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.

New York's new Governor David Paterson made a startling admission to the New York Daily News in an interview this past weekend, just being published tonight. Starting in 1999, Paterson had an extra-marital affair lasting about two or three years, and his wife Michelle also had an affair during this period in their marriage.

"This was a marriage that appeared to be going sour at one point," Paterson said. "But I went to counseling and we decided we wanted to make it work. Michelle is well aware of what went on."

It's an amazing confession from a governor who has taken office because of a sex scandal ruining his predecessor — though in this case his admitted past infidelity would seem to pale in comparison to Eliot Spitzer's habitual use of outrageously top-dollar prostitutes. It was probably a good idea to get it out of the way as soon as possible, so he can get on with governing the state.

Pressure is intensifying on Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) to resign his office in light of reports that he'd paid for meetings with prostitutes. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-NY) told New York's CBS 2 that unless Spitzer resigns, Assembly Republicans will call for impeachment proceedings.

One catch: Assembly Democrats currently enjoy a 108-42 majority. So if an impeachment were to get off the ground, it would require a lot of Dems to be eager to throw Spitzer overboard.

A new SurveyUSA poll, conducted immediately after reports surfaced of Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) having paid to meet with a prostitute, shows a 58%-32% majority saying he should resign.

Support for his resignation cuts across all demographics — gender, age, race, party, ideology, marital status, region, and support for presidential candidates — with the only variation being in by just how much these different groups want him to go.

During a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton was asked by reporters for comment on the Eliot Spitzer scandal:

"I obviously am sending my best wishes and thoughts to the governor and to his family," she told reporters after visiting with reporters in a local pizza parlor.

When asked whether Gov. Spitzer could survive politically she said "let's wait and see what comes out of the next few days. Right now I don't have any comment. I think it's appropriate to wish his family well and see how things develop."

The NRCC, which is broke and in danger of sustaining more House losses, is grabbing at the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal like a lifeline, sending out e-mails about Dem incumbents with the following title:

"Will John Hall Return Spitzer's Sleazy Money?"

So far we've received five e-mails over at TPM: Three messages targeting freshman incumbents Michael Arcuri, Kirsten Gillibrand and John Hall, plus two against challengers Dan Maffei and Eric Massa, all of whom the NRCC says are now "ensnared" in Spitzer's scandal.

Though as late as the end of October the race between GOPer Jim Gibbons and Dem candidate Dina Titus was tipping towards Gibbons, it now appears to be slipping back the other way, CQ Politics reports. CQ has changed its rating of the race from "Leans Republican" to "Toss Up," a reflection less of any surge by Titus and more "the result of highly publicized controversies," CQ says. These controversies include allegations that Gibbons threatened to rape a drinks companion, charges of cronyism, and an alleged illegal nanny in the '80s. "Every poll taken since the controversies erupted has shown Gibbons’ lead diminished to within the margin of error," CQ says, paraphrasing a local expert. CQ's full analysis here.

See GOP Rep. Sue Kelly run. See Sue Kelly run from a debate with Dem challenger John Hall. See Sue Kelly run from questions about her role in Foleygate. See Sue Kelly run -- literally run -- from local news WRNN-TV reporters. See Sue Kelly run from all those things -- in our video below.

Woah. CQ's just changed the ratings on the race between Dem Jack Davis and Tom Reynolds -- who's in charge of keeping the House in GOP hands -- from "Leans Republican" to "Leans Democratic." Says CQ of Reynolds: "His past popularity, strong fundraising advantage and the Republican lean in his upstate New York district gives him at least a chance of reversing the tide running strongly against him. But all of the momentum appears on the side of...Davis." Our favorite bit: "Reynolds spokesman L.D. Platt, however, told CQPolitics.com he was `not at all' concerned about the effect the scandal would have on the congressman’s re-election campaign." CQ's full analysis here.

Only a couple of weeks ago, NRCC chief Tom Reynolds was spending all his time worrying about House races across the country. Now, with two polls today showing him trailing Dem challenger Jack Davis, Reynolds is so worried about his own race that he's called on John McCain to bail him out. Ben Smith of The Daily Politics reports that McCain will host an upstate luncheon with Reynolds on Oct. 20 -- see details here. Press question for McCain: What does he think of the fact that Reynolds' former chief of staff claims he viewed Mark Foley as such a big problem that he badgered Dennis Hastert's staff about it at least two years ago -- and all Reynolds apparently did was mention it once to Hastert?

Warning: Unfortunate choice of metaphors ahead! At last night's gubernatorial debate in New York, GOP candidate John Faso attacked Dem Eliot Spitzer for his support of gay marriage as follows:

"It's a testament to Mr. Spitzer's certainty on all of these type of issues that he says on day one he's going to force gay marriage down the throats of many New Yorkers."

When the college-aged audience began to laugh, Spitzer quipped: "Without commenting on his use of metaphors, I would sign that bill."