Today: Big Canvass Board Meeting In Minnesota
The Minnesota state canvass board is meeting again today, at which they could end up finishing the review Norm Coleman's ballot challenges -- with Al Franken seemingly poised to take the lead for the first time in the never-ending Senate recount. But this wouldn't necessarily end the race, as there still remains a whole lot of legal wrangling left over those rejected absentee ballots.

Obama Holding Presser, Announcing Final Cabinet Picks
Barack Obama is holding a 2:15 p.m. ET press conference in Washington, at which he's expected to roll out his final cabinet choices. The appointees to be announced include retiring Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) as Secretary of Transportation and Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) as Secretary of Labor, plus former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk (D) as Trade Representative.

Rick Warren Thanks Obama For Taking Heat From The Dem Base
Rick Warren has put out a statement praising Barack Obama for selecting him to deliver the invocation at the inauguration, and courting controversy in the process. "I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn't agree on every issue, to offer the Invocation at his historic Inaugural ceremony," Warren says. "Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a commitment to model civility in America."

Solis, Kirk Disagree On Trade
The New York Times points out that two of today's Obama picks, Hilda Solis and Ron Kirk, have contrary views on trade. Solis has opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the Colombian trade deal, while business groups have already praised Kirk for his advocacy for free trade.

WaPo Looks At Foreign Money On Bill Clinton's Donor List
The Washington Post has dug through the newly-released donor list for Bill Clinton's foundation, finding a whole lot of money coming from foreign governments and state-sponsored enterprises, including $10-$25 million from Saudi Arabia. The Obama transition team says any potential conflicts of interest for Hillary Clinton have been dealt with through the disclosure, combined with a wide-ranging set of new concessions by Bill on donations that he'll be receiving from now on.

Caroline Kennedy Has Missed Some Elections
The New York Post reports that Caroline Kennedy has had a less than perfect record of voting, having missed the New York City mayoral primaries in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2005, plus the 2002 general election. On the other hand, she has made it out for most general elections -- and besides, this isn't Australia, so she won't have to pay any fines.

Pawlenty Looking At Possible Interim Senate Appointment
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) is looking into the possibility that he might have to appoint an interim Senator if the recount drags on after Jan. 6, when the new Senators are supposed to be sworn in. Buckle up, folks -- we might be in for a very long ride.

The Clinton Foundation has released its list of donors, domestic and foreign, as part of the agreement reached with the Obama team to make Hillary Secretary of State, and the Associated Press takes first crack at framing the story by focusing on the foreign part:

Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments that his wife will engage as the next secretary of state...

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave more than $10 million to the foundation, which pays for Clinton's presidential library and his charitable work around the world. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica. Indian interests are represented.

The coverage of this will be heavy with innuendo to the effect that there's something vaguely sinister about the fact that foreigners will be giving money to a charitable foundation doing good works around the world in order to influence Hillary. Obama doesn't seem to think there's a problem here, obviously, except perhaps for the bad press it has and will produce.

More on this in a bit.

Hillary has officially agreed to the Obama transition team's request that she install former Clinton administration official James Steinberg as her Deputy Secretary of State, and Steinberg has accepted the post, according to a Democrat familiar with ongoing discussions over the appointment.

"It's done," the Democrat tells us.

The move has been widely anticipated since Politico reported that Democrats "expected" it to happen, but it's significant that it's now a done deal.

It means Obama and Hillary have successfully agreed on a major personnel appointment, installing a Deputy that will act as a good bridge between the Clinton and Obama camps. Steinberg was deputy national security adviser under Bill Clinton, but he was also an early skeptic of the Iraq War and a key adviser to Obama during the Democratic Primary.

The Democrat familiar with the discussions says that the Steinberg appointment was fundamentally Obama's decision, but that Hillary is happy with the pick. "She's excited by it," the Democrat says. "He's a knowledgeable longtime public servant. He's very smart, very good."

Steinberg was reportedly the author of a big speech Obama gave to AIPAC during the primary and helped craft Obama's positions on the Israeli peace process and Iran, among other things.

Spokespeople for Hillary and Obama both declined to comment.

Looks like the notion that Republicans might try to get Bill Clinton to testify at Hillary's Secretary of State confirmation hearings, as had been reported today in various places, is shaping up as a complete non-starter.

A spokesperson for Senator Richard Lugar, the head Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will hold the hearing, tells us that he isn't proposing to call Bill as a witness -- making it all but certain not to happen.

"He is not proposing it," Lugar spokesperson Andy Fisher emails us. "The agenda for the hearing will be determined by Senator Kerry."

The notion that Bill might be called to testify started making the rounds today after Politico reported that some conservative Senate Republicans were privately pushing the idea. Cable news has since been babbling about the possibility intermittently today.

But Lugar's office threw cold water on the possibility. "We know nothing about it other than what was reported in The Politico," Lugar's spokesperson emailed.

The quotes from Lugar's office pretty much ice the idea. While it's still possible that conservative Republicans on the committee could try to call Bill as a witness, the procedure holds that a majority of the committee would have to support the idea, Senate staffers point out.

When the hearings commence next year, Dems will outnumber Republicans on the committee (as they do now). The notion that Dems would back the calling of Bill as a witness, and the attendant media circus that would result, is daft, to put it charitably.

So don't expect Bill to be called to testify. Not gonna happen.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Obama transition chief John Podesta says in an interview this morning with Bloomberg Television that the Obama team is on track to have the top echelons of the Obama administration largely in place within the next month:

Podesta, a former chief of staff in the Clinton White House, also said Obama would complete "virtually the whole Cabinet" by Christmas, and the new president's team will reach beyond the Democratic Party.

There will be "multiple Republicans" in the administration," Podesta said. "You'll see them spread throughout the administration."

That's pretty significant: It appears that Obama will have assembled his cabinet faster than any of his recent predecessors, another sign of how responsive the Obama team has been to the perhaps unprecedented pressure the crisis has placed on them to be seen as acting well before taking office.

Also: Whatever grumbling there has been about Obama staffing up with Clintonites, it's pretty clear that choosing former Clinton White House chief of staff Podesta has enabled him to sidestep the mistakes that hobbled the previous Dem administration's transition into power.

Ben Smith points out that the statement from Hillary's spokesperson, which says today's reports are "premature," is nonetheless basically confirmation that she and Obama will reach a deal and she'll be his Secretary of State.

In truth, it's hard to read it any other way. Here's the statement from Hillary spokesperson Philippe Reines again:

"We're still in discussions, which are very much on track. Any reports beyond that are premature."

To my knowledge this is the first public statement from Reines or Hillary that directly addresses the actual possibility that she'd take the gig. That makes it significant. And that statement confirms that the talks are "very much on track."

Sure, maybe it's premature to say that they've reached a final deal. But still, consider how far out there the Clintons are on this. Bill's post-presidency has been thoroughly and publicly vetted. Hillary's camp has leaked info about her private deliberations. Her confidants are leaking that she's made a final decision. And now, Hillary's spokesperson has confirmed the advanced nature of the discussions.

It's impossible to imagine that this isn't basically a done deal for both sides and that they're just hashing out the particulars. The reality is that barring something truly seismic, she'll be President Obama's Secretary of State.

Here's another thing that's got some people worried about Secretary of State Hillary: Would she bring her old-guard foreign policy adviser types with her to the State Department, a cadre who are in some ways out of step with the more progressive crew that steered the foreign policy of the Obama campaign?

There seems little doubt that Hillary would try to bring her people abroad. "Successful Secretaries of State bring in their own people," foreign policy expert Larry Korb of the Center for American Progress told me a few minutes ago.

If Hillary does do this, it seems likely that this will discomfit Obama's foreign policy confidants -- some of whom opposed the Iraq War and argue for a clean break from the Dem establishment foreign policy mindset that's held sway for so long. The question would also be whether Obama advisers would find a comfortable home there and how much of a role they could carve out in crafting America's new global posture.

Among the Hillary people you can imagine going with her to the State Department are old-guard types such as Richard Holbrooke, Jamie Rubin, and Michael O'Hanlon. While some of Obama's foreign policy advisers had served under Bill Clinton, Obama had plenty of fresher faces, such as Samantha Power, who during the campaign strongly condemned the Hillary "conventional wisdom" foreign policy mindset that might dominate should she be elected president.

As Spencer Ackerman puts it in a good rundown on the topic, at stake is more than the potential for internal ideological conflict at State:

The dispute is only partly ideological in nature. While the coterie of foreign-policy thinkers around Obama have been more liberal, in an aggregate sense -- on issues like Iraq and negotiations with America's adversaries -- the Obama loyalists question the boldness of the Clintonites. They fear that Obama's apparent embrace of Clinton represents an acquiescence to the conventional Democratic foreign-policy approaches that they once derided as courting disaster.

The question is whether Hillary people at State will muddle what is arguably Obama's overarching foreign policy ambition: Fundamental change in the way national security is discussed in this country and a true and enduring transformation of our own views of what constitutes just and practical uses of our military power abroad. The dynamic bears watching.

Bill Vetting Issues Resolved; Obama "On Track" To Name Hillary Secretary Of State
We first reported here yesterday that advisers to the Clintons believe they've satisfied the Obama team's vetting demands and are awaiting a formal offer of the State Department gig from Obama. Now CNN, The Washington Post, the Associated Press and Politico have all confirmed that the vetting issues are resolved and that Obama is "on track" to name Hillary Secretary of State after Thanksgiving.

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

Report: Obama Could Appoint Retired General As National Security Adviser
Barack Obama is reportedly considering retired Marine Gen. James Jones, a critic of the Bush Administration's handling of Iraq and a former operational commander of NATO, for the position of National Security Adviser. Another possibility is James Steinberg, who served as Deputy National Security Adviser under Bill Clinton.

Verizon: Employees Looked Through Obama's Cell Phone Records
Verizon Wireless has revealed that several unidentified employees improperly accessed the records on Barack Obama's personal cell phone, which Obama had not used for months. If there is any consolation for Obama in this situation, it's that the perpetrators don't appear to have accessed any of his personal e-mails or other data -- the phone in question was simply a standard phone, not a smart phone.

Hillary Still Owes $5.4 Million To Mark Penn
The Associated Press reports that Hillary Clinton is still carrying a debt of $5.4 million to Mark Penn, out of roughly $7.5 million in total obligations. If Hillary were to become Secretary of State, FEC regulations would bar her from personally working to raise money to pay off those debts, though she could appoint an agent to raise money on her behalf and she would have some limited ability to appear at a fundraiser and thank donors.

DC Steps Up Preparations For Inauguration Stampede
The District of Columbia is relaxing regulations and intricately planning out its public transportation in anticipation of a mass crowd coming into town for Barack Obama's inaugural. The District has suspended the requirement for residents to seek a license before renting out their homes, and the city's public transit will be running at rush-hour levels for an unprecedented 15 hours straight.

Palin Pardons Turkey Amidst Slaughter
Check out this video of Sarah Palin doing the ceremonial photo-op of pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving. As she spoke with local media about how brutal a campaign could be but also how much it's worth it to get out and meet regular people, several turkeys are being graphically slaughtered in the background:

"Certainly we'll probably invite criticism for even doing this, too -- but at least this was fun," Palin says, totally oblivious to what's going on in back of her. This video has that Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker movie motif, of a seemingly serious conversation taking place while an absurd sight gag is occurring in the background.

Advisers to Bill and Hillary Clinton believe they've given the Obama transition team much if not all of the all the information on Bill's post-presidency the Obama team will be asking for, and see the Clinton camp as now being in a holding pattern, waiting on a formal offer of the State Department gig to Hillary from Obama, a source close to the negotiations tells us.

The source adds that it's always possible that more requests for info about Bill could be made, which the Clinton team would willingly furnish if asked, but says that it looks as if the vast majority of the Obama camp's desires have been met. Multiple news outlets have reported that Hillary has not made up her mind whether to take the gig, and the source confirms this.

It's not yet clear whether the next step in the process will be Hillary signaling to Obama that she wants the gig, or whether it will be a formal offer from Obama, the source adds. Still, the fact that the Obama camp appears to have much if not all the info it wants is perhaps a sign that some of the public press around Bill could subside, which would be a source of relief in the Clinton camp and could hasten the resolution of the situation.

Multiple reports this morning said that Bill had agreed to a number of concessions to smooth Hillary's way to the Secretary of State job, including agreeing to disclose the identities of donors to his foundation and to vet future speeches and activities abroad with Obama aides.

Now Clinton advisers believe that they've satisfied the vast majority of the Obama camp's demands, the source says.

Spokespeople for Bill, Hillary and Obama all declined to comment.

The two major papers have dramatically different versions this morning of what's going on behind the scenes between Hillaryland and Camp Obama as they move towards a deal to make her Secretary of State.

The New York Times has the Hillary-as-Lady-Macbeth version:

In their public signals, the Clintons are trying to take the former president's activities off the table as an issue, in their view eliminating any excuses for Mr. Obama not to give Mrs. Clinton the job. Some in the Obama camp are bristling at what they see as strategic leaks by the Clintons aimed at boxing in the president-elect and forcing him to offer the post.

So according to The Times, Hillary wants the job so badly that she's scheming to make it impossible for Obama to not offer her the job. But here's The Washington Post's version of events:

Obama aides said yesterday that it would be difficult for Sen. Clinton to walk away from the secretary of state post. Obama's staff has thoroughly vetted both Clintons with the understanding that, if he should make an official job offer, she would accept.

So according to WaPo, the Obama camp thinks that it would be tough for Hillary to walk away from a deal and indeed that the two camps already have an understanding in place.

The takeaway here is that all the purported accounts of Machiavellian behind-the-scenes scheming really need to be taken with an ocean's worth of salt. More often than not such leaks come from marginal players who have their own agenda and scores to settle.

Certainly it would be pollyanna-ish to imagine that no such strategizing goes on. But the Times account strikes me as somewhat overheated. As Atrios says, the Clintons drive the media insane. What this kind of speculation really shows, I'd argue, is the extent to which reporters are actually under pressure to report on the Clintons exclusively through the "Clintons scheming Lady Macbeth Machiavelli" prism.

Report: Bill Clinton Has Agreed To Major Concessions With Obama Team
Bill Clinton has reportedly agreed with the Obama transition team to disclose the list of donors to his charitable foundation to allow the White House to vet his future overseas trips and speaking engagements, in order to smooth the road to Hillary being nominated for Secretary of State. The potential for a conflict of interest from Bill's foreign dealings has been the major roadblock to a Hillary nomination, and Bill's apparent new agreements could go a long way in fixing the situation.

Obama In Chicago; Biden Celebrating His Birthday In Delaware; Rahm Meeting With GOP On The Hill
Barack Obama is holding private meetings today in Chicago while Joe Biden will spend today -- his birthday -- in Delaware, with neither having any scheduled public events. Meanwhile, Rahm Emanuel is headed to Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate Republicans, in order to discuss how the new Democratic White House might be able to work together with the GOP minority.

Napolitano Could Be Tapped For Homeland Security
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano's office is not commenting on the story that she will be picked for Secretary of Homeland Security, and reportedly no formal offer has yet been made, but multiple reports say an offer is likely and that she would accept. Napolitano's résumé does seem to fit the bill: She is a governor from along the Mexican border and previously served as a U.S. Attorney, and on top of that she was an Obama surrogate during a time when his campaign was on the ropes.

NYT: Daschle's Private-Sector Work Could Conflict With Health And Human Services Post
The New York Times points out that Tom Daschle's selection to be Secretary of Health and Human Services could create a conflict with Barack Obama's promises about lobbyist influence, as Daschle has served on the board of the Mayo Clinic and also advised a major legal/lobbying firm: "Although Mr. Daschle's work might not preclude his appointment, it could raise the possibility that the administration could require him to recuse himself from any matter related to either the Mayo Clinic or some of the clients he advised at Alston & Bird -- a potentially broad swath of the health secretary's portfolio."

Kerry Poised To Claim Foreign Relations Chairmanship
John Kerry will reportedly win the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- the same committee where he shot to fame when he testified against the Vietnam War over 35 years ago -- as a result of Joe Biden vacating the chair to become vice president. The Boston Globe reports that Kerry is already working on an ambitious agenda for the committee, including oversight of plans to withdraw from Iraq, dealing with nuclear proliferation and the spread of other weapons, and focusing on the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Big DC Suburbs County Could Cancel School Day For Inauguration
A school board member in Montgomery County, Maryland (the DC suburbs), has proposed making Inauguration Day a school holiday so that students can watch the historic event that will be Barack Obama's swearing-in. The school superintendent has recommended against it, citing the limited number of allowed snow days on the calendar, but the school board president believes the motion will have majority support when brought up at the meeting in three weeks.

The Minnesota Recount Goes On
Today is the second day of the Minnesota Senate recount, as we find out whether or not Al Franken can overcome GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's paper-thin lead from the original totals. The major thing to keep in mind while watching this story develop is to not get too shaken up by the results as they come in, as there will be numerous small swings going in either direction -- instead, pay attention to the overall pattern.

Report: McCain To Run For Re-Election In 2010
John McCain will reportedly run for re-election to the Senate in 2010. This could end up being a big race in the coming cycle, after polling from just before the 2008 election showed he could lose against Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, though we could potentially see an upswing in McCain's positives now that the negativity of the 2008 race is over.

No Obama Or Biden Events Today
Barack Obama and Joe Biden are in Chicago today, again working in private meetings on the transition. No public events are scheduled.

Hillary Still Deep In Debt
CNN reports that Hillary Clinton is still carrying $7.6 million in debt from her presidential campaign, and that the Obama campaign only succeeded in raising about $800,000 to help her retire her debts. If Hillary were to become Secretary of State, it could become ethically impossible for her to actively raise money to deal with this problem.

Report: Bill Offers To Submit Business Activities To Ethics Reviews
The Wall St. Journal reports that Bill Clinton has offered to submit all of his future business and charitable activities to strict ethics reviews if it will help Hillary become Secretary of State. Bill's dealings with foreign businesses and governments have reportedly become a major roadblock to a potential Hillary nomination, due to the need to avoid conflicts of interest.

Bill Clinton Headed To Georgia For Jim Martin Today
Bill Clinton will be campaigning today in Atlanta for Jim Martin, the Democratic candidate in the high-stakes Senate runoff against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. If the Dems were to pull off an upset win in this one and also win the Minnesota recount, on top of having already won the Alaska race, this would give them an even 60 seats in the U.S. Senate -- enough to overpower any Republican filibusters if all the Democrats were to vote together.

WSJ: Georgia Runoff Reveals Loophole In Fundraising Limits
The Wall St. Journal reports that the national parties are actively taking advantage of the ability to form joint fundraising committees in order to raise extraordinary amounts of money for just one race: The Georgia Senate runoff. These joint committees enable donors to give as much as $65,000, about 29 times the regular legal limits, for just this one election.

The Minnesota Recount Begins Today
Today is the first day of the manual recount of the Senate race in Minnesota, a process that will last for several weeks, following yesterday's preliminary certification of GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's 215-vote lead over Al Franken. That lead as a percentage is only about 0.007%, well within the margin of error of the voting equipment used in this country, and the Franken campaign will also be maneuvering in court and before canvassing boards to get rejected absentee ballots re-admitted.

Today: Senate Dems Vote On Lieberman's Chairmanship
Today is the day when the Senate Democratic Caucus will vote on whether to let Joe Lieberman keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Dems are widely expected to let Lieberman keep the chairmanship and instead merely strip him of a minor Environment and Public Works subcommittee chairmanship, despite widespread outrage among grassroots Democrats over Lieberman's attacks against Barack Obama throughout the campaign.

WaPo: Lieberman Getting Rid Of McCain Bumper Sticker
The Washington Post reports that Joe Lieberman is in the process of removing the McCain bumper sticker from his car. On the one hand this is probably a good move going into the Democratic caucus vote on his chairmanship -- but on the other hand, it's only been scratched off halfway.

No Obama Or Biden Public Events Today
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be holding private meetings in Chicago today, and do not have any public events scheduled.

NYT: Vetting Of Bill Clinton Intensifies
The New York Times reports that the Obama transition team is stepping up its vetting of Bill Clinton's foundation and speaking engagements, and could end up asking him to separate himself from all that work if Hillary is to be appointed to the cabinet. "It's not just what he does or says -- it's the fact that the foundation is involved with foreign countries, some of which might well be in conflict with U.S. policy," said Abner Mikva, an Obama adviser and retired federal judge.

Up To Four Million People Could Attend Inauguration
The Washington Post reports that the federal and D.C. municipal governments are preparing for as many as four million people to try to attend Barack Obama's inauguration in January. Officials are proposing opening up large section of the Mall and setting up extra JumboTrons in order to accommodate the potential massive crowd.

Hoyer: Expanded Dem Majority Won't Turn Left
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will tell the National Press Club today that the new Democratic dominance on Capitol Hill will be approached pragmatically, instead of running hard to the left. "For the first time in decades, we are a true national majority party -- and if we want to stay that way, we must govern like one," Hoyer will say, according to prepared remarks.

Poll: GOP Sen. Martinez In Serious Danger
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) with some pretty lackluster numbers, with only 42% of Florida voters approving of him and 33% disapproving. In a match-up with a generic Democrat for his 2010 re-election campaign, the generic Dem leads with 40% to Martinez's 36% -- an abysmal showing for an incumbent.

Bill Clinton is weighing in on the talk that Hillary could end up being appointed Secretary of State, giving her a strong but cautious endorsement.

Speaking yesterday to a business conference in Kuwait, Bill said that both Hillary and himself worked very hard to get Obama elected, but added that they didn't do it with any expectation of a job offer.

"But if she decided -- if he decided to ask her to do it, and they did it together, I think she'd be really great at being Secretary of State," Bill said. "But I have no Earthly idea what is gonna happen."

Bill is obviously walking a tightrope here, in that he wants to talk up Hillary's prospects but can't cross the line into making outright demands that would decrease her chances. And top of that, his own presence is an issue, with the Obama transition team vetting his own dealings with foreign business and governments in order to determine whether there would be any conflicts of interest.

Obama Meeting With McCain Today
Barack Obama will be meeting today with John McCain, scheduled for 12 p.m. ET at the transition headquarters in Chicago. Also in attendance will be McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, and incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Poll: Public Confident In Obama's Cabinet Picks, Most Interested In Treasury
A new CNN poll finds that 77% of Americans are either somewhat confident or very confident that Barack Obama will make the right choices for his yet-to-be-selected cabinet. The poll also finds that 41% say the Secretary of the Treasury position will matter most to the country's future -- a sign of the country's overall economic stress -- followed by Secretary of State at 25%, Secretary of Defense at 24%, and Attorney General at eight percent.

Obama Team Vetting Bill Clinton, Ahead Of Possible Hillary Appointment
The New York Times reports that the Obama team is carefully vetting not just Hillary Clinton, but also Bill Clinton, in order to determine whether his dealings with foreign businesses and governments could create an unavoidable conflict of interest: "Among the known Clinton Foundation donors are the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a foundation linked to the United Arab Emirates, the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, and a tycoon who was the son-in-law of Ukraine's ousted authoritarian president."

Obama Actively Courted Federal Employees Before Election
The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama wrote a series of letters to federal employees in the run-up to the election, at the urging of American Federation of Government Employees John Gage. In the letters, Obama pledged to reverse many Bush Administration policies and to pursue better workforce relations, including better funding for programs and pay for workers.

GOPers Differ Over Whether Party's Prospects Are Bad Or Abysmal
The Politico reports that there is a division of opinion in the Republican Party over whether the GOP's recent defeat was an isolated event or rather the start of more serious long-term problems. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and current RNC chairman Mike Duncan argue that things could be a lot worse and that the party is in decent shape overall, while other prominent Republicans like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman see serious demographic problems that could render the GOP non-competitive.

Norquist Vows That Calls For Modernization Will Be "Cheerfully Ignored"
Top right-wing activist Grover Norquist is dead-set against calls for the Republican Party to change its message or modernize on issues like global warming. "They will be cheerfully ignored," Norquist told the New York Times.

Eric Cantor: Setting Aside Last Eight Years, GOP Must Become Relevant
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), who is widely expected to become the next House Republican whip, said the party has ceased to be relevant to people's everyday lives -- but this appears to be a dodge to avoid the question of the mistakes of the Bush years. "Let's set aside the last eight years, and our falling down in living up to expectations of what we said we were going to do," Cantor told the Washington Times. "It's the relevancy question."

Barack Obama Has Resigned From The Senate
Barack Obama officially resigned his Senate seat today, as he devotes his full time to his White House transition. "But I will never forget, and will forever be grateful, to the men and women of this great state who made my life in public service possible," Obama said in an open letter to the people of Illinois.

No Obama or Biden Public Events Today
Barack Obama and Joe Biden do not have public events scheduled for today.

Obama Announces More Key Staff Appointments
The Obama transition office announced some more top staff appointments: Pete Rouse, who was Obama's Senate chief of staff and was also chief of staff for Tom Daschle before that, will be a White House senior adviser. Mona Stuphen, a top corporate consultant, and Jim Messina, who served as national chief of staff for Obama's presidential campaign and was a long-time Congressional aide, will both be White House deputy chiefs of staff.

Jim Martin Gets Big Dem Name To Campaign For Him: Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton is headed to Georgia on Wednesday, where he'll campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin in the runoff election against incumbent GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss. The Dems are definitely getting serious about this race, which for both sides will be all about turnout and mobilizing the party bases.

Report: Greg Craig Picked To Be White House Counsel
Barack Obama will reportedly appoint Greg Craig, an experienced Washington lawyer who served on Bill Clinton's impeachment defense team and also portrayed John McCain during Obama's debate prep, as the new White House counsel.

NYT: Obama May Have To Give Up E-Mail
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama may have to give up the use of e-mail, an ironic twist for the president elected thanks in part to the Netroots: "In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful."

Robert Gates Working For Smooth Transition
The Washington Post reports that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is working closely with the incoming Obama Administration on the transition process, setting up office space for them right near his own office at the Pentagon and canvassing political appointees to find out which ones would like to leave and which would like to stay on. Gates himself, of course, may very well be one of those employees who wishes to stay on for a while, a matter that still remains to be sorted out.

Rudy Considering Bid For New York Governor, Won't Rule Out Another Presidential Run
Rudy Giuliani told reporters in Dubai that he is considering a run for governor of New York in 2010, and wouldn't rule out another presidential campaign. "No one knows whether you'll do something again until you come to the point of: 'Is it possible to do it again? Would you have a chance of winning?'" said Rudy.

Politico has a good rundown of all the Clintonites that have been invited into Obama's government, and what it all means. Money quote:

"Obama is showing great good sense in making use of their experience," said William Galston, a former Clinton domestic policy adviser who's now at the Brookings Institution. "You have an entire cadre of people in their 30s and 40s and early 50s who were either in senior jobs or second- and third-tier jobs in the Clinton administration, who really earned their spurs and know their way around -- and know something about how the institutions in which they served actually function."

The piece notes: "Thirty-one of the 47 people so far named to transition or staff posts have ties to the Clinton administration."

Relatedly, I wanted to revisit a point made here yesterday that made some of you mad. It wasn't really meant to be about Obama but about the experience of this cadre of government professionals "in their 30s and 40s and early 50s" described above.

These are people who are taking charge again in a city that is vastly, vastly different than it was the last time they held power. In the 1990s these then-younger players were heavily constrained by Clinton's less-than-50% win, the ascendancy of conservative ideas, the eventual takeover of Congress by the GOP, and a media where power was much more concentrated in the hands of big news orgs and star columnists and pundit types. The result: Triangulation, cautious governance, achievements with a centrist gloss, and pitched battles with a press corps hell-bent on inflicting daily damage.

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