WaPo: Unemployment Going Up Among Washington Republicans
The Washington Post reports that Republican political appointees are now facing unemployment in the middle of a tough job market, and with K Street preferring Democrats. Said former George H.W. Bush advisor Ron Kaufman: "You have lots of folks in the House and Senate on the streets and 3,000 administration appointees on the streets at a time when the job market is shrinking anyways. It's just not a fun time."

Barack And Michelle Obama To Attend Community Service Lunch
Barack and Michelle Obama are attending a lunch today with community service volunteers in Washington, as part of Obama's "Renew America Together" initiative, calling for more people to volunteer.

Obama To Honor Powell, McCain, Biden
Barack Obama will be attending three dinners tonight to honor three different political figures from across the spectrum. First up is a dinner honoring Colin Powell, beginning at 5 p.m. ET, then a dinner honoring John McCain, also beginning at 5 p.m. ET, and finally a dinner at 6:30 p.m. ET to honor Joe Biden.

Michelle Obama, Jill Biden Hosting Concert For Military Families
Michelle Obama and Jill Biden will be attending the Kids' Inaugural, a concert honoring military families and for which free tickets were distributed by the Presidential Inauguration Committee and the Department of Defense. The event begins at 7 p.m. ET, featuring acts such as Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

Sullenberger Gets Inauguration Ticket
Captain Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who successfully landed his damaged passenger plane into the Hudson River with no deaths or serious injuries, has been given free tickets to Barack Obama's inauguration tomorrow, for both himself and his family.

NYT: Obama Reaching Out To McCain
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama has been consulting closely with John McCain on his appointments and other areas of foreign policy, seeking to build a consensus on how to pursue his own policy goals. "He said that he understands that we had differences but he wanted to let us know that he also understands that we have got to be responsible in how we leave Iraq," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Poll: Nearly 7 In 10 Blacks Believe King's Dream Is Fulfilled
A new CNN poll finds that 69% of African-Americans believe Martin Luther King's dream has been fulfilled, to 30% who say it has not. This number is actually higher than it is among whites, only 46% of whom say it has been fulfilled, to 52% who say it has not.

Today: The Minnesota Canvassing Board Handles Challenged Ballots
It's a big day in the Minnesota recount, with the state canvassing board meeting today at 1 p.m. ET for their first day of adjudicating ballots that have been challenged by either campaign and thus taken out of the count until now. This process is expected to go until the end of the week, at which point we could finally have a clear picture of where Norm Coleman and Al Franken stand.

Obama Holding Presser, Announcing Sec. Of Education
Barack Obama is holding a press conference in Chicago at 11:45 a.m. ET. He is expected to announce the appointment of Arne Duncan, currently the CEO of the Chicago public schools, as his Secretary of Education.

Obama Meeting With Economic Team
Barack Obama is holding a meeting today with Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel and many of his top economic advisors: Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Melody Barnes, Carol Browner, Jared Bernstein, Paul Volcker and Austan Goolsbee.

Report: Salazar Accepts Cabinet Post, Opening Up Senate Seat
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) has reportedly accepted the role of Secretary of the Interior in the Obama Administration. A variety of names are being floated for appointment to his Senate seat in this newly-blue state: Reps. John Salazar (Ken's brother), Ed Perlmutter and Diana Degette; Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper; Denver school superintendent Michael Bennet, and quite a few more.

McCain Holding Press Conference Today, Too
John McCain has his own press conference today, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. It's not immediately clear what the subject matter will be.

Caroline Kennedy Picks Up Support Of Slaughter, Sharpton
Caroline Kennedy has been endorsed in her bid for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat by upstate Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and Al Sharpton. The real authority to fill this seat, rests with Gov. David Paterson, of course, but he can certainly take into account public pressure and consideration for his own 2010 campaign.

Blago's Wife Apologizes To Neighbors
Rod Blagojevich's wife Patti has sent a note to their neighbors, apologizing for the disruption that has been caused by the media swarming around them: "While we signed up for this kind of attention by choosing a life in public service, you didn't. All you did was choose to live in our wonderful neighborhood."

Madigan: Blago Could Step Down Monday, Potentially Still Receive Paycheck
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said today on Meet The Press that Rod Blagojevich could potentially still receive his paycheck if he were to temporarily step down as governor without fully resigning, a move that could possibly happen Monday. "And again, I have heard as well that that is one of his main concerns - his financial circumstances right now," said Madigan.

No Obama Or Biden Events Today
Barack Obama is in Chicago today, and Joe Biden is in Delaware. There are no public events scheduled.

Field For Obama's Seat Keeps Getting Bigger
Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris (D) is now offering himself up as a potential candidate for Barack Obama's Senate seat, bringing the total field to nine people, by the New York Times' count. For his part, Burris said he would like to serve as a caretaker for two years, then not seek election in 2010 -- which could be an attractive feature to Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, if he were to take office soon and make an appointment in lieu of a special election.

Blagojevich Meets With Big-Name Lawyer
Rod Blagojevich met yesterday in Chicago with high-profile defense attorney Edward Genson, whose clientele also includes R. Kelly. Genson told the Chicago Tribune that he is not on retainer for Blagojevich, and is simply consulting.

McCain Rejects GOP Efforts To Hammer Obama On Blago Scandal
During his appearance today on ABC's This Week, John McCain talked down the GOP's efforts to tag Barack Obama with the Blagojevich scandal. "I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary," said McCain. "You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody -- right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy, stimulus package, reforms that are necessary."

McCain, On Possible Support For Palin: "My Corpse Is Still Warm"
Also his interview with George Stephanopoulos, John McCain said it was too early to say whether he would support Sarah Palin for president against the field of other potential Republican candidates. "Have no doubt of my admiration and respect for her and my view of her viability," McCain said, "But at this stage, my corpse is still warm!"

Palin's Church Damaged By Suspected Arson
Sarah Palin's church in Wasilla was damaged this weekend in a fire that is believed to have been arson. Palin's spokesperson said the governor has told the church she is sorry if the it turns out the fire was in any way connected to the "undeserved negative attention" resulting from her campaign for vice president.

Crucial Hearing In Minnesota Senate Race Today
The state canvassing board in Minnesota is meeting at 10:30 a.m. ET to decide two crucial issues: Whether to count the mounting number of absentee ballots that appear to have been rejected because of clerical errors, and whether to revert to the Election Night totals for that Minneapolis precinct where they lost 133 ballots in the recount. A decision in favor of either proposal would immensely benefit Al Franken, while deciding against them would significantly boost Norm Coleman.

No Obama Or Biden Events Today
Barack Obama is holding private meetings in Chicago today, while Joe Biden is doing likewise in Delaware. There are no public events scheduled.

Powell: GOP Can't Keep Listening To Limbaugh
Colin Powell told CNN that if the Republican Party wants to succeed again, it has to take a very hard look at its recent strategies of political polarization. "Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?" Powell said. "Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"

McCain's Top Pollster: "We Were Happy it Was Over"
At a forum last night at Harvard, top McCain pollster Bill McInturff was asked whether McCain could have pulled out a win if he'd had a few more weeks. Give McInturff credit for this honest answer, delivered without hesitation: "No -- we lost. We were happy it was over."

Feds: No Camping Out For Inauguration
In another effort to control the expected enormous crowd for Barack Obama's inauguration, federal officials have now announced that people will be forbidden from camping out overnight on the Mall. Furthermore, spectators will not be allowed to shot up to get a spot on the parade route until 7 a.m. that morning.

D.C. Councilman Proposes Modifying Extended Bar Hours
D.C Councilman Tommy Wells, who originally voted for the controversial law to allow bars to remain open for 24 hours a day in the run-up to the inauguration, now wants to modify the proposal to accommodate objections over public safety. Most notably, he would require bars to register with the city and pay a small fee for extending their hours, so that police will have a list of establishments to keep a close eye on.

McCain: Blago "A Rare Combination" Of Stupid And Nuts
John McCain appeared last night on the David Letterman show, where among other things the two swapped jokes about the Rod Blagojevich scandal and Blago's previous stated ambitions of being a reformer. When asked by Letterman if he thought Blagojevich was either stupid or nuts, McCain responded: "I think a rare combination of both."

Obama Holding Press Conference Today
Barack Obama is holding a press conference today at 12 p.m. ET in Chicago, his third press conference as president-elect. He'll probably face some big questions about the economic crisis, about his cabinet picks -- especially Hillary Clinton at State -- and who knows, maybe the dog issue will come up again.

Report: Obama Will Also Officially Name Budget Director
Barack Obama reportedly will name Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget at today's press conference. Orszag currently serves as director of the Congressional Budget Office, and his appointment to the OMB has been expected since last week.

Menendez Named As New DSCC Chairman
In a widely-expected announcement, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was officially named this morning as the new chairman of the DSCC. Menendez served as DSCC vice chairman over the past two years, and was groomed to follow the very successful Chuck Schumer in the wake of Schumer's amicable resignation yesterday.

NYT: Big Turnover From GOP To Dems On K Street
The New York Times reports that prominent Republican lobbyists are quickly stepping down as heads of their firms, as the K Street labor market deals with the new demand (and low supply) of a different creature: Democrats who can more effectively lobby the new Dem-dominated Capitol Hill. "Republicans are going to be to some extent almost irrelevant in the next two years," said former Louisiana GOP Congressman W. Henson Moore, who himself just recently retired as head of a trade group.

McCain Holding Press Conference, Too
John McCain will be holding his own press conference today, at 1 p.m. ET in Phoenix. It's not quite clear exactly what McCain will be discussing.

WaPo: James Lee Witt Could Return To FEMA
The Washington Post reports that James Lee Witt, who had a successful tenure as head of FEMA under Bill Clinton, could be called upon to come back and head up the agency for six months to a year. If Witt were to return, his central mission would be the same as it was under Bill Clinton: Fixing an agency that was universally regarded as broken.

Study: Obama's Small-Donor Base Not As Small As We Thought
A new study from the non-partisan Campaign Finance Institute finds that Barack Obama's percentage of money from donors giving $200 or less was actually the same as George W. Bush's in 2004. The key differences are that he brought in even more money than Bush did, and thus more money from small donors, and that many people who initially gave very small amounts kept coming back to give more over time, thus putting them over $200 in total.

This, from the Associated Press, is just fascinating:

More Floridians voted for John McCain than Barack Obama on Election Day, but the Democrat sealed his victory in the state by winning more early and absentee votes.

An Associated Press study of 94 percent of the state's total shows that the Republican beat Obama by almost 5 percentage points on Nov. 4, but Obama trumped McCain by 11 percentage points in early and absentee balloting. Overall, Obama beat McCain 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent in Florida, becoming only the third Democrat in 11 presidential elections to carry the state.

In other words, early and absentee voting put Obama over the top in this key Bush state. Keep in mind that the Obama campaign was very aggressive in pushing supporters to vote early, with Obama or his wife Michelle, or Joe Biden, or other surrogates pushing the message at virtually every rally.

Chalk this up as just another way that the Obama campaign revolutionized modern campaigns -- from now on, no serious presidential campaign will dare not attempt a sophisticated early-voting strategy. And it's yet another reminder, as if you needed one, of just how well-planned and executed the Obama campaign really was.

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.

Barack Obama and John McCain just spoke to the press poll for a few minutes in advance of their scheduled closed-door sit-down today. From the pool report:

Asked about the goal of the meeting, Mr. Obama said, "We're going to have a good conversation about how we can do some work together to fix up the country, and also to offer thanks to Sen. McCain for the outstanding service he's already rendered."

Sen. McCain was asked whether he would help Mr. Obama with his administration, and he responded, "Obviously."

Your pool tried to get the President-elect to answer a question on the auto industry bail out, but was shouted down by the pool sherpas. Mr. Obama finally said with a smile, "You're incorrigible."

Many of you have written in to ask (in horror) whether Obama might offer McCain an administration post, but so far aides to the two are only saying that they're expected to discuss future ways of potentially collaborating on issues like climate change, ethics reform and national service. The meeting is reportedly going to last 90 minutes, so lots of ground is likely to be covered, including (one imagines) various possible GOP cabinet or agency picks.

Meanwhile, First Read argues that we should give McCain a great deal of credit for this meeting, because "convening a meeting like this is easy for the victor, but much more difficult for the loser."

Late Update: Here's the joint statement from Obama and McCain on their meeting:

"At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time. It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family. We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation's security."

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 and John McCain will have their first post-election meeting this Monday.

The Obama transition office has released this statement:

"On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain will meet in Chicago at transition headquarters. It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality. They will be joined in the meeting by Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Rahm Emanuel."

It's interesting that this meeting is taking place in Chicago -- purely Obama territory -- rather than a more neutral ground like Washington. The reality is definitely sinking in as to who's in charge now.

The Republicans are bringing out some big guns to save incumbent GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss in the upcoming runoff in Georgia, which is expected to have a low turnout and will be all about mobilizing the base to turn out and vote. None other than John McCain, fresh off his national defeat (but having won in Georgia) will be coming into the state to campaign for Chambliss this Thursday.

McCain isn't the only one, either -- Mike Huckabee is coming in this weekend, as a personality who can help mobilize the Christian Right.

The national Dems and Obama staffers are also taking a big interest in the race, and for his part Martin has invited Barack Obama to come in and campaign for him, but the Obama team hasn't publicly responded.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pointing to this old quote from McCain himself, condemning Chambliss for the nasty attack ads he ran in 2002 against Dem Sen. Max Cleland: "I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible."

McCain's opinion of Chambliss seems to have improved since then.

Palin: My Comments About The Country Of Africa Were "Taken Out Of Context"
Sarah Palin is defending herself from the allegation that she thought Africa was a single country, and not a continent: "If there are allegations based on questions or comments I made in debate prep about NAFTA -- about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there -- then those were taken out of context." Note: There is no such country that is simply called "Africa."

McCain To Do Post-Election Appearance With Leno
John McCain will do his first post-defeat TV appearance on Jay Leno, going a similar route as Bob Dole's 1996 appearances on comedy shows in order to give the public a positive and light-hearted image. McCain will stop by the show on Tuesday, in honor of Veteran's Day.

Bill Ayers Speaks: McCain And Palin Lost Points From Attacking Me
In a new essay for In These Times, Bill Ayers comments on how his past associations with Barack Obama became a spectacle in this election. "The good news was that every time McCain or Palin mentioned my name, they lost a point or two in the polls," Ayers writes. "The cartoon invented to hurt Obama was now poking holes in the rapidly sinking McCain-Palin ship."

GOP Rep. Reichert Narrowly Wins Re-Election
Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) has been projected the winner in his rematch against 2006 Democratic opponent Darcy Burner, who has now conceded the race. With 81% of votes counted, Reichert leads by a 52%-48% margin, and the remaining votes are not likely to change the situation significantly.

Goode's Opponent Declares Victory, But Recount Looms
Tom Perriello, the Democratic challenger against right-wing Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), has declared victory with current results showing him ahead by 745 votes out of over 316,000 total votes cast. Goode has not conceded, and a recount is likely to occur, which would delay an official verdict on the race for several weeks.

Democrats Pick Up GOPer Gilchrest's Seat In Maryland
Democrats have picked up a deep-red House seat in Maryland, with Democrat Frank Kratovil defeating Republican Andy Harris by a narrow margin. Harris won the Republican nomination in a primary challenge against the incumbent moderate GOP Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, who then turned around after his defeat and campaigned for Kratovil.

McCain Headed To Georgia For Chambliss
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) will be getting some major help in his upcoming runoff against Dem challenger Jim Martin: John McCain, who carried Georgia 52%-47%, and will be coming to the state to campaign for Chambliss' re-election. The runoff could potentially have lower turnout than the November election, so it will become all about which party can better energize and bring out its base.

Chambliss Uses 9/11 Imagery In New Ad
Check out this ad from Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), as he heads into his December runoff against Democrat Jim Martin:

"When our country was under attack, we trusted Saxby Chambliss," the announcer says to images of 9/11. What's next -- will Chambliss redo his old ads from 2002 tying Dem incumbent Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden, and just Photoshop in Jim Martin?

As I reported here yesterday, Senator Harry Reid is mulling an interesting option with regard to Joe Lieberman's fate: He's considering having the Dem caucus vote at their next meeting on whether Lieberman should be allowed to keep his plum committee chairmanship.

It's not precisely clear yet how that mechanism would work. What's clear is that it would put Lieberman's fate in the hands of his Dem Senate colleagues.

Now liberal bloggers are pre-emptively mounting a campaign to pressure those Senators to come out against Lieberman, should this vote happen.

MyDD's Josh Orton, a former Senate aide, is calling on readers to telephone their own and other Senators, particularly conservative ones and Lieberman allies, and ask them whether they still support Lieberman keeping his plum committee chairmanship.

And John Aravosis at AmericaBlog is pushing his readers to do the same. This is likely to snowball, and the advantage of this approach is that it provides people at the grassroots with many more targets to pressure for Lieberman's ouster.

Meanwhile, readers who think Lieberman should pay some kind of price for suggesting that Obama sold out the troops and hasn't always put the country first can always sign this petition urging Reid to give Lieberman a push.

The relentless focus on the economy has obscured the extent to which Obama's election also represents a big win for his foreign policy vision, which was resoundingly chosen over McCain's. A pair of articles in today's New York Times shed a fair amount of light on this.

There's this one...

Barack Obama may have been elected only three days ago, but his victory is already beginning to shift the political ground in Iraq and the region.

Iraqi Shiite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward a new security agreement about American troops, and a Bush administration official said he believed that Iraqis could ratify the agreement as early as the middle of this month.

"Before, the Iraqis were thinking that if they sign the pact, there will be no respect for the schedule of troop withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011," said Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite party. "If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama."

There's also this one, which reports that newly available info calls into question the "longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression."

You'll recall that McCain attacked Obama as follows: "Obama said the invaded country should show restraint. He's been wrong on all of these."

If Obama does begin an orderly withdrawal from Iraq, and it does succeed in pressuring Iraq into resolving political differences, it's hard to overstate how massive a victory this would be for reality-based foreign policy sanity and how big a blow it would prove to GOP militarism, jingoism, and self-delusion.

Because of the campaign's relentless focus on the economy, another aspect of yesterday's win has gotten far too little attention: It represented a crushing victory for globalism and true foreign policy "realism" over GOP militarism, jingoism, and delusions about American power.

Consider this: Over the summer, a candidate with no military background went to Berlin and pledged a new era of American cooperation with the rest of the world, and in effect apologized to the world for America's unilateral belligerence.

That same candidate then returned to America and decisively defeated an extraordinarily militaristic and jingoistic campaign, one built entirely on a war hero's bio and on the insistence that American military dominance abroad is imperative for our safety.

Read more »

MSNBC and Fox give Georgia to McCain.

Georgia was one of the dream states in the Obama map-broadening strategy; Obama aides went back up on the air in the state in the race's final days, though that felt a bit more like a head-fake than a real effort to snatch the state.

Separately, in other numbers, right now McCain is leading in Indiana, 51%-47%, with nearly half reporting, though Indiana bellwether counties are favoring Obama.

In Virginia, McCain is up 54%-45% with just over 41% reporting, but keep in mind that George Allen country's returns came in overwhelmingly first. There's still Webb country to be counted.

Late Update: The race is tightening in Virginia, as more of Webb country comes in.

MSNBC and ABC call McCain's "last stand" state for Obama.

That's a very early call, suggesting a big, big win.

More soon.

Late Update: The exit polls suggest that Obama won solid victories among key groups: He won among voters with only a high-school education, among Catholics, decisively among independents, among men, white women, among whites making under $50,000, and among voters of all age groups, including 65 or over.

Late Late Update: Fox calls the state for Obama, too.

Late Late Late Update: MSNBC exits show that Dems who wanted Hillary to win the primary went for Obama overwhelmingly, 81%-19%.

Democrats are cheered by early numbers showing that Obama holds a healthy lead in Vigo County, a place that one Dem described to us as "the most reliable bellwether county in the country."

"Vigo has only been wrong on president twice since 1892," this Dem enthuses.

A story in the Indy Star concurs, adding that of the most reliable bellwhether counties in the country, Vego "has voted closest to the national margin."

Right now, in Vigo County, Obama is up 57%-42%, with 80% reporting.

More numbers coming.

It's the perfect coda to robo-slime-gate.

John McCain has now recorded his own robo-slime calls, several readers report, in which he uses Joe Biden's recent prediction that Obama would be tested by a foreign policy crisis to hit Obama as unprepared to combat terror.

Sharon Smith, a software exec in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, reports to us that her answering machine recorded the call this afternoon. She transcribed and sent in the script, which was delivered by McCain himself:

Hi. This is John McCain, and I'm calling today because while much of this election is focused on fixing our broken economy, we must also remember that dictators and terrorists worldwide are still plotting America's destruction.

Joe Biden has said that the election of Barack Obama as our president would invite a major international security crisis that Senator Obama would be unprepared to handle. The fact is that such a crisis doesn't need to occur.

I've prepared my entire life to understand what is needed to keep America safe in a dangerous world. I ask for your vote today. It couldn't be more important. Paid for by McCain-Palin 2008.

Several readers in other states report McCain's voice appearing in other robo-slime calls, too. It's funny that the McCain team apparently waited until the last day to do this.

Fox News and other conservatives on the Web are pushing hard on the story that two black panthers may be intimidating voters at a polling place in north Philadelphia.

But an Obama campaign volunteer who's been on the scene since 6:30 AM this morning tells me in a phone interview that there's been absolutely no intimidation of voters at all today. And a Pennsylvania spokesperson for Obama said the two men aren't in any way affiliated with the campaign.

Fox News' story is right here. It says one of two black panthers on the scene was "allegedly blocking the door," says another was "holding a nightstick." and adds that "the concern was that they were intimidating people who were trying to go inside to vote."

But Jacqueline Dischell, the Obama volunteer, tells me by phone that that's false.

Read more »

Poll Closings
Here are the closing times in some of the key states: Most of Indiana closes at 6 p.m. ET, with the remainder closing at 7 p.m. ET; all of Virginia, most of Florida and most of New Hampshire close at 7 p.m. ET, with Florida panhandle and the remainder of New Hampshire closing at 8 p.m. ET; North Carolina and Ohio close at 7:30 p.m. ET; Missouri and Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. ET; Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico close at 9 p.m. ET; and Nevada closes at 10 p.m. ET.

Obama Has Voted
Barack Obama has just finished voting, and was met by applause from other voters at his polling station.

Obama Greeting Voters In Indiana, Biden In Virginia, Then Off to Chicago
Barack Obama will be getting in his last bit of hand-shaking today, meeting and greeting voters in the Indianapolis area. Joe Biden will be meeting voters around Richmond, Virginia, and then going off to Chicago -- meaning that both members of the Dem ticket will be doing their final campaign activities in states that haven't gone Democratic in 44 years.

McCain Holds One More Rally, Palin Back In Alaska
John McCain is holding an Election Day rally -- a rare event -- at 2:15 p.m. ET in Grand Junction, Colorado. He will then greet voters in New Mexico, then spend Election Night in Phoenix. Sarah Palin will vote this morning in Alaska, and is then off to Phoenix.

Zogby: Final State Polls Paint Good Picture For Obama
The final round of Zogby swing-state polls gives Barack Obama the lead in several of the biggest swing states: Obama is up 49%-48% in Florida, 53%-42% in Nevada, 49%-47% in Ohio, 52%-45% in Virginia, and 51%-41% in Pennsylvania. McCain has a 50%-49% edge in North Carolina, a 50%-45% lead in Indiana, and the two are tied 49%-49% in Missouri.

Obama's Final Rally Gets Over 85,000 People
Barack Obama's final rally last night, held in Manassas, Virginia, had a strong turnout of more than 85,000 people. It's quite possible that the whole election could turn on tonight's result in Virginia.

McCain Held Home-State Rally Last Night
John McCain spoke to a crowd last night in Prescott, Arizona, winning last-minute votes in his home state. "We're closing in the polls," McCain said. "All we've got to do is get out the vote."

This Is It
If you are eligible but have not yet done so, please get out there and vote.

The final national poll from Marist is now out, and it's presenting a now-familiar number: Obama 52%, McCain 43%, with a ±3.5% margin of error. Another three percent say they'll support other candidates, and two percent are still undecided.

As we noted earlier today, a whole lot of polls have been converging around a figure of Obama receiving something in the neighborhood of 52% of the national popular vote.

Some of the pollsters have come to that conclusion by allocating undecideds, using demographic analyses and voters' answers to issue questions. Others haven't performed any allocations. But those have tend to push leaners more, getting a lower number of undecideds. In the polls where no allocation has been done, something has to happen with the remaining undecideds. So each candidates' final number should be at least a bit higher.

Polls can be wrong, of course, but it does seem worth noting that so many firms have reached roughly the same results, with all of them using different methodologies and competing for credibility.

The first results are in for the 2008 general election, with the small village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire again performing its tradition of having everyone turn out to vote at midnight and then immediately reporting the results.

And the count is a real shocker, as just read on CNN: Obama 15 votes, McCain six votes -- in a place that has only voted Democratic once in the 50 years they've been doing this tradition.

The results here aren't really predictive of anything, either for New Hampshire or the country -- Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Richard Nixon in 1968, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, plus John Kerry in 2004 all carried the state even as they lost here, and Obama carried it in the Democratic primary that he went on to lose. But the news that Obama picked up a well-known rural Republican stronghold is certainly not discouraging.

Late Update: We initially wrote that Dixville Notch has never voted Dem before -- but in fact they voted for Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Take that as another cautionary tale.