arlen Specter would have a tough time making that into a wedge: "I think you could put those in the same context of Senator Specter's attacks on Anita Hill, which have not been forgotten, either."

Fun times -- the chairman of the Republican National Committee is trying to argue that GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss' victory in the hard-fought Georgia runoff is proof that Barack Obama doesn't have a national mandate.

Not making this up. RNC chair Mike Duncan writes...

Georgians refuted any notion that the ideology of the country has shifted to the left...

Notably, Chambliss won in spite of strong support by President-elect Obama and Democrat organizations for Jim Martin. Georgians clearly sent a message that any rhetoric about a liberal mandate is nothing but hot air.

This is great news for Democrats! Repubs actually are citing what happened in Georgia, a McCain state that is much more conservative and Republican than the country as a whole -- and where a runoff was nonetheless forced by an initially close vote -- to make the claim that the country overall hasn't granted Obama a mandate.

That seems like a pretty clear sign that they've got absolutely zippo to use as an actual foundation for this argument.

Late Update: It turns out that it gets even sillier than this. I'd forgotten this, but as Steve Benen points out, the RNC chair even used the Georgia race to claim that Repubs have the "momentum" now. Benen:

Republicans have the smallest House minority in nearly two decades, and the smallest Senate minority in nearly three decades. They got trounced in the presidential race, and are now easily outnumbered in the nation's governorships. But they managed, with surprising difficulty, to hold on to a Senate seat in Georgia. Can't you just feel the momentum?

A spokesperson for the Obama transition team is reaffirming the President-elect's commitment to rolling back the subsidies that oil companies enjoy, confirming that Obama's campaign promise on this score is still fully operative.

"Yes," replied Obama transition team spokesperson Nick Shapiro, when we asked him whether Obama remained committed to rolling back the oil company subsidies.

We posed the question to the Obama in the wake of yesterday's news that Obama wasn't imposing a windfall profits tax on the oil companies, something that got some progressives to worry whether Obama was preparing to soften his policies in the face of corporate opposition.

The Obama spokesperson's reaffirmation of his commitment to rolling back oil company subsidies could help mitigate such angst. It's unclear how or when the rollback will take place, since Obama hasn't even taken office yet.

The reason this is noteworthy is that the Obama campaign has largely refused public comment on its legislative priorities. Yesterday The Huffington Post was able to get an Obama spokesperson to offer the same one word answer -- "yes" -- to the question of whether Obama remained committed to the Employee Free Choice Act, the leading priority of the big unions.

On the subject of the windfall profits tax, Obama aides argue that there's no story there to begin with. They say that the policies were meant to be triggered by oil prices above $80 a barrel and that when the Obama campaign rolled out his middle class rescue plan in mid-October it didn't have the tax in it, because prices had dropped, meaning there's nothing new here.

"Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," an Obama aide said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."

Hmm, maybe Chris Matthews does have a chance at getting elected Senator from Pennsylvania!

The new Rasmussen poll of Pennsylvania finds that GOP Sen. Arlen Specter has a bare three-point lead over the Hardball host among likely voters, 46%-43%, with a ±4.5% margin of error. These are not the best of poll numbers for Specter, an incumbent who will have been in the Senate for 30 years at the end of the current term.

Key internal numbers: Specter is attracting 32% of crossover Democratic voters, but only has 70% among Republicans. He's never been that popular with the right-wing base, and very nearly lost a primary challenge back in 2004. And if his support among crossover Dems were to weaken, too, he'd be in big trouble.

Other polls have shown Matthews further back than this, but here's something to keep in mind: All of them have had Specter in the mid-40s, too, with higher undecideds. Since Rasmussen is a robopoll, a method that has a natural tendency to push undecideds much harder, it appears those voters could end up breaking to Matthews as the Dem nominee.

Obama Thanking Illinois Donors; No Biden Events
Barack and Michelle Obama are holding a thank-you event for members of his Illinois finance committee, with pooled press. Joe Biden is holding private meetings in Delaware, and has no public events scheduled.

Report: Political Advisers Telling Matthews To Quit MSNBC
The Politico reports that Chris Matthews has been meeting with political operatives to discuss a timetable for his possible Senate candidacy -- and they're advising him to quit MSNBC and get organized ahead of his contract's expiration in June. "I said, 'if you want to be a U.S. senator, step up and get into the race,'" said one participant.

WaPo: Richardson Pick At Commerce A Big Change
The Washington Post points out that the appointment of Bill Richardson as Secretary of Commerce is a real departure for that office, putting a politician in a post that has usually been held by private-sector executives. Commerce has been considered one of the lesser roles -- but that could be changing, between Richardson's own background as a governor and diplomat, and the need for more national leadership on the economy.

Plouffe Writing Book About Campaign
Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe is writing a book about his experience in this past election. Plouffe is indicating that this won't be a tell-all, but more an examination of the process itself, comparing how the rival campaigns were run: "Hopefully, there will be some lessons on how to put together a three-quarters of a billion dollar operation."

Carter Writes New Book -- With Pleasant Title
Jimmy Carter has a new book coming out about the Middle East, entitled We Can Bring Peace To The Holy Land. Hopefully it will go over better than his last book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.

Potential Reid Challenger Indicted
Harry Reid just got a piece of good news back home in Nevada: One his top potential challengers for 2010, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, has been indicted on corruption charges. Between scandal-plagued Gov. Jim Gibbons and now Krolicki, plus Barack Obama's double-digit win here last month, the Republican brand just keeps going downhill in Nevada.

Inauguration Organizers Working To Keep Kids Out
The committee organizing Barack Obama's inauguration is providing some strong disincentives against bringing children, banning strollers and expressly warning that attendees will have to stand in one place for hours. Said a spokeswoman for the committee: "They are shorter than everyone else; they can be stepped on. Parents should think long and hard about bringing a small kid to an event with 1 million people."

Oprah Taping Show In DC For Inauguration Week
Oprah Winfrey, whose public support of Barack Obama quite arguably made the difference in the very close Democratic nomination contest, will be hosting her show from Washington during Inauguration Week. Could a White House Christmas special be next?

Just when you thought you might know what's going on in Minnesota...

The Franken campaign, which has been voicing concern all through this recount about missing ballots, just put out a very urgent press release alleging that 133 ballots are missing from a single precinct -- which just so happens to be a solidly-Dem precinct right in Minneapolis -- and calling upon the city's elections director to keep the recount officially open until this matter is resolved.

The county's initial election returns showed that Franken had a lead of 495 votes over Coleman, a nearly two-to-one-lead in this single precinct (Ward 3, Precinct 1). If these missing ballots are not recovered, it is quite possible that Franken could sustain a net loss in the vote count that would be enough to undo the campaign's claim of a 22-vote lead from this morning.

Late Update: The Star Tribune has some more info on this -- including the key number that Franken stands to lose a net 46 votes if these apparently misplaced ballots are not recovered. Ouch. The city is looking into the situation. An initial hypothesis was that some votes may have been double-counted the first time, but that no longer appears to be the case.

Here's an interesting twist on that other piece of news from the Franken campaign today, the announcement that they are withdrawing over 600 of their ballot challenges. By doing this, the Franken campaign is opening up a whole new front in the PR war in this recount, which could end up having a big impact if either candidate tries to dispute the result at the Senate after this is over.

What does the Franken campaign gain from doing this? After all, this means the apparent Coleman lead in the most-cited methodologies -- which keep all challenged ballots out of the count -- will shoot up by around 600 votes when the withdrawal of those challenges get processed over the next day or two.

But here's the rub: Considering the fact that the Coleman campaign has been lodging more challenges than Franken has, this upcoming increase in the apparent Coleman lead just might be the whole point. By jettisoning some of its own challenges, the Franken team could be shrewdly moving to discredit both the Coleman challenges and those vote-counting methodologies that have had Franken way back, by calling attention to the distorting effect that challenges have had.

And suddenly, people will have to start paying more attention to the Franken camp's methodology, which attempts to track the opinions of the local election officials at the sites of the ballot challenges -- a method that now has Al ahead by 22 votes.

Here's something that will give a bit of cheer to progressives worried about the direction of the Obama administration: His rumored choice for U.S. Trade Representative, Congressman Xavier Becerra, is reportedly worrying some pro-big business and free-trade types.

The possibility that Obama might award the post to Becerra -- who professed his regret for voting for NAFTA, opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and once pronounced U.S. trade policy as "broken" -- is already being praised by some progressives. David Sirota sees it as a sign that "Obama is serious about reforming our trade policies."

And now Business Week reports on some rumblings of opposition from the pro-business and free-trade camp:

Philip Levy, who's now with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told the mag that the choice is "troubling," arguing that "to oppose Nafta is in many ways to lash out symbolically against trade." A business lobbyist added to the mag that he and his colleagues are "pretty concerned."

One thing that liberals will be watching closely is to see how Obama reacts in the face of corporate opposition, should Becerra be the pick and should business groups oppose it. This will get particularly intense scrutiny in the wake of the news today that Obama has dropped plans to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

A few miscellaneous pieces of transition news floating around today:

* The Obama camp confirms to The Huffington Post that he remains committed to the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure that would make it easier for unions to organize and will be at the center of a huge upcoming fight.

* Community organizers of the world, unite! The group -- much maligned by the GOP ticket during the campaign -- will get their face time with Obama tomorrow.

* A new war is brewing over a potential pick for the post of Obama drug czar.

* Bill Clinton says he's not expecting to play any role with the Obama administration, which will do absolutely nothing to put an end to the mindless speculation about this non-possibility.

* And though Obama made it official today that Bill Richardson is his choice for commerce secretary, this blog will not link to any reports about it, because they all contain jokes about Richardson's beard, a topic which has been banned from this site forever.

A nice catch by Taegan Goddard: In a fun bit of campaign trivia, commerce secretary nominee Bill Richardson reveals in a new interview that Barack Obama surreptitiously bailed him out during a Dem primary debate, even though they were rivals at the time:

"As I'm chatting with Obama, the moderator says, 'Governor Richardson, what do you think of that?' And I look at him like a deer in the headlights. I was about to say that I hadn't heard, when Obama puts his hand over his mouth and says, 'Katrina.' So I gave my four-point plan on Katrina. When I was done and the debate moved on, I looked over and said, 'Thanks, you're okay.' He said, 'Nothing to it, brother.'"

Okay, that was a pretty cool thing of the President-elect to do. One hopes, though, that Richardson doesn't need to be bailed out in similar fashion during cabinet meetings...

Late Update: As commenters are pointing out, this isn't the first time Richardson has told the story.

In a briefing going on right now with reporters, Al Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias made a stunning announcement: According to the campaign's methodology of tracking the recount results, they believe Al Franken now leads Norm Coleman by a margin of 22 votes.

This would be the first time that Franken has claimed a lead in this drawn-out process, and was clearly made possible by the discovery yesterday of ballots in the suburban St. Paul town of Maplewood, which gave him a net gain of 37 votes.

A few caveats are necessary. The Franken camp's methodology involves taking down the opinions of the local election officials regarding the challenged ballots, and assuming that all the challenges will result in those local officials being upheld by the state canvassing board. As such, we are dependent on the Franken camp being complete and accurate in their homework, and also on their underlying assumption proving to be correct.

There are also still about 138,000 ballots left to count, which could contain a whole lot more surprises.

Late Update: Elias also announced that the campaign is withdrawing 633 of their ballot challenges that they've concluded have no chance at all of being upheld, the first step by either campaign in pulling back on that particularly nutty element of this recount. This also means that Coleman's apparent lead under other methodologies, which exclude all challenged ballots, will be increasing by around 600 votes.

This isn't terribly surprising, but it's still worth a quick note: Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office is confirming that she'll support Congressional efforts to get Hillary past the legal hurdle that the wingnuts have thrown down between her and the Secretary of State gig.

As I noted below, the Senate leadership is working to craft legislation that will make it possible for her to take the post despite a Constitutional clause saying that members of Congress are ineligible to take an appointed post if the salary for the post in question has increased while the member was in elected office.

The Senate's efforts, which would cut the Secretary of State's salary back to what it was when Hillary was reelected to her current term, come in response to a declaration yesterday by the winger group Judicial Watch that the Constitution blocks her from serving.

Now Pelosi's office is confirming that the House will back the Senate's efforts. "There is precedent for how to address this issue and Congress will act if necessary," Pelosi spokesperson Brendan Daly tells us. "Speaker Pelosi looks forward to working with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State."

So it's only a matter of when, not if, Congress will dispense with this roadblock.

Is Hillary really Constitutionally ineligible to be Obama's Secretary of State, as some right-wingers are claiming?

It's hard to believe, but the Senate leadership is actually being pressed into service to enable Hillary to be confirmed as Secretary of State because of a wingnut effort to derail her quest for the post with a frivolous legal technicality.

Yesterday, the winger group Judicial Watch, which has spent God knows how much time chasing the Clintons down all manner of legal rabbit holes, put out a statement saying that Hillary was ineligible to become Sec of State because of something called the "Emoluments Clause" of the Constitution. The clause in question says that no Senator or Representative can be appointed to any "civil office" if the salary for the post has gone up while the member has been in elected office.

As silly as this seems, it turns out that the Senate leadership will have to deal with it -- but it also turns out that this is an easy legal fix with plenty of precedent.

Senate leadership aides say they're assembling legislation that will cut the Secretary of State's salary back to where it was before Hillary started her current Senate term. This has been done in the past by Congress numerous times, most recently when incoming President Bill Clinton installed Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen into the treasury secretary post.

The Senate leadership says that there's no way this roadblock will work. "This is simply a technical fix we must make so that Senator Clinton can serve as our next Secretary of State," Jim Manley, a spokesperson for Senate leader Harry Reid, emails us. "It is not the first time Congress has had to address the issue of one of its Senators moving to a cabinet position. Based on the ample precedent that has been set, Senator Reid believes a resolution can be reached."

It's presumed that the House leadership will support whatever emerges from the Senate on this. The only outstanding question is precisely when this will happen, Congressional aides say.

Late Update: Pelosi's office confirms that she's on board.

Some interesting new poll numbers find that Barack Obama's very high popularity in his honeymoon period carries with it something else: High expectations that he'll make things better -- even higher than the expectations for Bill Clinton during his transition back in 1992.

The Democracy Corps poll finds that 58% of likely voters believe Obama will lead the country in the right direction, with 22% saying he'll make things worse and a properly-jaded 15% saying it'll make no difference. In 1992, Bill's numbers 53% saying he would make things better, 21% expecting things to be worse, and 21% saying it would make no difference.

The poll also finds a very strong mandate for Obama's policies: 66% of respondents say they support his policies -- including 45% who strongly support him -- compared to only 28% who oppose him. Oddly enough, Bill Clinton's mandate was even higher at 72% support on policy.

But the difference for Bill was that only 17% were strong supporters on policy, with a huge number of 55% soft support that made it much easier for Bill's mandate to ultimately be squandered amid poorly chosen battles during his first two years. And that's a weakness Obama doesn't have this time around.

A very nice piece by John Harris and Glenn Thrush of The Politico gets at a forgotten dimension to the pick of Hillary as Secretary of State: How extraordinary a moment it is in the context of Hillary's life, career, and persona:

Hillary Rodham Clinton has a favorite expression for turning setback into opportunity: "Bloom where you're planted."

Her three-decade career on the public stage has produced countless examples of Clinton sprouting a flower in a pile of manure.

Few of them are more vivid than this week's official announcement that she is the nominee to serve as secretary of state to Barack Obama -- the man whom she initially refused to talk to on the Senate floor two years ago when he first made clear he would challenge her for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton's planned ascension to Foggy Bottom is the culmination of a strenuous effort over the past several months to fashion a next act in a career that long has been defined by two distinct halves: flamboyant celebrity on one side and dogged, often lonely, distance runner on the other.

On this score, I recommend Harris' book on Bill Clinton, which displays the same startling tendency on display in the above piece: A willingness to treat the Clintons like human beings. That book is called The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House, which explains this piece's description of Hillary as "the new survivor."

Whatever you think of Hillary -- and the above depiction is of a person who's anything but flawless -- the conventions of political reporting tend to discourage this type of treatment of politicians, so it's worth savoring when a news org comes along and does it right.

Obama Presser Today; Expected To Name Richardson For Commerce
Barack Obama has a press conference scheduled for 11:40 a.m. ET in Chicago, at which he is expected to announce the nomination of Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce. This is another step in Obama's efforts to project the image of competent national leadership on the economy, in order to counteract the negative effects that the presidential interregnum seems to be having on the financial markets.

Biden And Napolitano To Receive Briefing On WMD
Joe Biden and Janet Napolitano will be in Washington this morning for a briefing from former Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO), who head up the Congressionally-created Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. The meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.

Obama Still Looking For Intelligence Chief
The Washington Post points out that while Barack Obama has filled out most of his national-security team, he still faces tough choices in selecting his appointees to the intelligence posts. After John Brennan withdrew his name in the face of liberal opposition, current top names floating around are retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), and former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre.

Bush For Senate (Jeb, That Is) In 2010?
Jeb Bush says he is considering a run for Senate in 2010, for the open seat of retiring GOP Sen. Mel Martinez. On the one hand the Bush name at this point isn't exactly a positive in most of the country -- but Jeb himself still has a solid reputation in the state where he was governor, and would probably be a solid candidate for the GOP and even a slight favorite in this swing state.

Senate Dems Working On "Saxbe Fix" For Hillary
The New York Times reports that Senate Democrats were working last night on the so-called "Saxbe Fix" -- that is, to reverse a recent pay-raise for the Secretary of State in order to prevent Hillary Clinton from being ineligible for the office under the Emoluments Clause. The right-wing (and anti-Clinton) legal group Judicial Watch is already declaring her appointment unconstitutional, but expect this one to be resolved pretty easily and with a decent body of precedent in Hillary's favor.

Report: Becerra Considering Trade Representative Appointment, Hasn't Accepted Yet
Roll Call reports that Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) is considering -- but has not yet accepted -- an offer to become Barack Obama's trade representative. If he were to accept the offer, Becerra would have to give up 16 years of seniority in the House, which has earned him a seat on the Ways and Means Committee and the vice-chairmanship of the House Dem Caucus.

DC Council's Stimulus Plan: 24-Hour Bar Times For Inauguration
The DC City Council has passed legislation to allow bars to remain open for 24 hours a day from January 17 to the morning of January 21, right after the inauguration, with the ability to serve food the whole time and to serve alcohol until 5 a.m. This measure, which is being undertaken in order to boost the local economy and accommodate the expected avalanche of spectators for the big event, is either a really good idea or a really bad idea.

GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss has defeated Democratic opponent Jim Martin in the Georgia Senate runoff, officially ending any lofty dreams the Democrats may have had of reaching 60 Senate seats in this one cycle.

With 79% of precincts reporting, Chambliss has a lead of 60%-40%, wider than any of the polls had predicted in what is a very low-turnout contest. A lot of the remaining votes are from Dem strongholds and could possibly narrow the margin, but it won't have too much of an effect.

Republicans put everything they had into this race hoping to salvage some shred of a victory in the wake of the disaster they went through a month ago, and of course to keep the Dems away from the 60-seat mark. National Democrats were only half-involved, with DSCC staffers traveling here, the committee itself running a lot of attack ads, plus visits by Bill Clinton and Al Gore. But Martin was never able to get the boost he really wanted: A visit by Barack Obama, who might have energized black voters and other members of the Democratic base to come out for the runoff in this red state.

This is huge. It's now official that Al Franken netted 37 votes from those newly-discovered 171 ballots in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, a potentially seismic shift that could throw the recount to Franken if these numbers withstand any potential legal challenges.

Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky just confirmed to us by phone that Franken picked up a net 37 votes over Norm Coleman from these ballots. The ballots were just discovered this morning, after an apparent machine breakdown on Election Night prevented them from being counted the first time around -- but the hand count had no similar problems picking them out.

Mansky also addressed a complaint by the Coleman campaign, which alleged earlier today that these suspicious new ballots meant more votes were being recorded from this precinct than the number of people who had signed in. "It looks to us like they [the election workers] forgot to add in the voter registration information for the absentee voters." When the registration data was added in, the numbers matched -- meaning the Coleman campaign's complaint apparently has no merit.

Let's put in perspective what this means. The Franken campaign estimates that they trailed Norm Coleman by 50 votes as of last night, taking into account their methodology on the challenged ballots. This number alone now reduces Franken's deficit to a mere 13 votes -- a number that could be easily undone as the remaining 7% of the ballots are counted. So depending on how other factors turn out, things are suddenly looking very good for Al.

Late Update: To add another number into the mix, the Star Tribune currently pegs Coleman's lead at 305 votes -- but this number has the flaw of taking all challenged ballots out of the count completely until the canvassing board adjudicates them, and there are about 20 times more challenged ballots than the apparent Coleman lead.

The Franken camp's methodology comes from taking down what the opinions were of the local election judges on those challenged ballots. This method, too, has a flaw: We are dependent on the Franken campaign's data being accurate, and also on their assumption that the local officials' judgments on those ballots will be upheld.

Barack Obama will name Bill Richardson as his commerce secretary tomorrow, putting an end to speculation as to when he would install a Latino in a cabinet post, according to a source close to the transition and a Democratic official.

Obama's team also announced earlier that he would be holding a presser tomorrow morning, so it's safe to assume that the appointment -- which has already been reported by various news outlets -- will be unveiled there.

Richardson gave Obama a boost by throwing his support to the Illinois Senator during the Dem primary in late March. Though Richardson's endorsement came after some of the states with the biggest Latino populations had already voted, his decision to go with Hillary's chief rival still carried symbolic heft, because Richardson had served as ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of energy under Bill Clinton.

As we noted below, there's been a potentially huge development in the Franken recount: 171 new ballots have been found in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, reportedly because a machine breakdown prevented them from being counted the first time but the hand count easily picked them up.

So is there any chance that this could change the outcome?

The answer, like pretty much everything else in this recount, is a definite maybe.

It's simply not conceivable that these ballots alone would deliver Franken the win -- he's not going to carry all of them, but would instead get a small edge. As the local site MinnPost.com calculates, these ballots could give Franken a net gain of 12 votes, assuming they break in the same percentages as the rest of the precinct did.

But the found ballots could give Franken a big lift. The Franken camp's current calculation is that he trails Norm Coleman by 50 votes in this recount as of last night. So if the MinnPost calculation is accurate, this would narrow Franken's deficit to a mere 38 votes -- a margin that could be much more plausibly reversed in the remaining 7% of the vote yet to be recounted.

Of course, there are a whole bunch of other variables still at play, so the net impact of the new found ballots is tough to predict. But in a race as close as this one, they could potentially prove to be decisive.

Late Update: The Coleman campaign is calling foul, claiming the total ballots for this precinct now exceed the number of voters who officially signed in by 31 people -- and they're also saying these new ballots would apparently give Franken a net pickup of 37 votes, though it's not exactly clear how they concluded this. The county is looking into the situation.

There are three big pieces of news just out now, from a Franken campaign press briefing, that could potentially signal a comeback for him in this long-running election vote-count:

• Under the campaign's methodology, Franken narrowed the margin against Norm Coleman yesterday down to 50 votes, compared to 73 at the start of business yesterday and 215 going into the recount, with about 7% of the vote left to be counted. A swing of 23 votes in one day is definitely good news -- as we noted yesterday, Franken needs something on that order. The question now is what correctable errors are to be found in the remaining votes, which remains a total unknown.

• Another big piece of news: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has sent out a letter to local election officials telling them to separate out the rejected absentee ballots according to what reasons were used to discard them. This could be a sign that his office is taking seriously the Franken camp's contention that roughly 1,000 absentee ballots may have been wrongly thrown out by clerical errors, and should be re-admitted -- or he's just diligently preparing for the inevitable litigation over this matter.

• And an added bonus: Ramsey County officials say they've found about 200 ballots in the town of Maplewood, which Franken carried, that weren't counted at all up to now due to a machine breakdown, and were just discovered. Franken could conceivably get a net gain of one or two-dozen votes from these ballots. Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias wasn't even aware of this going into the call -- he was informed of it by a local reporter seeking comment.

The initial stage of the recount, of manually counting all the ballots and separating out challenges, is expected to end this week. Next up, this goes to the state canvassing board that will review all those challenges -- many of them frivolous -- and will provide a test of just how correct the Franken campaign's methodology has been. After that...who knows.

James Steinberg, the deputy national security adviser under Bill Clinton, is close to being named as Hillary's deputy at the State Department, with the support of the Obama team, according to a source close to discussions between Obama's transition team and Hillary advisers.

"It's pretty close," the source says.

Former ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who earlier was the focus of some speculation for the post, is not in line for the post, partly because the Obama team doesn't want him there, the source adds.

The upshot of Steinberg in the Deputy Secretary of State post would be that someone who worked with the Obama team for months during the campaign is in the State post close st to Hillary. Steinberg was reportedly the author of a big speech Obama gave to AIPAC and helped craft Obama's positions on the Israeli peace process and Iran, among other things.

The Washington Post reported today that the Obama team wants Steinberg in the slot, and The Politico wrote last week that Democrats close to the process "expected" him to get it.

The source says that the Obama team doesn't want Holbrooke in the post because his accomplishments come with "collateral damage."

"They don't want him," the source said of the Obama team. "The collateral damage that he brings is too great for them to want to deal with. There will be a role for Holbrooke, but not as deputy."

Spokespeople for Obama and Clinton declined to comment.

Late Update: Spencer Ackerman, who's been all over this, provides some invaluable explanation and context.

Wow. You really have to see this Republican attack ad -- it's one of the strangest negative spots we've ever seen. The spot, courtesy of the NRCC, attacks the Dem candidate in the Louisiana House election that's being held this Saturday by painting him as soft on drunk drivers -- with a vivid dramatization of a car wreck:

"Take Jimmy Ray White: Three prior drunk-driving offenses, but he's out on the street," the announcer says, as the road is speeding by the viewer. "Then White kills a teenager in a hit-and-run car accident."

Wow.

Democratic candidate Paul Carmouche, a district attorney and relatively conservative Dem, has been running close in the polls against right-wing GOP candidate John Fleming in the race for this open GOP-held seat. As with the Georgia Senate runoff, this is probably going to be a low-turnout affair in which the parties have to really get the voters' attention -- and if this ad doesn't get people's attention, nothing will.

Joe Biden had a bit of fun today at the National Governors Association meeting in Philadelphia, mocking the fact that Sarah Palin gets far more press attention these days than he does, despite his being the Veep-elect.

According to the pool report, Biden addressed Palin at the meeting and made the tongue-in-cheek request that she appear publicly with him in order to get the media to give him some love, too:

"And Governor Palin, I want to thank you particularly."

"I might point out, as I told you...since the race is over, no one pays attention to me at all. So I'm -- maybe you will walk outside with me or something later and say hello to me."

The media attention gap between the actual Veep-elect and the failed one is possibly explained by the fact that Biden's public remarks yesterday at Obama's national security presser were his first in 26 days, but it's bizarre nonetheless.

We might just have our first open swing Senate seat of the 2010 cycle, with the Orlando Sentinel reporting that GOP Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida will be announcing at a press conference this morning that he isn't running again.

If true, this could actually be good news for the GOP, complicating a major pickup opportunity for the Democrats in their quest to get to 60 seats. Martinez just narrowly won this seat in 2004, running as a loyal Bush supporter at a time when that was actually a plus. But recent polling has suggested he would probably lose against just about any Democrat.

An open-seat race could change things, assuming Martinez does announce his retirement, as the state GOP has a very strong bench. Look for the national GOP to try to recruit popular Gov. Charlie Crist, but if they can't do that there are still plenty of other prominent elected Republicans in the state that they can pick from.

At the end of the day, though, this is still Florida -- so expect a close race.

Late Update: It's worth pointing out that the other open Senate seat already on the table is in Kansas, where Sam Brownback is retiring. But that's a deep-red state and it isn't a swing seat -- at least not yet, unless Dems are able to recruit Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Late Late Update: Martinez has made it official.

We asked Bill Clinton spokesperson Matt McKenna for a response to the speculation that Bill is eying a takeover of Hillary's Senate seat, now that she's set to become Obama's Secretary of State.

McKenna emailed over this:

"It's completely false. President Clinton is excited to expand the work of his foundation which has more than 1,000 staff and volunteers in 44 countries advancing projects on HIV/AIDS, climate change, sustainable economic development, and childhood obesity."

The response is actually noteworthy for another reason. Some critics had argued that Bill should disband his foundation or dramatically scale down his role, to avoid the appearance of conflicts involving Hillary in her new post. But this statement suggests that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

This really isn't complicated. President Bush was not being "blunt" or showing "candor" when he told ABC News in an interview published yesterday that his biggest regret was the failure of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War.

Rather, he was whitewashing away his own role in the fisaco by promoting the demonstrable falsehood that there was no available evidence or information that argued against war and that he was merely fooled into invading Iraq solely by the bad intel.

The big news orgs seem eager to help Bush do this. Not a single one of their reports on the interview that we can find bothered to tell readers that there was plenty of good intel -- ignored by the Bush administration -- saying that Saddam wasn't the threat Bush was claiming he was. Nor did any of them bother mentioning that the weapons inspectors in Iraq were saying the same thing -- something that also went ignored.

These facts are absolutely central to understanding Bush's efforts to falsify history in yesterday's interview. Yet they went unmentioned in reports by Reuters, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN, and The New York Times.

Worse, at least one news org pretended that Bush was making some kind of admission or concession here. WaPo hailed Bush's "candor" and said he was being "unusually blunt."

Let's go over this very slowly. For Bush to blame the failure of intel for his decision to invade is not a concession at all, and it is not an admission of failure on his part. Rather, it is the opposite of these things. It is an evasion of responsibility for what happened.

Yet the big news orgs seem unable -- or unwilling -- to grasp this simple dynamic or give readers the info they need to understand it, and for some reason are perfectly willing to enable Bush's falsification of history.

Today: The Georgia Senate Runoff
Today is the big day in Georgia: The runoff election pitting GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is considered the favorite, against Democratic candidate Jim Martin. The question is whether the polls that have shown Chambliss ahead by several points will have accurately modeled the turnout for the runoff, which is by nature very unpredictable. The polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

Obama And Biden Meeting With Governors In Philly
Barack Obama and Joe Biden are meeting this morning with the National Governors Association in Philadelphia. Obama, Biden, and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell will be making brief remarks to the press.

WaPo: Gates' Top Deputies Might Not Continue Into Obama Administration
The Washington Post reports that the retention of Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense will not result in perfect continuity at the Defense Department -- many of Gates' deputies are now expected to quit their jobs, and be replaced by Obama appointees. It would seem Obama gets the best of both worlds here, with Gates staying on for a smooth transition while also allowing him to put his own stamp on a formerly Bush-influenced Pentagon.

Paterson: No Senate Appointment Until Hillary Resigns
New York Gov. David Paterson says he will wait until Hillary Clinton resigns from the Senate to announce who he is appointing to the seat. For her part, Hillary intends to remain in the Senate until she is officially confirmed as Secretary of State, which might not happen until after Barack Obama officially takes office.

NYT: Napolitano Will Preside Over Real ID Program She Has Opposed
The New York Times points out that Janet Napolitano, in her new role as Secretary of Homeland Security, will be in charge of enforcing the Real ID program -- which she has vigorously opposed as an unfunded mandate on the states, and she's even signed legislation to forbid Arizona from complying with it. "I'm hoping she will see this program from the federal government side and see it with new eyes," said Janice L. Kephart, a staffer for the 9/11 Commission, which recommended the program.

Lieberman Keeps Up Praise Of Obama
The Hill notes that Joe Lieberman is stepping up his praise of Barack Obama, after a campaign season in which he attacked Obama and declared that Democrats didn't take terrorism seriously enough. Lieberman declared in a statement yesterday, "the President-elect has begun to build an administration that can lead America forward on the world stage with purpose and principle."

Here's a sign that Sarah Palin could have some serious grassroots support going into the 2012 primaries: The reporter for the local NBC affiliate in Savannah says that while covering Palin's rallies today for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, she met people from as far away as New Mexico, who had come just to see Palin.

"Many made special plans to be in Savannah to see Sarah Palin, not Senator Chambliss," says WSAV's Randi Hempel, "because they're not even eligible to vote here in Georgia."

It's like the Grateful Dead, only more spaced out.

Some more commentary on Secretary of State Hillary that will make the Obama transition team happy, this time from Hillary's predecessor in the gig:

"She won't -- and you won't -- hear from me again," Rice said on the day President-elect Barack Obama named Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to be the next secretary of state. "I will certainly not make the effort to comment on everything that is done."

Rice also hailed Hillary as someone with "enormous energy and intellect and skill" and cited her love of America. She also apparently briefed Hillary yesterday on the Mumbai situation, though that may be the last time Hillary will be hearing from her.

One prominent New York Democrat has already taken herself out of contention for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, with Rep. Nita Lowey announcing that she is not interested in getting appointed.

Lowey told the Associated Press that she wouldn't want to give up her seniority and her seat on the House Appropriations Committee -- she's been in the chamber for 20 years -- and the power that it gives her to affect the federal budget.

The seat will be filled by New York's Democratic Gov. David Paterson, who has a lot of things to consider: Sectional politics, race, gender, the potential to kick an intra-party rival upstairs, and hopefully merit. Most press speculation has centered on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, but it could conceivably go to someone else. Whoever does get the appointment would be the heavy favorite to hold the seat in 2010, as the New York Republicans don't exactly have a strong bench at the moment.

Does Al Franken have a chance of catching Norm Coleman in the recount? The Franken campaign is now claiming that he continues to close the gap with the GOP Senator -- down to 73 votes with 88.6% of ballots counted, using the campaign's methodology -- but the latest numbers suggest Franken's task is daunting.

Franken's lead recount attorney Marc Elias gave out the latest math on a conference call just now with reporters. The problem for Franken is that the remaining 11.4% of ballots would need to provide a swing much larger than the previous precincts have given him. An estimated 74,000 remaining ballots are from heavily-Dem areas of Hennepin County (Minneapolis), an urban center that might have a higher error rate in Franken's favor, but even then it looks tough.

That said, this is only one step of the recount -- and it gets trickier from here, thanks to the unpredictability of how the state canvassing board will resolve the thousands of challenged ballots. The campaign will also continue to hammer the issue of absentee votes that may have been wrongly rejected through clerical error, a figure they estimate to be as many as 1,000 wrongly-rejected votes.

Elias left open the option of contesting this issue, possibly all the way to the U.S. Senate itself: "One way or another, whether it's state courts or elsewhere, these ballots are going to be counted."

A couple more quick points about today's Obama presser. First, it was striking how comfortable Obama appeared in a take-charge role when on a stage dominated by heavy hitters like Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton -- and how visibly they deferred to him.

Also, it wasn't until Obama himself announced the appointment of Hillary as Secretary of State that it became clear just how well it reflects on him. The sight of him hailing her strength, toughness and suitability to the huge challenges ahead -- even as he brushed off reporter chatter about the acrimonious Dem primary -- made for powerful political theater.

We've heard a lot of analysis about how Obama's "team of rivals" approach shows his mature willingness to extend a forgiving hand to rivals and his confidence that he can control them within his own orbit. But I'd argue this isn't so much about his interpersonal style as it is about the sense he is trying to project that he possesses a gravity and sense of seriousness appropriate to the enormity of the tasks before him.

The message is that only the best will do; previous rivalries or petty subplots generated in the press as a result of his picks be damned. Here's how Obama himself described his approach today:

"I assembled this team because I'm a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions. I think that's how the best decisions are made...

"I'm going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House. But understand: I will be setting policy as president. I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out, and I expect them to implement that vision once decisions made. So as Harry Truman said, the buck will stop with me."

The Democrats' lofty dream of reaching 60 Senate seats looks like it could end in tomorrow's Georgia Senate runoff, with the final survey from Public Policy Polling (D) giving incumbent GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss a solid seven-point lead over Democrat Jim Martin.

The numbers: Chambliss 53%, Martin 46%, with a ±2.7% margin of error, not significantly changed from a 52%-46% lead in PPP's survey from a week ago, and in line with other polls taken over the last month. Martin doesn't seem to have done much to budge the numbers since Election Day, when Chambliss just barely missed the 50%-plus-one threshold to prevent a runoff.

A key number from the internals: PPP estimates that 35% of the total likely voters have already cast their ballots, and Chambliss is winning this group 58%-41%. So unless turnout from Democratic base voters skyrockets tomorrow beyond all expectations, Chambliss should end up the winner.

As if right on cue, Barack Obama's successful national security presser today, in which he declared that the "buck stops with me" and took full responsibility for his presidency's vision, is cast in an even more positive light by the deeply pathetic interview that his predecessor just gave to ABC News.

In the interview, which was conduced by Charlie Gibson, George W. Bush evades responsibility for his catastrophic foreign policies to the last, saying that his greatest regret was over something that he allegedly didn't control -- the intel failure in Iraq:

BUSH: I don't know -- the biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn't just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence. And, you know, that's not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.

Of course, Bush made the decision to overlook all the good intel -- not to mention the claims of those poor forgotten inspectors -- saying that Saddam wasn't really a threat at all, or certainly not one requiring the response Bush himself ordered.

One overlooked thing about this is that not only Bush, but many supporters of the war -- Dems and liberal hawks included -- also have a vested interest in pretending that the good intel never existed and those inspectors never said what they said. Those inconvenient historical facts reflect rather badly on them, too. With so many opinion-makers having vested interests of their own in telling the story this way, history has been tidily rewritten, and Bush is able to make this claim without a peep of objection from his big-time network interviewer.

In other news from the interview, Bush conceded that he was "unprepared for war," though he meant it more by way of saying that he hadn't asked for war. No follow-up from his interviewer about the war of choice Bush started, or the fact that the self-described role of "war president" wasn't one Bush was all that adverse to adopting.

Late Update: Matthew Yglesias adds the crucial context here, which is that it was the complete lack of an "opposition party" that is largely responsible for so much going "down the memory hole."

Another key moment from Obama's national security presser today: In case there were any lingering doubts about how his decision to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates might impact his promise to withdraw from Iraq, Obama made it clear: Gates will be ordered to pull out.

Obama said...

As I said throughout the campaign, I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office: responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control. We will also ensure that we have the strategy -- and resources -- to succeed against al Qaeda and the Taliban. As Bob said not too long ago, Afghanistan is where the war on terror began, and it is where it must end.

Obviously, the devil will be in the details over what sort of timing Gates sees as necessary for "responsibly" ending the war. And there will be plenty of room for disagreement ahead on that and other fronts. But the fact that Obama went out of his way to reiterate his commitment to ending the war at his first presser with Gates seems noteworthy and encouraging.

Late Update: Obama elaborated a bit on his pull-out plans in the Q and A with reporters that followed. Asked if he remained committed to a 16-month withdrawal timetable, he said that he believed it was "the right time-frame" but added that he would listen to the commanders' views when crafting the details of his pull-out plan.

Obama said that we are on a "glide path" towards troop reductions and said he'd be meeting with Secretary Gates, the Joint Chiefs and the commanders on the ground in the days ahead "to make a determination as to how we proceed in that withdrawal process."

But Obama did take care to point out that he was reserving the option of keeping a "residual force" in place, just as he did during the campaign. In essence, he's (understandably) preserving the wiggle room on timing and other questions that he sought to during the campaign.

Here, in the form of a statement from Obama transition headquarters, are President-elect Barack Obama's first public words confirming and explaining his picks of Robert Gates as Defense Secretary and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State:

"In this uncertain world, the time has come for a new beginning -- a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century, and to seize the opportunities embedded in those challenges. To succeed, we must pursue a new strategy that skillfully uses, balances, and integrates all elements of American power: our military and diplomacy; our intelligence and law enforcement; our economy and the power of our moral example.

"The team that we have assembled here today is uniquely suited to do just that. They share my pragmatism about the use of power, and my sense of purpose about America's role as a leader in the world."

As noted below, Obama's picks are heavy proponents of sinking more resources into the use of American "soft power" abroad, and this statement's references to diplomacy and "moral example" attest to that dimension of the shared foreign policy vision between the principal and his new national security team.

Obama's presser announcing his picks is set to start soon: We'll have video and more.

Late Update: Here's some more from Obama at his presser, expanding on his vision:

America must also be strong at home to be strong abroad. We need to provide education and opportunity for our citizens, so every American can compete with anyone, anywhere. And our economic power must sustain our military strength, our diplomatic leverage, and our global leadership.

The common thread linking these challenges is the fundamental reality that in the 21st century, our destiny is shared with the world's. From our markets to our security; from our public health to our climate -- we must act with the understanding that, now more than ever, we have a stake in what happens across the globe. And as we learned so painfully on 9/11, terror cannot be contained by borders, nor safety provided by oceans alone.

And here's Obama's explanation of his pick of Hillary:

I have known Hillary Clinton as a friend, a colleague, a source of counsel, and as a campaign opponent. She possesses an extraordinary intelligence and toughness, and a remarkable work ethic. I am proud that she will be our next Secretary of State. She is an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence; who knows many of the world's leaders; who will command respect in every capitol; and who will clearly have the ability to advance our interests around the world.

Hillary's appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances. There is much to do -- from preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran and North Korea, to seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, to strengthening international institutions. I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton is the right person to lead our State Department, and to work with me in tackling this ambitious foreign policy agenda.

Obama's full prepared remarks after the jump.

Late Late Update: Another key moment at the presser: Obama reiterates his commitment to pulling out of Iraq.

Read more »

With Obama set to announce his national security team today, The New York Times offers a valuable corrective look at his choices, reporting that despite their hawkishness, there's also another dimension to his picks: The key players are also proponents of pumping huge resources into boosting the U.S.'s "soft power" abroad.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, for instance, has been giving speeches for a year or so now "about the limits of military power in wars in which no military victory is possible," the paper notes. Gates has also decried "the gutting of America's ability to engage, assist and communicate with other parts of the world -- the 'soft power' which had been so important throughout the cold war."

Meanwhile, Obama's choice for national security adviser, former NATO commander James Jones, has taken that critique even further, criticizing our strategy in Afghanistan over its failure to implement a strategy of reconstruction and aid in order to hold territory won from the Taliban.

The paper posits that the pick of Jones could signal a serious effort to use such measures in Afghanistan -- a place where Obama is promising a renewed focus -- and elsewhere, something that could fundamentally change our national security policy:

If Mr. Obama and his team can bring about that kind of shift, it could mark one of the most significant changes in national security strategy in decades and greatly enhance the powers of Mrs. Clinton as secretary of state.

This view of Gates and Jones would seem to lend comfort to the camp of foreign policy thinkers (notably Steve Clemons) who think such figures could give Obama the cover he needs to pull off a fundamental shift in national security policy. On this score, Jones may prove to be at least as key a player to be watching as Hillary.

Obama Rolling Out National Security Team
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be holding a 10:40 a.m. ET press conference today in Chicago, where Obama will be rolling out his foreign-policy team: Hillary Clinton as Sec. of State, current Sec. of Defense Robert Gates staying on, and retired Marine Gen. James Jones as National Security Adviser. Obama could also be naming Janet Napolitano as Sec. of Homeland Security, Susan Rice as Ambassador to the UN, and Eric Holder as Attorney General.

Obama To Address Rick Warren's AIDS Forum, Meeting With Dem Governors
Barack Obama will also be addressing Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health in Washington, held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, via videotaped remarks. Later tonight, Obama will be meeting with members of the Democratic Governors Association in Philadelphia.

Biden Attending Event Honoring Ted Kennedy
Joe Biden will be in attendance at a special convocation ceremony tonight at Harvard, at which Ted Kennedy will be given an honorary degree.

Sarah Palin Criss-Crossing Georgia Today
Sarah Palin is touring through Georgia today, hoping to fire up the GOP base to come out for Sen. Saxby Chambliss in tomorrow's runoff election. Palin has an 8:30 a.m. ET rally in Augusta, an 11 a.m. ET rally in Savannah, a 1:30 p.m. ET rally in Perry, and a 4 p.m. ET rally in the northern metro Atlanta area.

WaPo: Senate Dems Expect Crossover Votes From GOP Moderate -- But GOP Expects Dem Division
The Washington Post reports that even though Senate Democrats have fallen just short of a 60-seat supermajority, they still think they can pick up votes from Republicans such as Arlen Specter -- and oddly enough, John McCain -- on an issue-by-issue basis. On the other hand, Republicans expect the Dems' newfound position of power to reveal their own internal divisions, with a caucus that ranges from die-hard liberals to a couple genuine conservatives.

NYT: Susan Rice A Strong Voice Against Genocide
The New York Times points out that Susan Rice, expected to be named as Barack Obama's Ambassador to the UN, could end up being a strong advocate for intervention against genocide, and has previously called for strong action in Darfur. The Times quotes Rice from a 2001 interview with the Atlantic, describing her visit to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide: "I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required."

Iran: "Nothing Has Changed" With Obama
Barack Obama's election doesn't seem to have warmed up Iran to better diplomatic relations with the United States, Reuters reports. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Sheikhuleslam bluntly told the ISNA news agency, "nothing has changed with the coming of Obama."

Obama To Roll Out National Security Team Tomorrow
Barack Obama will be announcing his national security team at a press conference in Chicago tomorrow, scheduled for 10:40 a.m. ET. The most anticipated name on the list will be Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, with Obama also expected to announce Eric Holder for Attorney General, Susan Rice for Ambassador to the United Nations, and Janet Napolitano for Secretary of Homeland Security, retired Gen. James Jones for National Security Adviser, and current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to be kept on in his role.

Obama To Appear On Meet The Press
NBC News has announced that Barack Obama will appear next week on Meet The Press. The interview with Tom Brokaw will be Obama's first appearance on the show since July, and thus his first interview on the program since he became president-elect.

Lugar: "There Will Be Questions Raised" About Bill, But I Would Confirm Hillary
Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) said today on ABC's This Week that he would vote to confirm Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State based on all the information available right now, but there are still lingering issues surrounding Bill Clinton's outside work: "I suspect, however, that I'm not alone in suggesting there will be questions raised and will probably be legitimate."

WaPo: Obama Reaching Out To Military
The Washington Post reports on Barack Obama's efforts to reach out to the military leadership, focusing on his recent meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mike Mullen. A Mullen spokesman told the Post that Mullen "felt very good, very positive" after the meetings, and military sources said there is optimism about Obama approaching defense policy from a more realistic stance than the Bush Administration did.

New York Officials Who Backed Obama Early Get New Clout
The New York Times reports that local New York officials who supported Barack Obama early on -- at a time when the rest of the state party was lining up behind favorite daughter Hillary Clinton -- have found themselves becoming key contacts for people looking for jobs or funding of projects by the new administration. "They're calling me Obama's guy on Long Island," said Suffolk County legislator Jon Cooper, who chaired Obama's Long Island primary campaign.

WaPo: Dems Gaining Upper Hand In Virginia
The Washington Post has an analysis of the demographic and partisan shifts in Virginia, pointing to a possible realignment of the state in the wake of Barack Obama's six-point win here. A key statistic: Obama's margins in Northern Virginia alone would have won the state for him even if he had not improved at all on John Kerry's showing in the rest of the state -- and he did that, too.

It's official. A person close to Hillary Clinton tells me that she will be in Chicago tomorrow to be named President-elect Barack Obama's Secretary of State.

This confirmation from the Hillary side that she will officially be named comes after the Associated Press earlier quoted "Democratic officials" saying that Obama was set to name her as Sec of State at a press conference tomorrow.

The New York Times reported late yesterday that Bill Clinton had agreed to disclose the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation, clearing the way for Hillary's nomination.