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Election Central Morning Roundup

Obama Announcing Economic Team Today
Barack Obama will officially roll out key members of his economic team today, at a 12 p.m. ET press conference in Chicago. Among the expected appointments are Timothy Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury and Larry Summers as head of the National Economic Council.

Report: Christina Romer to Head Council of Economic Advisers
CNN reports that Christina Romer, a professor of economics at Berkeley, will be named as chair of President's Council of Economic Advisors.

Hotels Booked Up For Inaugural -- In West Virginia
Here's a further sign of just how many people could be coming to Washington to witness Barack Obama's inauguration: The Associated Press reports that hotels are being booked up as far away as West Virginia, well beyond the range of a typical DC commute.

Secret Service Preparing Heavy Security For Inauguration
The inauguration of Barack Obama is expected to have a record-size crowd -- and with that will come an all-out security effort. Washington's thousands of security cameras will be routed to one huge monitoring station, and the inaugural skyline will be teeming with sharpshooters trained to hit a target the size of a tea saucer at 1,000 yards.

Vilsack: I Won't Be Secretary of Agriculture
Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has announced that, contrary to rumors, he will not be Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack told the Des Moines Register that he has not been contacted by the Obama transition team about any kind of appointment to the incoming Administration.

South Carolina GOP Chairman Joins RNC Race
Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, has thrown his hat into the ring to be chairman of the RNC. The two other big names in the race are former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, best known for his unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2006 and subsequent career in punditry, Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis, and former Mike Huckabee campaign chairman Chip Saltsman.

One Minnesota Voter Really Didn't Like Their Choices
The Star Tribune has put a spotlight on one particular ballot that may be the ultimate in protest votes. This voter went beyond conventional ballot-spoiling, and instead filled in the write-in slot for every race, stringing them together to form a long-winded diatribe about how much he or she hated both Norm Coleman and Al Franken.


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Missed one. The feds are bailing out citigroup to the tune of 332 billion. This is beyond absurd. How much paper money are they going to keep throwing away on paper. It's really irrelevant to the overall economy. They should be pumping the money into main street, not wall street. It's all about bogus paper on wall street. It's getting ridiculous.

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Like it or not, a bailout of Citi is necessary, otherwise the whole financial system would collapse. The question now is rather how the feds plan to bail it out, and from what reports sound like, it seriously sucks (i.e., taxpayers would get screwed).

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So, if they had 60 billion of the original 350 billion of approved funds, and then the additional 350 billion of unapproved funds, that leaves us with not a whole heck of a lot.

Here's what really ticks me off about this.

For days now, right wing talk radio and just about every right winger out there has been hounding about the 25 billion auto industry bailout, specifically about the unionized workers.

How much you want to bet we don't hear them hounding about Citi group employee compensations and blaming this entire crash on overpaid employees and benefits and retirement plans and bla bla bla bla.

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Agreed. The auto industry requires 25 billion to bridge the financial crisis and the wingers are screaming bloody murder because of the big old nasty labor unions that help people make a decent wage and yet we are pumping hundreds of billions on paper to cover up past screw-ups, which really accomplishes nothing. It is absurd.

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Don't these wingers have to work for someone ? Or they are all born rich ? Their pathological hatred toward unions seems so counter-intuitive.

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I was dumbfounded at the re-upping of Rush's contract, and the staggering income. I wish the man would lose his voice, truly I do. He has done more damage to this country than one could have ever imagined. Hannity is another huge disgrace and hater of America, with friends Savage and Coulter et al.

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Yep. There should be some type of fact check on these people or something to shut them up. Every 10 minutes they spew, there should be a three minute fact check segment pointing out the lies. They spew hatred and lies and distortions to line their pockets with cash. It is despicable.

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...we work...just not for Union thugs.

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IDK. I met plenty of union guys passing through VA to help canvass. They seemed likable and civilized enough to me.

Maybe your definition of a thug is different from mine.

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except for Todd Palin.

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Yeah, just for a pittance from robber barons that are getting richer and richer while feeding the republican base nonsense about culture wars and gee you can be a robber baron someday as well. Problem is based on our class system, you have a better chance of being struck by lightening or winning the lottery than you do of becoming a robber baron. Dream on.

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LMAO...robber barons...nice!

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Teddy was one of my favorite presidents. I'm sure that he was one of yours as well, right? Glad you got a laugh.

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Spoken like a true winger. Just plain, stupid hatred for an answer.

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It's because unions support Democrats. Republicans have long believed that destroying all Democratic-leaning groups is essential to their holding power, and they use government power for that purpose when they have it, regardless of whether it's good or bad for America in general. Stripping union eligibility when agencies were incorporated into Homeland Security, appointing anti-labor Labor Secretaries, cutting the government workforce by massively increasing contracting (federal workers are Democratic-leaning, government contracting firms are GOP donors), well beyond where it saves money or increases efficiency.

The point is, being automatically against anybody who supports the Democratic Party comes first, and the justifications come afterwards. The funniest was the whole "trial lawyers" business. Convincing people that lawyers are evil isn't hard, but they've tried a few times to explain that trial lawyers (the ones who try to keep large corporations from screwing you) are evil, but corporate lawyers (the ones who large corporations employ to screw you) are good, really! And we're not just saying that because they give us lots of money and we don't give a damn about you!

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The other rant these days is the threat of the Fairness Doctrine.

Help! Fairness is coming! Run for your lives!

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Funny how the fairness doctrine only applies to talk radio...

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Funny, I don't think that you have to worry about the "fairness doctrine." Break up of the huge media conglomerates, yep, ala Teddy, "fairness doctrine" fuggetaboutit. Another winger talking point.

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Good news about Vilsack. In an ideal world the Sec. of Agriculture would help with the creation of more regional food networks and help wean us off the massive agri-farms and the corn-based food system we have now.

I know, I know, unlikely. But a boy can dream.

http://strategy08.wordpress.com

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One Minnesota Voter Really Didn't Like Their Choices

I guess the good word about the Lizard People didn't get out in time.

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Well that's probably because the Lizard People didn't run political ads. But that voter was apparently sick of political ads too, so for the Lizard People I guess it was a loss-loss situation...

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But note that that prediction comes with a really high level of uncertainty.

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Frankly, I welcome our new Lizard Overlords.

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Ok, now this is pathetic. The king is going to meet with paulson about the crisis and then is giving a presser at 10:30, before obama's big announcement. Why? To make the markets tank somemore? Unbelievable. He couldn't keep his mouth shut for 24 hours to let the good will of the obama team have a beneficial effect on the economy? Unbelievable.

The king really should resign at this point for the good of the country.

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He should resign, if only Cheney does so also. It would be the best goodwill gesture he could possibly make, but in our real world, he is too busy reversing family leave, hacking up Utah, saying to hell with endangered species and is a disgrace that has stained our nation forever. I loathe him, and that is being kind.

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I just can't figure out that Utah thing. He's punishing one of the GOP's most loyal states by turning it into a sea of derricks surrounding national parks like some sort of Petroleum Maginot Line. If it wasn't for the damn 'social conservatives', I'd think this would be the moment Bush handed Utah to the democrats.

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Exactly.

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Loyal states are way lower on Bush's scale of supporters than oil companies, especially if there's the added bonus of an eff you to environmentalists or another Democratic constituency.

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Egos are fragile things.

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Hey Nancy, thanks a whole fucking hell of a lot for taking impeachment off the table. Will anything be left of this country by Jan. 20?

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Maybe he'll announce his forthcoming resignation? Or maybe he'll really appoint Obama's Treas Sec, as someone urged him to do?

Or maybe he's just seeking attention....

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You know I actually thought that for a split second. However, if he was planning on that, he would do it after obama's roll out.

Unfortunately, he probably is just doing it for attention.

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Over at the Asian economic conference, he seemed pretty p.o.'d and defiant about Congress not ratifying his trade agreements.

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Well, he was just doing it for attention. I hope the street doesn't pay attention, it could cost 200 points in the stock market.

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Minnesota Update: A Confident Coleman Counts on Votes from Airport Bathroom
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=4944

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LOL

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On the West Virginia dig, I actually lived in dc and knew people who commuted everyday from west virginia. The cost of living in dc is huge and depending on your earnings, you are screwed, so people commute from west virginia due to the cost of living. It's sad, but true.

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Sure,the panhandle is not so far from D.C. There's a commuter train from Martinsburg,WV, even!

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Gov. Tom Vilsack won't be Sec of Argriculture!?!?!? WHAT!?!?!? Who would be better than the job than Vilsack? Someone please let me know.

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I heard Sebelius rumored as one name for Ag.

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This place just isn't the same without the swearing.

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A Nancy Pilosi interregnum would be such a treat and a lifeline for The Republic,,,,, the Bush death watch is going to be as disasterous as Buchanan's and Hoover's.

Impeachment didn't work,,,,, wonder about the possibility of a quick rendition of the two to somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Cheney would be allowed to take along his bird gun, and W his Playstation.

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I don't think that the king has the capacity to play a playstation. Maybe he can bring along his children's books.

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Odds are, they would want Geneva Convention protections and their constitutional rights.

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There's a great NYT story on Valerie Jarrett - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/us/politics/24jarrett.html?pagewanted=1&hp - for those who would be interested.

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I've no love for the auto exec's, but Congress wants a plan from them before they get taxpayer's money, what about the banks,insurance and other "too big to fail" trough feeders.

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I was wondering the same thing. You didn't see the ceo's of the banks and insurance companies being paraded in front of congress begging. All you saw them do was spend taxpayer money on bonuses and junkets. Oh, that's right the financial industry's workers aren't unionized. Now I get it. Pathetic.

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Notice on that Sunday show round up video that George Wil made sure there were no economic Nobel prize winners on to laugh at him when he said the original New Deal did not work (though I'm sure Krugman was laughing at home). Of course he'll next be claiming that it was WWII that ended our depression when it actually prolonged it. The man is a hopelessly pathetic shrill for the wealthy.

Question: Why would Obama allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to continue when the government is seeking maximum tax payer funds for the economic disaster??? What could possibly be the point, the idea behind that decision??? Allowing the wealthy to profiteer a little longer while the rest of us suffer???.

And for those claiming Obama is a centrist technocrat who never claimed to be progressive liberal and never campaigned as if he were I ask:
Did he not claim he was for a national health care plan?

Did he not claim he would withdraw troops from Iraq and end our involvement there?

Did he not promise diplomatic relations with Iran?

Did he not promise to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and cut taxes on the poor and middle class?

Did he not promise more social programs to decrease the number of abortions in this country?

Did he not claim he would give tax breaks and other incentives to reward companies keeping jobs here in America and penalize companies outsourcing jobs to other countries for cheap labor?

Did he not say "Yes we can" and We are the change we've been looking for or waiting for?" and if the country polls that it has moved center left one would assume Obama is part of that same change that "WE ARE", right?

Did he not promise to change the way business is done in Washington and if the way business is done in Washington is that the dems have catered to and capitulated to republicans on every issue the last 2yrs and governed center right that this is what must change rather than expect a continuation of the same old way business is done in Washington?

This sounds like a very progressive liberal agenda to me.
Now we are supposed to accept that we were projecting our own beliefs of liberalism on Obama and that he never gave the impression that he was a progressive liberal. We were just projecting liberalism on him??? Now where would I get such an idea?

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btw...Where is Susan Blair, Feingold, Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman, Juan Cole???...these people should be included in Obama's team of advisers if he was really serious of not wanting to surround himself with "yes men".

Also, Obama will get advice from congressional leaders and the GOP on a daily basis...he should also get input from we the people who are the liberal majority that got him elected. The input should not be one sided if we are to get the changes we hoped we'd see.

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