November 2008 - Posts
The Obama team has put out a statement condemning today's coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai, India. Here's the text:
"President-Elect Obama strongly condemns today's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and his thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of India. These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism. The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks. We stand with the people of India, whose democracy will prove far more resilient than the hateful ideology that led to these attacks," said Brooke Anderson, Chief National Security Spokesperson
Video: President-elect Barack Obama reportedly called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. NBC's John Yang reports. NBC's Libby Leist reports that, per a senior state department official,
Secretary Rice has briefed
President Bush on her talks with the U.S. consul general in Mumbai.
From NBC's Carrie Dann Senate candidate
Al Franken will not appeal a decision by the Minnesota State Canvassing Board, which today rejected the Democrat's request that rejected absentee ballots be included in the race's hotly contested recount.
The canvassing board's decision was perceived as a blow to Franken, who trailed Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by just 283 votes Wednesday with about 80% of the recount completed. Some of the absentee ballots appear to have been improperly rejected due to administrative errors, and the Franken team hoped that -- when inspected -- the reconsidered ballots would yield votes to close Coleman's razor-tight advantage.
In announcing its decision this morning, canvassing board members emphasized that the Franken camp's request was not rejected on legal grounds, but because it is unclear if the board has the jurisdiction to mandate that the ballots be reexamined.
Estimates by the Franken camp and the Minnesota Secretary of State indicate that the number of rejected absentee ballots is at least 6000, and could be as high as 12,000. The Democrat's team says that failing to count the small fraction of those ballots that were mistakenly discarded amounts to disenfranchisement. CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Libby Leist refused to answer questions today about her likely successor as Secretary of State - Hillary Clinton.
Asked about Clinton's apparent lock on the job at a press conference today, Rice laughed and said, "I'm going to give President-elect Obama the courtesy of waiting until he makes an announcement. And I've heard some -- some names of some great people, and I think that the department and the country will be in good hands"
Rice would also not comment on her relationship with Hillary Clinton. But spokesman Sean McCormack reminded NBC that Rice and Clinton go back a long time. Rice hosted then-first lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea for lunch at Stanford when Chelsea was looking at colleges in 1996. Rice was provost at the university at the time.
McCormack added Rice has a lot of respect for how the Clintons raised Chelsea.
From NBC's Athena Jones CHICAGO -- In response to criticism that he is departing from his promise to bring change to Washington because several members of his economic team were Beltway insiders,
Barack Obama said today that his team would combine experience with fresh thinking and his own vision for change.
"Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost," he told reporters at his third press conference in as many days. "It comes from me. That's my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going, and to make sure, then, that my team is implementing."
He also called the government’s latest attempt to help ease lending with $800 billion in new lending programs a “positive sign.”
Obama made the comments on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday in what was his third press conference this week - and the fourth since being elected. With the economic crisis dominating the front pages, Obama has used each day this week to announce members of his economic team, a sign that managing the economy would be a top priority in his first days in office.
Today he tapped former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker , an economic adviser during the campaign, to chair his President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Obama also announced that Austan Goolsbee , another campaign economic adviser, would serve as the board's staff director and chief economist as well as a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He said Goolsbee was one of the advisers who had most shaped his thinking on economic matters.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Pete Williams
Both urge the court to consider claims that President-elect Obama is not qualified to be president, because he is not a natural-born American citizen.
Persistent concerns about the qualifications of both major party candidates rank among the oddest aspects of 2008's historic campaign.
Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution provides that "No person except a natural born citizen" is eligible to be president. John McCain 's status was questioned because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone and various theories have been advanced to cast doubt on Obama's.
Lawsuits over the inclusion of their names on state general-election ballots popped up around the country and were quickly dispensed with by local courts. But two challengers have pursued their cases to the Supreme Court.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann and msnbc.com's Tom Curry If you're an Illinois lawmaker hoping for an appointment to fill
Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat, a few things might help to get
Gov. Rod Blagojevich on your side. Offer some positive publicity for the unpopular governor, perhaps, and maybe be open to the possibility of a full-term run in 2010.
Another thing that might be helpful: Spell his name right.
Per a press release from the office of
Rep. Danny Davis , an African-American congressman considered one of the front-runners for the appointment, Illinois supporters will be holding an event today to "announce their support and urge Governor Blagojavich to appoint Congressman Danny K. Davis to replace President-Elect Obama as U. S. Senator."
Whoops.
The correct spelling is Blagojevich.
If a serious name has been floated, they are likely on this list. If not, let us know.
OUR OBAMA CABINET SPECULATION LIST: -- Agriculture: Tom Vilsack, Tom Buis (Natl Farmers Union), Charlie Stenholm, Jim Leach, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Marshall Matz, John Boyd Jr. (pres, Natl Black Farmers Assn)Commerce: Bill Richardson CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS Defense: Robert Gates LIKELY, PER NBC NEWS Education: Joel Klein (NYC), Linda Darling-Hammond, Kathleen Sebelius, Colin Powell, Jim Hunt, Arne Duncan, Inez Tenenbaum, Michael Bennett, George Miller, Gaston Caperton (fmr WV gov), Bambi Cardenas (pres, U TX-Pan Am, Susan Castillo (OR supt), Michael Cohen (pres, Achieve), Christopher Edley (dean, UC-Berkeley), Michael Johnston (dir, Mapleton Expeditionary Schl of the Arts), VA Gov. Tim Kaine, Michelle Rhee (DC), Sharon Robinson (pres, Assn of Colls for Tchr Ed), Andrew Rotherman/Jonahtan Schnur (fmr Clinton advisers), Diane Shust (dir, NEA govt rels), Paul Vallas (supt, New Orleans Recovery Schl Dist), Bob Wise (fmr WV gov), Ray Mabus (fmr MS gov)Energy: Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, Kathleen Sebelius, Philip Sharp, Ed Rendell, Arnold Schwarzenegger (has said no), Al Gore, Jeff Bingaman, Jennifer Granholm, Steve Westly, Frederico Pena, Dan Reicher, Jason Grumet, Ray Mabus (fmr MS gov)HHS: Tom Daschle CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano LIKELY, PER NBC NEWS HUD: Manny Diaz (Miami mayor), Shirley Franklin (Atlanta mayor), Saul Ramirez, Jim Clyburn (reportedly not interested) Interior: Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ), , Jay Inslee, John Kitzhaber, Tony Knowles, Ken Salazar, Jamie Rappoport Clark, Brian Schweitzer, Bill RichardsonJustice (AG): Eric Holder CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS Labor: Kathleen Sebelius, Andy Stern (SEIU) (said not interested), Richard Gephardt, George Miller, David Bonior (said he’s not interested, suggested: American Rights at Work Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell), Xavier Becerra, Linda Chavez-Thompson, Antonio VillaraigosaState: Hillary Clinton CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS ) , John Kerry, Bill Richardson, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel, Richard Holbrooke, Chris Dodd, Thomas Pickering, Al Gore, Colin Kahl (CNAS fellow), Tom DaschleTransportation: Ed Rendell, Jane Garvey, Mortimer Downey, Earl Blumenauer, Steve Heminger, James Oberstar, Peter DeFazio, Federico Pena, Jeanette Sadik-Khan, Tim Kaine, John Hickenlooper (Denver mayor), Ron Sims (King County (WA) Executive), Doug Foy (Fmr pres, Convservation Law Fndtn), Parris Glendening (Fmr Gov MD)Treasury: Tim Geithner CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS Veterans Affairs: Max Cleland, Tammy Duckworth, Chet Edwards, Arnold Fisher (fmr Fisher House Fndtn chair), James Peake, William Bratton, Anthony G. Brown (MD Lt Gov)
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Savannah Guthrie Paul Volcker to play a key role.
*** UPDATE *** Modeled on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to provide an independent voice on intelligence issues, the new Economic Recovery Advisory Board will be charged with offering independent, nonpartisan information, analysis and advice to the President as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery. The Economic Recovery Advisory Board will provide regular briefings to the President, Vice-President and their economic team. The Board will be established initially for a two-year term, after which the President will make a determination on whether to continue its existence based on its continued necessity.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski Robert Gates will remain on the job at the Pentagon for at least a year. "That's been a done deal for sometime," according to the sources. "No other name has been seriously floated as a possible candidate."
Video: President-elect Barack Obama is expected to confirm that current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, appointed by President Bush, will likely remain at the Pentagon for at least a year. The deal was sealed for Gates when former Marine Corps Candidate
Jim Jones was mentioned as the probable candidate for National Security Adviser, and former Admiral
Dennis Blair was named as the likely pick for Director of National Intelligence, according to one source.
"That's a dream team that Gates could clearly work with," the source said.
Two other sources involved or familiar with the process said, as of yesterday, Gates was all but certain. CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Jeff Hanley Norm Coleman and Al Franken campaigns as the Franken campaign claims the margin has narrowed to just 84 votes between the two candidates in the Minnesota Senate.
“The number of lost ballots continues to grow and now totals in the hundreds,” Franken lead attorney Marc Elias said in a phone conference today. “We grow more and more concerned that these ballots are missing and appear to be disappearing.”
Video: As the recount nears an end in the disputed Minnesota Senate vote between incumbent Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken, the tension increases with each new ballot counted. KARE's John Croman reports. In an effort to illustrate just where some of these ballots might be hiding, Elias displayed a locked voting machine to on-looking reporters with what appeared to be an undetermined number of jammed ballots stuck in the base of the machine.
“Astonishingly, election officials have refused our request to open that machine,” Elias said. “Until that machine is opened, we will not know if that is one ballot, five ballots, whether it’s a ballot for Coleman or Franken.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Pete Williams We may know later today whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up one of the biggest unanswered questions in the war on terror: Can the government pick up people in the United States and declare them enemy combatants?
If the court agrees to hear this case, it will set up an immediate test for the Obama administration, which will catch this hot potato, forcing it to decide whether to follow the Bush administration course or set a new direction.
The case involves a man from Qatar who came to study in the U.S., but civil liberties groups -- and several federal judges -- say the same legal principle could be applied to U.S. citizens.
*** UPDATE ***
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Obama said there has been bipartisan support for his newly named economic team.
Here's what a couple of key Senate Republicans have said.
As the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Judd Gregg called the nomination of Peter Orszag to OMB Director "another positive choice by President-elect Obama as he unveils his new economic team this week." In a written statement issued this afternoon, Gregg went on to call Orszag "an excellent choice."
Gregg said the earlier selection of Tim Geithner and Larry Summers "assures that we will continue to see a clear commitment by the federal government and the new administration to do whatever is needed to ensure the solvency and orderly functioning of the credit markets and key institutions."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Robert Windrem Obama , John Brennan has asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration as CIA director.
Video: President-elect Barack Obama's top advisor in intelligence has taken his name out of the running for any position with the Obama White House. NBC's John Yang reports. Brennan was thought to be the leading candidate for the job. He was the former chief of staff to then-CIA Director George Tenet, former executive assistant to Tenet and former station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Reporters and others were asking questions about what role Brennan played in the decision to "torture" high value targets. (Full letter here. )
NBC's Savannah Guthrie adds this statement from Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter:
From NBC’s Pete Williams
If President-elect
Barack Obama nominates
Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state, many legal scholars believe it would be the former law professor's first violation of the Constitution as president.
Why? Because the Constitution forbids the appointment of members of Congress to administration jobs if the salary of the job they'd take was raised while they were in Congress. (Article I, Section 6: "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office ... the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time." Emoluments meaning salaries and benefits.)
Past presidents have confronted this problem repeatedly -- Taft in nominating Sen. Philander Knox to be secretary of state, Nixon in nominating Sen. William Saxbe to be attorney general, Carter in nominating Sen. Ed Muskie to be secretary of state, and Clinton in nominating Sen. Lloyd Bentsen to be treasury secretary, to name some notable examples.
The usual workaround is for Congress to lower the salary of the job back to what it was so that the nominee can take it without receiving the benefit of the pay increase that was approved while the nominee was in Congress. This maneuver, which has come to be known as "the Saxbe fix," addresses the clear intent of the Constitution, to prevent self-dealing.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Athena Jones President-elect Obama stressed the importance of crafting an efficient and responsible budget, while arguing that middle-class tax cuts must be put in place quickly to help stimulate the flagging economy.
“During my campaign, I talked about the need to provide a tax cut to 95% of workers,” he said. “Now, for us to get that tax cut in place, that is going to put money into the pockets of the middle class and will help them in spending for their basic needs. That can help the economy. The sooner we do that, the better.”
Video: President-elect Barack Obama announces two members of his budget office, and discusses his plans to build a "smarter government" by eliminating unneeded programs, and running the remainder in a cost-effective way. Obama took questions from reporters after announcing two more members of his economic team. He named Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Rob Nabors as Orszag's deputy. On Monday, Obama officially announced four other members, including New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as head of the National Economic Council.
Returning to a theme he mentioned often on the campaign trail, Obama said Orszag and Nabors would be charged with going through the federal budget “page by page, line by line” to develop a budget that would eliminate waste and increase government efficiency.
“If we are going to make the investments we need, we also have to be willing to shed the spending that we don't need,” he said. “In these challenging times, when we're facing both rising deficits and a shrinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It's a necessity.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro John McCain , in his first news conference since losing his bid for the presidency, applauded President-elect Obama 's cabinet appointments so far, particularly that of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) potentially as Homeland Security secretary.
Interesting, considering she hasn't been nominated yet, and convenient, since Napolitano was seen as a top rival for McCain's Senate seat in 2010.
Thank you, Mr. President-elect. A couple of chits for Obama with McCain -- (1) Eliminating a top political opponent and (2) Making nice with Joe Lieberman .
VIDEO: McCain gives his first news conference since losing his bid for the presidency. "I intend to run again," McCain said, adding that he will make an official announcement at the appropriate time. "I always expect a tough race," McCain added later, lightheartedly cocking a fist and smiling.
McCain also reflected on the campaign, saying he looks "back with pride and honor."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
As expected,
Peter Orszag , director of the Congressional Budget Office, was named as President-elect
Obama 's Office of Management and Budget Director, the Obama transition team announced today.
Rob Nabors , currently Clerk and staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, was named Orszag's deputy. Nabors served in the OMB during the Clinton administration as a senior adviser to the director.
“In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option," Obama said in a statement. "It is an imperative. We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a politician, lobbyist, or interest group. We simply cannot afford it. This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges. We will go through our federal budget -- page by page, line by line -- eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way."
Short bios, per the transition team, after the jump:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's John Talty In the hotly contested Minnesota Senate recount, missing ballots could provide another source of rancor between the two candidates. In a
Franken camp teleconference call this afternoon, lead recount attorney Marc Elias stressed the need to find missing ballots and encouraged the Minnesota Secretary of State's office to take an active role in the process.
“Missing ballots aren’t automatically an indication of foul play, but it should be a serious matter of concern,” Elias said. “We hope and call on the Secretary of State to issue clear instructions on all counties so that these ballots may be found and properly counted.”
Elias provided examples in both Clay County and St. Louis County, in which the amount of ballots cast on November 4th does not match up with the amount of ballots produced for reconsideration in the recount. He also continued to assert that the difference between Al Franken (D) and incumbent Norm Coleman remains in only the double digits. CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Athena Jones Obama stressed the need to “act swiftly and boldly” to prevent millions of job losses next year and said his economic team, which he announced today, was at work on an “aggressive economic recovery” plan that he hoped could be enacted soon after he takes office.
“Beyond any immediate actions we may take, we need a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, a plan that stabilizes our financial system and gets credit flowing again, while at the same time addressing our growing foreclosure crisis, helping our struggling auto industry, and creating and saving 2.5 million jobs, jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, modernizing our schools, and creating the clean energy infrastructure of the 21st century,” Obama said. “I've asked my economic team to develop recommendations for this plan and to consult with Congress, the current administration, and the Federal Reserve on immediate economic developments over the next two months.”
Video: President-elect Barack Obama unveils his economic team and vows to use a massive stimulus program to get the economy back on track. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports .The economic team will brief Obama daily, and he plans to provide an overview of their initial recommendations to the broader public and to the new Congress in the hopes that legislators can begin work on a recovery plan in early January so that his administration can “hit the ground running.”
The president-elect promised to honor the public commitments the Bush administration has made in dealing with what he called a financial crisis of historic proportions, said the current administration must use the authority it has “forcefully” in the coming weeks to stabilize the current situation and added that economic recovery would also require the government to make spending cuts and sacrifices, a subject he plans to speak more about at a press conference here tomorrow.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro, Mark Murray and Doug Adams
Delaware Gov.
Ruth Ann Minner will appoint longtime
Joe Biden loyalist, adviser and former chief of staff
Ted Kaufman to fill Biden’s Senate seat when the vice-president-elect resigns.
Per a Biden spokeswoman, the longest-serving Delaware senator will resign within the next 40 to 50 days.
"As you know, VP-elect Biden has been a senator for 36 years and is chairman of a major Committee,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander tells NBC News. “He has two transitions going on, with the Senate and the Foreign Relations Committee, and he wants to ensure that they are as smooth as possible.”
Biden won re-election to another six-year term in November (he was allowed to be on the ballot for both the presidential ticket and U.S. Senate seat). Under state law, however, a successor would serve through just 2010 and then there would be a special election for the seat.
So, given Kaufman's ties to Biden, is he just a placeholder for Biden’s son Beau , Delaware’s attorney general, who is currently on a one-year stint as an attorney with the Delaware National Guard in Iraq?
In a (lengthy) statement from Biden, he references his son and even indicates he would have been open to having him appointed to the seat. (Full statement after the jump.) Last week, Beau rejected the notion of being appointed.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
-- The
Des Moines Register : "After two years of a non-stop political campaign, if anyone came to hear a political speech, 'you might want to consider getting involved in some kind of recovery program,' Jindal joked during a speech at the Sheraton Hotel in West Des Moines. Instead, Jindal focused on culture and family during a speech to an audience of 800 at a fundraiser for the socially conservative Iowa Family Policy Center. 'It all starts with family and builds outward from there,' said the first-term Jindal, who was making his first visit to Iowa. 'As a parent, I'm acutely aware of the overall coarsening of our culture in many ways.'"
-- The AP : "He said Americans need a break from politics, but more importantly, 'it is time for us to work together on solutions.' And, he said that means it's time to get behind the newly elected Congress and president-elect Barack Obama to overcome the country's 'substantial challenges.' 'Whether you voted for him or not, whether you supported the new leaders of Congress or not, they're our president, they're our Congress, they need our prayers, they need our support,' he said." New Orleans Times-Picayune : "Rather than emphasizing traditional themes that motivate social conservatives, such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage, Jindal talked about his efforts as governor to impose harsher penalties on child sex offenders and his efforts as a parent to keep his young children shielded from the coarser elements of modern culture. 'The success of America and the realization of the American dream relies on a common sense of culture,' he said."
From NBC's Mark Murray Katon Dawson , the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, today officially announced his bid to become the next chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“I am running to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee because I’m ready to help lead our party’s turnaround," he said in a statement. "We need to turnaround our fortunes in many regions of the country. We need to turnaround our grassroots organization, our fundraising, our use of technology and new media, and our candidate recruitment. We must move forward with the confidence that our message of optimism, hope, and freedom still resonates in the hearts of our fellow Americans.”
But in a sign that this will be a contentious contest for RNC chair, opponents to Dawson's candidacy passed along to First Read a South Carolina newspaper article noting that Dawson stepped down from a whites-only country club back in September. "He resigned ... as The State pursued an article on his membership in the club and his role in an internal push to admit African-Americans as members."
More from the article: "Dawson wrote a letter to club leaders Aug. 20, urging them to allow people of color. 'It is with only the best interests of our club’s proud tradition at heart that I inform you of my intent to work to change the club practice that would exclude membership for anyone based on any specific ethnicity,' he wrote in the letter obtained by The State."
Other announced and potential contenders for RNC chairman include Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis , current RNC chair Mike Duncan , former Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman , and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele .
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Tim Geithner was officially named Treasury Secretary by President-elect Obama's transition team. Several other members of the Obama White House economic team were also named. Included in that list is Larry Summers, the controversial former Harvard president but also a highly respected economic mind, as director of his National Economic Council.
Video: Saying he intends to move "swiftly and boldly," President-elect Barack Obama officially announces his nominees for treasury secretary, Council of Economic Advisors Chair and National Economic Council Director. “Vice President-elect Biden and I have assembled an economic team with the vision and expertise to stabilize our economy, create jobs, and get America back on track," Obama said in a statement moments before his second news conference since winning the presidential election Nov. 4th. " Even as we face great economic challenges, we know that great opportunity is at hand -- if we act swiftly and boldly. That’s the mission our economic team will take on."
Bios, per the transition team, after the jump as is our cabinet speculation list:
CONTINUED >>
A note from all of us at First Read:
For the Thanksgiving holiday, we are suspending our morning note (including First Thoughts) for next week.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Also Jackie Norris will become Michelle Obama's chief of staff. Other announcements: Catherine M. Russell as chief of staff to Jill Biden; Cynthia Hogan as counsel to the vice President; and Moises V. Vela, Jr. as director of administration for the office of the vice president.
“This group of public servants will bring decades of expertise to my administration, and I'll rely on their counsel and hard work as we fix our struggling economy and meet the great challenges of our time," President-elect Obama said in a statement. "Vice President-Elect Biden and I look forward to continuing our work with these outstanding individuals who have dedicated their careers to a better America.”
Biden's quote: “These individuals all possess incredible integrity and an unmatched commitment to public service. Cathy Russell has a unique blend of policy and management experience, combined with an ardent commitment to ending injustices around the world. Cynthia Hogan is a brilliant lawyer who was instrumental in guiding the Senate Judiciary Committee though some of its most important challenges in both crime control and judicial selection, and has shown incredible legal acumen and integrity over her career. I’m grateful to have Moe Vela, a man with experience in White House management and broad outreach skills on my team. Their combined experience, diverse leadership and esteemed counsel will be essential in helping the Obama-Biden Administration bring the change we need to America.”
Bios, per the transition team, after the jump:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro The Obamas have apparently
chosen to send their daughters to the Washington, D.C.-private school Sidwell Friends.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Clinton Senate office...
"We're still in discussions, which are very much on track," writes Clinton Senior Adviser Philippe Reines. "Any reports beyond that are premature."
From Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell
Video: NBC News has confirmed that President-elect Barack Obama will announce his economic team on Monday, tagging New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner for treasury secretary. NBC's Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell report. Barring last minute changes, the nominee for Treasury Secretary will be NY Fed President
Tim Geithner -- a career Treasury official under both Bob Rubin and Larry Summers -- who actually had worked at the Treasury in three administrations under five Secretaries -- going back to 1988.
Geithner has been a key player in the current economic crisis -- helping Treasury Secretary
Hank Paulson and his team manage the wall street bailout.
Former Treasury Secretary Summers -- also considered for the post -- might still play a major future role in the Obama administration, according to sources. Summers came under fire from women's groups because of controversial comments he made about gender issues while President of Harvard, but sources say the decision to choose Geithner had more to do with Obama's interest in "change" and getting someone new on the team.
Also expected Monday -- an announcement that former U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson , will be Commerce Secretary.
Paul Volcker is expected to play a continuing advisory role -- not clear if he would have an appointed position.
Other economic appointments for the White house staff will likely include Dan Tarullo, a top Obama advisor, possibly as head of the National Economic Council.
Other economic posts -- perhaps at the Council of Economic advisors in the White House -- could be filled by Obama economic advisors Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman.
*** UPDATE *** Msnbc.com's Al Olson
Counting Conundrum: The ongoing Minnesota recount saga From NBC’s Jeff Hanley Franken campaign, in a teleconference call today declared that the gap in votes between Al Franken (D) and Norm Coleman (R) is now only separated by a double-digit total vote margin.
Citing evidence from Franken recount observers, Elias said that, as of last night, 51.1% of all ballots cast have been counted and that Franken had picked up votes.
The Franken campaign also believes the remaining ballots that have not yet been counted will lean in favor of Franken, a stark contrast from the Coleman campaign's assertion that the recount would be frontloaded with Franken ballots.
The Franken campaign also accused the Coleman campaign of frivolous ballot challenges. Giving an example of one such instance, Elias said the Coleman campaign believes that, “If you voted for
John McCain , it is inconceivable that you didn’t intend to vote for Norm Coleman.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Abby Livingston Jim Martin .
In a throwback to how Republicans regularly targeted suburban voters, Freedom’s Watch, a 501 (c)(4) group, and the NRSC have launched ads fingering Martin as weak on crime as a state legislator.
In the Freedom’s Watch ad, called “Family Safety,” a woman’s voice over says, “Nothing’s more important than your family’s safety. That’s why we have laws to protect them from harm.”
The ad then cuts to dramatic music and grainy images of Martin and accuses him of voting against stiffer penalties for drunk drivers and tougher sentences for domestic abuse.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann They're on notice.
At her weekly press briefing this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated a stern call to America's automakers to lay out a plan for their own survival in advance of a proposed lame duck session to take up the issue of federal aid to the industry.
"We have some problems because they keep changing the request," she said of automakers, who have ruffled Congressional feathers by appearing unenthusiastic about receiving funds earmarked for innovation rather than immediate assistance to promote liquidity. "We want it in writing. What is it that they want [the federal funds] for? We stand open to be helpful."
Video: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that the auto industry is an important part of the U.S. economy, but the Big Three need a plan to help return to viability and accountability, rather than just taking government money and continuing on. The Speaker of the House said that she and
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have drafted a letter to the CEOs of the big three automakers designed to "giv[e] them some idea of what we do mean by viability and accountability to the American taxpayer."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro Ray Mabus is being considered for multiple Obama cabinet positions, according to an informed Democratic source. Among the positions -- Secretary of Education, Energy and Ambassador to the United Nations.
Mabus was one of the earliest supporters of Obama, a key one at the time as a former Southern white statewide officeholder. He also did a lot of stumping for Obama in both the primary and the general, and there's a sense among some Mabus supporters that he's more than earned serious consideration for a fairly top appointment.
From NBC's Pete Williams Michael Mukasey has been released from the hospital, about 12 hours after he was admitted for observation last night following his collapse during a speech.
A Justice Department spokeswoman says Mukasey apparently fainted last night. She said a series of tests this morning found no sign of a stroke or anything heart-related.
She said all the tests were negative for stroke. He had a clear MRI and normal CT scan, and doctors have ruled out a mini-stroke or TIA. He had a normal stress test as well. His doctors say he's in good shape and "beat the machine." They also said he had a stress echo cardiogram which was normal.
*** UPDATE ***
To all DOJ employees:
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann So is It done? Call us skeptical, but why is it hard to believe that the news that Obama and Clinton have worked everything out and the appointment will take place just after Thanksgiving is something that will hold? There's going to be more pauses and skeptical stories about this happening between now and whenever the State announcement happens. It's the only way, right? Just consider this passage in today’s New York Times : “One friend said Mrs. Clinton decided late Wednesday to say no, reasoning that she would have more freedom in the Senate. By midday Thursday, the friend said, she was ‘back in the indecisive column again.’ By the end of the day, another associate said she could accept by Friday.”
Video: NBC Deputy Political Director Mark Murray offer his first read on why Hillary Clinton appears ready to leave the Senate for the State Department. ***
Leak soup: Speaking of the Clinton-Obama drama, everyone is now noting all the transition leaks and how frustrating they must be for the usually disciplined Obama folks. Today’s
Washington Post has a good piece on why they’re happening -- and where they’re coming from. “‘There is nothing they can do about it -- vetting and FBI background checks require a lot of calls, and that leads to leaks,’ explained Steve Elmendorf, a longtime aide to former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and now a lobbyist in Washington. And unlike in a campaign, there is now simply more information to disseminate and more outlets chasing the ever-elusive scoop. ‘It's the era of the Internet; what do you expect?’ joked a former Clinton White House senior adviser who is not involved in the transition process.”
*** Dingell gets buried: Only in Congress’ antiquated seniority system is change defined by a member of Congress elected in '74 replacing a member of Congress elected in '55. But that’s exactly what happened yesterday when Henry Waxman ousted fellow Democrat John Dingell from chairing the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Of course, the big issue for Dingell may have been the anger at the auto industry, and if that vote had taken place at another point in the year, Dingell might have had a better chance of surviving. But taking place just one day after the auto CEOs disastrous Hill testimony, Dingell had a steeper hill to climb to survive. By the way, the six-year long campaign by Pelosi to unseat Dingell (it began in '02 when she supported Dingell's primary opponent) has finally come to fruition. Let there be no doubt about the power of the speaker.
*** All vacancies: With the likely nominations of Napolitano to Homeland Security and Clinton to State, that means we’re going to have some fun replacement appointments to watch in Arizona (GOV) and New York (SEN) -- in addition to the replacements that already have to happen in Illinois (SEN) and Delaware (SEN) for Obama’s and Biden’s seats. And if Kathleen Sebelius seems headed to either Labor or Energy, as we reported yesterday, then that will mean another appointment in Kansas (GOV). In the next few weeks, in fact, we might have more trouble keeping track of all the new replacements than the new members of the Obama cabinet. Oh, and be sure to keep this in mind: Because Arizona doesn’t have a lieutenant governor, that means that the GOP Secretary of State Jan Brewer would replace Napolitano if she takes the job at Homeland.
Video: Bloomberg News’ Margaret Carlson talks about the recent additions to Barack Obama’s Cabinet as well as speculation that Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is being eyed as Secretary of Homeland Security. ***
Cars and 2010: NBC’s Ken Strickland yesterday spotted these three senators at a Senate press conference announcing a bipartisan agreement to help the automotive industry: Kit Bond, Arlen Specter, and George Voinovich. What do they have in common besides hailing from car-producing states? All three are up for re-election in 2010.
*** Dems gaining ground in the South: Yesterday, we once again wrote about how the Republican Party appears to be concentrated in the South, noting that six of the party’s 13 incoming House and Senate leaders will now hail from that part of the country. But a House Democratic aide points out to us that they’ve gained ground there on the Republicans. Per numbers from the National Committee for an Effective Congress, Republicans enjoyed a 100-to-63-seat advantage over Democrats in the South heading into the 2006 midterms. Now, after the election two weeks ago, the GOP’s lead there has been reduced to 86-76 (with the LA-4 race still undecided) -- and the South is the only part of the country where the party has an advantage. In the East, Democrats lead Republicans, 68-15; in the Midwest, Dems are up 50-40, and in the West, they’re ahead 63-34.
*** The remaining races: In Georgia’s Senate run-off, Obama has cut a 60-second radio ad for Jim Martin (D), while Al Gore campaigns for Martin on Sunday… In Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports that on Day Two of the recount, Norm Coleman’s (R) lead over Al Franken (D) dropped to just 136 votes with about 46% of the vote counted… And in Ohio, a judge ruled that the provisional ballots must be counted in the extremely close House race between Mary Jo Kilroy (D) and Steve Stivers (R), which Stivers leads by 149 votes. Counting the provisional ballots would seem to benefit Kilroy.
Countdown to Georgia Senate run-off: 11 days
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The Washington Post front-pages, “Barack Obama was famously able to impose discipline and control over his presidential campaign, but it didn't take long for him to discover that running a transition is something quite different. Top aides to the president-elect had hoped to take a methodical approach to selecting and unveiling their new team, starting with the announcements of top national security and economic players shortly after Thanksgiving. But leaks and rumors have disrupted that plan, suggesting that the ‘no-drama Obama’ mantra famously repeated by his staff may not be as operational in Washington as it was at campaign headquarters in Chicago.”
More: "Obama has not officially announced any Cabinet appointments, but transition officials have reluctantly confirmed that former senator Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) will be nominated as secretary of health and human services, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is the top choice for the Department of Homeland Security, and Eric H. Holder Jr. is likely to be the attorney general pick. Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) is on track to be nominated for the job of secretary of state after Thanksgiving, transition aides said. And late last night, Obama aides were confronted with unconfirmed talk that retired Gen. James L. Jones could be tapped for national security adviser."
The AP with the big news: “President-elect Barack Obama is on track to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after Thanksgiving, an aide to his transition said Thursday. One week after the former primary rivals met secretly to discuss the idea of Clinton becoming the nation's top diplomat, the two sides were moving quickly toward making it a reality, barring any unforeseen problems.The transition aide told The Associated Press that the two camps have worked out financial disclosure issues involving Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the complicated international funding of his foundation that operates in 27 countries. The aide said Obama and Hillary Clinton have had substantive conversations about the secretary of state job. Clinton has been mulling the post for several days, but the transition aide's comments suggested that Obama's team does not feel she is inclined to turn it down.”
Should the Clinton-for-State deal fall apart, there is a Senate leadership package awaiting Clinton, including a still unnamed unelected leadership post and a role in the health care debate along side Ted Kennedy. The New York Times : “The discussions about an enhanced position for Mrs. Clinton are factoring into her deliberations over joining the cabinet, the officials said. Mrs. Clinton, the junior senator from New York, is wrestling with whether to abandon her independence to become the nation’s top diplomat or remain in a chamber where lack of seniority limits her influence.”
CONTINUED >>
"The fear is back," the Boston Globe writes. "The fear in capital markets is different from the near panic experienced in September and October, before governments around the world began organizing plans to deal with a global credit freeze. The cause is different this time, and many of the symptoms vary. But this fear may be more serious, and it's driving markets even further down a very dark hole. That was painfully clear to anyone watching stock markets over the past two days, as the Dow Jones industrial average sunk by 872 wrenching points, or 10.3 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, struggling through its worst year in an 80-year history, sunk to its lowest level in 11 years." raced to approve legislation Thursday to keep unemployment checks flowing through the December holidays and into the new year for a million or more laid-off Americans whose benefits are running out." try again in a second lame-duck session the week of Dec. 8 -- if auto executives come up with a plan. 'Unless they can show us a plan, we can't show them the money,' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."
More from Roll Call on the second lame duck session: "Punting the issue until December gives Pelosi and other Democratic leaders time to craft legislation that could include other carrots to assuage environmentalists and the public, as well as more time for the pressure to build on reluctant lawmakers. And requiring the auto companies to come back to the table puts pressure on the companies to propose concessions and accountability measures that would give lawmakers more political cover."
Henry Waxman's defeat of John Dingell for the post of Energy and Commerce Committee chairman means Waxman will have an enhanced role on the Hill and may take the lead on climate change legislation. Environmental groups are ecstatic.
The Washington Post's Kane notes that Dingell's loss is a defeat for U.S. automakers, while The Hill writes that the Californian's win shows a congressional shift to the Left.
Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel called Dingell's defeat "the burial of the seniority system ."
Stevens bid farewell to the Senate in an at times emotional speech on the floor.
"Fred Thompson is going back to the small screen after his foray into Republican presidential politics over the last year. He campaigned heavily for eventual nominee John McCain, and had recently tried to gain support to be in charge of the Republican National Committee. But his former finance chairman, B.C. 'Scooter' Clippard, said Thompson told him Wednesday that he was returning to acting and dropping his RNC bid. 'He seriously considered it, but he called and said that it was not in the cards,' Clippard said."
In his latest National Journal column, political analyst Charlie Cook notes that the Republican Party is now supported by just two pillars: social conservatism and tax cuts -- at any cost. “One might think that with all of the extra time on their hands Republicans would spend some of it thinking about what their inadvertent or misguided repositioning has reaped. Certainly, there are brilliant Republican strategists who are painfully aware of what has happened—and predicted it. But from most Republican leaders we are hearing shopworn shibboleths like, “We lost because we weren’t conservative enough.” If that mind-set prevails, the only way for Republicans to regain real power will be to wait until Democrats completely implode and to hope that Republicans can win at that point simply because they aren’t Democrats.”
GEORGIA: Obama has cut a new 60-second radio ad for Jim Martin (D), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. “In the ad, Obama says Martin ‘supports my plan to cut middle-class taxes’ and calls the former state lawmaker ‘a man of his word.’ ‘I know he’ll do everything he can to help me change Washington and get America moving again,’ Obama says.”
National Journal’s Kirk Victor writes about the pros and cons for Obama to do more than cut a radio ad and actually campaign for Martin. “What Obama must decide, if he hasn’t already, is whether trying to help an underdog in a state that he didn’t carry himself is worth the political capital it would cost, especially if that candidate ends up losing.” More: “The refusal, so far, by the Obama transition team to commit to his appearance says a great deal about the caution -- some would say prudence -- of the president-elect and his advisers. They have spent plenty of time learning from past transitions. They know that 16 years ago another Senate race in Georgia also resulted in a runoff. President-elect Clinton decided to spend political capital to boost a friend, first-term Sen. Wyche Fowler,” who ended up losing.
Al Gore campaigns for Martin on Sunday.
MINNESOTA: The Star Tribune reports on Day Two of the recount. “With about 46 percent of the 2.9 million ballots counted by Thursday evening, the gap between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken continued to close. Coleman was leading by only 136 votes, a drop from his unofficial lead of 215 that was confirmed Tuesday by the state Canvassing Board. The figures represent a compilation of recount data reported to the secretary of state and gathered by the Star Tribune.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell Bush 41 National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft is one of the people whom Barack Obama has been consulting about how to craft his national security team. Knowledgeable sources say Obama reached out to Scowcroft two days ago to discuss defense and national security issues.
Scowcroft, who first served as President Ford's national security adviser, was an early and vocal critic of the Iraq war -- starting in August 2002. That criticism cost the retired Air Force General his position as head of President Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Scowcroft is very close to Defense Secretary Bob Gates , who is considered a possible holdover for the cabinet.
Another key adviser to the president-elect on defense matters -- Sen. Jack Reed -- is a leading member of the Armed Services Committee who traveled with Obama to Iraq and Afghanistan. Reed is also very close to Gates.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Alice Rhee Obama transition official tells NBC News that they've received more than 200,000 work applications through the official transition web site, www.change.gov . since it went operational shortly after the election.
The same official points out: "There was an incredible amout of enthusiasm in the campaign and people all across the country are carrying that same energy into the transition."
And they don't seem terribly surprised by the influx of applications coming their way -- pointing out, after all, that more than three million people donated money to the campaign.
Still, that's quite a stack of resumes.
From NBC's Erika Angulo President-elect
Obama is two months away from being sworn in, but some of Washington’s most experienced political minds are already envisioning what 2012 will look like. Participants at a panel organized by the
National Journal concluded that Republicans should be concerned about the next presidential election.
One reason for potential GOP concern, said panelists, is "Millennials," or young voters. Ruy Teixeira, author of Red, Blue and Purple America: The Future of Election Demographics, says voters born after 1970 have become more and more Democratic. He estimated there will be 64 million “Millennials” in 2012. CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann and Ken Strickland Incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel , on Capitol Hill today to meet with House and Senate Republicans, says that the lines of communication will run across the aisle in an Obama administration. John Ensign , who met with Emanuel today. "He said he promised to get back us on issues within 24 hours."
VIDEO: Rahm Emanuel speaks to reporters during a day of meetings with Republicans on Capitol Hill. The former Illinois lawmaker's visit to the Hill today to meet with Ensign's Senate leadership colleagues, as well as with newly-selected House bigs
Eric Cantor and
Mike Pence , was intended as a gesture of bipartisan goodwill on the part of the new administration. Emanuel told reporters this afternoon that he was directed by Obama to request the series of meetings with GOP leaders to indicate that the new administration will "welcome their ideas," emphasizing that "the challenges facing the country require that people of both parties work together to solve those problems." (Today's meetings, he added, are in addition to "twenty plus" phone calls to members of the Republican conference in the time since he was named as Obama's top White House aide.)&
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland and Mike Viqueira
Members were unhappy with what they heard this week from auto industry execs during hearings and want them to come up with a concrete plan soon.
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell Rep. John Dingell turned partly along generational lines - with young turks lining up against the old - and partly because of Dingell's record on environmental issues.
On a human level, many of the Democrat's colleagues are sad to see Dingell's defeat come shortly before the Michigan representative celebrates the 53rd anniverary of his arrival on the Hill. In February, he will become the longest-serving House member ever in U.S. history.
There was a last minute attempt to forge a compromise, which would have had Dingell announce that it would be his last term as Chairman. But neither Dingell or challenger Henry Waxman would go for half measures.
Waxman's victory in the contest for the Committee's gavel could set up a leadership fight for the California lawmaker's subcommittee chairmanship - with some more aggressive members wanting to challenge the next ranking member - Rep. Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira and Carrie Dann In the waning hours of the 110th Congress, shakeups on both sides of the Capitol dome this morning marked defeats for two of the Hill's most long-serving members.
In the House, Rep. John Dingell , a member of Congress since 1955 who has served as the chairman or ranking member of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee for 28 years, was defeated for another term as chair by California Rep. Henry Waxman . Waxman has himself served since 1975, ten fewer terms than Dingell, whose tenure in the House is the longest in the body's history.
On the other side of the rotunda, Sen. Ted Stevens , at 40 years the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, said goodbye on the Senate floor today. Stevens was defeated in his reelection bid by Democrat Mark Begich , the mayor of Anchorage who was six years old when Stevens was first appointed to his Senate seat.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Cherelle Kantey Mike Huckabee made his first stop on his tour promoting his new book, “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America” book tour.
Huckabee gleefully offered a hearty handshake while autographing his campaign memoir.
The book, released yesterday, has stirred some controversy in the media over its apparent swipes at his former rival for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney . In several instances in the book, Huckabee charged Romney for being out of touch with voters and for flip-flopping on certain issues. In an example from a debate where Romney was asked about how to help the economy, Huckabee writes that Romney was more focused on reciting lines about his business expertise than on helping the average American.
“I stood there in stunned silence when he went into his well-prepared, programmed answer about how we needed to invest more in high-yield stocks,” he writes. “That moment was perhaps the single most revealing of what was wrong with our party. We had people leading us who knew the country club, but not Sam’s Club.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd According to House Democratic sources,
Henry Waxman beat
John Dingell in a 137-122 vote to be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Dingell currently chairs.
From NBC's Chuck Todd Earlier today , we mentioned how some are concerned that Hispanics might be shut out of high-profile cabinet positions. Well, First Read has learned that Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is in the vetting process for two potential posts: HUD and Transportation -- with HUD apparently the job offer he's most likely to get. If Diaz is tapped, he'd be the first major Hispanic pol to get a nod for a cabinet post.
Still, quite a few key Hispanic supporters of Obama have been concerned by the lack of Hispanics being considered for some of the higher-profile posts.
Interestingly, George W. Bush's first HUD secretary -- Mel Martinez -- also was a Florida Cuban pol who headed a major metro area. Martinez is now senator of Florida.
*** UPDATE *** Miami Herald investigation about Miami's public housing mess. According to the paper, the city and county tore down much of the public housing with promises to replace it with better options. But much of the new housing was never built, and what was built was not filled in a timely manner.
In the end, HUD ended up taking over the county-run Miami-Dade Housing Agency in April 2007, saying it "demonstrated a pattern of financial irresponsibility and mismanagement." And last summer, Habitat for Humanity came to Miami to build affordable housing on the land the local government had failed to re-develop.
Per the Herald, "Diaz acknowledged problems in the housing program but said he inherited them and has worked to put safeguards in place, such as creating penalties for affordable-housing developers who sell city-subsidized land for profit. 'Everybody makes mistakes,' he said. 'But if you look at that record and if you contrast it to where the city was before I got here ... I think that's a good news story.'" [CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the Miami-Dade Housing Agency as the Miami Housing Authority.]
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann Tracking the transition : Today's unofficial pick of the day appears to be Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security. A Napolitano pick would show that Obama views the immigration part of the DHS job as the priority. Of course, like every leak out of the vetting process, nothing is official; in fact one Dem source says that while she’s a leading contender for DHS, it’s not the only post she’s being vetted for. Another governor to keep an eye on today as the next potential "leaked" pick: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The vetting process is well under way for her, and the most likely spot for her appears to be Labor secretary, although she might also wind up at Energy. But Labor makes the most sense, as both the business community and labor seem to be fans. As for the media obsession over the Hillary Clinton pick, it appears Bill is making it clear he's cooperating fully. Bloomberg News reports that he's turned over to the Obama vetting operation the entire list of 200,000+ donors to his library and foundation. By the way, while we keep hearing about leaked picks for Commerce (Pritzker), Labor (Sebelius), DHS (Napolitano), and HHS (Daschle), it's interesting that there is nary a peep in the chattering class about Treasury secretary. How come?
Video: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first read on the Clinton’s trying to force Barack Obama’s hand on the secretary of state position and some of the latest contenders to join Obama’s cabinet. ***
Como se dice, "Shut out"? As Obama's cabinet takes shape, there's a glaring omission: Hispanics. With Bill Richardson apparently destined to be the bridesmaid in the secretary of state sweepstakes, some key Hispanic supporters tell First Read that they are concerned that no Hispanics will fill any of the major White House or cabinet positions. It's a bit frustrating to some leading Hispanic Democrats, especially considering how decisively Hispanics went for Obama in this election. Hispanics, literally, were the difference between winning and losing for Obama in at least two states, New Mexico and Indiana. But for the future of the Democratic Party, if Obama truly does have designs on a realignment, he needs to cultivate Hispanics into the Democratic tent. So far, many Hispanics are not happy with the leaks coming out of the transition and the lack of Hispanic names being floated outside of Richardson.
*** The path to 60 : If Democrats don’t reach 60 Senate seats this year -- by winning both the run-off in Georgia or the recount in Minnesota -- they’ll probably get there in 2010. Why? Because for yet another cycle, Democrats are playing with a favorable hand. They have to defend 16 seats, and outside the one held by Harry Reid (more on him below), as well as the ones that Obama and Biden are giving up, they look pretty safe for now. By comparison, Republicans will have 19 Senate seats to defend, including potentially challenging ones like Mel Martinez in Florida (even if he runs), Jim Bunning in Kentucky, and David Vitter in Louisiana. Folks like John McCain (especially if Janet Napolitano runs, although that looks less likely right now), George Voinovich, and even Chuck Grassley might have real races on their hands or could be candidates for retirement. In short, even with the Two-Year Itch, Democrats look more likely to pick up Senate seats than Republicans do at this early juncture. That perception could make it especially difficult for incoming NRSC Chair John Cornyn when it comes to the three R’s: retirements, recruiting, and resources. Indeed, on the money front, Republicans might decide that they have better opportunities with House and gubernatorial races in 2010. Then again, it’s early. At this point heading into the 2005-6 cycle, Dems looked like they would pick up just a couple of Senate seats, versus the six they ended up winning. But to take advantage of an environment that becomes more favorable, you need help with the three R’s.
*** When Harry met re-election : With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid up for re-election in 2010 -- and with him being potentially the Dems’ most vulnerable incumbent -- it’s worth keeping an eye about how his actions in the Senate might affect his re-election bid. Indeed, is this one of the reasons that he and most of his colleagues gave Joe Lieberman just a slap on the wrist on Tuesday? You might have forgotten it, but Reid narrowly won re-election in 1998 by just slightly more than 400 votes. Of course, that race was against John Ensign, who ended up winning a Senate seat two years later. After the most recent election, in which Obama won the Silver State and Dems won Jon Porter’s (R) House seat, Democrats have to feel better about winning in Nevada. But it still remains a swing state.
*** Southern comfort : Right before the election, we noted the danger of the Republican Party becoming a regional -- i.e., southern -- party. Well, after the House and Senate conducted its leadership elections in the past two days, we know that southerners will now fill six out of the GOP's combined 13 leadership positions in the two chambers. They are: House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (VA), House Conference Secretary John Carter (TX), NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (TX), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), Senate Conference Chair Lamar Alexander (TN), and NRSC Chair John Cornyn (TX).
*** Just wonderin’ : But it does seem as if Michael Steele is trying to win the early media war for RNC chair? In fact, because of Steele’s FOX News contract, he’s on the air daily talking to GOP partisans who watch that news channel. So it's a grassroots advantage that neither Saul Anuzis, nor Katon Dawson, nor others have. At what point do you put FOX down as an endorser of Michael Steele's campaign?
*** The remaining Senate races : In Minnesota, with about 18% of the vote recounted, the Minneapolis Star Tribune says that Norm Coleman’s (R) lead is now at 174 votes, down from the 215-vote lead that was certified on Tuesday. “Franken's gain owed much to a swing of 23 votes in the Democratic stronghold of St. Louis County -- the result of faintly marked ballots and older optical scanners that failed to read the marks.” … And for the Georgia run-off, there’s tons of coverage of Bill Clinton campaigning yesterday for Jim Martin (D). and
*** More on Minnesota : The Minnesota recount is going to be some story to follow. In addition to the Star Tribune is doing its best to update the count by incorporating new tallies into the official count, Minnesota Public Radio is posting various ballots being challenged. This, in fact, is hours of fun.
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The big news of the day is the speculation that Janet Napolitano has been tapped to be Obama's Homeland Security secretary. The pick of Napolitano indicates that immigration may have been Obama's primary concern in making his decision on this post. Napolitano taking the gig means she'll be out of the 2010 Arizona Senate speculation, and probably clears the way for McCain to have a relatively easy re-election.
In order to make things a tad smoother for Tom Daschle's HHS confirmation, his lobbyist wife is giving up her lobbying career . AP reports. "Transition officials for President-elect Barack Obama said that other candidates have been vetted for the job as well, but that Clinton has emerged as the leading contender. The vetting of the New York senator's husband, former president Bill Clinton, has been particularly intense, the officials said, adding that he has offered several concessions to help his wife get the post…. Hoping to ease concerns about possible conflicts of interest, Bill Clinton has shifted a longstanding policy and agreed to publicly disclose the names of all donors who have given more than $250 to his presidential library and foundation.” Politico's Allen and Thrush : "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former president Bill Clinton have cleared away the final hurdles to a formal offer of secretary of State from President-elect Obama, and officials say the two former foes could appear together for a smiling announcement next week. As a key part of satisfying Obama's vetting team, former President Bill Clinton is open to giving up foreign sources of income if his wife becomes secretary of state, according to a close friend."
Indeed, Bloomberg News reports that Bill Clinton has sent the Obama vetters a list of more than 200,000 donors to the Clinton library and foundation. "The 200,000 or so names comprise the universe of donors to Clinton's presidential library and foundation. This is separate from the Clinton Global Initiative, which operates under the aegis of the foundation but does not directly take money from the donors.” Daily News has learned. Just as ex-President Bill Clinton pledged Wednesday to prove there are no new skeletons in his closet that could derail his wife's chances of becoming secretary of state, top Obama sources suggested loose-lipped Clintonistas abide by their rules: If caught leaking, you will pay the price. 'They have been strategic about what they leak each day,' said an Obama insider, who acknowledged word around the transition office in Chicago is that Obama himself is miffed at the leaks. 'This [leaking] isn't coming out of our shop,' added another irked Obama official."
CONTINUED >>
Hopes for a last-minute compromise on auto industry aid are fading for the 110th Congress, but look for a vote on unemployment insurance in the Senate before the end of the week.
In fact, the auto executives’ testimony was a disaster after they got slapped down for their decision to fly in on private jets. And it appears there may not be a congressional vote on a bailout this week and, perhaps, for the rest of this year.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal and others reported that "Waxman won the first-round of voting today in his bid for a hostile takeover of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A panel of big-shot Dems voted 25-22 in favor of Waxman unseating John Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who now chairs the committee. The final vote comes [today], when the full House Democratic Caucus will vote on who should hold the gavel… Dingell may get backing from rank-and-file congressmen wary of shaking up the seniority system, as well as moderate Dems who find Waxman (D., Calif.) too liberal.”
Politico's Bresnahan characterizes Republicans in the Senate -- down 13 seats since before the 2006 cycle and awaiting the results of two more unpredictable races -- as being "in a deep funk." The rancor appears to be deepened by infighting among GOP senators unsure of how to restructure their message and their caucus on the Hill. Boston Globe reports on its front page with a black-and-white photo of a Vietnam-era Kerry testifying before the committee. "Aides to Kerry said he is already laying out a broad agenda for the committee, beginning with new legislation to strengthen the United States' hand against terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan; provide oversight of efforts to end the war in Iraq; and seize what he sees as a new opportunity to curtail the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons."
More: "Kerry, 64, is still considered by some political observers to be a possible pick for Obama's secretary of state, but Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, each of whom met separately with Obama at his Chicago transition office last week, are considered far more likely selections for the position of top diplomat."
At the Republican Governors Association conference last week, Tommy Franks “appeared to be the only one who wanted to take responsibility for either war, even obliquely," the Boston Globe says. "The others who gathered in Miami seemed to relish the new freedom they inherited along with their party's devastating losses earlier this month: with President Bush and losing candidate John McCain drifting off the scene, Republicans no longer have to be the party of unpopular and seemingly unending conflicts abroad. Those are now Democratic responsibilities, one Bush ally noted with some satisfaction, hinting at a corollary to the ‘Pottery Barn rule’ about postwar responsibility: Republicans may have broken Iraq, but President-elect Barack Obama bought it."
The Boston Globe on Romney's New York Times op-ed from yesterday. "Leading up to the Michigan presidential primary, Mitt Romney cast himself as the savior of the beleaguered auto industry and jumped all over rival John McCain when he gave some 'straight talk' that 'some of the jobs that have left the state of Michigan are not coming back.' … Fast-forward 11 months, and Romney is speaking out against a federal bailout of the auto industry." acknowledged "an envy" at how Sarah Palin was able to "leapfrog the process." "I'm not frustrated by it," he said. "It's not a resentment on her part. It's an envy." Wall Street Journal op-ed agreeing with Obama that America needs a middle-class tax-cut; he just does't believe in Obama's plan.
CALIFORNIA : A challenge to California's Prop. 8 gay-marriage ban will be heard by the state Supreme Court early next year. Could gay marriage end up making its way to the Supreme Court?
GEORGIA : "Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday appealed to Georgians to send Democrat Jim Martin to Washington arguing the state's hotly contested Senate runoff must provide a 'bridge not a firewall' to the progress promised by President-elect Barack Obama," the AP reports. "'The hopes of America are riding with Georgia,' Clinton told a rally at Clark Atlanta University, a historically black college. Democrats are within two seats of a 60-vote majority that would give Obama a stronger hand in Washington and Georgia is one of two unresolved Senate races. Martin is locked in a tight Dec. 2 runoff against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. 'Martin is the bridge, Chambliss is the firewall,' Clinton said. 'Don't let Georgia put a firewall up in front of the bridge.'" was praised and endorsed by the executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association. Wayne LaPierre said in Atlanta that Chambliss is needed back in the Senate to protect gun rights. ‘We’re going to have some real battles in Washington,’ LaPierre said, who added that Obama will ‘break his promise’ to protect gun rights.”
ILLINOIS : Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois says that she's "certainly on that list" of possible replacements for Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. The Illinois lawmaker noted her recent "long conversation" about the post with state Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whom she said plans to name Obama's replacement during the last two weeks of the year.
CONTINUED >>
National Journal looks at some grim election results for House Republicans looking ahead to 2010. "Of the successful House Republican candidates, 29 fell below 55 percent of the vote, according to near-final but still unofficial election results. Of that group, 20 were incumbents, three defeated Democratic incumbents and the remaining six won contests for open seats that had been held by Republicans. The group is spread across the nation, with five from California, where Republicans this year retained all 19 of their House seats."
In Virginia's gubernatorial race, Democrat "Brian J. Moran is poised to collect endorsements for governor from the highest echelons of the state Democratic Party, while presumed rival Terry McAuliffe is being backed by one of Virginia's biggest political check-writers," the Richmond Times-Dispatch writes. "Moran today is scheduled to announce the support of nearly two-thirds of the Democratic Party's steering committee. Made up of district chairs and other senior Democrats, the committee largely governs the state party."
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Michelle Perry Tom Daschle ’s wife, that she is leaving her lobbying firm where she has specialized in aviation and defense issues at the end of the year. She is starting her own public policy firm on transportation and communication issues.
In her new firm, she will not lobby.
She is also a former acting administrator of the FAA.
From NBC's Bridget Nurre Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) says that while he does not plan to campaign publicly against the appointment of
Eric Holder to Attorney General, he does not suppport President-Elect
Obama's decision.
As First Read noted this morning, Burton was the chief Republican critic of the Clinton administration's pardon of Marc Rich in 2001.
Burton, who was the Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee when it investigated the pardon, initially said yesterday that Holder had simply been following orders by issuing his "neutral, leaning towards favorable" opinion of the Rich pardon.
But after reviewing the documents from the committee's investigation overnight and this morning, Burton revisited that assessment, telling NBC News that Holder took a more active role in the pardon than he recalled from memory.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Savannah Guthrie Obama today surprised Biden one day before his 66th birthday with cupcakes after their weekly lunch. He lit the candles on the 12 cupcakes and brought them over to Biden.
Obama joked, "You're 12 years old!"
Biden laughed, replying: "Maybe in dog years!"
Then Obama led the staff in singing Biden Happy Birthday. Obama also surprised him by giving him a Chicago White Sox hat, a Chicago Bears hat, and a bucket of Garrett's popcorn as gifts.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro David Axelrod officially heads to the White House as Senior Advisor, the Obama transition team announced. In addition to the widely expected step, the transition also announced that Greg Craig will serve as White House counsel -- another move confirmed previously by NBC News.
Additionally, Lisa Brown will serve as Staff Secretary and Chris Lu will serve as Cabinet Secretary.
Here is part of the release with Obama's quote and brief bios:
David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann History may not be on
Rep. Chris Van Hollen's side, but he's not giving up the ghost for 2010.
House Democrats already made history in November by winning more than 20 seats in two consecutive elections, and more Democratic gains in two years would be unprecedented. In fact, the party in power has customarily lost an average of almost 30 House seats in off-election years. "Just being realistic, we are going to be fighting hard just to hold our own" in the next cycle, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman said this morning.
Briefing reporters today at the National Press Club, Van Hollen did not rule out a Democratic hat trick in 2010, but he also cautioned that Democrats' successes in the next election cycle will depend on the American people's perceptions of Congress. Bolstering that perception would be quick legislative action on at least two fronts where Van Hollen hopes for "solid wins we can get right out of the box" : children's health care and new renewable energy portfolios.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Tom Lea and Mark Murray Salt Lake Tribune : "Updated election results released Tuesday show that Salt Lake County voters favored Barack Obama over John McCain -- but just barely -- marking the first time in decades that a Democratic presidential hopeful won the state's most populous county. With the addition of more than 29,000 provisional and late-arriving absentee ballots, President-elect Obama scored a come-from-behind victory over McCain. The county's official election canvass didn't change the outcome in any other race."
More: "The final result gave Obama a 296-vote victory, which equates to less than one-tenth of 1 percent... The updated election results have no impact on who won the presidency or even on Utah's five Electoral College votes, which easily went to McCain. But Obama's Salt Lake County win sure mean a lot to the leaders of the Utah Democratic Party, who watched President Bush win the last two elections by a margin of more than 20 percentage points in the county. 'It is a huge step for us,' said party Chairman Wayne Holland."
From NBC's Doug Adams
CALIFORNIA 4 : Both Tom McClintock (R) and Charlie Brown (D) are in DC this week for freshman orientation. They're even staying at the same hotel (Hyatt Regency). McClintock leads by 592 votes as of this morning, with thousands of ballots still to be counted. Counties have until December 9 to finish the counting, and results will be certified by December 13. Republicans are confident McClintock will prevail and keep the seat in GOP hands.
OHIO 15 : State Sen. Steve Stivers (R) holds a 393-vote lead over Mary Jo Kilroy (D), but a lawsuit is holding up counting 27,000 provisional ballots in Franklin County -- home to the city of Columbus. At issue are about thousand provisional ballots where voters failed to print and/or sign their names on the ballot envelopes. The secretary of state (a Democrat) has ordered that the ballots be counted, and Republicans have sued to stop that. A ruling is expected by Thursday afternoon, and counting of all the provisionals should be completed by next Monday. But official results won't be released until certified (on or before November 25th). Of course, an automatic recount seems likely. Democrats are optimistic they can win this GOP-held open seat, because the outstanding 27,000 ballots are from Kilroy's home, where she is a Franklin County commissioner. Both Stivers and Kilroy were in Washington DC this week for freshman orientation.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's John Yang
Press Secretary Dana Perino says the administration backs the proposal by Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri and George Voinovich of Ohio to allow automakers to use the $25 billion in loans in the energy bill -- intended to pay for retooling to make energy efficient cars -- for day-to-day operations. Their proposal also has language requiring the companies to show evidence of future viability as a condition of getting the money.
Perino says that if Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid does not allow a vote on Bond-Voinovich and fails to pass Democratic legislation that would use TARP money for the carmakers, "Congress will bear responsibility for anything that will happen ... during their long vacation."
From NBC’s Cherelle Kantey Rahm Emanuel , the chief of staff to President-elect Obama , tipped his hat to Sen. John McCain yesterday, saying the Obama administration plans to work in a bipartisan fashion to address the challenges of the new presidency.
At a discussion for the Wall Street Journal’s CEOs in Washington, D.C., event he spoke about the meeting the president-elect held with McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham , saying the nation will enter an “era of reform.”
“We didn't just do not have the meeting with Sen. McCain and Sen. [Graham], … just for optics, we covered very serious issues,” Emanuel said.
He spoke about having a diplomatic approach to solving the economic crisis, while also ducking questions about Obama’s cabinet selection. When asked about the suggestion of Sen. Hillary Clinton being chosen for Secretary of State, he responded, “Great question.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell Tom Daschle -- the former Democratic Senate leader who backed Obama early in the Democratic nomination fight -- has been tapped to be the next secretary at the Department Health and Human Services.
Roll Call , which broke the news, adds that Daschle "is set to take on the position of 'health care czar' in the Obama White House, ensuring that he does not get bigfooted on matters relating to health care policy, according to [a] source."
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann Tamping down the speculation -- or not? HillaryLand seems to be making a concerted effort to start tamping down speculation about the secretary of state job. Reports from the New York Times and Politico are sparking the debate about whether she's 100% ready to make the leap from the Senate and 100% ready to give up politics for a while (at least while at State). As the New York Observer notes, the secretary of state job hasn’t been the presidential stepping-stone it was when the country was founded. In fact, the last former secretary of state to even RUN for president was Al Haig in '88, and there's been just one in the last 180 years to go from that position to the presidency: Buchanan. (Then again, the Senate hasn’t been a great stepping-stone either, right?) The New York Times’ Tom Friedman also makes a great point about Clinton at State: If she’s going to get the job, there has to be absolute trust between Obama and Clinton -- which is something we’re still not too sure exists. “When it comes to appointing a secretary of state, you do not want a team of rivals,” Friedman writes. That said, today's Wall Street Journal and the AP confirm that the Obama folks are letting it be known that Bill Clinton is fully cooperating with the vet. So while the Hillary folks use the Times/Politico to signal reluctance, others are using the WSJ/AP to suggest that the momentum is still building for the Clinton appointment to happen.
VIDEO: NBC's Chuck Todd gives his first read on Bill Clinton's willingness to disclose past donors in order for the Obama team to go forward in vetting his wife for a cabinet position. ***
The old bulls are gone: With Ted Stevens’ defeat now official, it's worth repeating this point we made a few weeks ago: The old bulls of the Republican Senate caucus are mostly gone. With Stevens’ loss -- combined with the retirements of Pete Domenici, Trent Lott, Larry Craig, and John Warner -- the Republican Party lost quite a bit of seniority in 2008 (and this doesn't count the reflected seniority Elizabeth Dole had in the Senate, thanks to her husband). In fact, just nine of the GOP's 42 senators (or 41 or 40 depending on what happens in Georgia and Minnesota), were elected before 1990. Dick Lugar and Orrin Hatch were elected in '76 and now share the distinction of being the GOP's senior-most senators now. Thad Cochran (elected in ’78) is next in line, followed by Chuck Grassley ('80) and Arlen Specter ('80), then Mitch McConnell ('84), Kit Bond ('86), Richard Shelby ('86 -- elected then as a Dem) and John McCain ('86). One other point about the result from Alaska: Democrats have now netted at least 13 Senate seats in the past two cycles. Those are a lot of skins on the wall for Chuck Schumer. To regain control of the Senate, Republicans are going to have to pick up nine Senate seats in 2010 (a cycle that once again has Republicans defending more seats than the Democrats). And that’s not considering potential losses in Georgia and Minnesota.
*** Don’t (re)-count your chickens before they hatch: That, of course, brings us to Minnesota, where the recount in the Coleman-Franken race begins today. Coleman declared victory Tuesday with the certification of the initial results. But law mandates a recount, so nothing is in stone. The reason why Coleman is trying to look the part of the winner is to call into question any lead taken by Franken in the recount. Of course, that PR strategy didn’t work for Dino Rossi during the controversial recount in Washington State in 2004. Also consider this: We're going to know the outcome in Georgia (December 2) before the one in Minnesota (mid-December). Go figure. By the way, Bill Clinton stumps in Georgia today for Jim Martin.
Video: President-elect Barack Obama reportedly has chosen veteran Washington lawyer Eric Holder as his attorney general. If confirmed, Holder would be the first African-American to head the Justice Department. ***
Hold(er) on loosely: The Eric-Holder-for-AG chatter hit a fever pitch last night and this morning. Of course, the big question is: How messy will his confirmation be given the Marc Rich pardon? The good news for Holder, House Republican Dan Burton, who became the chief GOP critic of the Rich pardon back in 2001, is not in the Senate. It's hard to imagine folks like Orrin Hatch, Jon Kyl, Lindsey Graham, and Arlen Specter (all GOPers on the Judiciary committee) getting so partisan on this one, especially if Hillary Clinton is also up for a confirmation battle. Could the Senate GOP really bloody up Holder over a Clinton-era issue and not someone with the last name of Clinton? If Rich isn't an issue for Clinton, it probably won't be for Holder. Many Holder defenders believe he was a fall guy on the Marc Rich issue when the ultimate responsibility belonged to Bill Clinton and the White House's relationship with Jack Quinn. It’s also worth pointing out that if the GOP had a problem with Holder during the VP selection process -- when Holder headed that up for Obama -- it didn’t really show it (Republicans instead directed their fire at Jim Johnson, who stepped down as a VP vetter). The thing that’s not being talked about as much regarding Holder is that it would bring a career Justice guy with experience as a US attorney into the top job. Given all the issues Justice has had with its relationship to the US attorneys, Holder may be a welcome nomination by some Justice careerists. By the way, in other transition news, don't get too worked up over the reports about Bob Gates staying on as Defense secretary. First, this has been in the works for some time (as NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reported last week). But more importantly, if you don't see reporting on the idea of there being some end date for Gates' transition, assume something's missing.
*** Obama’s chit and The Left’s displeasure: Obama has collected a Lieberman chit, but the left is not happy. Here’s Kos : “In the spirit of post-partisanship, and in spite of the American people's overwhelming votes for change in 2006 and 2008, let's appoint fierce global warming critic James Inhoffe to the Environment and Public Works committee.” And Jane Hamsher , citing a Senate Democratic aide criticizing the left, wrote: “No matter what Joe Lieberman does, the people who are protecting him hate you much more than they hate him.” The liberal blogosphere is not happy with this decision, and they believe Dems will pay for this at some point. But it does appear the blogosphere is simply sitting back for the “told you so” moment rather than getting too worked up now.
*** The two Mitt Romneys: Romney today has a provocative New York Times op-ed in which he argues against a bailout for the auto industry. “Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course -- the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.” But how does he reconcile opposing the bailout when he said, after McCain declared jobs were leaving Michigan and were never coming, that "I'm going to fight for every single job"? In fact, these two seemingly contradictory statements demonstrate the two different Mitt Romneys. In the op-ed, you see the pragmatic businessman offering sensible solutions (the auto industry has to bring down its legacy costs, the current management must go, you need more cooperation between labor and management). But on the campaign trail in Michigan in January 2008, we also saw someone who was willing to almost say anything to get elected. And don't forget: Romney does have extra credibility on the auto industry, as his father ran the last American carmaker to go out of business. George Romney was head of the American Motor Corp. (though, he was not the head of AMC when it essentially went under, via mergers with Renault and then eventually Chrysler).
*** Just askin’ : What is taking Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) so long in appointing a successor to Obama in the Senate? It’s not like Obama’s victory two weeks ago was a surprise, right? Isn't the clock ticking on Blagojevich's own term, as he bites his nails wondering if there's a grand jury indictment in his future? So if he doesn't appoint someone soon, could he end up missing the opportunity?
*** On the Hill today : In the Senate, the nominee for special inspector general of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), Neil Barofsky, testifies before the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; the Finance Committee holds a hearing on health-care reform; and Judiciary discusses "Helping Families Save Their Homes: The Role of Bankruptcy Law."… In the House, Armed Services discusses the fate of the F-22 fighter jet program; Financial Services holds a full committee hearing on the auto industry: "Stabilizing the Financial Condition of the American Automobile Industry"; Foreign Affairs discusses Iraq; and Veterans Affairs discusses an investigation into document shredding at VA offices.
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The New York Times writes, “Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has reservations about accepting an appointment as secretary of state in the Obama administration, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton who is familiar with her thinking said on Tuesday. The adviser described Mrs. Clinton as flattered by President-elect Barack Obama’s interest but said she was agonizing over the decision. Mrs. Clinton likes being her own boss and is reluctant to give up the independence that comes with that, said the adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process was at a delicate stage.”
“‘If you are secretary of state you work for the president,’ the adviser said in an e-mail response to questions from The New York Times . ‘If you are a senator, you work for yourself and the people that elected you.’ It was unclear if Mrs. Clinton’s stated hesitation was part of a bargaining tactic as the Obama team weighs whether to appoint her secretary of state, a genuine moment of indecision or, perhaps, a signal that she was preparing to withdraw from consideration.”
Politico adds, “Press reports that portray Clinton as willing to accept the job -- once the Obama transition team vets Bill Clinton’s philanthropic and business ventures -- are inaccurate, one Clinton insider told Politico. ‘A lot of the speculation and reporting is out ahead of the facts here,’ said the person, who requested anonymity. ‘She is still weighing this, independent of President Clinton's work.’”
The Wall Street Journal : “Former President Bill Clinton has offered to submit future charitable and business activities to strict ethics reviews if his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, were nominated as secretary of state, according to Democrats familiar with the deliberations. He has also agreed for the first time to disclose many of the previous donors to his efforts.”
David Broder is against Clinton becoming secretary of state. "What Obama needs in the person running the State Department is a diplomat who will carry out his foreign policy. He does not need someone who will tell him how to approach the world or be his mentor in international relations. One of the principal reasons he was elected was that, relying on his instincts, he came to the correct conclusion that war with Iraq was not in America's interest. He was more right about that than most of us in Washington, including Hillary Clinton."
CONTINUED >>
Automakers' pleas for $25 billion in aid makes the Boston Globe front page.
Put gun control advocates on the list of interest groups measuring Obama's issue coattails and hoping to sew up a legislative victory. In a new Penn/Schoen post-election poll passed along to First Read by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, two out of three respondents said that they believed that "common sense" gun regulations -- like background checks, waiting periods, and a renewal of the assault weapons ban -- should be enacted in the first year of the Obama administration. The pollsters, who asked 1083 voters in a nationwide internet-based survey for their opinions on gun control measures and on the National Rifle Association, found that even majorities of voters who supported McCain, as well as rural voters and those who identify themselves as conservative, are in favor of some increased regulations on the sale and use of firearms.
By a 42-13 vote Sen. Joe Lieberman was allowed to keep his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. "Independent Bernie Sanders and Democrat Pat Leahy, Vermont's two senators, spoke against allowing Lieberman to keep the Homeland Security and Government Affairs post, the Associated Press reported. And two members of Connecticut's Democratic state central committee said they'll still ask it Dec. 17 to consider censuring Lieberman and asking him to resign from the party, the AP said." (The photo, by the way, is classic Lieberman.)
Democrats have welcomed McCain ally Joe Lieberman back into the fold, but some of his Senate colleagues say that he won't be on a long leash .
"Two members of Connecticut's Democratic state central committee, Audrey Blondin and Myrna Watanabe, said they'll still ask Connecticut's top Democrats to consider a resolution repudiating Lieberman for publicly backing McCain," AP reports. "It also would ask him to resign from the party. 'Ultimately, there were no consequences to his actions,' Blondin said. A meeting of state Democrats is scheduled for Dec. 17." a more familiar greeting came from another senator who had been riding in back. 'John, wait up,' called out Senator John F. Kerry, clapping a big hand on McCain's shoulder. The pair conferred quietly as they rode up an escalator toward lunch with their colleagues. Two failed presidential nominees, minus Secret Service detail or much suspense about their futures, back to the Senate -- same as it ever was. Explicitly or not, Kerry's backslap marked McCain's induction into an unofficial bipartisan caucus of would-be commanders in chief who fell short of the big prize and landed, humbled somewhat, back where they started." Interesting note: "[A]t least 17 colleagues now serving know what it's like to take steps toward White House bids, only to be turned back."
CONTINUED >>
ALASKA: Begich was declared the winner in Alaska’s Senate race after he “widened his lead to 3,724 votes in Tuesday's count of absentee and questioned ballots. The lead is insurmountable, as the only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 ballots from overseas,” the Anchorage Daily News reports. “Stevens could ask for a recount but his campaign would have to pay for it. The state pays if the margin is within .5 percent of the total votes cast. But Begich leads by just over 1 percent with more than 315,000 votes cast in the race.”
The AP calls Stevens' defeat the "end of an era in which he held a commanding place in Alaska politics while wielding power on some of the most influential committees in Congress."
DELAWARE: The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reported yesterday that “Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden will not accept an appointment to the Senate to replace his father, according to knowledgeable state sources, a decision that scrambles the race to replace the vice president-elect in the Senate next year.” Cillizza adds, “Biden's decision does not rule out the possibility that he would run for the remaining four years on his father's Senate term in a 2010 special election. And, the specter of Biden -- the son of the vice president returning from his military service to assume the Senate seat -- complicates the decision that will be made by either outgoing Gov. Ruth Ann Minner or incoming Gov. Jack Markell (both Democrats) about who to appoint to the two-year vacancy.”
GEORGIA: Bill Clinton -- who campaigns in the state today for Jim Martin (D) -- isn’t the only bigwig who’s coming to Georgia for the state’s Senate run-off. Per Huffington Post , Al Gore will stump for Martin on Sunday. And Mitt Romney will campaign for Chambliss on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that it’s unlikely that Chambliss and Martin will debate before the run-off.
CONTINUED >>
A new Quinnipiac poll for New Jersey governor (one of the two gubernatorial races of 2009; the other is in Virginia), shows Corzine with a net-negative job approval rating (43%-46%), but he leads his most likely GOP foe, outgoing U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, 42%-36%. Also, with Corzine as a candidate for Treasury Secretary, the pollsters asked if he should go to DC. A majority said no; then again, a majority also say he doesn't deserve re-election. Does Corzine, himself want out, as his re-election bid is going to be VERY difficult no matter how much money he spends?
Meanwhile, McCain is setting up a PAC , which some are seeing as a first step for McCain in running for re-election in 2010.
And/but sources tell Roll Call that McCain has made clear his intention to run for re-election when his Senate term is up in 2010. "McCain, 72, announced the decision during a meeting Tuesday evening with top ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), advisers Rick Davis, Charlie Black, Carla Eudy and other aides."
From NBC's Ken Strickland Ted Stevens today? On his birthday?
As he came to work this morning, one of his Republican colleagues, Jim DeMint , was threatening to hold a vote to kick him out of the GOP caucus. DeMint decided to postpone the vote a few days but said in a statement that "it's clear there are sufficient votes to pass the resolution."
And now it looks like Stevens' re-election is doomed. The AP reports that Stevens "trails his Democratic challenger by 2,374 votes as the vote count for the state's U.S. Senate race nears its end."
It was apparent today that the conviction, possible expulsion, and the re-election are taking a heavy toll of the 85-year-old senator. To add insult to injury, the process could drag on: Stevens says he can't begin to appeal his conviction until February, and if the election results are within 0.5%, it would automatically trigger a recount.
"It's a long process," Stevens said as he was swarmed by reporters this morning. "I wouldn't wish what I'm going through on anyone, not my worst enemy."
The usually boisterous Alaska senator spoke in a soft voice as he described the impact the trial has had on him: "I haven't had a night's sleep now for almost four months. I went home even during the trial. And then I came to the Senate at night after the trial. So I've been living about three different lives. It's hard to even answer your questions properly, but I'm doing my best."
From NBC's Jeff Hanley Minnesota still remains one of the three states with an undecided Senate race. Currently, incumbent Republican
Norm Coleman leads challenger
Al Franken by a mere 215 votes in a race where more than 2.9 million ballots were cast.
The Minnesota State Canvassing Board’s most recent election report today shows a separation between the candidates of roughly seven one-thousandths of one percent (.007%), making the results too close to call and a statewide manual recount will begin tomorrow.
The statement cited the canvassing board’s rejection of Franken’s attempts to stop the recount as grounds for the official recognition of Coleman’s win as he is currently ahead. CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Barack Obama reached out to Senate Republicans to garner support for Eric Holder as a possible Attorney General, they forgot to call Sen. Arlen Specter.
"There has been no outreach," said the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I saw a news release on it a few minutes ago." Clinton Administration, but added it's "too soon for me to say" whether Holder would get Specter's support. "I'd have to take a much closer look at his record and talk to him and think about it," he said.
From NBC's Wendy Jones 's House Financial Services Committee heard today from three panels of witnesses on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The economy's big guns were on the first panel: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson , Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair . As usual, Frank was irascible, but kept his members within their allotted five minutes.
At the end of almost three hours, Bernanke assured the representatives that the "bailout" was "not a failure of capitalism...it's a problem of execution. Historically, in other countries, the failure of the financial system can bring down an otherwise strong economy. ...This is not an indictment of the broad market system."
Frank's focus was on the surprising evolution of the bailout plan.
"When the program was passed, very specific language was included for mortgage foreclosure diminution as one of the purposes of the bill,” Frank said, adding, “The fundamental policy issue is our disappointment that funds from the $700 billion are not being used to support mortgage reduction... The need to use TARP funds as the bill contemplates is critical."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's John Yang The Obama transition office and First Lady Laura Bush 's office confirms that Michelle Obama , her mother, Marion Robinson, and her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, will be visiting the White House, their new home, this afternoon.
The First Lady's office says there will be no photo released.
From NBC's Pete Williams Obama has offered Eric Holder the position of attorney general, and Holder has accepted it, according to sources involved in the process. The formal announcement has been held up while Obama transition team members ran the idea past key senators. And Obama wanted to announce members of his financial team first -- Treasury Secretary and so on.
Holder is a former superior court judge and U.S. attorney in Washington and a former prosecutor in the Public Integrity section of the Justice Department. He was Deputy Attorney General under
Janet Reno , during which he was well regarded. At one point, he strongly considered running for mayor of Washington, D.C., but decided being the No. 2 official at Justice was too good to pass up.
He also led the search team for Obama's running mate.
His only potential hang-up for confirmation is the controversy over the pardon of Marc Rich in the closing hours of the
Clinton administration. Holder approved the pardon as acting attorney general, after Reno left, without paying much attention to it, and it turned out to be a big embarrassment to Clinton.
So far, the Hill response to Holder has been positive, officials say.
The offer to Holder was made last week, officials say, and he accepted it, conditioned on a good reception from the Hill. So this is as close to a done deal as it can get before it's announced.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann says that he's ready to "hit the ground running" in his new post as the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Cornyn, a Texas senator since 2002 and the state's former Attorney General, could be the second Texan in Republican Party elective leadership should
Rep. Pete Sessions beat
Rep. Tom Cole for the top spot in the NRCC. Cornyn's ascension to the post as the Senate's top elections architect comes as some Republicans worry aloud that the GOP has become increasingly limited to Southern states and that the party is losing ground in the Mountain West and the Northeast.
In his new role, Cornyn will have to oversee a coming election cycle in which Republicans could stand to weather further losses. Among GOPers whose 2010 races are shaping up as potential nailbiters are
Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida,
Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, and
Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Joe Lieberman to hold onto his powerful chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee in a secret ballot vote.
Video: Sen. Joe Lieberman and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speak to reporters after the Democratic caucus voted Tuesday to let Lieberman keep his committee chairmanship. Majority Leader
Harry Reid , however, asked the Connecticut senator to step down as chairman of the Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection subcommittee of the Environmental & Public Works Committee, which Lieberman said he did.
Lieberman, who caucuses with the Democrats, retains his AirLand subcommitte chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee.
Lieberman said he regretted some of his comments regarding President-elect Obama during the campaign trail, or that he would have liked to have made them more clearly.
From NBC's Mark Murray Politico's Ben Smith reports that the current focus of the Obama -Clinton negotiations over Bill Clinton's foundation and presidential library is looking forward --not necessarily vetting the past.
Still, it's worth remembering that during the primary season, Obama called for the disclosure of presidential library donors. Consider this exchange from the MSNBC debate at Dartmouth in September 2007:
RUSSERT: In light of that, do you believe that the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton library should publish all the donors who give contributions to those two entities?
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann Joe the Chairman? If the news is correct, then the liberal blogosphere isn't going to be happy. NBC's Ken Strickland reported yesterday that, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, Democrats today are expected to vote in favor of letting Joe Lieberman keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee -- but give up the gavel on a subcommittee he chairs. (The vote happens this morning by secret ballot, and Lieberman is expected to address Senate Democrats before they vote. Per Strickland, we should know the final outcome by late morning.) So what happened? First, Strick says, Obama told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he wanted Lieberman to stay in the Democratic caucus. Later, Lieberman told Reid it would be "unacceptable" for him to give up his gavel, which was considered by some as a veiled threat that Lieberman would jump to caucus with Republicans if he was forced to give up the gavel. In short, Obama tipped the scales in Lieberman's favor, one source said, explaining it this way: If the wrath was directed at Obama, and he got over it, shouldn't the Democratic caucus do the same?
*** Obama’s first test with the left : The news that Obama is the one mainly responsible for the wrist slap that Lieberman is expected to receive -- as well as the continued speculation that the president-elect is inching closer towards selecting Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state -- is really going to test Obama’s base. Many of the true believers aren’t going to be happy campers. Then again, with some pundits suggesting that Obama’s initial moves (picking Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, courting the Clintons) don’t really signal the change he promised to bring to Washington, isn’t it precisely change that Lieberman is about to go unpunished? After all, one of Obama's messages was to put the bitter partisanship of the last 16 years behind us. Does anyone think that a Clinton or a Bush Administration would be as forgiving?
Video: President elect Barack Obama's credo 'no drama Obama' is being tested early as he eyes Sen. Hillary Clinton for Sec. of State and Senate Democrats decide Joe Lieberman's fate. NBC's Chuck Todd reports. Also, as
Maureen Dowd wrote on Sunday, Obama bringing in Hillary as his secretary of state doesn’t represent the return of the Clintons; it says the opposite. “If you have a president who’s willing to open up his universe to other smart, strong people, if you have a big dog who shares his food dish, the Bill Clinton era is truly over.” One more point about Lieberman going unpunished: Could Obama truly meet with McCain yesterday in a sign of bipartisanship as Obama and Senate Democrats plotted to take away Lieberman’s gavel at the Homeland Security committee? By the way, imagine what this week would be like in the press corps had a more severe Lieberman punishment been on the docket. Talk about your drama.
*** When rivals meet : Speaking of yesterday’s Obama-McCain meeting, does the fact that nothing concrete leaked out mean nothing concrete was worked out? Also, it was supposed to be a 90-minute meeting, so why did it end up only 40 minutes. Not a good sign?
*** “V” is for Vetting : For the second day in a row, the vetting of Bill Clinton dominates the chatter about Hillary’s chances of becoming secretary of state. Today's New York Times doesn't feature just any byline -- but one that has given the Clintons particular heartburn: Don Van Natta Jr. How much stomach will Team Obama have for a Van Natta (or potentially a Michael Isikoff) sniffing around the Clintons?
***
Bailing out the bailout : In addition to today’s vote on Lieberman, the other big news on Capitol Hill is today’s testimony by the Big Three US automakers and the United Auto Workers in favor of a bailout. There is still a split between the two political parties on this issue. As the
New York Times writes, "A showdown vote over the auto deal is set for Wednesday, and at the moment Democrats appear short of the 60 votes they need to move ahead, meaning the session is likely to be abbreviated.” The New York Times also has a very good
separate piece about how the political power for the entire auto industry -- from the corporate heads to the labor unions -- is waning. By the way, how much does the perceived failure (to date) of the $700 billion financial bailout hurt the auto industry's chances of their own bailout? Why should any member of Congress feel comfortable about voting for an auto bailout if the one of the financial services industry hasn't worked out as planned?
*** Playing defense : As for the $700 billion bailout, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has an op-ed today defending his actions. “I am very proud of the decisive actions by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the F.D.I.C. to stabilize our financial system," he writes. "We have done what was necessary as facts and conditions in the market and economy have changed, adjusting our strategy to most effectively address the crisis. We have preserved the flexibility of President-elect Barack Obama and the new secretary of the Treasury to address the challenges in the economy and capital markets they will face. As policymakers face the difficult challenges ahead, they will begin with two considerable advantages: a significantly more stable banking system, one where the failure of a major bank is no longer a pressing concern; and the resources, authority and potential programs available to deal with the future capital and liquidity needs of credit providers.”
*** The remaining races : In Alaska, election workers will count approximately 24,000 ballots today, which could give us a clearer picture in a race where challenger Mark Begich (D) currently leads incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens by 1,022 votes. After today, overseas ballots will remain to be counted, and the process, according to the Anchorage Daily News , will last through the week of December 1… In Georgia, early voting began yesterday for the Chambliss-Martin Senate run-off, and there were reports of some lines (the turnout of the youth and black vote in this runoff, by the way, will be the ultimate test of Obama's base; have they become permanently engaged in the overall political process or only engaged in Obama individually?)… And in Minnesota, the five-member state canvassing board meets today to officially certify the original results in the Coleman-Franken race, with the manual recount beginning tomorrow.
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Per the transition office, Obama and Biden hold private meetings in Chicago today and have no public events.
Speculation over Hillary Clinton becoming Obama’s secretary of state continues to dominate the transition chatter. The New York Times has this piece (and it’s not your ordinary story; it's by investigative reporters Van Natta and Becker): “While aides to the president-elect declined Monday to discuss what sort of requirements would make it possible for Mrs. Clinton to serve as secretary of state, they said Mr. Obama would not formally offer her the job unless he was satisfied that there would be no conflicts posed by Mr. Clinton’s activities abroad.”
Video: Former White House Chief of Staff discusses the transfer of power to Barack Obama and what it would mean for both Clintons if Hillary Clinton was chosen as secretary of state. ”Associates of the Clintons said that Mr. Clinton was likely to have to make significant concessions and that he was inclined to do so. Among other things, they said, he would probably have to agree not to take money for speeches from foreign businesses that have a stake in the actions of the American government. Another obvious issue, Democratic lawyers said, would be whether Mr. Clinton’s foundation should accept money from foreign governments, businesses or individuals for the foundation’s philanthropic activities and if it should disclose those donors publicly.”
But Politico says the vetting of Bill Clinton is not going well. Obama "aides are becoming exasperated by the Clinton camp’s pokey response to demands for extensive information about former President Bill Clinton’s finances, according to numerous Democrats involved in the process. ‘The sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama,’ said one well-connected Democratic official.”
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The AP’s lead on yesterday’s meeting: "No longer foes but not yet allies, President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain buried their bitter campaign in public smiles and searched for common ground in private on Monday, discussing possible collaboration on climate change, immigration, Guantanamo Bay and more."New York Times notes that Obama's promises on domestic spying issue will be put to an early test. "The Justice Department will be asked to respond to motions in legal challenges to the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program, and must decide whether to continue the tactics used by the Bush administration — which has used broad claims of national security and ‘state secrets’ to try to derail the challenges — or instead agree to disclose publicly more information about how the program was run.
Video: President-elect Barack Obama and his former rival for the White House, Sen. John McCain, meet at Obama’s transition headquarters in Chicago. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports. When he takes office, Mr. Obama will inherit greater power in domestic spying power than any other new president in more than 30 years, but he may find himself in an awkward position as he weighs how to wield it. As a presidential candidate, he condemned the N.S.A. operation as illegal, and threatened to filibuster a bill that would grant the government expanded surveillance powers and provide immunity to phone companies that helped in the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants. But Mr. Obama switched positions and ultimately supported the measure in the Senate, angering liberal supporters who accused him of bowing to pressure from the right."
Health Care for America Now, the advocacy group pushing for universal health care, will today begin airing this brand-new TV ad in the DC area.
The
AP outlines some of Palin's challenges as she heads back to governing in Alaska. Among them: "Palin's state budget proposal is due in a month, with plummeting oil prices slashing Alaska's revenues by billions of dollars. The 1,700-mile natural gas pipeline she bragged about on the campaign trail ... is nowhere near being built. Some hard feelings linger over her administration's initial decision to ignore subpoenas in the investigation of whether she abused her power in firing the public safety commissioner who wouldn't oust her ex-brother-in-law from his job as a state trooper." And: "Uncertain is whether the bipartisanship that existed during Palin's 20 months as governor can survive the heated rhetoric from the presidential campaign and her own political ambitions."
The Washington Post : “A pair of Senate Democrats will offer a compromise plan today to sanction Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) for his support of the Republican presidential ticket but allow him to keep a key committee chairmanship and remain in the party caucus. Senators and aides said yesterday that Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and Ken Salazar (Colo.) will present a plan at a caucus meeting that would strip Lieberman of a low-profile subcommittee chairmanship, possibly one on global warming. But Lieberman would retain the gavel of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.”
More: “No final decisions have been made, and senators who support stronger punishment of Lieberman are expected to have a chance to express their views.”
Roll Call adds that “Democrats appeared to lose their nerve after the election when Obama and other influential Democrats called on the party to forgive and forget Lieberman’s harsh criticism of the president-elect during campaign appearances for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). Senate Democratic sources cautioned that that proposal might change depending on the outcome of discussions this morning. Lieberman is expected to make his case to the entire Senate Democratic Conference — including newly elected Senators — during a meeting in which the caucus will also elect their leaders for the next Congress.”
Ted Kennedy returned to Capitol Hill yesterday. "[O]verall, Kennedy looked remarkably spry for a man battling a malignant glioma, a fast-growing brain tumor that was diagnosed after Kennedy had a seizure in May," the Boston Globe writes. "His color was strong, and he sported a full head of his characteristic white hair. He appeared to have lost a substantial amount of weight and displayed none of the puffiness he showed during his last appearance on Capitol Hill on July 9, when he made an emotion- laden visit to cast a critical vote on a Medicare funding bill. While the senator is still receiving treatment, he didn't look tired as he prepared to get to work on issues facing the incoming Congress, with healthcare as his stated top priority."
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ALASKA : The Anchorage Daily News says that election workers today “will count 24,000 votes from Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, Southwest and Southeast Alaska.” Challenger Mark Begich (D) currently has a 1,022-vote lead over incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens (R).
Some more Q&As from the Anchorage Daily News. “What happens after today’s count? Absentee ballots arrive from overseas through Wednesday. When will it be final? Week of Dec. 1. Then what? Recount if the voters or loser asks.”
GEORGIA : Early voting began yesterday for the run-off between Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and challenger Jim Martin (D), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. The run-off “apparently was enough to bring early voters to the polls on Monday, the first day most metro Atlanta counties opened offices for early voting. Elections officials across the region reported steady voting and, in some places, lines.” Roll Call : "But some state Republicans are also casting blame on what they describe as a poorly run campaign that had to be resuscitated in the final weeks before the November election by a National Republican Senatorial Committee that already had plenty of other contests to worry about. One Georgia Republican insider last week pointed the finger at Chambliss' longtime political strategist Tom Perdue for putting together a weak direct-mail program and ‘substandard’ and ‘impersonal’ television commercials during the crucial late summer and fall months."
MINNESOTA : In a release yesterday, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie announced that his office “will post daily recount results beginning Wednesday, Nov. 19 after 8 p.m. The results will include the tally of uncontested votes for Coleman and Franken, a tally of the ‘other’ uncontested votes, and tallies of the ballots challenged by each candidate. The Web site will also post the percentage of precincts recounted and the percent of ballots recounted. The public is welcome to view the recount webpage at: www.sos.state.mn.us . The recount page will be updated everyday at 8 p.m… The numbers will remain unofficial until the results are certified by the State Canvassing Board which is scheduled to begin meeting on Dec. 16.”
The AP writes, “Al Franken's Senate campaign, trailing slightly just before a statewide recount, argued Monday that a key Minnesota election board should examine rejected absentee ballots before certifying the race results. Those ballots are at the heart of legal and procedural disputes that have emerged as the near-deadlocked election moves into this week's manual recount of more than 2.9 million ballots. Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leads by 206 votes - a lead so slim that it triggered the automatic recount.”
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is up for re-election in 2010,
appears to finally be ready to give up the DSCC gavel . His likely successor is New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. "Menendez, Schumer’s No. 2 at the DSCC during the 2008 cycle, has been viewed as Schumer’s heir apparent for the past two years, with no other names receiving consistent mention. Menendez would have his work cut out for him, succeeding the aggressive New Yorker who helped Senate Democrats first claim, and then expand, their majority. Despite the fact that Schumer is up for re-election in 2010, some Democratic insiders are not fully convinced he is ready to give up control of the DSCC. Some Democratic sources even go so far as to predict that Schumer will retain the chairmanship."
A new
Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows that GOP Gov. Charlie Crist ends 2008 in pretty good political shape considering the drubbing his party took in his state and nationally. But GOP Sen. Mel Martinez, who is also up for re-election in 2010, doesn't sport the type of poll ratings that indicate he'll be safe. Ambitious Dems may look at this poll and decide Martinez is the GOPer to challenge in Florida -- not Crist.
Speaking of 2010 polls, one in New York
that matches up Gov. David Paterson (D) and Rudy Giuliani (R) shows Paterson sporting a narrow 49%-43% lead.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Joe Lieberman (I-D) should keep his position as chairman of Homeland Security Committee, and it looks like he just may. Several Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups were calling for Lieberman to stripped of his chairmanship for not only supporting John McCain's candidacy for president -- but also criticizing Barack Obama in the process.
According to sources familiar with negotiations, Democrats are expected to vote in favor of letting the Connecticut senator keep his chairmanship and seniority, but give up the gavel on a subcommittee he chairs. The vote happens tomorrow morning by secret ballot.
The tide turned in Lieberman's favor, sources say, after two events in recent weeks. First, President-elect Obama told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he wanted Lieberman to stay in the Democratic caucus. Later, in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Lieberman told him it would be "unacceptable" for him to give up his gavel. That was considered by some as a veiled threat that Lieberman would jump to caucus with Republicans if he was forced to give up the gavel.
Obama tipped the scales in Lieberman's favor, one source said. The source essentially explained it like this: If the wrath was directed at Obama and got over it, shouldn't the Democratic caucus do the same?
From NBC's Ken Strickland and Domenico Montanaro Ted Kennedy returned to Capitol Hill today and briefly took questions. Kennedy, who is pushing his health-care reform plan, said he felt fine. The Massachusetts senator said he is confident President-elect Obama will take up health care as one of his priorities, though he recognized that the economy will be a pressing issue for the 44th president.
NOTES: Kennedy's return today is exactly six months after he had his first seizure. … Kennedy walks with a cane that belonged to his father and is the same cane he used after the 1964 plane crash. Kennedy has also, in the past, loaned the cane out to other Senate colleagues like Chris Dodd and John Warner .
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Obama and McCain put out a joint statement following their meeting in Chicago:
"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."
Following the meeting, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports, McCain was back in Washington, as he returned to his Senate office. Perhaps the final event of his presidential campaign happens tonight, as McCain hosts a party in Virginia to thank the campaign staff.
From NBC's CarrollAnn Mears WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced legislation that should be voted on this week to prohibit the sale and counterfeiting of tickets for the inaugural. She said inaugural tickets "are not issues of commerce."
"Excitement is at an all-time high,” said Feinstein, chair of the Senate Rules Committee and as such is in charge of the Inauguration of the President. “People are desperate to be part of it."
She also said there could be "as many as 1.5 million people descend on the capital."
The legislation would treat the selling of tickets for the Obama inaugural as a Class A misdemeanor with a fine and/or imprisonment for up to a year. Tickets to the inaugural are not yet available.
The legislation is intended at stopping those "who try to dupe the public," Feinstein said. She added that "the chance to witness [the inaugural] ... should not be bought and sold like tickets to a football game. This is not a football game."
Of course, scalping tickets to football games is also illegal.
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From NBC's Doug Adams William Jefferson , the Louisiana congressman who was indicted last year on bribery, racketeering and money laundering charges?
Well, he's still in Congress, and he's likely to stay there for a while.
Technically, Jefferson still has to win a Dec. 6th runoff in Louisiana. But his opponent, little known Republican lawyer Anh "Joseph" Cao
Ironically, Jefferson's long-delayed federal trial is also likely to start that week -- Dec. 2nd in Virginia.
Last week, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for the trial to start -- upholding his indictment by ruling that Jefferson's rights weren't violated when the grand jury received evidence that violated legislative immunity.
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From NBC's Abby Livingston
Today, the Franken campaign filed a brief with the Minnesota State Canvassing Board to learn why some absentee ballots were rejected and to determine if any of those rejections were improper.
The campaign cited various reasons oversights might have occurred with absentee ballots, including human error and various technicalities. Coleman .
From MSNBC.com's Tom Curry Obama stands to learn from mistakes made by Kennedy in 1961, Carter in 1977, Bush in 1989 and Clinton in 1993.
The Bay of Pigs fiasco is the classic case of a brand new president blundering his way into calamity. In this situation, the botched invasion had long-term consequences. Following the failure, Kennedy felt compelled to assure anti-Communist President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam that the Cuban disaster didn’t lessen the U.S. commitment to fighting communism in Asia.
Barack Obama is a man nearly as young as Kennedy was when he became president. Like Kennedy, Obama is a best-selling author with a reputation for being cerebral, articulate and charismatic. As he prepares to become president, he could consider Kennedy’s error.
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From NBC's Doug Adams Obama having resigned his Senate seat yesterday, folks may be wondering about what Vice President-elect Biden might do.
Biden told a local TV station right before Election Day he didn't want to resign his seat right away, leading to speculation about whether he is trying to deny the outgoing governor of Delaware -- Democrat Ruth Ann Minner -- the chance to appoint his successor.
Under that scenario, Biden would wait until moments before he is sworn in as vice president to resign his seat, which could enable the new governor, Jack Markell , to make the appointment.
Biden has been said for some time to be grooming his son Beau Biden to succeed him in the Senate. Beau is currently Delaware's Attorney General. He is on leave while he serves on active duty in the Delaware National Guard, where he is a captain.
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From NBC's John Yang Muammar Qadhafi , a man the United States once tried to topple and whom President Reagan called the "mad dog of the Middle East."
Here's a readout of the call, per Deputy White House Press Secretary Gordon Johndroe: "The President called Libyan leader Colonel Qadhafi to express his satisfaction that the claims settlement agreement was fully implemented on October 31. The two leaders discussed that this agreement should help to bring a painful chapter in the history between our two countries closer to closure."
On a potential auto industry bailout , White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, in her on-camera daily briefing, repeated the administration's desire to see the auto industry aid come from the $25 billion in loan guarantees in the energy bill, not the TARP. She said taxpayer money should only to go companies that "show viability and a willingness to make tough decisions to restructure themselves."
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann A busy week on tap: Two weeks removed from the presidential election, the political activity remains almost as busy -- we, of course, stress the word “almost.” For starters, President-elect Obama meets in Chicago at noon ET with the man he defeated in the general election, John McCain, and they will be joined by incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham. This meeting comes as Obama has officially named several new staffers to his White House team and as speculation continues that he might select Hillary Clinton to head the State Department. Meanwhile, the Senate returns to action today with the agenda including freshman orientation, an economic stimulus package (extending unemployment insurance and relief for the automotive industry), and the fate of Joe Lieberman as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (which will be done by secret ballot; is that good news for Lieberman since it isn't cool to be publicly pro-Lieberman, or is it bad news so his detractors can stay anonymous?). In addition, the House will return to work on Wednesday, when Minority Leader John Boehner receives a long-shot leadership challenge from Rep. Dan Lundgren. And finally, there are those three unresolved Senate races in Alaska, Georgia, and Minnesota (more on them below), let alone a vacant seat in Illinois.
Video: President-elect Barack Obama meets with his former rival for the White House, Sen. John McCain, to discuss how they might work together. ***
More on today’s Obama-McCain meeting: It’s important to point out that McCain hasn't been given enough credit for making today’s meeting happen -- convening a meeting like this is easy for the victor, but much more difficult for the loser. Just compare today with the amount of time it took for McCain to hold a face-to-face with George W. Bush after the 2000 GOP primaries. McCain didn't have to do this so quickly, and he's giving Obama an easy political point or two by showing up. There are a number of things the two could do together, including climate change, stem cells, ethics and spending reform, even Afghanistan. The two are meeting for 90 minutes, we're told, so there will be time to talk about, well, everything under the sun. By the way, here’s another way in which Obama appears to be mimicking Lincoln:
USA Today notes that Lincoln met with the man he defeated, Stephen Douglas, early on in his tenure as president.
*** Great expectations: How high are expectations for Obama? There are dueling Obama-as-FDR vs. Obama-as-Lincoln covers on the two major news magazines (Time and Newsweek, respectively). We guess it's better than being compared to Hoover or Carter, right?
*** Bill Clinton's vetting day: With fresh sound of Bill Clinton, combined with the New York Times and Washington Post coverage of the vetting process, it looks like there's plenty of fodder to keep the Hillary-for-secretary-of-state story alive for another day. The New York Times gets into some of the international issues Bill Clinton has delved into, which could cause conflict with his wife should she get the job. Just askin,' but how galling is it for the 42nd president that the idea he can't vet could somehow torpedo his wife's appointment? It's probably making him a little nuts that all of these questions about his post-presidency lifestyle are going to be brought up into the public arena yet again. Also just askin,’ but how big of a story would Bill’s conflicts of interest have been if Hillary had won the Democratic nomination -- and what kind of problem would that have presented the Democrats? Has the momentum for a Hillary appointment gotten to the point where the only way this doesn't happen is if Clinton says no? Obama can't pull the offer (even if he hasn't officially made it) at this point, right?
*** That auto bailout: Take a look at the coverage of the debate on whether the government should do a full-fledged bailout of the American auto industry. The tone has clearly been shaped by the auto makers; they are winning the PR battle. This is all very reminiscent of the pro-$700 billion bailout press back in September-October. Lots of clips today about the number of jobs at stake if GM is allowed to fall into bankruptcy protection. Meanwhile, the congressional Republicans who are suspect of a bailout are being shown the political map and how blue the industrial Midwest (including Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana) went -- which happen to house a number of jobs. Just curious: What does the battle to bailout GM do for the battle between John Dingell and Henry Waxman for the chairmanship of the House Commerce Committee? Could some quid pro quos be popping up in that campaign having to do with the bailout? Speaking of bailouts, various state and city governments are now looking for handouts or bailouts. How soon will some states begin raising the idea of suspending budget balancing laws that most state governments are forced to live under?
*** The remaining races: In Alaska, after additional counting of early and absentee ballots on Friday, Mark Begich (D) now has a 1,022-vote lead over incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens (R). On Tuesday, a remaining 24,000 votes from Anchorage (Begich’s home base), Southeast Alaska, and the Kenai Peninsula will be counted. The situation looks particularly grim for Stevens, because Friday’s count included all the early and absentee ballots from his base of support in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough… In Georgia, Jim Martin (D) has a new TV ad blasting Saxby Chambliss (R) on the economy. Meanwhile, Huckabee campaigned for Chambliss over the weekend, and now we’ve learned that Bill Clinton will stump for Martin on Wednesday… And in Minnesota, the original vote count in the Coleman-Franken race gets certified on Tuesday, and the four-week recount begins right after that. By the way, Franken will be coming to DC on Tuesday.
*** A few other stray Senate thoughts: By the way, has anyone else noticed that the GOP seems more interested in saving Coleman in his recount than pushing Chambliss or Stevens to victory in Georgia and Alaska? This isn't to say the party isn't doing whatever it takes to help Chambliss, but the emotion that Republicans are showing in their collective comments about the Minnesota recount send the signal that losing the Senate seat to Franken would be a lot more demoralizing than losing the run-off in Georgia or the count in Alaska (By the way, don't miss Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's comments Sunday, when he admitted that he knows of no shenanigans at all in the re-canvass process yet. That's not the talking point he was speaking off of last week)… With Bill Clinton now heading to Georgia, what will Obama do? Will he at least cut radio ads or do recorded phone calls?… There are officially 99 senators, instead of 100, thanks to Obama's resignation on Sunday. What will Illinois Dem Gov. Rod Blagojevich do? As one person who knows him well put it, he's trying to figure out how to monetize this appointment (no, not SELL it, but gather some political chit), but he can't figure out how to do it yet. Does he appoint a potential gubernatorial primary rival (though most think the unpopular governor isn't running)? Does he try to cut a deal with House Speaker Michael Madigan (and appoint his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan)? What about the pressure to appoint a non-white male (like Tammy Duckworth, Jesse Jackson Jr., Jan Schakowsky, or Melissa Bean)?
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The New York Times writes that Bill Clinton perhaps remains the last obstacle to Hillary Clinton being named as Obama’s secretary of state. “President-elect Barack Obama’s advisers have begun reviewing former President Bill Clinton’s finances and activities to see whether they would preclude the appointment of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary of state, Democrats close to the situation said Sunday. The examination of the former president suggests how seriously Mr. Obama is considering bringing his onetime rival for the Democratic presidential nomination into his cabinet.”
More: “A team of lawyers trying to facilitate the potential nomination spent the weekend looking into Mr. Clinton’s philanthropic organization, interactions with foreign governments and ties to pharmaceutical companies, a Democrat close to both camps said. While Mr. Clinton has used his foundation to champion efforts to fight AIDS, poverty and climate change around the world, he has also taken millions in speaking fees and contributions from foreign officials and businesses with interests in American governmental policies.”
The Washington Post also looks at the potential conflicts of interest that Bill Clinton poses to an Obama Administration. “‘He's a former president of the United States. He's been traveling around the world, and he's got his foundation and a lot of foreign policy efforts going on,’ said Leon Panetta, Clinton's former chief of staff and now a professor of public policy. ‘What they will have to obviously be careful of are the potential conflicts that might appear.’”
"Obama is considering primary election rivals Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson to be his secretary of state, as Senator John F. Kerry, an early supporter of Obama, appeared to be out of the running according to Democratic officials," the AP's Pickler writes. Obama met with Richardson on Friday, per AP , and Clinton over the weekend, he confirmed on 60 Minutes. "Staff for Kerry appeared to prepare for the senator to take over leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations committee."
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The Iraqi cabinet has given Obama something he'll be touting in a re-election bid: a deadline to pull troops out of Iraq. "After months of painstaking negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, the Iraqi Cabinet yesterday approved a bilateral agreement allowing US troops to remain in Iraq for three more years. The accord still needs approval by Iraq's Parliament, but the Cabinet vote indicated that most major Iraqi parties supported it. An Iraqi government spokesman portrayed the pact as closing the book on the occupation that began with the US-led invasion in 2003."
Bloomberg News reports an Obama-Pelosi deal on stimulus could top $500 billion.
So how many jobs could be affected by the auto industry’s collapse? The Los Angeles Times : "All told, each truck contains 4,350 parts, made by 270 suppliers in 26 states as well as several foreign countries. Every F-150 that doesn't sell hits literally hundreds of thousands of people who play a role in putting the big machine on the road. When it comes to the U.S. automakers and their financial troubles, politicians and the public tend to think about the 240,000 jobs that could be lost at the Big Three's assembly lines in Michigan and nearby Rust Belt states."
”President-elect Barack Obama said in an interview on the CBS program “60 Minutes” on Sunday that one of his top priorities will be to ‘restore a sense of balance’ to the regulation of financial markets, but rejected the idea of a so-called ‘new New Deal’ for America,” the New York Times writes. “Mr. Obama acknowledged the parallels between the current economic crisis and the problems of the Great Depression, but said that he supported solutions that are ‘true to our times.’”
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The New York Times reports that some Republicans are wondering if they must move beyond Ronald Reagan. At last week’s Republican Governors Association meeting, “there was even the suggestion, made gingerly and reverently, that Republicans could not continue to make ‘Ronald Reagan’ the answer to every question at a time when they are overwhelmingly losing the young voters who were children, or were not yet born, when he was president. That was the implication of Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who told the group of fellow Republican governors that Reagan was one of his heroes, and recalled being spat at by a hippie while volunteering for one of his campaigns. ‘But Ronald Reagan was president a long time ago,’ Mr. Pawlenty said. ‘A lot has happened since then. So the challenge for us is how do you take the principles from the late ’70s and ’80s and apply them to the circumstances and issues and opportunities of our time.’”
Bill Kristol speculates if Bush will follow in Herbert Hoover’s footsteps: make it even more difficult for Republicans to appeal to voters on economic issues. “From 1933 to 1980, Republicans repeatedly failed to convince the country they were no longer the party of Herbert Hoover -- the party, as it was perceived, of economic incompetence, austerity and recession (if not depression).”
”Only two Republicans won presidential elections in that half-century, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon. Both were able to take the White House only because we were mired down in difficult wars, in Korea and Vietnam. And Ike and Nixon were unable -- they didn’t really try -- to change the generally liberal course of domestic and economic policy. The G.O.P.’s fate on Capitol Hill was worse. The party controlled Congress for only 4 of those 47 years. That’s what happens when a depression begins on your watch and when you can’t offer a coherent explanation of how and why it occurred and what you are going to do differently.”
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ALASKA: Per the Anchorage Daily News , “Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is in grave danger of losing re-election after Mark Begich widened his lead to 1,022 votes Friday. More than 90 percent of the votes are now counted, and Friday's count of absentee and questioned ballots could have been Stevens' best chance to make a comeback. That's because it included all the ballots left from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, where Stevens has enjoyed his most unwavering support.”
“There are about 24,000 ballots left to be counted, coming from Anchorage, Southeast Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. The state will tally them all Tuesday.”
GEORGIA: “Georgia supporters of the fair tax turned out en masse Sunday to cheer the idea of a national sales tax, which has become a thorny issue in the state’s high-profile Dec. 2 U.S. Senate runoff. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Georgia’s GOP presidential primary in February, joined about 2,000 people Sunday afternoon at the Gwinnett Civic Center in what became not just fair-tax rally, but a major campaign stop for Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Moultrie. Chambliss backs the fair tax, which would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and replace the federal income tax and most other federal taxes. Democratic challenger Jim Martin of Atlanta opposes it.”
According to the Martin campaign, Bill Clinton will rally for Martin in Atlanta on Wednesday.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Abigail Williams President-elect Obama gave his first virtual fireside chat. The weekly Democratic radio address, also posted as a YouTube video on change.gov , is just a taste of the new style of open governing promised by the incoming Administration.
Seated at a simple desk with the American flag draped to the right, and thick leather bound books behind, the image first seems like all presidential addresses made from the Oval Office. But something seems off in the presentation -- Obama's torso as right of center as his tie and the camera left at an awkward distance forcing Obama to lurch forward towards his viewers. It seems, well, like a YouTube video.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira Dan Lungren (R) announced a long-shot bid to unseat GOP Rep. John Boehner as House minority leader. Leadership elections are penciled in for next Wednesday.
Lungren says that the party is too arrogant; that it needs to return to fiscal discipline and small government; that it has become intoxicated by its own power to the detriment of conservative principles; and that it has lost touch with the kitchen table concerns of average Americans. He adds that he has nothing against John Boehner.
For his part, Boehner offers the following comment: "Dan Lungren is a respected member of our conference and a man deeply committed to the principles that have defined our party since the beginning."
Lungren is typically not among those mentioned as candidates for House GOP leadership. His presser today got off to an inauspicious start as Capitol Police had to lock down the hall in Rayburn where his office is located in order to investigate a suspicious package nearby, thereby delaying the Lungren announcement.
Once begun, the presser was sparsely attended.
From NBC's Abby Livingston Obama will choose Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to join his cabinet, you might want to think again.
Here's why: If Rendell is appointed, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor would be sworn in as governor. However, Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll -- a Democrat -- passed away last week. As a result, the Pennsylvania Senate Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati will ascend to the lieutenant governor’s office.
The catch here? Scarnati is a Republican. So Obama picking Rendell would result in a Republican becoming Pennsylvania governor.
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray Hillary Clinton , though her HillPAC, has sent a solicitation to supporters asking them to donate money to Al Franken during the recount in Minnesota's Senate race. "The Franken campaign is working hard to make sure every vote is counted -- but they need our help," she writes. "Al Franken needs to keep his campaign active to stop the Republican attacks and make Minnesotans' voices are heard."
Interestingly, Clinton has done this for Franken, but not for Jim Martin in his December 2 run-off in Georgia. Why? Here's maybe one reason: Clinton ad-maker Mandy Grunwald is working for Franken.
It's also worth noting that Clinton has already made a political investment into the race -- by cutting a TV for Franken, as well as campaigning for him in Minnesota.
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama . McCain 4, Obama 1.
This makes the NBC electoral count Obama 365, McCain 173.
From NBC's Mark Murray Washington Post piece noting that there has been little oversight of the federal government's $700 billion rescue package for the financial industry. "Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste," the article said. "Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed."
Well, the Treasury Department has pushed back against that report, pointing out in a press release that the department has taken oversight steps.
Among them: Paulson and with Interim Assistant Secretary Kashkari. GAO has had a team of over a dozen specialists and senior executives working on all aspects of the program. GAO staff typically meets with Treasury staff several times a week. They have access to contract files as soon as each contract is completed, and they often begin their review of those files within 24 hours of a contract signing. Every contract is posted on the Treasury website."
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama's transition office announced that the president-elect will meet with McCain in Chicago on Monday, and they will be joined by incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham , one of McCain's closest friends and allies.
In fact, per an Obama transition official, Emanuel and Graham were instrumental in putting this Obama-McCain meeting together. Remember that Emanuel and Graham served as the negotiators for the presidential debates, and when other Republicans were criticizing Obama's selection of Emanuel as chief of staff, Graham praised it.
"This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama," Graham said in a statement. "Rahm knows Capitol Hill and has great political skills. He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together. He is well-suited for the position of White House chief of staff. I worked closely with him during the presidential debate negotiations which were completed in record time. When we hit a rough spot, he always looked for a path forward. I consider Rahm to be a friend and colleague. He's tough but fair. Honest, direct, and candid. These qualities will serve President-elect Obama well."
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama selects Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State, it would be an ironic pick -- given that Team Obama downplayed her foreign-policy credentials (especially as first lady) during the Democratic primary season.
Video: NBC Deputy Political Director Mark Murray offers his first read on who President-elect Barack Obama is considering for his cabinet... and why. Remember this December 2007
New York Times piece , which Obama supporters grabbed on to in the build-up to Iowa? "[D]uring those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda. And during one of President Bill Clinton's major tests on terrorism, whether to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, Mrs. Clinton was barely speaking to her husband, let alone advising him, as the Lewinsky scandal sizzled."
There was also the Bosnia sniper-fire story . "It's part of a troubling pattern of Sen. Clinton inflating her foreign policy experience," an Obama campaign spokesman said at the time.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann Hillary at State? As we've learned with anything regarding the Clintons, one never knows exactly how serious the speculation might be. But let's assume the news -- reported last night by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell -- that Hillary Clinton is in the mix as a potential Secretary of State is as serious as it appears. (Because if it's not, and her name is being floated only to be rejected, it's going to make her more upset. But we digress…) The best reason for Obama to be looking for a place in his cabinet for Clinton is simple: to get her out of the Senate. Just ask George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter what it was like to have a once or future presidential rival in the Senate serving as a one-person Roman tribunal. Remember how easily the press gravitated to John McCain in '01 or Bob Kerrey in '93 or Ted Kennedy in '77 to allow them to be one-senator judge/juries on Administration proposals? The upside for Obama putting Clinton at State (or even the Pentagon) is that it gets her out of the Senate and gets her out of the domestic policy debates. Also, one other thing to keep in mind if Clinton does end up at State, she'll be off the political circuit; it’s considered unseemly to practice politics while serving in one of the big cabinet posts, especially at State or Defense. So this would mean no more Hillary on the stump for candidates, no more Hillary raising money, no more Hillary collecting chits. OK, we will now take First Read away from Machiavelli and turn it back over to the current authors.
VIDEO: Advisers say President-elect Obama is considering Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. ***
DNC debate: There’s a fascinating story in today’s
L.A. Times about some hesitance by members of Team Obama to have the Democratic National Committee house the Obama political machine. Some, like Steve Hildebrand of Obama's field team, believe many of Obama's supporters will be turned off by having the DNC become the official political arm of the Obama Administration. Hildebrand thinks if Obama wants to cultivate his supporters to get them excited by various policy proposals, he should allow an independent group to be formed. But it appears Hildebrand's idea is a long shot, as the L.A. Times reports that Axelrod and Plouffe are leaning toward turning everything over to the DNC -- since they'll "own" the DNC.
***
In Da Club: As the Republicans gather all over the place to mull their future, one group wants to single out the conservative Club for Growth for hurting the party with moderates. In particular, the League of Conservation voters says it’s finding it difficult to find moderate pro-environment Republicans to support, because the Club has been so successful knocking them off in GOP primaries. But the LCV notes the Club's record in general elections is not good. Club-backed candidates -- who defeated some Republicans the LCV would have supported or have supported -- lost congressional elections last week in MD-01, MI-07, and ID-01. In addition, their New Mexico Senate candidate also lost (and lost badly). Has the Club been too pure and ended up nominating candidates that are too conservative, allowing Democrats to win in places like, well, Idaho? The Club is going to have some defending to do (particularly with its donors) about how well the conservative purity game is playing out on the trail.
VIDEO: Sarah Palin was the media draw at the Republican Governors Convention, but the GOP shied away from embracing her. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports. ***
If you can’t beat them, co-opt their message? Charlie Crist closed out the Republican Governors Association meeting last night with a speech that could be the kind of message that not only paves the way forward for the party, but for his own career on a national stage. He was post-partisan, stressing inclusiveness, working together, and above all getting things done. It was a polished, practiced speech about expanding majorities, instead of being pigeonholed to the base. Frankly, there seemed to be a lot of Obama in it…
***
T. Boone does “Meet”: On Sunday, Meet the Press has an exclusive interview with T. Boone Pickens -- the Texas oilman, energy-independence advocate, and Oklahoma State football patron -- as well as a roundtable with Tom Friedman and Tavis Smiley. Pickens also appeared on Morning Joe this morning…
***
Rockin' the suburbs: In 2004, many exit pollsters pointed to George W. Bush's five-point lift over John Kerry in the nation's suburbs as one of the keys to the Republican's victory. In this past election, however, Obama flipped that Democratic deficit in the 'burbs to a two point advantage. But how much did it help him state-by-state? Obama won EVERY state in which he got more than 50% of the suburban vote. In two traditionally red states -- Indiana and North Carolina -- Obama lost the suburbs, but he improved on Kerry's suburban performance by double digits to pull off narrow wins in those states. In fact, Obama outperformed Kerry in the suburbs in every battleground state except for Missouri. As Charlie Cook writes today in his newest column, “When Democrats win the suburbs, Republicans are in trouble.”
***
Take me home, country roads: It's safe to say that, at the beginning of the presidential race, pundits were not trumpeting predictions that a black man named "Barack Hussein Obama" -- who even claimed that small-town voters were bitter, clinging to their religion and guns -- would do better than John Kerry in rural areas. Nationally, however, Obama outperformed Kerry in rural areas -- by just three points. But get this: His performance versus Kerry in low-population regions shot up in a few states like Pennsylvania (+5), South Carolina (+9), and Texas (+5), where extended primaries (and their accompanying far-flung field offices) certainly couldn't have hurt the campaign's efforts to turn out rural voters. And Obama did very well with rural voters in another handful of states: Colorado (+14), Virginia (+9), New Hampshire (+5), Missouri (+7), and New Mexico (+8). What do those have in common? They were battlegrounds where Obama had offices throughout each state.
***
Remaining races: Not many new developments out there. In Alaska, Mark Begich (D) remains in the lead over Ted Stevens (R), with more absentee and early ballots to be counted next week… In Georgia, 2,000 turned out to see McCain campaign for Saxby Chambliss (R), while the Democratic Senatorial Committee is up with a
brand-new TV ad hitting the GOP incumbent… And in Minnesota, there’s an
excellent piece reminding us that the changing vote-count total in the Coleman-Franken race isn’t that unusual. “The night that Sen. Norm Coleman defeated former Vice President Walter Mondale in the 2002 U.S. Senate race he piled up more than 1,062,000 votes. But when all the ballots were certified two weeks later, Coleman had 54,000 more votes. It's TRUE. Between election night voting numbers, and two weeks later when the State Canvassing Board certified official results, Coleman gained 54,429 votes. Mondale's vote total also went up 63,192 votes, but not enough to beat Coleman. It's what happens in Minnesota elections. We just don't pay attention when the race isn't close.”
VIDEO: All eyes are on Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota as contests continue. NBC's Lee Cowan reports. Countdown to Georgia Senate run-off: 18 days
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 55 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 67 days
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Hillary as potential Secretary of State even makes the cover of the New York Post . "Hill Job!" Wall Street Journal writes that New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has been added to the mix as a possible Treasury secretary. “Corzine received praise Thursday from Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. Other handicappers are following Corzine because he has such a range of experience in both the public and private sectors. He’s a former head of Goldman Sachs, the same position current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held. After more than two decades at Goldman, including turning the firm into a public company, he won a U.S. Senate seat. In 2005, he was elected governor. The latest polls have him at a 47% approval rating.” Politico writes that Larry Summers may have fallen off the Treasury short list. “If Summers, who’s been one of Obama’s top economic advisers, is indeed out of the mix, the odds-on favorite for Treasury secretary is New York Federal Reserve Chairman Timothy Geithner. Another possibility is that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker would take the helm for six months, with Geithner as his deputy, and Geithner would take over later.”
CONTINUED >>
It looks like a bailout for the automakers is dead this year. Per the New York Times , "The prospects of a government rescue for the foundering American automakers dwindled Thursday as Democratic Congressional leaders conceded that they would face potentially insurmountable Republican opposition during a lame-duck session next week."David Brooks makes the cases against bailing out Detroit.
CONTINUED >>
After looking at the vote totals and the exit polls, political analyst Charlie Cook fires off this warning to Republicans in his latest National Journal column: “Those who write off the 2008 election by saying that Republican candidates weren’t conservative enough are in denial. They are political ostriches, refusing to acknowledge that the country and the electorate are changing and that old recipes don’t work any more. Obama’s message and agenda were a far cry from those of the Democratic Party of a generation or two ago, but the Republican Party’s message and agenda haven’t changed much other than becoming even more fixated on cultural issues and tax cuts. A top Republican pollster remarked privately to me after the election that he couldn’t think of a single new idea generated on the Republican side during the 2008 campaign.”Boston Globe : "With Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska in their midst, the nation's leading Republican governors used their annual conference to unleash some of their most furious criticism yet about the failed campaign she waged alongside presidential nominee John McCain. … Palin's colleagues rarely mentioned her by name, as the defeated vice presidential nominee swept through the conference, making a triumphal jaunt richer in nostalgia for her brief campaign than in prescriptions for a Republican rebound." More: "Palin's presence overshadowed the three-day conclave of elected executives that traditionally serves as a celebration of state-level policy successes, a partywide strategy session, and an audition for national candidates. It was at such a meeting in early 2008 that the Alaska governor first received McCain's attention, but her colleagues this week appeared at times miffed that even from under the wreckage, Palin's luster remained visible."
CONTINUED >>
"In states won by President-elect Barack Obama, turnout was more than five percentage points higher than in states won by Republican John McCain, according to a
Globe analysis of data compiled by a pair of researchers who study voting patterns in US elections."
GEORGIA: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that 2,000 showed up yesterday to see McCain campaign for Sen. Saxby Chambliss. “‘I did not think I would be back on the campaign trail quite this early,’ McCain said. ‘But there is a lot at stake here. I’m asking you to go into battle one more time. ‘The eyes of the country and the world will be on the state of Georgia Dec. 2.’” More: McCain never mentioned Obama’s name during his 12-minute speech… [But] when Chambliss first used the words ‘President-elect Barack Obama,’ the partisan crowd booed loudly. ‘Let me say, I will pray for him every day, just as I’ve prayed for every other president,’ Chambliss said. Chambliss, however, warned that a Democratic supermajority would unleash a rash of ‘liberal’ initiatives.” New York Times writes about the Georgia Senate run-off, casting the race as “the first test of Mr. Obama’s coattails.” (But is that a fair characterization when Obama lost that state by five points?) new TV ad whacking Chambliss. ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune reports that Obama’s “decision to step down from his U.S. Senate seat Sunday has ratcheted up the pressure on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to name a successor more quickly than planned, sources close to the governor said Thursday. No decision is expected before the U.S. Senate begins its lame-duck session on Monday, sources familiar with the governor's deliberations said. Blagojevich has only said he would name a successor before the end of the year, and his office declined comment Thursday.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro MIAMI -- So what’s the problem with the party?
Rick Perry says it’s that these Washington-types in the GOP have lost their way.
He praised
Palin . “We saw the impact” Palin had “when she joined the national ticket.”
She represented the working man, Perry said.
“And Sarah, I want to say to you,” he began, “I would rather be addressing you as vice-president-elect, but I am proud to call you my friend and proud to have you on our team. Thank you for the work you did.”
He continued, “If we ever want to reclaim the majority, Republican governors must reclaim the restoration effort, and it begins now.”
Perry earlier also praised Jindal for his leadership during Hurricane Gustav. Perry was at least the third to say so here.
Perry also had this for
Obama : “We may have elected a president based on some pretty prose, but we all know it takes more than pretty words to govern.”
Perry also announced that Florida Gov.
Charlie Crist will chair the annual RGA gala, the biggest fundraiser of the year.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro MIAMI --
Sonny Perdue said the Republican Governors Association had more private meetings than usual and called it “workman-like.”
Then Perdue introduced outgoing Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and handed him, as a parting gift of sorts… a shotgun -- on behalf of the RGA.
“I’m not nearly the shot Sonny Perdue is,” Blunt said. “I’ll always remember the RGA, when I have the opportunity to see it and use it.”
Perdue also introduced Texas Gov. Rick Perry. After calling him a “beautiful man,” he handed him … a shotgun.
After Perry thanked Perdue for the gift, he said, “With how the new administration is going to treat the Second Amendment, let’s just keep that a secret between me and you, all right?”
No word on how the governors will get their guns on their airplanes home.
From NBC’s Andrea Mitchell
Clinton was seen taking a flight to Chicago today, but an adviser says it was on personal business. It is unknown whether she had any meeting or conversation with Obama while there.
Other Democrats known to want the State Department post are Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Bill Richardson. A possible compromise choice would be former Sen. Tom Daschle.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro MIAMI -- Gov.
Tim Pawlenty chose his words carefully when talking about
Palin 's speech here at the Republican Governors Association conference.
"She was mostly sharing her reflections from the trail," he told NBC News in a corner of this sleek Miami hotel. "It was interesting. It was mostly a summation."
But asked whether it fit the billing of the panel she spoke before, about looking toward the party's future, Pawlenty said, "Was that the title of the speech? Well, she referred to energy."
Much has been made of a potential rift in the party, between reformists (with Pawlenty at the head) and traditionalists (with Palin at the front of that group). Pawlenty gave a speech laying out his vision yesterday for where the party should go -- that it should be more inclusive, more diverse and expand its ability to compete in the Northeast, the Midwest and the West. He urged Republicans not to give in to either side, but called for a merging of both a modernization and an adherence to conservative values.
Tonight, he said he doesn't think there is a divide in the party.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Abby Livingston Chuck Schumer feels the chance of 60 Democratic senators this cycle is “possible, but unlikely.”
Briefing reporters this afternoon, the New York senator gave the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s outlook on the three outstanding Senate races: Minnesota, Alaska and Georgia.
With the race in Minnesota between Norm Coleman and Al Franken in a post-election dead heat, Schumer opened the news conference by directing his ire to the politics of the recount. Invoking a nightmare familiar to political journalists of cycles past, he said, “Minnesota is the one state where we really see the same kind of effort to intimidate.” He added, “Democrats sort of let that happen in 2000 in Florida. We’re not going let that happen again.”
Proving that annoyance with the mainstream media can be bipartisan, Schumer also railed against the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal for “overheated rhetoric” and “fabricated” claims over the recount.
Schumer views the Georgia runoff between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin as part of the original DSCC plan. “We were able to hold an incumbent in a red state below 50% and get into a runoff, which was always our goal for the first round of balloting.” He added that the DSCC is about to put up ads supporting Jim Martin. As for President-elect Obama stumping for the Georgia Democrat, Schumer played coy, saying, “You’ll have to stay tuned. I’m not going roll out our strategy.”
Because Mark Begich has taken the lead over incumbent Ted Stevens in the Alaska race, Schumer said that he's "cautiously optimistic" about the situation as it stands.
Schumer refused to address his future in party leadership, but did answer questions about whether or not his persona is helpful to his opposition. “I’d much rather they fire their arrows at me than our candidate,” he chuckled.
From NBC's Savannah Guthrie and Mark Murray Obama announced that he will resign his Illinois Senate seat, effective Sunday.
“It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate," he said, according to a statement from his transition team. "In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future. It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation’s next president.”
Now the speculation turns to whom Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will appoint to succeed Obama. That appointment will serve until 2010, when Obama's six-year term concludes.
Some of the possibilities include Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. , Jan Schakowsky and Melissa Bean ; Tammy Duckworth, the unsuccessful 2006 House candidate who now heads the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs; Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan; and State Comptroller Dan Hynes.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Senator Mary Landrieu.
Article 1, Section 5 of the US Constitution states, "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of it's own Members..."
How does it actually happen? The Senate Historian's Office explains it this way:
"...a petition has been presented to the Senate or a resolution offered by a senator contesting the election of a candidate (in some cases a year or more after the election in question). The contest may relate to the actual conduct of the election (vote count, electoral irregularities, etc.) or electoral misconduct by candidate or supporters. Most, but not all, of these cases were referred to a committee for review."
There has only been one case in Senate history when the chamber actually reversed the final election results. That was in 1926 in a race between Daniel Steck and Smith Brookhart in Iowa.
"Brookhart was initially seated but was later unseated by the Senate and Steck seated in his place," the Senate Historian's Office writes. "This is the only occasion to date in which the Senate has actually reversed the results of an election, unseated a senator, and seated the challenger."
The responsibility of making such a judgment would likely fall the Senate Rules Committee, if warranted.
From NBC's Libby Leist and Courtney Kube Barack Obama's transition teams for two key agencies -- the Departments of State and Defense -- are getting geared up to start work, but officials at both departments say that they are still awaiting details from the office of the President-elect.
State Department officials said today they are still awaiting word from the Obama camp about when their transition team will begin work at the State Department. No one has arrived yet to work in the office space on the first floor, State Department transition coordinator Pat Kennedy told NBC. Spokesman Robert Wood told reporters at today's daily briefing that the new Obama staff is expected to move into the building "soon."
Across the river, Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman says that the Obama transition office has not yet notified the Department about who will be part of the DOD transition team -- despite yesterday's press release from the Obama Transition office listing John White and Michele Flournoy as the team leaders.
Whitman said that the Obama transition office would notify the Pentagon about the DOD team in writing, including a full list of names of those on the team. He could not say whether any Obama Transition team members might visit the Pentagon today to see the new office spaces.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
MIAMI -- At this afternoon's panel about the future of the Republican Party,
Tim Pawlenty
picked up where he left off yesterday, delivering some tough medicine
for the party, calling for moderating the party's message and demeanor,
including McCain's.
"People don't want to just hear I'm against earmarks, and 'we need to
get back to things,'" Pawlenty said. That's nice, he added, but people
are want to know, 'How can I pay for college, fill up my gas tank,' he
added. "People are wondering, 'What are you going to do for me.' …
Enough's enough."
He criticized the Republican Party's perceived negativity.
"When did you see Reagan get angry," Pawlenty said, adding that the
1980s president was positive and strong. "People want to follow mostly
positive leaders; they don't want to follow cranks," he said, an
apparent reference to McCain, which was met with scattered laughs from
the crowd.
This came following Gov. Mark Sanford, who said, "There is going to be a big debate about what we're about."
There has been a focus at the conference on outreach tools and being outmanned by Obama via the Web.
"Outreach tools are important, but they're secondary to what the brand
is about," the South Carolina governor said, adding, that when John
Deere gets into trouble, it doesn't say let's build airplanes and boats.
Pawlenty seemed to swat that down, almost immediately picking up on the point.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Palin called for reaching out to the new Obama Administration, but at the same time criticized Democrats in a speech that was, at times, hotly partisan here at the Republican Governors Association conference.
In this speech, which followed her earlier press conference, she hit Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid , saying their names like they are bad words and referred to the "Democrat" (instead of "Democratic") Congress -- a time-honored Republican tweak. "Maybe they forgot why they were sent to Washington," Palin said of Democrats.
But for a speech that was supposed to be largely focused on the future of the Republican Party, Palin showed no signs early in her speech -- and for much of it -- of moving past the 2008 campaign.
Despite saying she had moved on, she delivered some of the campaign's greatest hits. She lauded Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder again. There also was talk of campaign signs and enthusiasm with crowds praise for what she called "prayer warriors" for their good wishes on the trail. But unlike Gov. Tim Pawlenty's call for a more diverse party yesterday or Bobby Jindal saying Republicans were fired with just cause, Palin didn't offer a concrete pathway or even a vision for a party searching for its soul and a way forward after its defeats last week.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann Mitch McConnell has been a longtime ally to fellow Kentuckian Mike Duncan , the RNC Chairman who reportedly hopes to continue in the post. Duncan will have to weather challenges from a possibly crowded field of would-be successors, including former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, former Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman, and South Carolina GOP head Katon Dawson. Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis announced his candidacy for the post yesterday. George Will called "Washington's most important Republican and second-most consequential elected official" in a column today, pull strings to protect Duncan's tenuous hold on the chairmanship? When a hometown paper -- the Louisville Courier-Journal -- asked the Kentucky senator's shop, a spokesman declined to offer a yes-or-no, instead issuing this Rorschach-test statement: "Senator McConnell believes that Chairman Duncan is an intelligent, experienced man and did an excellent job as RNC Chair this year. He looks forward to working closely with Mike in the months and years ahead as they both work to serve Kentucky and their Party."
McConnell himself declined an interview.
And McConnell is not the only Kentuckian not issuing a ringing formal endorsement of Inez, KY native Duncan. First District Congressman Rep. Ed Whitfield (R) told the Courier-Journal that Duncan is "a fine fellow and everything, but I think we've got to move in a new direction."
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro MIAMI --
Palin tried to tamp down speculation of a 2012 run – speculation some say she has fueled with doing several TV interviews just days after she and
McCain lost their run for the presidency.
At a press conference here during the Republican Governors Association conference, Palin instead focused on what governors could get done.
“The media wants to dissect the past” and talk about 2012,” Palin, flanked by a cadre of Republican governors, told a room with 27 television cameras and more than 150 reporters. “As far as we’re concerned the past is the past.”
Palin, introduced by Texas Gov.
Rick Perry , made brief remarks and took just four questions in what -- in total -- wasn’t much more than 10 minutes. Organizers had said there would be 20 minutes of questions.
Palin said her being here is not about the next presidential race, but about governance and providing “good service” to the people they are serving “in our states.” As part of a panel this morning, though, Palin will engage in a bit of the dissection she accuses the media of wanting to engage in as she makes remarks on the future of the Republican Party.
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann MIAMI -- "Fear and self-loathing in Miami” might as well be the name of the Republican Governors Association meeting, which begins a second day here. Yesterday, we witnessed the kind of self-analysis and second-guessing only heard on New York sports talk radio -- or at Democratic events. These are Republicans, after all; it's not supposed to be this way. From Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's morning warning to an afternoon vent session, Republicans were at the same time assured of what to do and searching for answers. Everyone agrees things have to change and that they need to recapture significant and lost parts of the electorate. They were unanimous in their confounded praise of Obama's ground game and his ability to reach 10 million faithful at the click of a mouse.
*** Blame and silence : There was finger pointing, too -- at John McCain, who heads to Georgia today to campaign for Sen. Saxby Chambliss -- for not being able to use a BlackBerry or a TelePrompter; for not running a great campaign; for having his bouts with the party and not stirring the activist base. There were also his defenders, like Meg Whitman and Rob Portman, who insisted he was the best there was and was facing an incredible headwind. But when the conversation turned to Sarah Palin -- who holds a press conference here today and then gives remarks on the future of the party -- there was almost dead silence. No one seemed to quite have an opinion of the woman who, as some polls showed, was the second biggest drag on the McCain ticket after Bush. For all the talk of bluntness and honesty yesterday, no one was willing to necessarily throw her under the proverbial bus. "Would any of you been comfortable with her as president?" one reporter asked Rob Portman, Meg Whitman, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, and Pawlenty. Then came an awkward pause before Portman and Whitman defended her. "Whatever you say is going to be the headline," a wryly-smiling Huntsman warned. The press corps laughed. It broke the ice. It appears the Republican governors are practicing a form of the golden rule: Do unto your other Republican governors who end up on national tickets how you want to be done unto if you get picked.
*** Today’s RGA agenda: Palin holds her press conference at 9:40 am ET and then delivers her speech immediately afterward. Other morning speakers -- at a forum entitled “Looking Toward the Future” -- include retired Gen. Tommy Franks, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, Pawlenty, and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. At 12:30 pm, Govs. Charlie Crist, Rick Perry, Haley Barbour, and Sanford attend a roundtable with the press. And at dinner beginning at 7:00 pm, Perry and Crist deliver another round of speeches.
*** The same old vs. change : Reuters has a provocative analysis piece wondering how Obama can bring change to Washington when he’s tapping Clinton Administration veterans to help with the transition and the new Administration. Obama, “who swept the presidential election on a mantra of change, apparently believes it is Washington old-timers who are best equipped to steer the country in a promised new direction. Obama, drawing up lists of possible appointments for his administration, has come up with a host of familiar faces reaching back to former President Bill Clinton's team and beyond.” (In fact, this exact question came up at last December’s Des Moines Register debate, where Hillary Clinton said she wanted to hear the answer to that question and Obama replied, “Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me, as well.”) There are a couple of points worth making here. One, because Obama will be the first black president, he’s never going to seem like your typical president; so no matter how familiar Obama's advisers are, he'll never seem typical. (Remember when Clinton tried to hit Obama for being just another politician. It never stuck because, simply, Obama never looked the part of "just another politician.") Two, just imagine the difficulty McCain would have picking Republicans who weren’t veterans of the Bush Administration if he had won…
*** Retiring the debt : Yesterday, the Obama campaign -- under David Plouffe’s name -- released a note to their email list asking donors to help purchase “Victory” T-Shirts to help retire the DNC’s debt. “We've been reviewing the books, and the DNC went into considerable debt to secure victory for Barack and Joe,” Plouffe said. “So before we do anything else, we need to help pay for this winning strategy.” Just sayin’, but note how they’ve sent out an email to help retire the DNC’s debt, but not Hillary’s. Hmmmm. Then again, Hillary’s decision to rack up debt was her own, especially after she continued to campaign beyond the decisive Indiana and North Carolina contests. And the party’s future doesn't rest on Hillary's finances; it does on the DNC’s. Still, there had been hints during the summer from some Obama folks that they'd be a more effective surrogate fundraiser for Clinton's debt retirement post-election if Obama won. Well?
*** Is everything redder in Texas? Just a week after the election, there’s already speculation about which other red states Democrats might be able to turn blue in future presidential races. And Texas -- which McCain won by 12 percentage points, down from Bush’s 23-point win in 2004 -- is at the top of that list. A growing number of Hispanic voters, check. A sizable African-American population, check. A relatively young state, check. Sounds a lot like North Carolina or Virginia, right? Well, not so fast. Ideologically, Texas remains a very conservative state. Nationally, according to the exit polls, 34% identified themselves as conservatives, but that number jumped to 46% in the Lone Star State (it was 33% in VA and 37% in NC). In addition, Bush’s job approval was 41% in Texas, compared with 27% nationally. (As we wrote yesterday, with the exception of Missouri, Obama won every state where Bush’s approval rating was below 35%, and he lost every state where Bush’s approval was above 35%.) Besides the Texan Bush, check out these numbers: While Obama almost tied McCain among white college grads nationally, McCain destroyed him in Texas among this subgroup, 74%-25%. And while Obama won the suburbs, the Texas ‘burbs broke for McCain, 61%-37%. So what does this all mean? Don’t bet the ranch that Democrats will win Texas in 2012 or 2016. Still, it will be interesting to see what happens to the Texas Republican brand now that a Bush isn't around to prop it up.
*** Raising Arizona: By comparison, Arizona -- McCain’s home state, which he won by nine points -- looks like a much better opportunity for Democrats, according to the exits. In that state, 36% identified themselves as conservatives (versus 34% nationally), and 37% approved of Bush’s job performance (just slightly above that 35% mark). Also, Obama fared much better among college-educated whites in Arizona than he did in Texas, with McCain winning them, 58%-41% (versus the 74%-25% split in the Lone Star State). As we said before, had McCain not been on the ballot this year, Arizona would have been a real target for the Obama campaign. And it probably WILL be in 2012 without (most likely) another Arizonan on the ticket.
*** The remaining Senate races: In Alaska, after tallying about 60,000 early and absentee ballots yesterday, Mark Begich (D) now leads incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens (R) by 814 votes. There are still about 40,000 votes that will be counted next week… In the Senate run-off in Georgia, McCain today stumps for Saxby Chambliss (R) as the National Republican Senatorial Committee has a new TV ad whacking Democrat Jim Martin. (Just askin', but will we see Obama in Georgia at all before the runoff?) … And regarding the Coleman-Franken recount in Minnesota, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman Chuck Schumer holds a press conference in DC at 1:00 pm ET to discuss the recount in Minnesota as the Republicans continue with their effort to call into question the entire re-canvass (and therefore the recount?) process.
Countdown to Georgia Senate run-off: 19 days
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The
New York Times , covering the first day of the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, writes: “As the Republican Party prepares to enter the political wilderness after its losses this month, the group that many consider its future — the Republican governors — met here on Wednesday to talk about what went wrong, and what to do next. Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who was very nearly Senator John McCain’s running mate this year, told the decidedly subdued, postelection conference of the Republican Governors Association about a revelation he had recently while looking into the bathroom mirror at his home in Minnesota.”
“Mr. Pawlenty said that after wearily returning from the campaign trail, he looked at himself in the mirror and complained about what he saw to his wife, Mary. ‘I said, “Mary, look at me,”’ he said. “I mean, my hairline’s receding, these crow’s feet and wrinkles are multiplying on my face by the day, I’ve been on the road eating junk food, I’m getting flabby, these love handles are flopping over the side of my belt.”’ ‘I said, “Is there anything you can tell me that would give me some hope, some optimism, some encouragement?”’ he said. ‘And she looked at me and she said, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with your eyesight.”’”
Also reporting from Miami, the Wall Street Journal notes the two lines of thinking espoused by Republicans seeking to rebuild their brand: expand the base, or get back to basics? CONTINUED >>
Obama holds private meetings today in Chicago, while Joe and Jill Biden
meet with the Cheneys in DC at the vice presidential residence in DC.
“President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday named two former Clinton White House officials, Joshua Gotbaum and Michael J. Warren, to oversee the new administration’s takeover of the Treasury Department as it manages the still-evolving $700 billion financial rescue plan,” the
New York Times writes. More: “The Obama transition team named two more former Clinton administration officials, Thomas E. Donilon and Wendy R. Sherman, to head the transition for the State Department.”
The Wall Street Journal : "The group is filled with second-tier veterans of the Clinton administration and workers in the technology and financial sectors. It includes four former lobbyists, three top campaign fund-raisers and two former employees of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, with some overlap among them. Four people in the group have ties to the consultant McKinsey & Co. and two have experience leading high-tech start-ups." CONTINUED >>
"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson yesterday
backed away from the original strategy behind the $700 billion US plan for propping up the limping economy, opening the door to pump government cash into credit card companies, auto financing firms, and other consumer lenders in addition to banks."
Does anyone else get the funny feeling that we're going to discover very soon that the $700 billion has been spent and no one is quite sure what it got spent on? So far, the Bush Administration has committed nearly $300 billion of the $700 billion. And the
Washington Post notes there's no oversight. "Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed. ‘It's a mess,’ said Eric M. Thorson, the Treasury Department's inspector general, who has been working to oversee the bailout program until the newly created position of special inspector general is filled. ‘I don't think anyone understands right now how we're going to do proper oversight of this thing.’”
As for the auto industry bailout, "The White House and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. made clear that while they are open to helping the auto industry, they are strongly opposed to Democrats' plans to carve cash out of the government's $700 billion financial rescue program. Despite those warnings, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said he would move ahead and draft legislation, setting up a final showdown with the Bush administration." CONTINUED >>
LATE BLOOMERS : Remember how some kept repeating the mantra that undecideds would break 70-30 for McCain? Among those who decided in the two weeks leading up to the election, they broke right down the middle, 48% for Obama, 48% for McCain.
FIRST-TIMERS: The ratio of first-time voters to repeats was actually identical to the 2004 split. Eleven percent of the electorate voted for the first time in both the ‘04 and ‘08 contests. Here's the jaw-dropper, though: First-time voters went almost 70%-30% for Obama in this election, compared with a 53%-46% split for Kerry.
The AP looks at how early voting and same-day registration tipped the balance for Obama in North Carolina.
GEORGIA ON THEIR MINDS : Thirteen percent of Jim Martin's voters were first-time voters (versus 6% for Chambliss). Another weird quirk of the race: Democrat Martin actually LOST among voters who are worried about the economy, but won among those who aren't worried about it. Nationally, that trend was reversed for Obama.
VETERANS DAY : John Kerry, a Vietnam vet who became an outspoken critic of the war, lost the veterans vote by a margin of 57%-41%. Obama, who never served, closed that margin against former POW John McCain, only losing by 10 points among vets.
ABOUT YOUR BERETTA: Barack Obama made gains over John Kerry among many target groups: Jewish voters, born-again Christians, veterans, and working women. One place where the red and blue margins were static: gun owners. The same percentage of gun owners supported Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008.
ALASKA: “Mark Begich made a dramatic comeback Wednesday to overtake 40-year incumbent Ted Stevens for the lead in Alaska's U.S. Senate race,” the
Anchorage Daily News writes. “Begich, who was losing after election night, now leads Stevens by 814 votes -- 132,196 to 131,382 -- with the state still to count roughly 40,000 more ballots over the next week. The state Division of Elections tallied about 60,000 absentee, early and questioned ballots from around the state on Wednesday. The ballots broke heavily in the Democrat's favor, erasing the 3,000-vote lead the Republican Stevens held after election night Nov. 4.”
Also: “While Stevens' era in the Senate is in danger of ending, another longtime Alaska Republican is returning to Washington, D.C. Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young maintained his solid lead over Democratic challenger Ethan Berkowitz after Wednesday's count. Berkowitz made some headway but Young still led by more than 15,000 votes.” CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
While Republican governors are introspectively and seriously examining what went wrong and how they can move forward , the woman who many think is the future of the party was spotted -- outside the room.
There was a noise and a usual media scrum of cameras and shouted questions.
What was all the commotion? It was Sarah Palin , of course. The scrum moved through the second floor after Palin got off an elevator. She answered a couple of questions as she walked, exited through the door and was gone.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Tim Pawlenty (R) laid out his vision for the Republican Party and how it can move forward. It needs to get younger, more diverse and build a broader coalition, he said here at the Republican Governors Association conference a little more than a week after Republicans lost the presidency and suffered big losses in both the US House and Senate.
"If we're going to successfully travel the road, as a Republican, we need to see clearly, and be honest about where we've been and where we're headed," he said.
Pawlenty implored the room of Republicans not to give in to the emerging reform-versus-traditional arguments as to what's wrong with the party.
"If we're going to be the majority," he said, "we're going to have to see we need to grow the party. We cannot compete in the Northeast, the West; we're losing seats in the Great Lakes region. We have a large deficit with women, Hispanics, African Americans -- people with modest financial circumstances. That is not a formula for a majority."
Pawlenty stressed that the Party both needs to modernize and be true to its values. "Both are true, and both can be harmonized."
How?
Pawlenty said the party's values and principles are "time tested." "We can build on them. We can be both conservative and modern at the same time."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd, Carrie Dann, and Abby Livingston Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis watched his state slip from a tossup to a 16-point slam-dunk for
Barack Obama , after the
McCain campaign dropped its ads there. Some would call him an endangered species -- a Republican in a heavy manufacturing state north of the Mason-Dixon line. He recently predicted in a blog post that "when our party once again adheres to our core values and beliefs, and can again demonstrate to America that we can be trusted on those issues, we will make a comeback – stronger than ever."
And today, he's announcing his intention to try to lead that comeback, becoming the first official candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee.
In a party relegated to the South and patches of the Western Plains on November 4th, Anuzis may end up being the only candidate for the post who hails from a northern blue state.
A former tech wizard who Twitters, Facebooks, and blogs on his website "That's Saul, Folks!" the Michigan Republican hopes to run as an ideological and tactical innovator who can bring the Republican Party into the 21st century. He announced his intention to run this afternoon via Twitter, Youtube, and emails to the RNC -- all before a formal release to mainstream media sources.
"The country asked for change," he told First Read this morning before formally announcing his bid as RNC leader, "And that was not just Democrats."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Jim Martin (D).
The ad's kicker tries to advance the argument that a Democratic victory in the December 2 run-off could give the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. "With unchecked power hanging in the balance, Georgia can't afford another liberal like Jim Martin in Washington." (Politico's Ben Smith also smartly points out that the ad doesn't mention Obama at all.)
Meanwhile, in advance of McCain stumping tomorrow for incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R), Democrats have unveiled a new Web video noting that McCain denounced the controversial TV ad that Chambliss aired back in 2002 to help topple Democrat Max Cleland .
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann *** The Bush factor: Many have attributed Obama’s win to his organization, his performance among minorities and young voters, his nearly unlimited campaign cash, and his response to the economic meltdown -- and all deservedly so. But don’t forget how big of a role Bush’s unpopularity played in this election. With the single exception of Missouri (which barely went for McCain after a delayed call from NBC News), Obama won every state where Bush’s approval rating was below 35% in the exit polls, and he lost every state where Bush’s approval rating was over 35%. The state with the highest Bush rating? Utah, at 47%, which supported McCain by a 29-point margin. The place with the lowest? Washington DC, at 8%, where McCain got just 7% of the vote. Nationally, according to the exits, Bush's approval rating stood at a stunning 27%, mirroring the all-time low hit in the late October NBC/WSJ poll. Of those nationwide who approved of Bush's handling of his job at the White House, 89% voted for McCain, while those who disapproved broke for Obama by a margin of more than 2-1. The state that mirrored the exit poll data on the approval vs. victory margin split? Virginia, where Bush's approval rating stood at 27% and where Obama won by a seven-point margin.
Video: NBC Deputy Political Director Mark Murray offers his first read on the significance of Sarah Palin and the GOP governors meeting in Miami and John McCain's role now. *** A new hope : The Republican Governors Association meeting kicks off today in Miami, where there will be plenty of opportunities to read the tea leaves for 2012. There's no doubt that most of the hope for the future of the GOP rests on the shoulders of many of these RGA members. On the agenda today: a luncheon at 1:15 pm ET featuring Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty; a 2:00 pm roundtable discussing the 2008 election (which includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour); a 4:10 pm press roundtable (with Pawlenty, former Congressman and Bush Administration official Rob Portman, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who hopes to join the RGA as California governor in 2011); and a 7:30 pm reception featuring Barbour. Thursday is Palin Day at the meeting, where the Alaska governor will hold a press conference with reporters at 9:40 am and then deliver a speech afterwards. Also speaking tomorrow at a “Looking Toward the Future” panel: Pawlenty, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, Tommy Franks, and Bill Kristol. And Thursday wraps up with a press roundtable (which includes Barbour, Sanford, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry) and a state dinner (featuring remarks from Crist and Perry). There will be a lot of little sidebar stories to cover, including the budding RNC chair race as potential candidates are all making their way down to Miami this week as well.
*** Backtracking on lobbyists? Yesterday, the Obama team announced new restrictions on lobbyists for serving in the transition. Among the rules: Federal lobbyists can’t contribute money to the transition; if they’ve lobbied in the past year, they’re prohibited from working in the fields of policy where they have lobbied; and they’re prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they have worked. Yet it seems that these rules have opened up Obama to potential criticism that he’s backtracked on an earlier promise he made during the campaign. Lobbyists, Obama once said, “will not work in my White House,” although he later revised that line to say that they will not “run my White House.” Are these new rules as strong as his language early in the campaign? No. Are these the strongest lobbyist rules for a White House transition that we've seen? Yes. But all this reflects Obama’s struggle with keeping his campaign promises while facing the reality that so many people he may want to appoint might be people who have previously lobbied.
*** The Mormon church’s power? The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder notes that the Mormon Church “has earned some serious cred in social conservative circles” after its work in helping to pass California’s gay-marriage ban. Just askin’, but does this have repercussions for Romney in 2012? Here’s the official word from the church in an article a spokesman references: "Mormon church members undertook a perhaps unprecedented mobilization, contributing an estimated 40 percent of the individual donations made to the Yes on 8's $30 million-plus campaign. Yet the Salt Lake City church, which did not contribute to the campaign, sees its involvement in politics as unusual. ‘I don't think there's any sense in the church that this coalition has more life beyond this one issue,’ said Mike Otterson, a church spokesman. ‘We haven't created a permanent alliance of churches here. What we did here was we came together to protect traditional marriage.’” Whether intentional or not, the potential help for Romney is this: to convince evangelicals that a Mormon in the White House wouldn't somehow undermine their own religion and their own values.
*** Si, se puede: During the sunset of Hillary Clinton's primary run, her supporters warned that Obama's failure to win Latino voters in the primaries spelled potential disaster for the general election. Those prognostications turned out to be overblown as Obama won 67% of the Hispanic vote, up from Kerry’s 53% in 2004. Latino voters carved out a bigger piece of the electorate than in past years in every battleground state other than Florida, Georgia, and New Jersey. That includes jumps in relatively non-diverse states like Iowa (+2% from 2004), Montana (+3), and New Hampshire (+1). In the key Western states of Nevada and Colorado, Hispanics accounted for a 5% larger slice of the electorate than they did in 2004. In New Mexico, that number was a whopping 9%. And what about in those new swing regions where Obama mobilized coalitions of young and minority voters to flip red states into blue ones? In Virginia, Latino voters broke 2-1 for Obama and made up 5% of the electorate; in Indiana, they went 3-1 for the Democrat. In fact, this should be the single most worrisome trend for the GOP -- the spike in Latino turnout was across the country, not just in states that were already known to have large Latino populations.
*** The remaining races : Today, we might have a better sense of the outcome in the Alaska Senate race, when the state’s Elections division expects to count most of the outstanding 90,000 early, absentee ballots or questioned ballots. Ted Stevens (R) currently holds a 3,257-vote lead over Mark Begich (D)… In Georgia, it’s being reported that McCain will stump for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) on Thursday… And in Minnesota today, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie holds a press conference to provide additional details of the recount in the unresolved Coleman-Franken Senate race.
*** More on Minnesota : The Republicans may be struggling how to deal with rebuilding their brand, settling the Georgia Senate run-off, or dealing with the Ted Stevens situation. But the party -- both in Minnesota and nationally -- seems to have quickly settled on a strategy to deal with the Minnesota recount. The party apparatus seems to be in sync in labeling the recount and the recanvass as somehow a questionable process. Using the fact that Franken picked up so many votes during the recanvass, the GOP talking point appears to be to question the recanvass and use that to issue a cloud over the recount process. Bottom line: It appears we're quickly heading to a situation where neither side is going to believe the final result of the recount.
Countdown to Georgia Senate run-off: 20 days
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Per the Obama team, the president-elect and vice president-elect are in Chicago today, where they will hold private meetings. There are no public events scheduled.
The Boston Globe's front-page headline: "Obama softens ban on hiring lobbyists." "President-elect Barack Obama, who vowed during his campaign that lobbyists 'won't find a job in my White House,' said through a spokesman yesterday that he would allow lobbyists on his transition team as long as they work on issues unrelated to their earlier jobs. … [I]ndependent analysts said yesterday that the move is less than the wholesale removal of lobbyists that he suggested during the campaign -- and shows how difficult it will be to lessen the pervasive influence of more than 40,000 registered lobbyists. 'That is a step back and there is no other way of seeing it,' said Craig Holman, who lobbies on governmental affairs for the watchdog group Public Citizen. Nonetheless, he said, Obama is still making 'a very concrete effort to avoid what I consider a potentially corrupting situation.'"
The New York Times adds that “the new rules do seem to leave some wiggle room. Aides to Mr. Obama, who declared during the campaign that lobbyists would not ‘find a job in my White House,’ said the guidelines allowed for lobbyists to work on the transition in areas where they have not done any lobbying. Further, the rules apply to lobbyists who must register with the federal government; many people who work for lobbying firms or in other areas of the influence business in Washington do not have to register, because they do not personally lobby federal officials on specific issues.” CONTINUED >>
Chief of staff: Emanuel
NAMED / Deputy: Pete Rouse
Press Secretary: Gibbs
Biden chief of staff: Ron Klain
POTENTIAL CABINET MEMBERS. Agriculture: Tom Vilsack, Tom Buis (Natl Farmers Union), Charlie Stenholm, Jim Leach
Commerce: Penny Pritzker, Kathleen Sebelius, Jason Furman, John Thompson (Symantec)
Defense: Robert Gates, Richard Danzig, Chuck Hagel, Sam Nunn, Jack Reed, Colin Powell, John Hamre
Education: Joel Klein (NYC), Linda Darling-Hammond, Kathleen Sebelius, Colin Powell, Jim Hunt, Arne Duncan, Inez Tenenbaum.
Energy: Kathleen Sebelius, Philip Sharp, Ed Rendell, Arnold Schwarzenegger (has said no), Al Gore, Jeff Bingaman, Jennifer Granholm
HHS: Tom Daschle, Howard Dean, Eric Whitaker
Homeland Security (priority): Tim Roemer, Ray Kelly, James Lee Witt, Tom Kean Sr, Jane Harman, Janet Napolitano
HUD: Jim Clyburn, Valerie Jarrett, Shirley Franklin (Atlanta mayor)
Interior: Bill Richardson, Inslee, Kitzhaber, Tony Knowles, Ken Salazar
Justice (AG): Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, Charles Ogletree, Deval Patrick, James Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, Artur Davis, Tim Kaine, Jamie Gorelick (but was vice chair of Fannie), Ken Feinberg
Labor: Andy Stern (SEIU), Richard Gephardt, George Miller, David Bonior
State: John Kerry, Bill Richardson, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel, Richard Holbrooke, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton
Transportation: Ed Rendell, Jane Garvey, Mortimer Downey, Earl Blumenauer, Steve Heminger, James Oberstar
Treasury (priority): Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin, Jon Corzine, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, Laura Tyson, Jamie Dimon, Jacob "Jack" Lew, Sheila Bair
Veterans Affairs: Max Cleland, Tammy Duckworth
CONTINUED >>
The
Los Angeles Times tackles the issue of Obama managing the high expectations for him. "The high visibility of old hands and familiar faces underscores a tension that is already running through Team Obama: The president-elect has promised to overthrow Washington's habits of partisanship and cronyism. But it's tempting to turn to seasoned veterans to help him avoid the kinds of rookie mistakes that hobbled Clinton and President Carter. Both learned the hard way that a Congress controlled by the president's party does not guarantee smooth sailing."
"President-elect Barack Obama will not meet any foreign leaders attending the global financial summit in Washington, but Obama aides would likely be tapped for meetings, a top Obama adviser said on Tuesday," Reuters reports.New York Times : “Coming so soon after last week’s election, the summit meeting has proved an uncomfortable moment for the president-elect and an early test of his handling of international diplomacy. Even as aides are still closing his campaign headquarters and just beginning to assemble a governing team, they are fending off interest from foreign governments eager to take the measure of the next president and trying to avoid tying him to the departing administration. Several Obama advisers, in separate interviews, all used the word ‘awkward’ to describe the situation. But Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said: ‘While some may say it’s awkward that he’s not there, it would be far more problematic to be there. We firmly believe there is only one president at a time.’” CONTINUED >>
Between 2004 and 2008, Hispanic voters INCREASED as a percentage of the electorate in the following battlegrounds: AZ (+4), CO (+5), IA (+2), IN (+2), MI (+1), MN (+2), MO (+1), MT (+3), NV (+5), NH (+1), NM (+9), NC (+2), ND (+2), OH (+1), PA (+1), SD (+3), VA (+2), WV (+3), and WI (+1).
In an appearance on Leno -- his first interview since losing the general election -- McCain defended Palin and
gave a bit of analysis on the campaign. "'I knew I had a headwind. I can read the polls,' he said, in an obvious reference to a political climate soured by an economic crisis and unpopular Republican president and war. What's this say about the GOP brand? The 'party has a lot of work to do. We just got back from the woodshed,' he said."
“Aside from wryly indicting his own ‘personality,’ Mr. McCain declined to speculate on why he lost the election,” the
New York Times adds. “He defended his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who some of his own aides, speaking anonymously, have blamed for his defeat. ‘Did you expect mavericks to stay on message?’ he asked, before saying he ‘couldn’t be happier with Sarah Palin’ and identifying her as part of a group of young governors, including Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who represent ‘the next generation of our party.’”
Also: “When Mr. Leno asked Mr. McCain about a run in 2012, when he would be 76, he responded: ‘I wouldn’t think so, my friend. It’s been a great experience, and we’re going to have another generation of leaders, and I’ll hope I can continue to contribute.’” CONTINUED >>
ALASKA: "A week after Election Day, about 30 percent of the Alaska votes that will
decide the fate of convicted U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens haven't been counted. The Alaska Division of Elections expects to count most of the roughly 90,000 early, absentee ballots or questioned ballots remaining on Wednesday. Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, leads Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, by 3,257 votes."
GEORGIA : The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that McCain “will campaign for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Chambliss’s campaign has confirmed… McCain’s Georgia visit will be one of his first public appearances since he lost the presidency to Obama on Nov. 4.”
Chambliss’ opponent, Jim Martin (D), will hold a press conference today to discuss McCain’s visit to the Peach State. While Saxby Chambliss has cast the run-off election as the first campaign of the 2010 election cycle, Jim Martin is focusing his campaign on who will work with our new president to help get the economy moving again,” the Martin campaign said in a release.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Amna Nawaz and Abby Livingston Obama's White House transition co-chair, today promised the "strictest, most far-reaching" ethics rules "ever applied" to a presidential transition. Podesta made that promise in a press briefing at his staff's offices in Washington, DC.
Those rules prevent federal lobbyists from working for the transition in the fields of policy for which they lobbied in the last 12 months. They must also "cease all lobbying activities" while working for the transition, and they can't lobby on their transition-team issues for 12 months after ending their service. A gift ban similar to the one recently passed in Congress also has been instituted.
Replying to the question on whether some expertise may be lost in adhering to these rules, Podesta simply said, "So be it," reiterating Obama's commitment have the "toughest" rules to "stop the revolving door" in Washington politics and reduce lobbyists' influence. His office today released bipartisan declarations of support for these rules from both the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution and the more-conservative American Enterprise Institute.
With an expected staff of 450 and $12 million budget to see through the transition, Podesta pledged the "most open" and "most transparent" transition in history. More than $5 million of that money will come from Congressional funding and the rest from individual donors.
He also announced the creation of "agency review teams" that will complete reviews of more than 100 government agencies, commissions, and offices in the White House. The information gathered by these teams will be used by agency officials "to make strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration," according to Podesta. The teams will be dispatched as early as November 17 to begin work, and their names will be posted on the transition Web site (www.change.gov ) as early as this week.
From NBC's Ken Strickland In stressing the need for an additional economic stimulus package, Sen. Hillary Clinton took her request directly to President Bush today in New York.
"I met with the president briefly today," Clinton said on a conference call with reporters, referring to a Veterans Day event on the Intrepid Air, Sea & Space Museum. "I asked him to work with Congressional leadership so we could get a stimulus package and gave him a letter both making this request and outlining what I thought we should be doing.”
In the letter, she proposes a stimulus package which includes previous proposals from Democrats including money for roads projects, increases in unemployment insurance and more food assistance. Clinton asked Bush to work with Congressional leaders to pass a bill next week when members return for a lame-duck session. (It's unclear if any package will pass at this point.)
On the conference call, she also supported more financial help for the auto industry but insisted that the aid "not be unconditional money," hinting at possible changes that could effect labor unions. Clinton said the industry "should be willing to take a hard look at salaried and hourly employees, so that we know that we're getting the maximum return, maybe with changes in work rules."
CONTINUED >>
Election Night: Witnessing Obama’s Victory at LBJ's Hotel in Austin, Texas From NBC's Rich Gardella
I'd contacted two friends, former NBC News colleagues now in new lives out there, to ask if they wanted to meet up while I was visiting. So it was that I found myself early that evening sitting in the bar of the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin, watching election returns in the middle of an increasingly ecstatic Obama crowd.
When one of my friends suggested meeting at the Driskill, I was enthusiastic. I had checked out its Web site when looking for an interesting place to stay in Austin. (I ended up choosing another hotel because I thought the Driskill was a bit too expensive for my employer's dime.) I knew the Driskill was an historic hotel, built in 1886 by a cattle baron as a grand hotel to rival those in Eastern cities. I knew President Lyndon Baines Johnson had watched the returns for the 1960 and 1964 presidential elections from his suite there.
What I didn't know, but probably would have guessed if I'd thought about it, was that the Driskill Hotel was the location of the local Travis County Democratic Party's election night celebration. My friend, a Democrat, was planning to attend the Party's party in the hotel ballroom with her husband later in the evening. She invited me to go along with them, but I declined. That party was a partisan political event. I'm the journalistic equivalent of a teetotaler when it comes to attending political events, unless they're related to news assignments. Although I do vote, I do not discuss my politics.
CONTINUED >>
Here are excerpts of the speeches from President Bush and Vice President Cheney on Veterans Day and the statement from President-elect Obama:
PRESIDENT BUSH (at the Intrepid in NY):
To commemorate the war's end, President Woodrow Wilson declared that November the 11th should be remembered as Armistice Day -- a holiday to honor the brave sacrifices of the American soldiers who defended democracy and freedom overseas. Today, we know it as Veterans Day -- a day when we celebrate and thank and honor every man and woman who have served in our Armed Forces.
These noble Americans are our sons and daughters. They are our fathers and mothers. They are our family and they are our friends. They leave home to do the work of patriots -- and they lead lives of quiet dignity when they return. Today we send a clear message to all who have worn the uniform: Thank you for your courage, thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for standing up when your nation needed you most.
PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum Biden told Delaware residents even though he may be leaving his Senate seat, they will always own his heart.
"It's amazing in this democracy how smoothly the transitions go," Biden said. "It is really, literally, amazing that I can tell you in my discussions with President Bush and Vice President Cheney, it is a remarkable testament to what you all fought for, that there is absolutely, absolutely, totally complete unadulterated cooperation and movement as if it's seamless. And it's a real testament to this country."
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann *** Palin-palooza : Just in case you didn't get enough of Palin during the final two months of the election, she is now conducting another round of national interviews, including one with NBC’s Matt Lauer that aired this morning on TODAY. (She told Lauer she was disappointed she wasn’t able to give a concession speech so she could brag up McCain; she was “flabbergasted” about the shopping spree story, saying she had never asked people to buy her anything; and she said that she didn’t want to get into “inside-baseball strategy” when asked whether the McCain camp did a poor job managing her interview requests.) Then later this week, Palin heads to the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, where she will hold a press conference, give a speech, and stoke further speculation about a possible 2012 presidential bid. All of this comes just ONE WEEK after the GOP presidential ticket lost. (By comparison, McCain goes on Leno tonight to give his first interview since losing.) No doubt Palin still remains a compelling story. And, as we wrote yesterday, she also has to defend herself to protect her reputation -- especially since Alaska is so far away. But at what point does this Northern Exposure become too much? And when do Alaskans begin demanding that, after two months on the trail, she return to her day job full time?
*** Traditionalists vs. reformers : All the attention on Palin comes as David Brooks today writes about a divide in the Republican Party between Traditionalists (many of whom champion Palin) versus the Reformers (who want a more inclusive, modern, and moderate GOP). Brooks argues that -- at least in the short term -- the Traditionalists are going to win. “There is not yet an effective Republican Leadership Council to nurture modernizing conservative ideas. There is no moderate Club for Growth, supporting centrist Republicans… Reformist Republican donors don’t seem to exist. Any publication or think tank that headed in an explicitly reformist direction would be pummeled by its financial backers. National candidates who begin with reformist records — Giuliani, Romney or McCain — immediately tack right to be acceptable to the power base.” By the way, NBC’s Ana Maria Arumi crunched exit poll numbers on Palin for David Gregory’s “1600” on MSNBC. The results: The voters who found her to be qualified to be president were Republicans (74%), from the South (45%), and from rural areas (45%). She greatly underperformed among college grads (35%), independents (35%), and in the suburbs (40%).
*** Will he stay or will he go? This has become one of more talked-about questions in Washington: Will Bob Gates remain as Defense secretary in an Obama Administration? NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports that, per sources familiar with the transition game plan, the Obama folks would like for Gates to stick around for around nine months before a Democratic deputy secretary takes over. But a Defense official tells Mik that Gates would not want to be seen as simply a "transitional" or "holdover" Defense secretary. The official says if the Obama Administration imposed a specific timetable for a departure, Gates could immediately be labeled a "lame duck" secretary -- whose authority could be easily dismissed or even undermined by the new team of Democratic appointees. If anyone could pull it off, Mik writes, it would be Gates. But to make sure, Gates would likely ask that the timetable for any extended term in the Pentagon be loosely defined as "under four years," giving both Obama and Gates the necessary wiggle room for a gradual but smooth and orderly transition. And that, Mik adds, has always been Gates' ultimate objective, whether he leaves or stays. Our two cents: If all they are working out is a timeline, and this isn’t a staffing issue, then this deal might get done.
*** Obama’s performance with white voters : We took a look at Obama's performance with white voters in all 50 states. In 13 of them, Obama received less than 35% of the white vote. His three lowest performing states: Alabama (10%), Mississippi (11%), and Louisiana (14%). The other 10: GA (23%), SC (26%), TX (26%), OK (29%), AR (30%), UT (31%), AK (32%), WY (32%), ID (33%), and TN (34%). On the other hand, Obama won the white vote in 18 states and DC: CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, IA, ME, MA, MI, MN. NH. NY. OR, RI, WA, WI and VT. Obama's lowest percentage of the white vote he received in a state that he won: NC (35%). The highest percentage of the white vote Obama received in a state he lost: MT (45%).
*** McCain’s underperformance : Channeling John Harwood of CNBC and the New York Times , we also looked at the state-by-state vote totals. And we found that Obama’s wins in many battlegrounds weren’t solely a result of Obama increasing Kerry’s totals from 2004; they were also because McCain’s performance was DOWN from Bush’s in 2004. (See our “Unbuilding 2008” section for the stats here.) In short, we saw a one-sided rise in turnout. Had McCain's turnout increased at the same rate as Obama's in many of the battleground states, we would have topped 140 million, which was the argument some in the McCain campaign were making. They needed a HUGE turnout -- and they didn’t get it.
*** The Graduate(s): Number crunchers have already unpacked the college split for this election cycle to show Obama's gains among grads. (In 2004, 42% of voters nationwide were college graduates, and they split equally for John Kerry and George W. Bush. This time, that number was boosted to 44%, and the vote broke 53%-45% in the Democrat's favor.) But consider this: In 2008, college-educated voters outnumbered non-college grads at the polls in eleven states (CO, VA, NH, PA, NJ, CT, MD, NY, MA, VT, and DC). Barack Obama won all of them -- by an average of more than 24 percentage points. In states that McCain won, on average, 42% of voters were college grads. In states that Obama won, on average, 47% had a college diploma.
*** The remaining races : The likely December 2 run-off in Georgia between incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and challenger Jim Martin (D) is charging full speed ahead. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has a new Web video arguing that Martin win could mean 60 votes and a rubber stamp for Obama (although that assumes that Stevens and Coleman will lose in Alaska and Minnesota). Moreover, Huffington Post reports that Obama is dispatching aides to Georgia to help Martin. And it appears that GOP big-wigs, including McCain, will campaign for Chambliss .
*** He’s baaaack…: The AP writes, "Two-time presidential candidate John Edwards is returning to the public stage for a speech, three months after he acknowledged an affair with a woman hired to produce videos of him in 2006. Edwards is scheduled speak Tuesday night about the election at Indiana University. The school said the public lecture will also include a question-and-answer session."
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 58 days
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Per Obama’s transition office, the president-elect will lay a wreath in Chicago this morning to honor the nation’s fallen veterans. In addition, in DC, John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama-Biden transition team, will hold a pen and pad briefing to provide an update on the presidential transition.
Unlike the FDR-Hoover model, Obama apparently did ask Bush to intervene on one key economic decision: the auto industry . Bush wanted something in return: the Colombia free trade deal. "Bush indicated at the meeting that he might support some aid and a broader economic stimulus package if Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats dropped their opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia, a measure for which Mr. Bush has long fought, people familiar with the discussion said. The Bush administration, which has presided over a major intervention in the financial industry, has balked at allowing the automakers to tap into the $700 billion bailout fund, despite warnings last week that General Motors might not survive the year. Mr. Obama and Congressional Democratic leaders say the bailout law authorizes the administration to extend assistance.”
"Obama took another significant step toward assuming power yesterday when President Bush greeted him at the White House, then gave Obama an extended, private briefing on the myriad of challenges awaiting him when he takes office in January." AP reports. "These officials say Patti Solis Doyle is considering taking the job, although she worries about the effect it would have on her two young children. She was contacted about possibly becoming Cabinet secretary, a job that involves coordinating the efforts of the White House and cabinet-level agencies." don't expect any announcements this week .
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post curtain-raises Obama's Afghanistan strategy -- a war that Obama may own more than he does Iraq since it is Afghanistan where Obama has pledged to send more troops. "The emerging broad strokes of Obama's approach are likely to be welcomed by a number of senior U.S. military officials who advocate a more aggressive and creative course for the deteriorating conflict. Taliban attacks and U.S. casualties this year are the highest since the war began in 2001.”
“Some military leaders remain wary of Obama's pledge to order a steady withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq, to be completed within 16 months -- an order advisers say Obama is likely to give in his first weeks in office. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called a withdrawal timeline ‘dangerous.’ Others are distrustful of a new administration they see as unschooled in the counterinsurgency wars that have consumed the military for the past seven years.”
“But conversations with several Obama advisers and a number of senior military strategists both before and since last Tuesday's election reveal a shared sense that the Afghan effort under the Bush administration has been hampered by ideological and diplomatic constraints and an unrealistic commitment to the goal of building a modern democracy -- rather than a stable nation that rejects al-Qaeda and Islamist extremism and does not threaten U.S. interests. None of those who discussed the subject would speak on the record, citing sensitivities surrounding the presidential transition and the war itself.”
"Stem cell advocates and researchers are eagerly awaiting the moment next year when president-elect Barack Obama rescinds a directive that limits federal funding of human embryonic stem-cell research. ... The result should be a surge of funding and interest, said David Greenwood of Geron Corp., whose shares were up more than 10 percent on Monday along with those of other companies with a heavy interest in the field." will step down as DNC chair in January and not seek a second term.
The New York Times looks at the swath of Southern vote that didn't just support McCain over Obama, but did so in greater numbers than Bush did over Kerry. "By voting so emphatically for Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama — supporting him in some areas in even greater numbers than they did President Bush — voters from Texas to South Carolina and Kentucky may have marginalized their region for some time to come, political experts say. The region’s absence from Mr. Obama’s winning formula means it ‘is becoming distinctly less important,’ said Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. ‘The South has moved from being the center of the political universe to being an outside player in presidential politics.’”
Here are some numbers we crunched:
So, it was a one-sided rise in turnout. Had McCain's turnout risen at the same rate as Obama's in many of the battleground states, we would have topped 140 million which was the argument some in the McCain campaign were making. They needed a HUGE turnout -- anything under 140 million or 135 million meant it was a one-sided rise in turnout as these stats in key battleground states indicate.
David Brooks divides the fight for the soul of conservatism into two camps: traditionalists and the reformers. "In one camp, there are the Traditionalists, the people who believe that conservatives have lost elections because they have strayed from the true creed. George W. Bush was a big-government type who betrayed conservatism. John McCain was a Republican moderate, and his defeat discredits the moderate wing. To regain power, the Traditionalists argue, the G.O.P. should return to its core ideas: Cut government, cut taxes, restrict immigration. Rally behind Sarah Palin."
More: "The other camp, the Reformers, argue that the old G.O.P. priorities were fine for the 1970s but need to be modernized for new conditions. The reformers tend to believe that American voters will not support a party whose main idea is slashing government. The Reformers propose new policies to address inequality and middle-class economic anxiety. They tend to take global warming seriously. They tend to be intrigued by the way David Cameron has modernized the British Conservative Party. Moreover, the Reformers say, conservatives need to pay attention to the way the country has changed. Conservatives have to appeal more to Hispanics, independents and younger voters. They cannot continue to insult the sensibilities of the educated class and the entire East and West Coasts."
Brooks concludes, "In short, the Republican Party will probably veer right in the years ahead, and suffer more defeats. Then, finally, some new Reformist donors and organizers will emerge. They will build new institutions, new structures and new ideas, and the cycle of conservative ascendance will begin again."
Jonah Goldberg asks this question: Was Bush a conservative president? In answering the question, Goldberg also delves into this battle between traditionalists and reformers and concludes, "The irony is that both camps agree on a lot more than they disagree. The reformers are committed to market principles and reducing the size and role of government, and so are the back-to-basics crowd. The problem is that an elephant named George in the room is blocking each side from seeing what the other is all about. But hopefully not for much longer."
The New York Times previews the upcoming Republican Governors Association meeting, which is fueling tons of 2012 speculation. “The session will showcase a roster of governors positioning themselves as leaders or future presidential candidates, including Sarah Palin of Alaska, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Charlie Crist of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Mark Sanford of South Carolina. At the same time, Republicans representing diverse views about the party’s direction are preparing to fight for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, a prominent post when the party is out of the White House. The current chairman, Mike Duncan, has signaled that he wants to stay on after his term expires in January, but he is facing challenges from leaders in Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina, among other states.”
CONTINUED >>
ALASKA : The Los Angeles Times writes, ”Ted Stevens, the felonious Republican senator from Alaska who refuses to give up his seat or acknowledge that he was convicted, continues to lead Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,257 votes -- 106,594 to 103,337 votes for the challenger. But six days after the polls closed, more than 90,000 ballots have not been counted. That means nearly 29% of the vote in the race has yet to be tallied.”
“The Alaska division of elections intends spend Wednesday counting most of the early votes and absentee ballots that were verified on election day, according to Alaska officials… The department will count the remaining ballots on Friday -- though it’s all obviously subject to change. There could be enough ballots left after Wednesday’s count for the race to still go either way. Overseas ballots must be received by Nov. 19. Election officials plan to certify the election on Nov. 25.” GEORGIA : The National Republican Senatorial Committee is up with Web video that warns that Jim Martin (D) beating incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) could give Obama a rubberstamp Senate.
Are Obama aides being dispatched to Georgia? That’s what Huffington Post is reporting.
Meanwhile, the big guns on the GOP side may be gearing up . "Republican presidential nominee John McCain was scheduled to return to the campaign trail to stump for Chambliss on Thursday, following up a visit from Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) on Wednesday,” per Politico. “The Chambliss campaign also extended invites to GOP stars Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee." More: "Martin reached out to Barack Obama’s camp in hopes that the president-elect would stump for him, but so far has not gotten a response."
And Chambliss plans on going up with new TV ads in the state this week.
From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski Obama will be sworn in as president, the Bush Administration comes to an inglorious end, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates could finally retire to his home overlooking Big Lake in Washington State. To remind him, Gates carries a thin plastic business-like card embedded with a digital clock counting down the days.
But will he go?
Speculation is mounting that Obama will ask Gates to remain at the Pentagon -- at least temporarily -- to provide some "continuity" while US military forces remain bogged down in two wars. Although Gates has never rejected the idea outright, he did say at first he thought the prospect was "inconceivable." Since then, however, Pentagon sources tell NBC News that he's said privately that "if asked," he'd consider it his "patriotic duty" to say yes. But under what conditions?
Sources familiar with the game plan for the transition say the Obama Administration would want Gates, who has earned widespread respect and praise from both sides of the aisle, to stay on the job for nine months. Obama would name a Democrat as deputy secretary of Defense, who would be charged with assembling a largely Democratic staff of political appointees for critical positions as Undersecretaries and department heads. After nine months, that same deputy secretary would then slip into the top job as Gates makes a graceful exit. Having served under seven Presidents, Gates fully understands the political realities and the need for Obama to assemble his own team, but may ask to retain a small number of his current staffers for his own continuity.
Sounds good on paper, right? Maybe not.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell A source familiar with today's White House meeting tells NBC News that President-elect Obama focused on three economic issues during his conversations with President Bush this afternoon. The top topics: a stimulus package in the lame duck session, aid to the auto industry, and help for homeowners with adjustible-rate mortgages in order to prevent more foreclosures.
According to the source, Obama told Bush that action is needed on a stimulus package now - in a lame duck session - and cannot wait until after the inauguration.
Obama also urged help for automakers and encouraged the acceleration of the disbursement of $25 billion dollars for the industry.
On his third focus - housing - Obama voiced his concern that homeowners whose mortgage rates are about to go up will need aid to prevent more Americans from defaulting on home loans.
The source would not that Michelle Obama had private visits to one or more Washington DC schools today, saying "we want to keep that completely private."
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama -Biden transition spokeswoman, released this statement about Obama's meeting with President Bush at the White House:
“President-elect Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama were very warmly welcomed today at the White House by President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush . Upon arriving, President-elect Obama and President Bush proceeded to the Oval Office, where they had a productive and friendly meeting that lasted for over an hour. They had a broad discussion about the importance of working together throughout the transition of government in light of the nation’s many critical economic and security challenges. President-elect Obama thanked President Bush for his commitment to a smooth transition, and for his and First Lady Laura Bush’s gracious hospitality in welcoming the Obamas to the White House."
“After a brief private meeting, the First Lady led Mrs. Obama on a tour of the White House that focused primarily on the private residence of the historic home. After this tour, the First Lady and Mrs. Obama visited in the West Sitting Hall, where they discussed raising daughters in the White House, as Jenna and Barbara Bush were similar in age to Malia and Sasha Obama when they visited their grandfather, President George H. W. Bush, during his presidency. Mrs. Obama was honored to finally meet the First Lady, who was a gracious hostess. Following their visit, Mrs. Obama met with Admiral Rochon, the White House Chief Usher.”
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Mark Murray and Patricia Martell
The
AP reports, "Former Democratic National Committee chairman
Terry McAuliffe signed papers Monday signaling a possible run for governor next year in Virginia. McAuliffe told The Associated Press he set up a campaign committee and will tour Virginia for the next 60 days before making his candidacy certain."
McAuliffe adviser Mo Elleithee tells First Read that McAuliffe will make his decision official on January 7. "Terry is very seriously considering a run, and is going to take the next 60 days to travel around the state and talk to Virginians, and will make a decision on January 7. He wants to not only share his vision for Virginia, but more importantly hear what they're thinking. He knows not every good decision comes from Richmond, and is looking forward to hearing from Virginians as he explores a run."
From NBC's Mark Murray Sarah Palin will attend this week's Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, where she will hold a press conference and deliver a speech.
Video: In a news conference held with reporters late Friday, Gov. Sarah Palin answered some of the controversy generated during the last weeks of the presidential campaign. NBC's Brian Williams reports . This RGA event is drawing particular interest because 1) it will start the conversation about what the GOP needs to do to get its groove back after losing last week's presidential contest; and 2) it will kick off the speculation about the 2012 presidential race.
Other attendees at the meeting include: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty , Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal , Florida Gov. Charlie Crist , and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford . (California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't been confirmed.)
Below is a schedule of the open-press events at the meeting:WEDNESDAY.
THURSDAY.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann 43 meets 44: At 2:00 pm ET, the current president and first lady welcome the incoming president and first lady at the White House. Then, minutes later, Bush and Obama will meet together. The fact is, Obama owes much of his success to Bush. Without the president’s low approval ratings and his damage to the Republican Party’s brand, it’s doubtful that the nation would have taken a chance on someone named Barack Obama who was just four years removed from the Illinois state Senate. And it’s equally doubtful that Obama's constant message of change would have resonated with the electorate. Keep in mind that presidents from opposing parties sometimes have better personal relationships than presidents from the same party: See Bush 41-Reagan, Carter-Clinton and Clinton-Bush 43. There's something about dealing with a president from the opposing party that's sometimes liberating for presidents. As far as today's meeting goes, it's the fly-on-the-wall stuff that we all want to know -- for instance, will Bush make a case for keeping Gates at the Pentagon?
VIDEO: NBC's Chuck Todd gives his first read on today's meeting between Bush and Obama. ***
Obama at 365? The
AP wrote over the weekend that the single electoral vote tied to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District will likely go to Obama. Douglas County Election Commissioner Dave Phipps “says Obama currently holds an 8,430-vote lead in Douglas County. Phipps still has about 5,300 provisional ballots to count. Based on historical trends, he expects about half of those to count. Uncounted ballots in Sarpy County leave some uncertainty, but Phipps said he believed only a few hundred remained.” Note: NBC News has not yet called that electoral vote, but is monitoring the situation. And as soon as we're satisfied with the vote count, we'll call it officially. But the bigger challenge for networks is how to present the red-blue map. Do we now have a blue dot where Omaha is? A blue circle?
*** Palin watch: Beginning on Friday, Palin began holding interviews with the media, in which she began to defend herself from some of the damaging leaks about the shopping spree and her knowledge of world affairs, as well as simple geography. Yet it’s possible that geography -- being thousands of miles away in Alaska -- could be her biggest impediment in defending herself against Republicans who want to blame her for the McCain ticket’s shortcomings. It takes hours for her to catch up to a news cycle out East, and sometimes the damage is done before she even wakes up in Alaska. Of course, Palin could eliminate that geographic problem if Stevens ends up winning re-election and she runs for his seat…
*** The first Web president: What FDR was to radio and JFK was to TV, Obama could be to the internet? The Washington Post has a great piece this morning about the Obama Administration’s attempts to harness the internet for their governing purposes. The incoming administration has a real chance of turning the blogosphere into the 5th Estate, which can both be a good thing if the administration needs amplifying of a policy init -- but it could end up being a bad thing if Obama ends up on the wrong end of a policy disagreement with the liberal blogosphere. But whatever the eventual effects on Obama, the bottom line is that Obama’s will be the first Web presidency, and that will create a media paradigm shift that we can't necessarily foresee right now other than to note it's something that's coming.
*** So the McCain folks were right -- turnout was 130 million: Turnout expert Mike McDonald at George Mason University has revised down his turnout estimate to 130.4 million. That would represent a 61.2% turnout rate, which is 1.1 points higher than 2004, but short of the 62.5% of 1968.
*** Blaming Republicans, not Democrats: Not only did Democrats win the White House and pick up additional House and Senate seats, they also accomplished this feat: For a second-straight cycle, not a SINGLE incumbent Democratic senator lost. In fact, the Cook Political Report’s Jennifer Duffy points out that this is the first time since at least 1908 (before the direct election of senators) that a party has gone through two consecutive cycles without losing a seat. What's more, after zero Democratic House members lost re-election in 2006, just four lost last Tuesday. And all four incumbents -- Nancy Boyda, Don Cazayoux, Tim Mahoney, and Nick Lampson -- were incredibly endangered. At a time when just some 10% approve of Congress' job, voters clearly blamed Republicans and the GOP, even though Democrats have controlled Congress for the past two years.
*** Just askin’: Is it surprising to anyone that the first sitting US senator to be elected president since 1960 served only four years in the Senate?
*** Tracking the transition: Below, we are keeping a list of all the different names that have been floated for possible cabinet jobs in an Obama Administration. And we’ll update it daily (even hourly) as soon as we hear new names.
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 59 days
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The New York Times raises the curtain on today’s Bush-Obama meeting. “In a time-honored tradition of American democracy, Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, will receive a tour of their new home from Mr. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush. Then the men will split off to begin the formal transfer of power, all the more urgent this year because of the financial crisis. Mr. Obama has said he expects a ‘substantive conversation between myself and the president.’”
VIDEO: President Bush will meet his successor today at the White House. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. ”But there will also be a subtext to the session: the personal chemistry between two leaders whose worldviews are miles apart. The ritual visit is occurring uncommonly early this year, less than a week after Mr. Obama handily defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, who was the Republican nominee and Mr. Bush’s preferred candidate. Emotions may still be raw.”
The New York Daily News : "It will be all smiles at the White House Monday when Barack Obama pays a visit - but behind the handshakes is friction over his plan to reverse many of President Bush's edicts on controversial matters like abortion and stem cells. Obama's legal eagles have targeted more than 200 unilateral Bush moves made in the past eight years for overturning. A team of lawyers has pored over the administration's records for months, preparing for the changes."
John Harwood writes in the New York Times that Obama has Bush to thank for. “The encomiums greeting Barack Obama’s victory last week presented a reverse image of the darts for John Kerry after his 2004 defeat. But Kerry campaign veterans could not help noticing a surprise in the returns. In the battleground state of Ohio, where Mr. Kerry lost the presidency to George W. Bush, the 2.74 million votes he received almost precisely matched Mr. Obama’s 2008 total. Mr. Obama won because John McCain received 300,000 fewer votes than Mr. Bush did.”
”That points to a cautionary reminder for Mr. Obama and his team: the election turned partly on what they did right, but also on what Republicans did wrong. And there is no assurance that Democrats will confront a similarly star-crossed opposition in elections to come.”
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post front-pages, “President-elect Barack Obama plans to push ahead with a middle-class tax cut soon after taking office, his choice for White House chief of staff said yesterday. Rahm Emanuel also hinted that Obama would not postpone a tax increase for families earning more than $250,000 a year despite the deepening economic gloom. He said Obama's proposals would reduce taxes for 95 percent of working Americans by an average of $1,000 each, resulting in ‘a net tax cut’ for the overall economy.”
The New York Times suggests that some executive orders are going to get signed pretty quickly. "As Mr. Obama prepared to make his first post-election visit to the White House on Monday, his advisers were compiling a list of policies that could be reversed by the executive powers of the new president. The assessment is under way, aides said, but a full list of policies to be overturned will not be announced by Mr. Obama until he confers with new members of his cabinet."
More: "In January 2001, on his first full day in office, Mr. Bush reinstated the so-called global gag rule, initiated during the Reagan administration and overturned by President Bill Clinton, which prohibited taxpayer dollars from being given to international family planning groups that perform abortions and provide abortion counseling. After Mr. Obama’s victory last week, the Center for Reproductive Rights delivered a 23-page memorandum to his transition team, calling for “bold policy change,” including a repeal of the gag rule. On Sunday, in a sign that the presidential campaign had definitively ended and that the fast-forming administration had become the focal point, the faces of Mr. Obama’s new team appeared across the spectrum of Sunday talk shows, a changing of the guard more than two months before he officially assumes power."
The AP notes the likely change in Cuba policy that's coming and how the Cuban hard-liners are worried about their political power because of it. "Cuba's communist leadership has long cast itself as David standing up to the U.S. Goliath and the crippling force of America's punitive trade and travel embargo. Now they have a problem: If Barack Obama follows through on campaign promises to ease restrictions on the island, he could chip away at the Castro brothers' best case for staying in power."
CONTINUED >>
NEW CONGRESS: McCain’s role?
Obama is staying out of the Lieberman fight.one more term as DCCC chair. This cycle will be all defense.
Roll Call: "On the Republican side, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) is running for a second term despite losing about 20 seats last week. But Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), who is also running for the post, has received strong public backing from Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio)." Roll Call , "but House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) has not only emerged unscathed, he has been consolidating his hold on power by hand-picking a new team underneath him."
Below is a county-by-county look at Obama’s improvement over Kerry in key battleground states: COLORADO: Obama flipped three swing counties Bush won in 2004 -- Arapahoe, Jefferson and Larimer -- and overperformed Kerry in every county in the state. Obama also flipped Ouray, which had gone 52%-47% for Bush, but went 53%-45% for Obama.
FLORIDA: In the swing counties we were watching, Obama flipped two and made improvements in all but one. McCain showed strength on the Northern Gulf coast and the Panhandle, but Obama made necessary improvements in the swing Tampa/St. Petersburg area and the Atlantic coast, as well as making huge improvements in Orlando. Obama flipped Hillsborough (Tampa), which went 53%-46% for Bush, but 51%-48% for Obama; Pinellas (St. Petersburg), which was decided by about 200 votes in 2004 in favor of Bush, but Obama won it by nine percentage points, 54%-45%. In central Florida, Obama made big improvements, flipping Osceola from 52%-47% Bush to 60%-40% Obama. Orange County (Orlando) was won by Kerry, but just barely, 49.8%-49.6%. Obama won it 59%-40%. Of the swing counties we were watching, only in Hernando did McCain improve.
INDIANA: Obama flipped 11 counties here, winning a total of 15 in all. By comparison, Kerry won just four. In Tippecanoe, Obama improved by 32 points (Bush won it by 19, Obama won it by 12); In Delaware, Obama improved by 29; Madison by 26; Perry by 23; Vanderburgh and Spencer by 20; Vermillon by 16. And that's not counting Marion (Indianapolis), which Kerry won by just two points and Obama won by 26.
MICHIGAN: Michigan is yet another state where Obama outperformed Kerry in every single county in the state. Obama strength was not limited to just the cities/urban areas. His victory was sweeping. He showed strength even in rural Northern Michigan. Obama won 46 counties overall; Kerry won just 15 -- meaning Obama flipped 31 Bush-won counties. In the six swing counties we were watching, Obama won all of them. Obama also improved margins in Wayne (Detroit) and got 56,000 more votes out of it.
MINNESOTA: Obama did better in every county in Minnesota but two -- Lac qui Parle (in the West, bordering South Dakota) and Morrison (Central), which only have 20,000 votes between them. Obama still won Lac qui Parle though. Kerry won just 24 counties, Obama 42. Of the five populous Bush-won swing counties First Read was watching, Obama flipped three (Dakota, Olmstead and Washington). Out of Hennepin (Minneapolis) Obama got almost 40,000 more votes than Kerry.
CONTINUED >>
Politico’s Martin starts looking ahead to 2012. “Too early? Too bad -- just look around. Two potential candidates will be in Iowa before month’s end, multiple prospects -- almost certainly including Sarah Palin -- will make high-profile appearances this week at the Republican Governors Association meeting, and Newt Gingrich’s name has already been floated in a Bob Novak column.”
More: “Huckabee, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, returns to the Hawkeye State Nov. 20 for stops in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines to hawk his new book, ‘Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America.’ … Jindal, elected governor of Louisiana in 2007 after serving in Congress and holding health care posts in state and federal government, makes his first trip to Iowa on Nov. 22. He’s keynoting the statewide banquet of the Iowa Family Policy Center, a Christian conservative group, in suburban Des Moines and will tour flood-ravaged Cedar Rapids, offering his insights as a hurricane-state governor to state and local officials.”
The Washington Post’s Cillizza handicaps the candidates for RNC chair. From inside the committee, the candidates include current RNC Chair Mike Duncan, South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson and Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis. Other big names include: Michael Steele and Newt Gingrich. Some wildcards: Jim Nussle and Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman.
CONTINUED >>
VIRGINIA: Rep. Virgil Goode says he may fight for a recount in VA-5. His opponent, Democrat Tom Periello, has declared victory and is building a transition team.
WASHINGTON: The Seattle Times : "U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert has survived a second Democratic-wave election, bucking a national trend that flipped at least 24 Republican congressional seats to Democrats." The Associated Press called the race for Reichert on Friday night.
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones Obama talked about the enormity of dealing with the financial crisis facing the country and the importance of a bipartisan approach to it, repeated his call for passage of an economic stimulus package and said he would be careful in choosing the members of his Cabinet.
Notably, he did not respond directly to a question about whether he would still seek the tax increases for the wealthiest Americans that he proposed on the campaign trail and whether they would go into effect in 2009.
The roughly 20-minute press conference began with a prepared statement about the new jobs numbers. Obama noted that 240,000 jobs had been lost in October, marking the 10th consecutive month of job losses that have left 10 million Americans unemployed.
Obama -- who was flanked by his Transition Economic Advisory Board and who spoke at a podium to which was affixed a sign with a small presidential seal and the words “The Office of the President Elect” -- said the government must work quickly to deal with economic crisis, but he emphasized, as he has throughout the campaign, that there is one president at a time.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Harry Reid was notified today that Sen. Robert Byrd , who turns 91 later this month, will step down as chairman of the powerful appropriations committee next year.
Excerpt of written statement from Byrd's office below: A new day has dawned in Washington, and that is a good thing. For my part, I believe that it is time for a new day at the top of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I will step away from the Chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee effective January 6, 2009.
I want to stress that this is a decision I made only after much personal soul searching, and after being sure of the substantial Democratic pickup of seats in the Senate. I am now confident that stepping aside as Chairman will not adversely impact my home state of West Virginia.
God willing, I will continue to serve on the Appropriations Committee. I will continue to chair the Homeland Security Subcommittee, and I will work to help my state and the people of our great country in those roles.
Senator Daniel Inouye has stood in line for many years and now his time has come. He is my friend. He is a genuine American hero. He will be a skillful and fair Chairman of the Appropriations Committee because he is a man of outstanding character and great wisdom.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Mitch McConnell and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman have been talking, according to McConnell's spokesman. While the spokesman couldn't give details of the conversation, McConnell and other Senate Republican leaders have previously said they'd welcome Lieberman into their caucus. An aide to Lieberman also confirmed the conversation with McConnell.
Talks with McConnell apparently came in the wake of Lieberman's discussions yesterday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid . In that session, according to the Lieberman aide, Reid wanted Lieberman to give up his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Committee for a lesser position. Lieberman, who was part of the commission that established the panel in 2005 (previously called the Governmental Affairs), considered the proposal "unacceptable" the aide said.
Lieberman also cited that it was his membership within the caucus that allowed Democrats to hold their one-seat majority in the Senate for the past two years. And though he voted against Democrats on Iraq and other national security issues, Lieberman had voted with the party more than some Democrats.
In a written statement yesterday, Reid said, "While I understand that Sen. Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Doug Adams
Yes, it's a long road, with a lot of twists and turns and "ifs," but it's still possible.
With the win in Oregon yesterday, they now have picked up six, and control 57 total seats.
In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman leads Al Franken by a scant 237 votes, and NBC’s John Yang reports that Democrats are hopeful Franken can make up that difference in a recount. If the Democrats can pull out a squeaker in Minnesota, they'd be sitting at 58.
In Alaska, the race isn't over yet either -- Democrat Mark Begich trails embattled Ted Stevens by 3,400 votes, but there are 55,000 absentee and provisional ballots that won't be counted until next week. So if the Dems pull that one out too, then they're at 59.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Mitch McConnell and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman have been talking, according to McConnell's spokesman. While the spokesman couldn't give details of the conversation, McConnell and other Senate Republican leaders have previously said they'd welcome Lieberman into their caucus.
An aide to Lieberman also confirmed the conversation with McConnell. *** UPDATE ***
Lieberman also mentioned that it was his membership within the caucus that allowed Democrats to hold their one-seat majority in the Senate for the past two years. And though he voted against Democrats on Iraq and other national security issues, Lieberman had voted with the party more than some Democrats.
In a written statement yesterday, Reid said "While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus." Reid was obviously referring to Lieberman's criticism of then Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama and Lieberman's campaign appearances for Obama's opponent, Senator John McCain .
Lieberman's "preference is to stay in the Democratic caucus," the aide said, but the Connecticut Senator told Reid he "would explore other options." Because neither conversation yielded any resolution, all sides agreed that the talks will continue.
.. to vote? In his latest blog, NBC's Luke Russert breaks down the youth vote from Tuesday's election and finds good news for the Democratic Party.
"In swing states, the youth turnout greatly helped Barack Obama beat John McCain ," he writes. "Latino youth went for Obama 76%-19%, showing that Democrats have firmly entrenched themselves with the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. And Obama's margin of victory in the 18-29 demographic was astronomical (66%-32%), and suggests that the Millennial generation is convinced by the policies and direction of the Democratic Party."
Read more at Luke's blog over at NBC's iCue.com.
From NBC's John Talty Meeting less than a day after the announcement that Barack Obama would become the country’s next president, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan had vastly different moods and opinions on this election.
At a luncheon at the National Press Club, the two national party chairs met to discuss the election and also the future of the parties. In an election in which the Democratic Party easily won the presidential election, picked up five seats in the Senate, and 18 House of Representative seats, it’s not hard to see why Duncan would not be enthused to talk about this election’s results.
“It hurts too much to laugh, but I’m too big to cry,” said Duncan, referencing the Billy Walker song.
Even though McCain did not win the presidential election, Duncan was still able to find some solace in Obama becoming president-elect.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
And it remains so this morning.
The votes in the Senate are simply not there in what remains of the 110th Congress, with its 49 Republican seats. Even if they were, the current president is not supportive of what the Democrats want to do. If that's the case, then what's the point of calling the House back in?
It's not likely to happen, Pelosi comments in today's Wall Street Journal notwithstanding. Her premise on this topic has always been predicated on IF the Senate and White House will go along.
It's simply not likely that lame-duck Republicans on their way out the door are suddenly going to turn around and change their votes on items like and expansion of food stamps and unemployment benefits. It could be argued that the results of Tuesday's election make it an even longer shot, as we can expect a conservative retrenchment on fiscal restraint.
The new year with a new administration and new Congress, that's when tax cuts and renewable energy tax credits are likely to be moved, along with the infrastructure spending, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc., that Dems have been clamoring for since early in the year.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann Obama meets advisers and the press: President-elect Obama gets down to business today by meeting his transition economic advisory board and then holding his first press conference since his victory Tuesday night. For his economic meeting, Obama is trotting out some big guns, including former Clinton Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, Warren Buffett (via speakerphone), former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, former Clinton Commerce Secretary William Daley, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Are we supposed to read into anything that some potential Obama Treasury secretaries are participating in the meeting (Summers, Buffett, Volcker) and others are not (Tim Geithner of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon)? Appearing on TODAY, Summers sidestepped questions about whether he’s Obama’s top choice for the Treasury job. As for today’s presser, Obama will have lots of questions to answer today regarding the economy with the backdrop of a cratering stock market, awful job numbers (240,000 lost last month), and depressing retail sales figures. Specific answers he gives to his position on a stimulus package and where is he on bailing out the auto industry could have the potential of dominating the headlines.
VIDEO: Obama will meet with his economic advisers and hold his first press conference as president-elect. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. ***
Rahm’s absence from -- and message to -- Capitol Hill: With Rahm Emanuel becoming White House chief of staff, it’s worth pointing out how this takes away a HUGE player in the House Democratic caucus. Not only was Rahm in leadership; he was the unofficial political adviser to many of the newly elected members of the Congress from both the last cycle and this one. Many of them will be missing his counsel. In addition, the Emanuel hire removes the most likely person who was going to be playing the role of "Obama's go-to guy in Congress." Then again, with Rahm on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, he'll likely be able to identify whom the Administration will need in the House. Perhaps the most underreported aspect about the Rahm pick is how it’s a subtle message to Pelosi and Reid that Obama isn’t going to rolled over in dealing with Congress.
VIDEO: NBC's Mark Murray gives his first read on Obama's selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff and looks at the blame game going on within the losing McCain campaign. ***
Mr. Axelrod goes to Washington? We’ve also learned that David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political strategist, is likely to work in the White House as an adviser to President-elect Obama. But, perception-wise, is this potentially problematic? Remember that Karl Rove followed Bush to DC, and many thought that move overly politicized the White House, especially after Rove became deputy chief of staff after Bush won re-election in 2004. Can Ax successfully not look political when he's dealing with a key policy issue? That was always the problem Rove had. Still, having Ax in the White House probably means that the organizational and message discipline the campaign was known for will continue. And no doubt that Axelrod will study the errors Rove made.
*** Palin-tology: Once again, it’s Palin -- and not McCain -- who continues to dominate the post-mortem McCain-Palin headlines. Apparently, there's a race going on inside the McCain-Palin campaign to frame exactly what Palin did or didn't do for the ticket. Palin is trying to tamp things down herself. In a word, it's a "mess." NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports that Steve Biegun, a top campaign official who served as a foreign policy adviser to both McCain and Palin, defended Palin's knowledge of foreign affairs and basic geography. He said her knowledge was "the base level of international experience was what you'd expect a governor to have." On the specific reports that Palin was confused about whether Africa was a country or continent, Biegun said that while he was not present for the reported exchange, he defended her by saying he could understand "somebody being tested or quizzed could easily stumble country and continent." Overall, Biegun acknowledged the limits of Palin's knowledge about world affairs saying, "Certainly, there were gaps in what she … knew and there were things we had to go through in greater detail. The kind of preparation I did with her was the exact same kind of preparation I would do for the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when I worked for him." By the way, on TODAY this morning, McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace was asked about a few of the latest controversies, including whether the RNC had sent someone to Alaska to retrieve any clothes. Wallace both defended Palin but didn't deny the RNC had possibly sent someone.
*** The “What if…” game: We’ve devoted a lot of attention the three-legged stool of support that Obama received from African Americans, Hispanics, and voters 18 to 29. NBC’s Ana Maria Arumi projects what would have happened if you had removed one of those legs. When Arumi re-ran the numbers to eliminate all voters under 30, the only states that switched into the McCain column were the narrowly won states of Indiana and North Carolina. If there were no Latinos voting, both New Mexico and Indiana would have switched into the McCain column. However, in the make-believe world where African Americans wouldn't have voted, Obama would have still won most of the states that he won -- but McCain would have taken the swing states of Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Those 107 electoral votes would have then been enough to flip the race. The most important thing to take away from this little experiment: Obama's coalition was much broader than the conventional wisdom suggests. (Never mind the cynics among us who may now send all these "young voters did it" press releases into their junk email folder.)
VIDEO: NBC's Chuck Todd maps out the results of Tuesday's election. ***
What’s left, House edition: Three days after Election Day, Americans now know which leaders their communities have chosen to represent them in Washington DC. That is, unless they live in OH-15, MD-01, CA-04, or VA-05. In Ohio’s 15th CD, Republican Steve Stivers leads Mary Jo Kilroy by just 146 votes. If victorious, Stivers, a pro-choice moderate, will fit the model of the centrist Republicans who escaped defeat in a political environment hostile to the GOP; if Kilroy wins, the sometimes uncharismatic candidate may have Barack Obama’s Ohio coattails to thank. In Maryland’s 1st Congressional District, the race to replace Rep. Wayne Gilcrest is separated by 1900 votes. Gilcrest, an Iraq War opponent, lost the Republican primary. In California’s 4th District, fewer than 400 votes separate Republican Tom McClintock and Democrat Charlie Brown. The winner will replace scandal-ridden John Doolittle, who chose to retire after his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff promised to throw a wrench in a reelection bid in this heavily GOP district. And in Virginia, according to the State Board of Elections, Democrat Tom Perriello leads conservative Republican Virgil Goode by 648 votes.
[<--UPDATED] (First Read noted last weekend that Republicans must have smelled trouble in this usually solid GOP district. The NRCC sent out a press release slamming Perriello as an out-of-touch New York City elite.)
*** Poized for success? California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (R) is making a bid to be California governor in 2010 -- and consequently perhaps the most important Republican in the country. Yesterday, he passed around an op-ed he wrote about the GOP’s current woes: “Republicans proudly proclaim our core governing principles to be individual freedom, smaller government, lower taxes and economic policies that promote investment and job creation. Voters who closely examine what happened in Washington D.C. over the past eight years, however, certainly didn’t see this. What they saw was a Republican track record of runaway spending, skyrocketing deficits and shameful ethical lapses. On Tuesday, it is clear Republicans were judged on their actions, not their words. For this we can only blame ourselves.”
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 62 days
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The Washington Post reports on Obama’s hiring of Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff, as well as the likely picks of Roberts Gibbs as press secretary and David Axelrod as senior adviser. “Those early staffing decisions, coupled with reports that a number of prominent and established people are under consideration for Cabinet roles, suggests that Obama is focused more on projecting a reassuring image of continuity and competence than of quickly bringing wholesale change to a nation facing two wars and a severe economic downturn.”
More: “Obama's choice of Emanuel -- a veteran of the Clinton years with a quick wit, a legendary temper and a strong grasp of policy -- signaled a potential mood shift away from the serene ‘no drama’ ethos that defined his campaign. It also demonstrated Obama's eagerness to be accompanied by tested allies in navigating his first act in the White House.”
The New York Post’s conservative editorial page praises Emanuel, calling him, yes, a "partisan," but also "ideologically flexible." "A chief of staff of another era, H.R. 'Bob' Haldeman famously described his job as being 'Richard Nixon's S-O-B.' The chief of staff ensures that the White House runs smoothly and that the president's legislative program gets through Congress -- indeed, that the entire administration is shaped to advance his boss' agenda. If heads must be knocked, a good chief of staff knocks them. Emanuel is well-suited to take that role for Obama -- and we mean that in as complimentary a way as possible. Emanuel's fierce partisanship matters less, given the Democrats' majorities in Congress. In fact, he'll likely find himself jawboning chairmen and rank-and-file members of his own party to ensure that White House priorities are enacted."
CONTINUED >>
"Obama was elected only two days ago, but his victory is already beginning to shift the political ground in Iraq and the region. Iraqi Shi'ite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward a new security agreement about US troops, and a Bush administration official said he believed that Iraqis could ratify the agreement as early as the middle of this month.”this wire ? "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday congratulated Barack Obama on his election win -- the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a US president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. An analyst said Ahmadinejad's message was a gesture from the hard-line president that he is open to some sort of reconciliation with the United States."
CONTINUED >>
With Biden leaving the Senate, there's a BIG committee chair opening : Foreign Relations. Chris Dodd is next in line, but he wants to keep his Banking post and he's up in 2010. Kerry, who wants to be Secretary of State, would be the next senator in line on Foreign Relations.
The Senate hierarchy appears set for the possibility that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), one of the staunchest opponents of the Iraq war, could become the new head of the body's Foreign Relations Committee. Per The Hill : "Democrats could bypass the Wisconsin senator and choose a more centrist member, such as Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.), who initially supported the war and could be more open to compromise. But that would rile the party’s left wing."
The Los Angeles Times looks at the Waxman-Dingell fight for the Commerce Committee.
The day-to-day chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee may go to Sen. Daniel Inouye, but its current leader -- the ailing Sen. Robert Byrd -- isn't going without a fight.
Obama was the declared the winner of North Carolina yesterday, which the AP called a “symbolic triumph.” “Obama's win in North Carolina was the first for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976.”
"The USA Today/Gallup survey , conducted on Wednesday and released yesterday, asked how people felt about Obama's election: 67 percent said proud, 67 percent said optimistic, and 59 percent said excited. Thirty percent said pessimistic, and 27 percent said afraid." no evidence of the so-called Bradley effect, in which whites who oppose a black politician mislead pollsters about whom they will vote for. Instead, national and state pre-election polls were generally accurate in reflecting voters' preferences in the presidential contest."
CONTINUED >>
National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru has an op-ed in the New York Times cautioning the party from automatically moving to the right. "Many conservatives think that the party will succeed again just as soon as it ditches the big-spending, soft-on-immigration George W. Bush. But Republicans succeeded on those previous occasions because they addressed the concerns of the day for the vast middle class; moving right alone was insufficient.”
“The way to court these moderates is not to abandon social conservatism, which would alienate many of the voters Republicans still have. The party needs to ‘move to the middle’ less than it needs to move to the middle class: to go back to representing the interests of voters in the middle of the income spectrum. John McCain and movement conservatives, so often at odds, have been complicit in neglecting these voters. He somehow believed that he could win a presidential election without a coherent middle-class economic agenda, and conservatives never thought to demand one from him."
But here are some shots from the right against the moderates. “‘The liberal wing of the GOP has caused the collapse of the Republican Party… For a decade it has spat on the values of Ronald Reagan,’ L. Brent Bozell III, an activist, said in a statement Wednesday. He hosted a passel of conservative-movement veterans at his home yesterday in Virginia to strategize on the party's future.”
“The election's outcome is a ‘fairly thorough repudiation’ of the party's governing style, said Peter Wehner, a former deputy assistant to President Bush. ‘The Republican Party is in worse shape than conservatism," he said. ‘The problem with the Republican Party is that it is not speaking the language and addressing the concerns of the middle class.’”
CONTINUED >>
ALASKA: In case Ted Stevens is having second thoughts about resigning his seat should he win, another major Senate Republican -- Jim DeMint -- is calling for expulsion.
CALIFORNIA: The Sacramento Bee : "The tight 4th Congressional District race between Tom McClintock and Charlie Brown will create extra work for county election officials already sifting through tens of thousands of uncounted absentee and provisional ballots. If the election margin is one-half of 1 percent or less on election night, already tallied votes in 10 percent of precincts must be recounted by hand to check the accuracy of voting machines. McClintock leads Brown, 50.2 percent to 49.8." The winner will replace scandal-ridden John Doolittle, who chose to retire after his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff promised to throw a wrench in a reelection bid in this heavily GOP district.
LOUSIANA: Because primary day in Louisiana was delayed due to Hurricane Gustav, Dec. 6 is Election Day for two Louisiana House seats, including the one held by Rep. William Jefferson, who has been indicted on corruption charges. Despite his high-profile legal woes, Jefferson is favored to win reelection in Louisiana's 2nd District. Democrat Paul Carmouche and Republican John Fleming will fight out the battle for Jim McCrery's seat in Louisiana's conservative Fourth District.
MARYLAND: In Maryland’s First Congressional District, writes the Baltimore Sun , "Democrat Frank M. Kratovil Jr. saw his slim lead over Republican Andy Harris more than double yesterday as election judges began to open absentee ballots in the 1st Congressional District." The race to replace Rep. Wayne Gilcrest is separated by around 1800 votes. Gilcrest, an Iraq War opponent, lost the Republican primary.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carrie Dann During the Democratic primary, when
Barack Obama told donors in San Francisco that "bitter" voters in hardscrabble Pennsylvania "cling to their guns and religion," the words rang like music in his political opponents' ears. Obama foes hoped that the senator's inartful description of economically-strapped gun enthusiasts would cut his support from rural whites off at the knees.
The comment also put an exclamation point on Obama's record on guns, which has drifted to the center since his days as an Illinois state senator. As the general election heated up, the National Rifle Association announced an eye-popping $15 million ad campaign intended to serve as a loudspeaker for suspicions about Obama's alleged hidden intention to limit gun ownership.
But as the vote margins of the presidential race rolled in, the one-time wedge issue of the Second Amendment did not seem to pack the national-stage punch for which the influential gun lobby had aimed. Nationally, gun owners broke for McCain by almost the identical margin that they broke for Bush in 2004. But in the states where the NRA Political Victory Fund's toughest efforts against Obama were concentrated -- gun-rich regions in states like Colorado, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico -- Obama’s victory was decisive. The Democratic nominee won those states by eight, 11, and 15 points, respectively. Of the 11 states where the NRA's anti-Obama ads were reportedly aired, McCain won only one: Texas.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro President-elect Obama has officially named Rep. Rahm Emanuel his chief of staff. Emanuel, who is the chairman of the Democratic Caucus, is the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House. He previously worked in the White House under Bill Clinton and has served four terms in Congress.
Here are the statements from Obama and Emanuel:Statement from President-elect Barack Obama:
“During his seven years in the Clinton White House, Rahm was the point man on some of the most difficult issues, from the passage of landmark anti-crime legislation to the expansion of health care coverage for children. In just six years in Congress, he has risen to leadership, helping to craft myriad important pieces of legislation and guide them to passage. In between, Rahm spent several years in the private sector, where he worked on large and complicated financial transactions. That experience, combined with his service on the committees on Ways and Means and Banking, have given Rahm deep insights into the challenging economic issues that will be front and center for our Administration. Though Rahm understands how to get things done in Washington, he still looks at the world from the perspective of his neighbors and constituents on the Northwest Side of Chicago, who work long and hard, and ask only that their government stand on their side and honor their values. The son of an Israeli immigrant, Rahm shares a passionate love for this country, and has devoted much of his life to its cause.
CONTINUE READING FOR EMANUEL'S STATEMENT.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli GEORGETOWN, Del. – Vice President-elect
Biden said that he and President-elect
Barack Obama have begun to form a new administration with an eye to the “precarious position” he nation and the world find itself in.
“I think the world is looking to us -- not Barack and me -- looking to America in the same way the public’s looking to us,” he said. “They sense there’s a need for immediate help, immediate help for people who are drowning. … And what I’m excited about is, there’s an awful lot of talented people out there. An awful lot of talented people who are ready, who are thinking this way.”
Biden, speaking with reporters as he flew to Delaware for the first time since Tuesday’s election, talked about the “sense of excitement” he felt yesterday as he and Obama sat together “actually beginning to put together a government.”
“We’ve thought a lot about it, but it was the first time -- he’s as superstitious as I was -- the first time we actually started talking about names and places and organizations,” he said. “We both know it’s going to be a very difficult road.”
CONTINUED >>
Photo wrapped left:
From NBC's Carrie Dann NBC News has declared
Barack Obama the projected winner of North Carolina's 15 electoral votes.
As we
noted in First Read this morning, elections officials will count the remaining provisional ballots and formalize the state's election results later this month.
North Carolina joins Indiana on the list of previously ruby-red states in Obama's column. George W. Bush won the state by 12 points in 2004. John Kerry only won 85% of the black vote in North Carolina; this year, Obama beat McCain among black voters in the state by a margin of 95-5%.
From NBC's Carrie Dann and Mark Murray Jeff Merkley. The defeat of Republican incumbent Gordon Smith means that Dems will have picked up six seats in the U.S. Senate. It also makes the 2008 election year the second consecutive cycle that Democrats have gained six Senate seats.
VIDEO: Democrat Jeff Merkley defeats incumbent Gordon Smith in Oregon. The outstanding votes in the contest had mostly been cast in blue-leaning areas, leading both Republicans and Democrats to expect yesterday that Merkley would eventually be called as the winner.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann *** The transition game: With the presidential election over, the big political story moves from the horserace to the speculation over who will serve in the new Obama Administration. The first job offer went to Rahm Emanuel for the role of White House chief of staff. Emanuel’s office denied that he had accepted the job, but the smart money has to be on him taking it. (After all, what would be the perception that Obama’s first job offer was rejected? Still, the family consideration issue is real; he would have to move his family from Chicago, and he'd also have to give up his dream of being Speaker). Yet given the nation’s economic crisis, perhaps the top position Obama has to fill is Treasury secretary. The names: former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Tim Geithner of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, former Fed Chair Paul Volker, Warren Buffett, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and possibly even someone like New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who was once head of Goldman Sachs.
VIDEO: Obama and his team announce a plan for transition of power. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. *** More Speculation: Interestingly, there's been an oppo dump on Summers to the
Huffington Post ; the last thing Obama needs is drama with potential appointees. A Volker/Buffett appointment is actually something Obama would warm up to in that he may like the idea of bringing in an elder statesman to oversee the crisis while he finds someone else for the long term. As for Corzine or Dimon, can Obama really replace one Goldman Sachs alum with another, or replace one Wall Street guy with another? And because of the focus on finding a new Treasury secretary is priority one, the "keep Gates at the Pentagon" chatter is prominent. Also, which Republicans might be a part of Obama’s cabinet? NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported yesterday that Sen. Dick Lugar isn’t interested (still, what happens if Obama, himself, personally offers him the State job?), but folks like outgoing Sen. Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell might be. And how about some of the moderate Republicans who lost on Tuesday? Chris Shays? Also, smart money is on Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary.
Video: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first read on the efforts underway to create an Obama administration. ***
The knives are out for Palin: Don’t miss today’s piece in the
New York Times about the infighting between the McCain and Palin camps. Some of the anecdotes: Not only were the McCain folks upset that Palin took the crank call from Canadian comedians posing as Sarkozy, but Palin failed to notify the McCain camp that she was going to speak with the supposed French leader. Also, RNC lawyers are perhaps heading to Alaska to take an inventory of the clothes that Palin purchased. Folks, this could get nasty. And before Palin can think about 2012 or beyond, she has to first survive the leaks we are about to see in the coming days. And it's not just the New York Times piece --
Newsweek's always good "what happened?" special issue has lots of negative Palin stories. Palin may be someone who struggled because she never had handlers/advisers before. Well, given the white-hot intensity of the post-election spin war, she's going to need to find her own unofficial defense team.
VIDEO: Palin tells reporters she can't imagine a run for president in 2012, saying she's ready to get back to her day job as governor of Alaska. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports. ***
When the CW is wrong: Remember when we heard from Hillary Clinton supporters at the tail end of the Democratic primary season that Obama would have a difficult time winning Florida and Ohio, and would struggle with Hispanics, Jews, and white working-class voters? Well, he won Florida and Ohio; he beat McCain 2-to-1 among Hispanics; he did better with Jews (winning then 78%-21%) than John Kerry did in 2004 (74%-25%); and he essentially matched Kerry’s performance among working-class whites. So what did we learn here: that primary results and exit polls aren’t necessarily good predictors about what will happen in the general election. Interestingly, this CW was driven a bit by the McCain campaign. One wonders if they sat back during the end of the Democratic primary and over-analyzed it, forgetting that 90-95% of those voters who voted in the Dem primary contests were DEMOCRATS! And they weren't likely to vote for a Republican under just about any circumstance. Did the McCain campaign chase voters that they never had a shot at? Could be...
*** Carolina on our mind: For all those with money riding on the presidential results in North Carolina, mark Nov.14th on your calendar. With all precincts reporting in the traditionally red state, Obama leads by about 12,000 votes but networks have not yet called the race due to outstanding provisional ballots. State Board of Elections Director Gary Bartlett estimates that there are about 40,000 provisional ballots to be certified by county elections officials, and that 65% of those will be deemed valid by authorities. Once audited, the final vote count of those ballots will be verified by county officials who meet on the morning of November 14th; the State Board of Elections will formally certify that final count on Nov. 25th. But with provisional ballots usually reflecting the vote margins of the electorate, Bartlett tells First Read, do not expect the 12,000-vote margin in Obama's favor to shift dramatically. By all indications, the Tar Heel State looks like -- against the odds -- will end up in the blue column for the first time since 1976. By the way, if Missouri was a decisive state in the electoral college, we'd be talking about St. Louis City and county and lots of provisional ballots. While we've called Missouri for McCain, remember we said he's the "apparent" winner; we're well aware, more vote count has a way of just showing up.
*** When Harry met Joe: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have a closed meeting with Sen. Joe Lieberman sometime today, NBC’s Ken Strickland reports. While both offices have refused to discuss details of the meeting, the men are expected to discuss Lieberman's fate as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and possibly his status within the Democratic caucus -- after Lieberman vigorously campaigned for McCain and against Obama. At one time, Reid still seemed to reluctantly stand by Lieberman, arguing that every vote was significant and that punishing Lieberman could force him to switch to the Republican Party. But as the election progressed with estimates showing that Democrats might pick up several more seats -- as they did -- Reid's talk of support changed to talk of post-election reevaluation. Strickland says this meeting is a step in that process. The thing for reporters to ask today: Does Obama have an opinion on this? Should Obama have a say in Lieberman's fate? After all, it was Obama whom Lieberman campaigned against the hardest, not the Democratic Party as a whole. Lieberman wasn't out there campaigning for Republican senators to win re-election. Will Obama urge his soon-to-be former Senate colleagues to not punish Lieberman?
*** What’s left: Speaking of the Senate, there are four undecided races, and here’s the skinny on each. 1) ALASKA: Both Democrats and Republicans believe that incumbent -- and indicted -- GOP Sen. Ted Stevens will probably hold on to victory. (Though some have found it striking that there appears to be fewer voters for this election with a favorite daughter on the ballot than in 2004?!?!? Something tells us there are a LOT more ballots to be counted. There were over 300,000 voters in 2004; With 99% of precincts supposedly reporting, there are less than 220,000 voters; Seriously?!?!? Call us conspiracy theorists if you'd like, but logic dictates that there must be a heckuva a lot more vote to be counted in Alaska.) But if Stevens is declared the winner, that's just the beginning of the story. Stevens faces possible expulsion from the Senate, or he might resign first to avoid that fate. If Stevens resigns or is expelled, Gov. Sarah Palin would have to call for a special election, which would take place 60 to 90 days after Palin called for it. 2) GEORGIA: With incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss sitting just under 50%, we're possibly headed to a December 2 run-off between Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin. Could there be a recount to determine the run-off? Can the state afford to do that and still allow for a December 2 run-off? 3) MINNESOTA: Given that the current margin separating Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken is just a few hundred votes, we're headed for an automatic recount. Democrats tell First Read that this recount could stretch into December. 4) OREGON: Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley is currently leading incumbent GOP Sen. Gordon Smith, and both Democrats and Republicans believe it will stay that way due to the fact that most of the outstanding vote is in Democratic-leaning areas. That would give the Democrats an additional Senate pick-up.
VIDEO: MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell looks at the senate seats still up for grabs. ***
To expel or not to expel: NBC’s Strickland also breaks down what may happen to Stevens if he’s re-elected. Any member of the Senate can offer a motion to expel at any time, and it requires 67 votes to pass. But just because it's offered, doesn't mean Majority Leader Reid will call it up for a vote. Reid's office won't discuss his intentions, and his public statement seems to put the onus on Republicans to deal with Stevens. A more desirable scenario, according to Democratic and GOP aides, is for Stevens to resign on his own without the spectacle of a public vote. But Stevens' own actions suggest the Alaska senator will not go gently. The dilemma for Republicans is initiating the expulsion process on their most senior member before Stevens has a chance to appeal his verdict. For Democrats, the dilemma is giving soaring speeches about taking corruption out of Washington, but when allowed the opportunity to expel a convicted felon with a simple vote they sit on their hands. Expect senior Republican leaders to privately approach Stevens about quitting on his own. And if that doesn't work, then wait to see which member -- if any -- will call for an expulsion vote, and if Reid will allow it. The Senate resumes session on November 17th.
*** I will survive, hey, hey: The lion's share of analysis of Tuesday's downballot races pulled out a tape measure for Obama's coattails. Wins like Bev Perdue's in North Carolina's gubernatorial race and the Udall cousins in New Mexico and Colorado -- while not solely products of Obama's success -- certainly weren't hurt by his unprecedented ground games in battleground states. But while the GOP's defeats in the West and the Northeast reveal a lot about the party's weaknesses, its survivors in some blu(ish, purple) states may point the way to its future. Indiana's incumbent Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, for example, survived a challenge from a financially troubled Democratic opponent and is diving into a second-term agenda that focuses on creative fiscal solutions, scholarship funding, and a business-friendly executive style. And GOP senator Susan Collins in Maine, once eyed as a prime target by Democrats but buoyed by a record of bipartisanship, breezed by challenger Tom Allen. (With Senate flips in NH and NC, that makes Maine the only remaining state with two Republican senators that voted blue in the presidential race.) Does this speak more to the position of the country and who does well? Moderates. Even among Democrats who flipped Republican seats, they were "conservative" Democrats largely. Does this speak of a possible realignment -- to the center?
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 63 days
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USA Today front-pages, “Barack Obama spent his first day as president-elect thanking the people who helped him win the job and lining up his White House team, starting with fiery congressman and Clinton administration veteran Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff.”
The New York Times says that although Emanuel “was said to be concerned about the effects on his family and giving up his influential role on Capitol Hill, many Democrats said they expected him to accept it. Mr. Obama named John D. Podesta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff, to lead his transition team along with Valerie Jarrett, a longtime adviser, and Pete Rouse, his Senate chief of staff. In turning to Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Podesta, Mr. Obama sought out two of the hardest-hitting veterans of President Bill Clinton’s administration, known for their deep Washington experience, savvy and no-holds-barred approach to politics. Neither is considered a practitioner of the ‘new politics’ that Mr. Obama promised on the campaign trail to bring Republicans and Democrats together, suggesting that the cool and conciliatory new president is determined to demonstrate toughness from the beginning.”
Politico : “Emanuel has said to friends that he wants and will take the job, but aides said it was not a done deal as of late Wednesday… If Emanuel --- a member of the House Democratic leadership with ambitions to one day be speaker -- were to turn it down, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) would likely get the nod, the sources said.”
“Some Democrats have warned that Emanuel’s take-no-prisoners style could hurt Obama. But the president-elect wants to move fast to push his legislative agenda through the Democratic-controlled Congress -- and Emanuel knows the Hill and power politics as well as anyone in town.”
CONTINUED >>
The New York Times writes, “Mr. Obama’s advisers said they were startled, if gratified, by the jubilation that greeted the news of Mr. Obama’s victory in much of the United States and abroad. But while the energy of his supporters could be a tremendous political asset as Mr. Obama works to enact his agenda after taking office in January, his aides said they were looking to temper hopes that he would be able to solve the nation’s problems or fully reverse Bush administration policies quickly and easily, especially given the prospect of a deep and long-lasting recession.”
More: “Mr. Obama will hit that theme at a news conference he is expected to hold over the coming days, and in most of his public appearances from here on out, aides said. They said they would discourage the traditional yardstick for measuring the accomplishments of a new president -- the first 100 days. Mr. Obama told an interviewer toward the end of his campaign that it was more appropriate to talk about the first 1,000 days.”
Promises, promises. A look at what Obama has promised on foreign policy, crime, the economy, health care, energy, the environment, education and immigration.
CONTINUED >>
Here's a graphic with the
new balance of power in the U.S. Senate, House and governorships.
Here's also a
county-by-county graphic of how the country voted.
Social issues didn't figure as prominently in this cycle as in years past, but the results of ballot initiatives on gay marriage and abortion indicate that they remain hot topics that trend towards the conservative in statewide votes.
Carter was the last Democrat to get above 50% in the popular vote . Obama's 52% is the highest since 1964 for Democrat. George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan achieved more of the vote in 84 and 88.
Dean Deluxe ? "Nobody is crediting Howard Dean with Barack Obama's historic victory Tuesday night -- certainly not Howard Dean. But a day after Obama remade the electoral map with wins in previously deep-red states like Virginia and Indiana, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee said he does believe Obama's campaign has shown the value of his much-maligned 50-state strategy, especially when the right candidate comes along." upcoming dates… "Dec. 9: Deadline for states to resolve issues regarding election recounts, controversies, or contests; Dec. 15: Electors meet in their states to cast votes for president and vice president. They are not required by federal law to follow the will of the popular vote in their state; Dec. 24: Deadline for designated officials, such as the president of the Senate and others, to have the electoral votes in hand, though states do not face any legal penalty if they don't comply; Jan. 6, 2009: Congress meets to count the electoral votes. The president and vice president must win a majority of electoral votes, or 270, to be elected. If there is no majority, the House selects the president, and the Senate selects the vice president; Jan. 20: The president-elect is sworn into office.
The New York Times looks into some of the infighting between the McCain and Palin camps. “As a top adviser in Senator John McCain’s now-imploded campaign tells the story, it was bad enough that Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska unwittingly scheduled, and then took, a prank telephone call from a Canadian comedian posing as the president of France. Far worse, the adviser said, she failed to inform her ticketmate about her rogue diplomacy. As a senior adviser in the Palin campaign tells the story, the charge is absurd. The call had been on Ms. Palin’s schedule for three days and she should not have been faulted if the McCain campaign was too clueless to notice.”
More: “[T]wo top McCain campaign advisers said that the clothing purchases for Ms. Palin and her family were a particular source of outrage for them. As they portrayed it, Ms. Palin had been advised by Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain aide, that she should buy three new suits for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September and three additional suits for the fall campaign. The budget for the clothes was anticipated to be from $20,000 to $25,000, the officials said. Instead, in a public relations debacle undermining Ms. Palin’s image as an everywoman “hockey mom,” bills came in to the Republican National Committee for about $150,000, including charges of $75,062 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue. The bills included clothing for Ms. Palin’s family and purchases of shoes, luggage and jewelry, the advisers said.”
What’s next for McCain? "Before resting from the grueling presidential race, John McCain began discussing with senior aides what role he will play in the Senate now that he has promised to work with the man who defeated him for president," the AP reports. "Democrats, who padded their majorities in the House and Senate, have a suggestion: McCain can mediate solutions to partisan standoffs on key legislation as he did to help avert a constitutional meltdown over judicial confirmations in 2005."
“Thumped convincingly in consecutive election cycles, the Republican Party now finds itself in its worse straits since the rise of the conservative coalition -- a minority party without the White House, fewer seats in the House and Senate, only 21 governors and full control of just 14 state legislatures,” Politico’s Martin writes. “Most ominously for Republicans, the GOP is increasingly becoming less grand than old -- and outdated. As reflected in Tuesday’s results and exit polls, it’s a party that is overwhelmingly white, rural and aged in a country that is rapidly becoming racially mixed, suburban and dominated by a post-baby boomer generation with no memory of Vietnam or the familiar culture wars of the past.
"Beyond demography, the party is now, thanks to the outgoing president and some members of Congress, perceived by many voters as either incompetent, corrupt, or just not standing for much. Even on fiscal issues -- for decades central to the GOP’s appeal -- Republicans now lag.” AP asks, "Is Sarah Palin the answer for defeated Republicans? … In her hometown of Wasilla in the Anchorage suburbs, 'Palin 2012' T-shirts are already for sale. When she returned to Alaska on Wednesday night after losing the election, she was greeted at the Anchorage airport by chants of '2012! 2012!' Asked by reporters if she might run for president, Palin said, 'We'll see what happens then.'" Others Republican names to watch: Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who "is heading to the leadoff caucus state of Iowa on Nov. 22 to deliver the keynote address to a conservative group."
Jennifer Rubin makes a good point: It's amazing the Dem landslide wasn't worse. More proof we're a center-right country?
Roll Call looks at Republicans' Senate map for 2010. Sens. Jim Bunning (KY), Judd Gregg (NH), George Voinovich (OH), David Vitter (LA), and Mel Martinez (FL) -- among others -- will all be playing defense in two years.
NRCC Chair Tom Cole is fighting to keep his spot at the top of the House race battle team. "In a memo to his GOP colleagues in which he asks them to grant him another term at the helm of the National Republican Congressional Committee, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) makes his case on the grounds that Tuesday's loss of approximately 20 seats amounted to a victory of sorts given the toxic political environment for Republicans and predictions that the House GOP Conference would lose well in excess of 30 seats."
ILLINOIS: The campaign of change that led Barack Obama to the White House will bring tangible change to Illinois, where embattled Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the task of selecting the junior U.S. senator's replacement… Much speculation has surrounded members of Illinois' congressional delegation, including Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr., Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky. Jackson and Schakowsky served as national co-chairs of Obama's presidential campaign. The three were among the people Blagojevich called 'great candidates out there. This is what makes this so difficult,' he said. Another name repeatedly brought up has been Tammy Duckworth, a disabled Iraq war veteran and 2006 failed congressional candidate. She became the governor's veterans affairs director after losing her first political race."
MINNESOTA: "A slugfest for nearly two years, Minnesota's U.S. Senate race headed into a new round Wednesday as the campaigns girded for an automatic statewide recount to determine whether Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's bare lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken would stand. Coleman declared himself the winner of Tuesday's election, but Franken said he would let the recount play out, hoping it would erase the incumbent's 475-vote lead out of nearly 2.9 million ballots. State officials said the recount wouldn't start until mid-November and would probably take weeks."
VIRGINIA: In the results of two outstanding House races in Virginia, Democrats appear to be taking the lead .
From NBC's Ken Strickland In a post-election conference call with elected officials from the Western part of the country, New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson gave reporters the silent treatment when asked directly about whether he'd been contacted about a job in an
Obama administration.
Denver Post reporter Anne Mulkern first tried the broad, overarching approach on the group, which besides Richardson, included Senate Majority Leader Reid , Colorado Senator Ken Salazar , Montana Governor Schweitzer , and Colorado Governor Ritter .
"I was wondering if any of you have any thoughts about how the West would be represented [in a Obama Administration]" Mulkern asked. "Has [Obama] contacted anyone on this phone call about a position?" CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray MINNESOTA. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken is some 690 votes, we're headed for an automatic recount. Democrats tell NBC News that this recount could stretch into December. Republicans say that because the state's ballots are mostly opti-scan -- and not punch-cards with its hanging chads, etc. -- they're confident that the recount won't change the results, which have Coleman slightly ahead.
OREGON. Gordon Smith is currently ahead in the polls, both Democrats and Republicans say that most of the outstanding vote is in Democratic-leaning areas, which will probably tip the race to Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley . That would give the Democrats an additional Senate pick-up.
GEORGIA. Saxby Chambliss sitting just under 50%, we're headed to a December 2 run-off between Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin . There is some debate over whom would benefit in a run-off. One school of thought is that an energized Democratic Party, combined with a demoralized GOP, could benefit Martin. But Republicans say that with Obama no longer on the ballot, they feel pretty confident of winning a run-off in this red state.
ALASKA. Ted Stevens will probably hold on to victory in Alaska. But that's just the beginning of the story. Stevens faces possible expulsion from the Senate, or he might resign first to avoid that fate. If Stevens resigns or is expelled, Gov. Sarah Palin would have to call for a special election, which would take place 60 to 90 days after Palin called for it.
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell Obama advisor confirms to NBC News that Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel has accepted the job of Chief of Staff for the Obama White House.*** UPDATE *** In an email to NBC News, Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg denies the reporting that Emanuel has accepted the chief of staff job.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seeking to limit expectations on what a new Democratic regime will be able to achieve in the 111th Congress.
"We have to choose our priorities" and decide "what is achievable," Pelosi told reporters this morning, adding: "A lot of it is about time." She saied that the current economic conditions and budget deficit "are going to make it harder" to do some big things dear to Democrats, like comprehensive health care reform, but said that smaller, "discrete," initiatives, i.e. SCHIP and stem cell funding, could be done quickly.
In response to a question, she confirmed that she spoke with the president-elect this morning by phone, but said they merely talked about some of the things that they are going to have to talk about in the coming days.
Asked whether Americans can expect a "more left Congress," she repeated the mantra that she has used since obtaining the speaker's gavel two years ago: "The country must be governed from the middle."
She was coy with the question of whether Rahm Emanuel would be going down the Avenue to take the job as Obama's Chief of Staff. "I have not been informed of that decision," she said.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Obama transition team is trying to bring outgoing Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel on board as part of a future administration, it hasn't made those intentions known within the past week, says a source close to the Nebraska senator.
However, the source says, Hagel continues to keep his options open about his future -- a far cry from the explicit dismissals from Republican Dick Lugar .
While the source wouldn't give up much, there was no denying that there has always been an open channel of communication with the Obama campaign, since Biden was picked to become future VP. Biden and Hagel are very good friends -- both as Senate colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee and as close personal friends who talk often.
Could Biden be talking to Hagel about a job as "a friend" instead of in his official capacity as VP-elect? Entirely possible, but not knowable -- or confirmable -- at this point.
From NBC's Mark Murray Joe Lieberman (I-D) -- who vigorously campaigned for McCain and sometimes criticized Obama during the general election -- released a statement congratulating the new president-elect.
"I sincerely congratulate President-elect Obama for his historic and impressive victory. America remains a nation of extraordinary opportunity and the American people are a people of extraordinary fairness. Now that the election is over, it is time to put partisan considerations aside and come together as a nation to solve the difficult challenges we face and make our blessed land stronger and safer. I pledge to work with President-elect Obama and his incoming Administration in their efforts to reinvigorate our economy and keep our nation secure and free."
One of the more interesting stories to follow over the next few weeks will be whether Lieberman continues to caucus with the Democrats and whether he retains his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell GOP Sen.
Richard Lugar says he does not want to be Secretary of State or to join the
Obama cabinet in another capacity. In response to speculation that Obama was considering Lugar for the State Department, a spokesman says the 76-year-old ranking Republican on Foreign Relations has definitely ruled it out. Lugar's spokesman says the senator has good relations with both Biden and Obama -- and looks forward to improving bipartisan cooperation on foreign policy from his position on the Foreign Relations Committee.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira Obama in an effort to keep expectations on the left within the realm of the doable.
Last night, we heard Speaker Nancy Pelosi call for a "deliberate" approach to legislation. She and other leaders are mindful of the pent-up demand from the base of the party for quick action on issues like Iraq now that the impediment of the Senate filibuster has been substantially reduced.
"We can't turn it all around on a dime," says a top Dem staffer. "Expectations are going to have to be managed." The aide says that this message has been agreed to by Obama and Pelosi.
The House Dem leadership is mindful of what happened at the outset of the Clinton Administration and are eager to avoid the impulse to overreach as they did in 1993 and drive the wagon train right off the cliff.
We will hear from Pelosi at noon ET. We are hearing that the first order of business in the House will be a new stimulus package. Then they want to take up two items right off the bat that were stalled by presidential vetoes -- SCHIP and stem cell research funding -- in an effort to demonstrate the difference between having a Democrat in the White House and having a Republican there.
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann *** The 44th President: In just a little more than four years, an Illinois state senator who delivered a rousing speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention will now become the 44th president of the United States and the country’s first African-American president. As of publication time, Obama gained 349 electoral votes to McCain’s 173, (just before publication NBC News named McCain the “apparent” winner in Missouri. But North Carolina (15) and Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District are still undecided. In addition, Obama won the popular vote, 52%-46% -- the first time a Democrat won more than 51% since LBJ did it in 1964. But Obama’s election wasn’t the only good news for the Democrats last night. They picked up five Senate seats (with GA, AK, OR, MN still outstanding), 1 governorship (MO), and at least a net of 17 House seats (with some still outstanding).
VIDEO: Watch Obama's victory speech. ***
Putting 'Country First': As for the man who lost last night, he delivered a concession speech that might stand the test of time. “Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed,” he said. “No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. I urge all Americans... I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together.” It was a pitch-perfect speech, and will spur the same questions that we heard after Gore’s concession speeches: Where was that person on the campaign trail? John McCain and his alter ego Mark Salter have always had a sense of history and it came through last night.
VIDEO: Watch McCain's concession speech. ***
Payback and geography: Obama's victory last night was a payback of sorts for Democrats. He won the state that eluded Gore in 2000 (Florida), as well as the one that escaped Kerry in 2004 (Ohio). But those weren't the only battleground states Obama went on to win. In fact, he won in several different parts of the country: 1) the Midwest, especially the states surrounding Illinois like Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin; 2) out in the West, in Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico; 3) the Rust Belt, in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; and 4) the New South, including Florida, Virginia, and (perhaps North Carolina). The only places where Obama didn't win: the Deep South and the Plains. By the way, take a look at Indiana one more time. This is a state Bush won by 20 points… TWENTY?!?!?? And Obama flipped it. Every other flip Obama made was explainable in some way -- demographics, etc. But to flip Indiana, not a growth state like Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina or Florida. If any state screams, "It was the economy, stupid" it was Indiana.
*** Keys to the Keystone: Lost in Obama’s impressive 11-point win in Pennsylvania is that McCain’s Western PA strategy worked. The problem? There weren’t enough votes out there. Eastern PA, from the Philadelphia suburbs to Scranton (thanks Joe the Senator and Hillary), went in blowout margins for Obama. Obama overperformed Kerry in places like Lackawanna -- where Scranton is – which went for Obama, 63%-36%. Kerry carried it 56%-42%. We weren’t sure Obama could hold THAT margin. It was the same story all throughout the Eastern counties – Lehigh (51%-48% for Kerry, 58%-41% for Obama); Luzerne (51%-48% for Kerry, 54%-45% for Obama); Monroe (which Bush won by four votes, went for Obama 58%-41%); Northampton (Kerry 50%-49%, Obama 56%-43%). In the Philly ’burbs, Obama got big margins out of Bucks, Chester (which Bush won) and Montgomery counties. In fact, in Montgomery, Obama got 249,000 votes from a 60%-39% win; Kerry got 222,000 from a 56%-44% victory. In Western PA, First Read was watching three counties -- Beaver, Washington and Fayette, all counties Kerry carried narrowly. McCain flipped each of them, but the three counties combined had about 227,000 TOTAL votes. (For more states, see Battleground section below.)
VIDEO:
NBC's Chuck Todd analyze the results that led to Obama's victory. ***
Obama’s four-legged chair: Our final NBC/WSJ poll before the election showed that Obama had a three-legged stool of support that contributed to his lead over McCain -- African Americans, Hispanics, and 18-29 year olds. And that poll (and others like it) proved to be right. Obama won African Americans, 95%-4%; Hispanics, 66%-32%; and 18-29 year olds, 66%-32%. But Obama had one extra bit of support that turned a three-legged stool into a four-legged chair: college-educated whites. McCain narrowly beat him here, 51%-47%, which helped reverse a 17-point deficit Kerry had with all whites in 2004 to the 12-point deficit Obama had last night. And it's what helped Obama do so well in suburban counties like the ones above in Pennsylvania or the ones in the I-4 corridor of Florida or the ones in Northern Virginia. That's the difference, folks, between losing an election and winning one.
*** More exit numbers: Obama claimed the center, winning independents, 52%-44% and moderates, 60%-39%. McCain slightly underperformed among evangelicals, winning them 74%-24%; Bush won them in 2004, 78%-21%. In addition, 60% viewed Palin as unqualified to be president, compared with 66% who saw Biden as qualified. What’s more, 42% said that their economic situation was worse off than it was four years ago. Obama won those people, 71%-28%. And Bush was a big drag on McCain: 71% said they disapproved of Bush’s job, and those people broke for Obama by a 67%-31% margin. By the way, Bush makes a Rose Garden statement on last night’s election at 10:40 am.
*** Highest turnout rate since '08 -- 1908: Provided the number stands, the turnout rate for yesterday's election was the highest in 100 years, according to the estimate from turnout guru Dr. Michael McDonald at George Mason University . Almost 137 million (136,631,825) went to the polls -- 64.1% of the voting-eligible population. 1960 saw 63.7% of the populace go out to vote; In 1908, 65.7% voted. It was, of course, the most people ever to go to the polls topping 2004's 122 million. That's 12% increase from 2004. For those wondering why the current total vote in the presidential adds up to approximately 117 million, note that it's going to climb. There is still a ton of vote missing on the West coast.
*** It could have been worse: That may be the new slogan of the 2008 Republican Party. The Congressional bloodbath was bad, but it wasn't as bad as some Republicans feared it would be last week. Ted Stevens may yet survive (4,000 votes); Minnesota Senate is headed for a recount; Saxby Chambliss still has some chance to eke out 50% though the trendlines don't look good and a ton of votes (perhaps a million) appear to be outstanding in Oregon, meaning Gordon Smith's fate may not be known for a few days. And in the House, it appears the Democratic pickup could be in the mid-20s, not the 30+ some had feared. Still, the glass isn't half full for the GOP, it simply has some condensation.
*** What's next Grand Old Party: It's hard not to look at the map -- particularly in the House -- and not view the GOP as a regional party right now. If it weren’t for the party's relative strength in the South, the party would be in even worse shape. Later this week, as the party deconstructs this election, the recriminations will begin. Who will emerge as the next group of leaders? Mitch McConnell survived re-election, but will he survive any leadership challenge? What about House GOP leader John Boehner? No doubt he'll be challenged. Still, will McConnell and Boehner be the true leaders of the minority party? There will be a spirited race for the RNC chairmanship. State chairs from Michigan and South Carolina will run as will some former governor, maybe even Newt Gingrich. A group of current and former governors will also get together and attempt to have a say in the party. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana even has an Iowa visit planned later this month; Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin and Jeb Bush could all also play roles. As will Mark Sanford and Haley Barbour. Bottom line, there is a massive leadership vacuum inside the Republican Party and there are no shortage of candidates who will attempt to fill that vacuum. The first thing to watch for: Will the fight be to do this from inside the RNC or will there be a DLC-like organization that emerges from the outside?
*** Some first clues: NBC-WSJ GOP pollster Neil Newhouse did a post-election survey last night, and here's what he found: Just 12% of those surveyed believed Palin should be the GOP's new leader; instead 29% of voters said Romney, followed by 20% who say Huckabee. Among GOPers, it was Romney 33%, Huckabee 20% and Palin 18%. Look for more from this survey later today.
*** Transition watch: All eyes are on Rahm Emanuel as he ponders whether to take the White House CoS job or stay in Congress and attempt to some day become Speaker of the House.
*** For those about to Barack, we salute you: NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones wonders: Just how many new babies in the United States – and throughout the world – will be named Barack?
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 64 days
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The New York Times front page: "OBAMA." Subheadline: "Racial barrier falls in decisive victory."
The NY Times' Nagourney : "The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national catharsis -- a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country. But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago."
The Washington Post : "Obama makes history." "Obama, 47, the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas, led a tide of Democratic victories across the nation in defeating Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a 26-year veteran of Washington who could not overcome his connections to President Bush's increasingly unpopular administration."
The Washington Post's Balz lead: "After a victory of historic significance, Barack Obama will inherit problems of historic proportions. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated at the depths of the Great Depression in 1933 has a new president been confronted with the challenges Obama will face as he starts his presidency."
"His general-election campaign had gone stale. For weeks, he had watched Sen. John McCain suction up the oxygen in the race, driving the news coverage after the boisterous Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., and suddenly drawing huge crowds with his new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin," the Washington's Post's Kornblut writes. "Convening the meeting that Sunday in the office of David Axelrod, his chief strategist, Obama was blunt: It was time to get serious.
"'He said, 'You know, maybe we can just win it on the issues. But I don't think so,' recalled senior adviser Anita Dunn. With the debates approaching and just seven weeks until the election, "his charge to everybody was 'Guys, we're back in combat mode,'" Dunn said. And then, the next morning, a global earthquake hit: Lehman Brothers, the giant investment firm, filed for bankruptcy, triggering the biggest corporate collapse in U.S. history and an international financial meltdown, and transforming the presidential race."
CONTINUED >>
COLORADO: The Denver Post : "From the outset, the campaign veered from traditional Democratic strategy, which limited them to pockets of the country, and instead targeted regions where Democrats don't usually venture. The campaign's mobilization and organizational efforts among volunteers is likely unparalleled in current politics, using everything from text messaging to Internet recruiting."
FLORIDA: Hang This on Your Chad and Poke It! In Florida, Obama paved a path to victory by winning the swing counties on the Gulf Coast and outperforming Kerry and Gore (for that matter) nearly everywhere else, including in Orange, Duval and Volusia counties.
The Miami Herald: "For Florida Democrats, who have tolerated a Republican-controlled state government since the late 1990s and relished few statewide victories since then, Obama's victory signaled a new day. The Democratic nominee didn't just invest in a rusty political infrastructure; he built a new one from the ground up."
GEORGIA: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution : "The McCain win in Georgia is a tribute to the state Republican Party's ability to set aside its differences and work for the good of the party. McCain lost the February primary, and at the state Republican convention, speaker after speaker mentioned how McCain was their first choice.But McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee seemed to change that. Evangelical conservatives, some of whom distrusted McCain, saw in Palin a kindred spirit and moved solidly back into the fold."
CONTINUED >>
AP : "McCain conceded the presidential race to Barack Obama, saying the Democrat has achieved a 'great thing' for himself and the country with his historic victory."
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger: Palin is expected to leave for Alaska Wednesday afternoon
"Can Sarah Palin go home again?" asks the Anchorage Daily News . In the 68 days since Alaska's governor began her run for vice president, things have changed on the home front. Some of her former allies are fuming, and former enemies are lying in wait. Public perceptions of the governor have also changed. Has the governor changed as well? Questions about Palin's future began to circulate at Alaska's Election Central on Tuesday night almost as soon as the national election results came in."
SENATE: No to 60: Senate Democrats pulled down the low-hanging fruit in the competitive races, marking VA (Warner), NH (Shaheen), NC (Hagan), NM (Udall) and CO (Udall) in their camp. But the races that were higher reaches for Team Schumer -- KY (McConnell) and MS-B (Wicker) -- stayed in Republican hands. In the wee hours of the night, the Minnesota, Oregon, Georgia, and Alaska races all remained too close to call, but only a perfect storm of wins in all four states would grant Democrats the nine extra votes that they must net to beat a filibuster. In Minnesota, this morning, Coleman leads Franken by just 762 votes. Stevens leads by 3,353 votes. (By the way, Don Young leads by more than 16,000 votes with 99% in.) Gordon Smith leads by about 13,000 votes with 75% reporting. Chambliss is three-tenths of a percentage point from dropping below 50% with 99% of precincts reporting. (If he were to drop below 50, there would be run-off.)
HOUSE: Democrats appear to have netted at least 17 seats in the House. Dems picked up 12 seats held by Republican incumbents, nine more open seats that had been held by Republicans. But Republicans were also able to pick up four seats held by Democrats. About a dozen remain undecided.
Baked Alaska: Apparently Northern Exposure doesn’t matter all that much in the Land of Perpetual Daylight. Into the wee hours of the morning, it was STILL unclear (as of 4:30 a.m.) if convicted Sen. Ted Stevens and under-investigation Rep. Don Young were going to lose. In fact, both were winning their races – despite calls from the party’s top brass for Stevens to resign.
Purple Shays: The news out of the House was mixed for Republicans, who were bracing for a potential bloodbath. Jim Himes' victory over Republican Chris Shays represented the ousting of the lone GOP representative in the Northeast, and the fall of incumbents in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida underscored McCain's toxicity in battleground states. (Of note, though: the Cuban Diaz-Balart brothers did survive in spite of Obama's long coattails in the state.) But Republicans who feared losses in the high 30s in the U.S. House are breathing sighs of (relative) relief this morning, with 22 seats (as of 5:15 a.m.) evaporating from their camp into Democratic hands. The Cook Political Report's David Wasserman notes a silver lining for those GOPers fearful of a House juggernaut: November 4th turned out to be a good day for conservative Dems in tossup races and a tough one for those on the more liberal side of the spectrum. Ashwin Madia lost in MN-03, for example, unable to overcome Erik Paulson's efforts to paint the Iraq War veteran as a tax-and-spend-liberal. But anti-abortion mother of five Kathy Dahlkemper pulled off a swing-district win against Republican Phil English.
CONTINUED >>
The
NY Daily News' Goodwin : "It now seems from the ice age, yet it was only four years ago that President Bush was basking in his election. ... Thanks to two unfinished wars and an economic meltdown, Bush's legacy is the historic landslide election of an inexperienced Barack Obama and a liberal-led Democratic Congress determined to undo every shred of the last eight years. Bush leaves his own party defeated and demoralized."
From NBC's Luke Russert
The two-year journey has come to an end and many young people feel that for the first time in their lives, they're represented by a leader who is one of their own. It's probably not an overstatement to say that the hopes, dreams and aspirations of millions of young people now lie on the shoulders of this 47-year-old senator from Illinois.
My guess is that the first six months of his presidency will be closely watched. Quite frankly, President-elect Obama must deliver or risk alienating the young voters who ultimately propelled him to office by running up big margins in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and Florida. It has been an historic night.
Now the challenge has begun: an economy in peril, two wars and a broken health care system. It's a challenging agenda -- one that no one would willingly want to inherit. Yet, President-elect Obama will wake up tomorrow morning with those challenges ahead. I think I speak for all Americans in wishing him good luck.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones CHICAGO -- A century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation, five decades after Brown v. Board of Education and 40 years after the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, a black man has been elected president of the United States.
Barack Obama , a man who tells crowds that the premise of his candidacy was his faith that the American people were ready for a "new kind of politics", has achieved what many blacks in America never thought they would see during their lifetime. He won 51% of the vote and 338 electoral votes (as of 1am EST) and he did it by moving red states like Florida, Colorado and Virginia into the blue column and earning the overwhelming support of blacks, Hispanics, women, the young, first time voters and college educated whites.
“I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you,” Obama said.
The 47-year-old junior senator from Illinois told the crowd that it had taken a long time, but “change has come to America.”
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” he began. CONTINUED >>
For the night-owls,
Sarah Palin' s home state could keep you up late. After poll close, both the presidential and Senate races are too early to call.
In 2004, Christine Gregoire (D) eeked out the bitterly-fought gubernatorial race in the state of Washington with only 133 more votes than opponent Dino Rossi (R).
From MSNBC.com’s Tom Curry Obama sweep? Not quite.
Republican survival? Yes, in some states.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama triumphed in the contested states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Mexico, and was projected to get the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
CONTINUED
From NBC's Mike Levine Virginia bills itself as "the Mother of Presidents," and its votes helped to elect a president tonight.
At about 11pm, Gov. Tim Kaine declared that his state "put us over the 270" votes Barack Obama needed to win the presidency. He was standing before a big crowd at a Hilton in Tyson's Corner, Va., as they roared with cheers and applaue. The crowd, estimated at more than 1,000, had been in a cheering mood all night.
Patricia Leslie, a 62-year-old from McLean, Va., was one of the first to arrive at the party, hosted by former Virginia Governor (and now Senator-elect) Mark Warner. "It's like Santa Claus is coming to town. It's such exuberence," she said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Peter Alexander Sarah Palin's hometown, it was the first -- and only -- loud applause of the night when Sen. John McCain mentioned Palin's name. Otherwise, the room was silent and stunned. A line-up of rock bands took turns on stage, but few people here are in a festive mood.
"You know when the next campaign starts?" A clearly disappointed Phyllis Robertson said. "Tomorrow."
Here, the pride for Wasilla's former mayor is tremendous. Many supporters came tonight wearing the same updo the governor has made famous. Vendors are selling T-shirts with slogans like "Palin: She Doesn't Run with the Pack, She Shoots Them" and "My Pit Bull Wears Lipstick."
One pin reads: "Palin 2012."
CONTINUED >>
Per White House spokesperson Dana Perino:
Tonight at 11:38 pm, President Bush called Sen. McCain .
The President told the Arizona senator, "John, you gave it your all. I'm proud of you, and I'm sorry it didn't work out. You didn't leave anything on the playing field."
"Your statement was fabulous and very classy. Please give our love to Cindy."
Both calls were made from the president's office, the Treaty Room, in the Residence.
Also, the President will give a statement in the Rose Garden tomorrow at 10:40 am.
Below is the statement by Hillary Clinton on Barack Obama's victory in the presidential race:
Together, under the leadership of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and a Democratic Congress, we will chart a better course to build a new economy and rebuild our leadership in the world. And I look forward to doing all that I can to support President Obama and Vice President Biden in the difficult work that lies ahead.
For too long, middle class families in this country have felt invisible, struggling alone as wages stagnate, jobs disappear, and the costs of daily life climb upward. In quiet, solitary acts of citizenship, American voters gave voice to their hopes and their values, voted for change, and refused to be invisible any longer."
NBC News projects Barack Obama to be the winner in Nevada.
The state has voted for the eventual winner in every election - save one in 1976 - since 1912.
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones Per Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, McCain called president-elect Obama at 10 PM Central.
NBC News projects
John McCain the winner in his home state, Arizona.
NBC News has declared
Barack Obama the projected winner in Florida and in Colorado.
NBC News calls battleground Virginia for
Barack Obama . The Old Dominion has not voted for a Democrat since 1964.
From NBC's Mark Murray NBC News has projected
Obama the winner in California (55 electoral votes), Hawaii (4), Oregon (7), and Washington State (11), which puts Obama at 284 electoral votes -- well past the threshold needed to win the presidency.
NBC News projects that incumbent Republican Roger Wicker will pull out a win against former Governor Ronnie Musgrove in Mississippi. McConnell , Mississippi's Wicker, and Georgia's Chambliss - who looks positioned for reelection - Senate Democrats won't reach 60 votes, even if they gain seats in Colorado (Udall ) and Alaska (Begich ).
The two races still very much up for grabs: Minnesota and Oregon. But even with those potential victories, Democrats are poised to fall just short of the sixty votes needed for a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate.
Nebraska's new senator, as expected, will be Mike Johanns. Bush , will join Sen. Mel Martinez , former HUD director, as the second former Bush Administration cabinet member in the Senate.
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Various senior staffers describe McCain's mood as "good" and "he's fine."
There is a collective sense among staffers that this has been a "valiant effort" and a "great fight" in "historically difficult times."
Other describe a feeling of "no regrets" and members of the senior team contend they "left it all on the table."
One advisor says McCain himself feels "that he let his staff and supporters down."
They continue to watch results and await more actual vote totals.
No details yet on when Sen. McCain will appear.
NBC News projects that incumbent Democrat
Rep. John Murtha will be reelected in Pennsylvania's 12th district. Murtha came under fire for saying that some residents of his district are racists.
Dems pick up another gov... Lt. Gov Bev Perdue beats Republican Pat McCrory , whose poll numbers had remained fairly robust even as Liddy Dole 's dropped. We noted this week that if McCrory managed to beat the headwinds in North Carolina, he could have earned a big boost as a rising star in a navel-gazing Republican Party.
NBC News projects that Rep. Chris Shays , the lone New England Republican left in the U.S. House, has lost his reelection bid to Democrat Jim Himes.
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama's success tonight have been his overperformance among white voters -- especially among college-educated whites.
In 2004, Bush defeated Kerry among whites by 17 points, 58-41 percent.
But according to the exit polls so far, McCain is leading Obama among white by 10 points, 54-44 percent.
And what has helped improve Obama's margins here is among college-educated whites. Nationally, McCain is leading Obama by just one point among college-educated whites, 50-49 percent.
By comparison, McCain is leading Obama among non-college-educated whites, 58-41 percent.
NBC calls Obama the projected winner in New Mexico.McCain is the projected winner in Louisiana and West Virginia.
A setback for Democrats reaching to beat a high-profile Republican and gain an additional Senate seat.. NBC News declares Mitch McConnell the projected winner in Kentucky. Tom Daschle was voted out of office in 2004; previous Republican leaders Trent Lott and Bill Frist both opted not to run for reelection.
NBC News declares the Barack Obama the projected winner in Ohio.
No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. The Republican Party was founded in 1854. Only twice since 1900 has Ohio not predicted the president. In fact, the last time Ohio didn't predict the president was 1960 -- when Kennedy was elected. Before that, the last time a Democrat won without Ohio was 1944 and prior to that was 1892, when it voted for Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland.
VIDEO: NBC's Brian Williams reports that Obama has won the key swing state that President Bush carried in 2004 and 2000.
Democrats add another towards 60... NBC News projects Tom Udall the winner in the New Mexico senate race.
They now have won Democratic seats in New Hampshire, Virginia, New Mexico, and North Carolina.
NBC News calls Obama the projected winner in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and Rhode Island.
McCain is the projected winner in Kansas, North Dakota, and Wyoming. NBC News has also projected McCain the winner in Georgia, where he was forced to play defense when Obama placed ads in the final weekend before the election.
McCain's home state of Arizona is too close to call.
A third victory for Senate Dems in their quest for a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority... NBC News projects Democrat Kay Hagan the winner over North Carolina Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole (R).
North of the NC border, NBC says that Virginia is too close to call in the presidential race.
VIDEO: NBC's Chuck Todd talks about the sea change that has resulted in Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole being useated.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira Three House Democratic sources confirmed
Rep. Rahm Emanuel has been offered a Chief of Staff job with an
Obama White House and is currently "agonizing" over whether to take the job.
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli With
Biden projected to have won a seventh term, what happens if he also becomes vice president next January?
Biden's dual candidacy was rarely discussed this year, unlike 2000 when some accused
Joe Lieberman of hedging his bets by staying on the Connecticut ballot even after
Al Gore tapped him for VP. Biden only addressed the subject publicly when he urged fellow Delaware Democrats to vote for him twice.
"Don't be carried away with this vice president stuff," he said at the party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Oct. 13. "Don't stop at the top of that ticket, walk your way down. You can vote twice for the first time in your life for the same guy and it be legal."
With the projected election of Democrat
Jack Markell as Delaware's new governor, Biden is assured the luxury of resigning his seat whenever he wants and ensuring it remains in Democratic hands. In an interview with KY-3 in Missouri last month, Biden explicitly said that, "I wouldn't resign my Senate seat until I were sworn in as Vice President of the United States." The new governor is also sworn in on Jan. 20.
CONTINUED >>
A second Senate seat goes to the Democrats: NBC News projects Jeanne Shaheen the winner in the NH Senate contest against incumbent John Sununu (R).
NBC News also projects that Democrats will pick up a new governor's seat with a victory for Jay Nixon (D) in Missouri over Republican Kenny Hulshof.
From MSNBC.com’s Tom Curry
In Indiana, Obama received 55 percent of the votes cast by women, according to exit poll interviews, while he was tied with Republican John McCain among men.
Indiana has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, but the Obama campaign made the state a focus of its strategy.
CONTINUED: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27540321/
NBC News declares Barack Obama the projected winner in Pennsylvania. Unless another blue state flips to Republican hands, McCain now must win every remaining battleground state to overtake Obama.
VIDEO: Early election results suggest that some polls were correct. NBC's Chuck Todd reports. Also, a stinging loss for McCain in New Hampshire, where McCain's primary victory in January jumpstarted his flagging campaign in early 2008. NBC projects the Granite State, where Obama lost his own primary bid to Hillary Clinton, to go into the Democrat's column tonight.
Obama is also the projected winner in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.
Tennessee and Oklahoma go to McCain.
NBC News declares
John McCain the projected winner in South Carolina.
NBC News declares Jay Rockefeller (D) the projected winner in the West Virginia Senate race and incumbent Gov. Joe Manchin (D) the projected winner in the gubernatorial race.
NBC News declares the North Carolina Senate race between
Elizabeth Dole (R) and
Kay Hagan (D) too early to call. The gubernatorial race between Republican
Pat McCrory and Democrat
Bev Perdue is too close to call.
After the 7:30 poll closings, in the presidential race:
NBC News projects that Democrats will retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
After the first round of poll closings, in downballot races:
NBC News declares Mitch Daniels the projected winner of the Indiana governor's race.Mark Warner the projected winner of the Virginia senate race.Lindsey Graham the projected winner in the South Carolina senate race.
NBC News declares the Vermont Governor's race as 'Too Early to Call.'Mitch McConnell (R) and Bruce Lunsford (D) as 'Too Close to Call' Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D) as 'Too Close to Call.'
After the first round of poll closings: Barack Obama the projected winner in Vermont. John McCain the projected winner in Kentucky.
From NBC's Jim Popkin Kerry or Bush or al Qaida," Bin Laden warned in late October 2004, in his first videotaped address in three years. "Your security is in your own hands."
Radio Silence
For more, read NBC's Deep Background blog.
From NBC's Luke Russert
Bloomington -- I got on the ground in the Hoosier state yesterday. Since I set foot on the Indiana University campus, I have witnessed political activism from students. Like other college campuses I've visited, the Obama campaign has organized Obama supporters and gotten them to the polls. Many of the students that I have spoken to voted for Obama and also volunteered for him in some respect.
The dedication of Obama supporters has been a really interesting thing to watch. I spoke to one volunteer who personally knocked on the doors of an entire dorm this morning to remind kids to get to the polls when they opened at 6 a.m. I was told hundreds of young voters showed up early and then went back to bed. Due to this, there were surprisingly short lines during the lunch hour when we visited the polling precincts.
CONTINUED >>
From Election Protection...
FLORIDA: We have received more than 30 calls from voters all across the state concerned that their precinct's optical scan machine is not working. When this occurs, ballots are supposed to be placed in a “a secure bin" under the voting machine. Because of the volume of ballots, these bins are now filling up. We have received several reports of poll workers collecting ballots in a bag, which is not in accordance with the law. Election Protection is working with local election officials to ensure that all votes that have yet to be counted due to optical scan malfunctions are placed in secure locations.
MICHIGAN: As of 11:45 a.m. EST, voters on Detroit’s east side were waiting five hours to vote in 1,000-person long line at Beth Eden Baptist, largely as a result of an understaffed polling operation. An Election Protection partner law firm on the ground in Detroit is investigating the situation.
OHIO: Voters in several Ohio counties reported to Election Protection problems at their polling location due to poll workers not accepting proper identification and forcing the voters to cast provisional ballots.
VIRGINIA: Many machine issues from early this morning have been resolved but we continue to see major residual effects in the Chesapeake area where some voters are waiting in five to six hour lines.
Stay tuned for more updates.
To search Election Protection’s voter database, visit www.ourvotelive.org .
From NBC's Pete Williams
Now anyone who wants the free coffee gets it, voter or not.
It turns out that a giveaway to voters could violate election laws in some states that prohibit gifts for voters. While these laws are generally intended to discourage attempts to influence voters, the lawyers were worried the Starbucks policy might be a violation.
"To ensure we are in compliance with election law, we extended our offer to all customers who request a tall brewed coffee," says Tara Darrow of Starbucks.
From MSNBC.com's Bob Sullivan
That's how Ralph Nader closed his third-party presidential campaign today at a small press conference in Washington D.C.'s National Press Club. He instructed reporters that he would only give one-word answers to all questions posed -- in a sarcastic nod to the sound-bite nature of election coverage.
The stilted question-and-answer session felt at times like a bad game of "Jeopardy." Reporters played along with little protest and reached for questions that led to one-word answers. Many even started asking one-word questions, though that wasn't in the rules.
But there were some telling moments. Here's a sampling:
What is your opinion of Obama ? "Clever."
What is your opinion of Palin ? "Developing."
How much money did you raise for your campaign? "Insufficient."
Why do you keep running for president? "Justice."
Will you be elected president? "No."
CONTINUED >>
From Maria Alcon, NBC's Making Your Vote Count unit at Election Plaza
2:30pm --We are all set up at the Making Your Vote Count camera position in Rockefeller Plaza updating our viewers on problems. And we’re hearing from voters right here too.
Lisa Shannon, 36, who owns a spa, says it took her 45 minutes to vote this morning but that’s only because she didn’t know her district. She was shocked that no one asked her for identification. (New York actually does not require it) "I filled out a paper ballot, but who knows if that gets counted," said Ms.Shannon. In this day and age, she says, she wishes she could vote by e-mail, and she finds the entire process horribly antiquated.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland If Majority Leader Harry Reid gets 60 Democrats in the Senate, it doesn't mean Democratic bills will just sail through the chamber toward passage unencumbered by filibusters. Why? Sixty seats doesn't always equal 60 votes.
Many of the seats Democrats would have to pick up to reach the magic number come from dark red states like North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alaska. Those new senators will more than likely bring some of their state's conservative values to the Senate and may vote with Republicans on some social and economic issues. That could tamp the 60 vote "magic number" down into the mid-50's, depending on the issue.
Video: Politico’s John Harris and MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell discuss the hot Senate races to keep an eye on Tuesday night. Also, those new Democrats would add to the red state conservative Democrats already in the Senate who sometimes vote with Republicans. That group includes Democrats from Nebraska, Montana, Louisiana, West Virginia, and both Dakotas. As the Cook Report's Jennifer Duffy explained it, "There are enough Democrats who abandon the party's position on any given issue to make 60 something of a false number."
There are two variables that could improve those odds. Majority Leader Reid could lay down the hammer and try to force all Democrats to stay in line, which isn't really his style. (Because a filibuster vote is really only a procedural vote, he'd try to convice them to vote to end the filibuster, while the reluctant member could still vote 'no' on the final passage.) Or Reid could focus on winning the support of a handful of moderate Republicans who have voted with Democrats on some issues in the past. Bottom line: 60 Democratic seats does not always equal sixty votes.
CONTINUED >>
From Election Protection...
Long lines, broken voting machines, ballot shortages and misused absentee ballots are just some of the problems that threaten voting.
VIRGINIA: Dozens of polling places are experiencing varying degrees of machine malfunctions. Some polling places are either completely closed or have been closed for hours. Thousands of voters may have been turned away illegally by polling workers. Voters have illegally been issued with provisional ballets where machines have been broken.
*** UPDATE ***
PENNSYLVANIA: Voting machine malfunctions are widespread and at least a dozen locations, mainly focused on Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Election Protection has received reports of campaign materials being illegally distributed at polling locations in Pittsburgh. Voters across the state are reporting that they never received their absentee ballots, which is creating additional chaos at the polls.
Election Protection legal volunteers are working to resolve these issues quickly to ensure that no one leaves their polling location without effectively casting a ballot. Voting rights experts urge voters to stay patient and cooperative in the meantime and to report all instances of voter intimidation or disenfranchisement to Election Protection’s 866-OUR-VOTE hotline immediately.
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
IN THE AIR FROM RICHMOND TO CHICAGO -- During the 90-minute flight to Chicago, one of Joe Biden’s top political advisers paid a visit to the press section. His 10-year-old granddaughter, Finnegan, that is.
“She’s the one who pushed the hardest for me to be vice president,” Biden said after joining her.
The Delaware senator was joined on the flight by 35 members of his extended family, who will join him for what the campaign hopes to be a victory celebration. Biden has generally been reluctant to speculate about the future, but talked candidly about the possibility that he could be vice president-elect by day’s end.
“If we were to win I don’t know that it would change a lot,” he said when asked how a victory would impact his family life. His youngest son, Hunter, lives in Washington, DC, already, and in fact his daughter-in-law drove with Finnegan one day to measure the distance from their home to the Naval Observatory.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski
"We are undertaking Herculean efforts to ensure the transition goes as smoothly and seamlessly as possible," according to one official.
The officials tell NBC News they intend to expedite the security-clearance process so that transition members would actually be able to sit alongside top Pentagon and military leaders during secure satellite briefings with combatant military commanders from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Given that the U.S. military is engaged in two shooting wars overseas, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered dozens of senior Pentagon leaders to come up with an aggressive plan for a smooth and rapid transition.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger
WASILLA, Alaska -- Palin returned home to Alaska Tuesday to vote, telling reporters that she hoped she would wake up Wednesday as vice president-elect.
Palin – having flown all night from Nevada – arrived in Anchorage Tuesday and drove for an hour to Wasilla, killing time at local haunts until polls opened at 7 am. She waited in her car for five minutes before emerging at Wasilla City Hall to vote with her husband, Todd. There, she hugged and kissed poll workers and stuck on an “I Voted Today” sticker.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Palin said she was “optimistic” and “confident.”
“Now tomorrow, I hope, I pray, I believe that I'll be able to wake up as vice president-elect, and be able to get to work in a transition mode with the President elect, John McCain,” she said. “So anxious to get to work for the American people.” CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro McCain -RNC political director Mike DuHaime gave a peek into what the campaign will be watching tonight.
In Pennsylvania, he will be watching the Democratic margin in Philadelphia, he told NBC's Chuck Todd on MSNBC today. Kerry won the city by about 412,000 votes. DuHaime said he'll be watching to see if Obama gets to a 500,000 margin, as Democrats hope. If he doesn't, he thinks it could be a good sign for McCain camp and may signify a long night of counting the vote in the Keystone State.
Video: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd lists five things to look for to see which way the election is headed. He's also watching the margins in the Eastern Pennsylvania Philadelphia suburbs, where Democrats hope to do better than Kerry's margins.
Kerry got the third most votes out of any county from Montgomery, northwest of Philadelphia.
CONTINUED >>
From Election Protection...
FLORIDA: Voters in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area have experienced numerous problems trying to cast ballots this morning. We have preliminary reports of voters being turned away from the polls for incomplete registrations and instances of the statewide problem of broken optical scan machines in some two dozen polling locations all across the state.
MICHIGAN: Voters are reporting massive voting machine malfunctions across the state resulting in long lines and discouraged voters leaving lines without casting a ballot. In many cases, poll workers are asking voters to cast their ballot on paper and they will tally them later. Some voters are being asked to vote on paper using magic markers.
MISSOURI: There were multiple reports of swapped poll books (voter lists for a given precinct at the wrong location) in Kansas City, MO. This issue has been resolved.
Stay tuned for more updates.
To search Election Protection’s voter database, visit www.ourvotelive.org .
From NBC’s Robert Dembo
After one hour in this highly controlled atmosphere, 618 coffee mugs were distributed. People were asked to express a preference between red mugs and blue mugs.
The final tally compiled by Sharpee on the back of a brown cardboard box is 204 red Election Plaza coffee mugs to 414 blue Election Plaza coffee mugs.
We had pollsters indicate that there were at least 20 trade backs. A trade back is defined as a person who takes one color mug and comes back to trade in for a different color coffee mug.
The poll was conducted from 11 a.m. to noon. And we have no reason to believe it is or is not reflected of the political situation in the United States.
From NBC's Jack Chesnutt
Election officials interpret this to be caused by the high percentage of mail-in ballots. Statewide, 63% of Colorado registered voters requested mail-in ballots.
At polling places checked by NBC News in Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties mail-in and early-voting percentages are running as high as 74%.
Polls close in Colorado at 9 pm ET and mail-in ballots can still be dropped off until that time.
From Election Protection...
*** UPDATE ***
There is no tension in the long lines that she can see thus far. Students are reading the newspaper, doing homework and throwing the football around.
From NBC’s Joey Bell
All five were cheery, upbeat and happy to chat with each other to pass the time. They seemed to feel connected by the moment and proud to be sacrificing the hour or two they might normally be spending in bed or exercising.
Surely contributing to everyone's good spirits was being able to wait inside the building even though it was a surprisingly mild morning for November.
The first person to arrive that wasn't there to vote early was a security officer stunned by the line.
"Is everyone here this early to vote?" he asked. An enthusiastic "Yes" came from the slowly growing line.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
RICHMOND, Va. --
Biden made a brief visit to a polling location here, mingling with a crowd of about 50 outside Montrose Elementary School.
“I always feel good at the end of the race,” he said when asked about his mood today. “But it ain’t over ’til it’s over, so we’re waiting ‘til the votes close, right guys?”
Biden was joined by Virginia Gov.
Tim Kaine at the stop, one last effort to get out the vote in a location where high turnout is critical for Democrats’ chances.
The Delaware senator was greeted enthusiastically here, posing for photos and signing autographs.
“Take a picture! Make me famous,” Biden said as he hugged one woman. “We doing history here, you know?” another woman said to him as she took a picture. “I’m loving every minute of it, I love you too.”
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann *** A viewers guide to tonight : Finally -- Election Day. And perhaps the best way to gauge how McCain and Obama are faring is by following the poll closing times for key states. The first closing times come at 7:00 pm ET for Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Virginia. In particular, if Virginia is called early for Obama, that will be a sign of a possible big night for the Democrats. But if there isn’t an early call, that could be some welcome news for McCain. While Georgia and South Carolina aren’t considered true battleground states, they could also signal how the night is going; in short, these are the landslide indicators: If they’re too close too call early in the night, that will tell us that African-American turnout was HUGE.
Video: NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd takes a look at the electoral map and details the key states to watch as the polls close on this Election Day. In addition, Kentucky’s polls close at 7:00 pm ET, and that will give us some early insight into Mitch McConnell’s political health and whether Democrats might have what it takes to reach 60 Senate seats. (Note: Polls actually close in the Eastern Time Zone parts of Indiana and Kentucky at 6:00 pm ET, but the races won’t be called until 7:00 pm, when polls close the Central Time Zone in those states. However, we will see returns start coming in at 6:00 pm.)
*** From 7:30 to 1:00 a.m .: The next batch of poll closings comes at 7:30 pm ET, for North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia. At 8:00 pm ET, polls officially close in Florida (although for most of the state, it’s actually 7:00 pm ET), Missouri, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. If Pennsylvania is called early for Obama, that would be a severe blow to McCain and would force him to hang on to virtually every state that Bush carried in 2004. But keep an eye on the four states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. If Obama wins just two out of the four, it becomes nearly impossible for McCain to get to 270 -- even if he wins Pennsylvania. And if Virginia is called for Obama, then it's down to the Iron Triangle of survival for McCain: Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio. Add any one of those three to Virginia and it's basically checkmate. So McCain has to win three of those four state. At 9:00 pm ET, polls close in the Western battlegrounds of Colorado and New Mexico. At 10:00 pm ET, polls close for Iowa, Montana, and Nevada. At 11:00 pm ET, polls close in California, and this is important if the night is going especially well for Obama: Because of its 55 electoral votes, probably the earliest that we might see the election called for Obama (i.e., him going crossing the 270 mark) would be at 11:00 pm ET. The last state to close its polls will be Alaska at 1:00 am ET, and that will be a time to check on the status of Ted Stevens’ re-election bid. By the way, consider the following: Even in victory, it's possible McCain underperforms Bush in every single state in the Union.
***
Obama wins Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location : As usual, residents of tiny Dixville Notch in New Hampshire began the voting at midnight, and Obama came out ahead -- the first Democrat to do so since 1968. The
New Hampshire Union Leader : “The town, home to around 75 residents, began voting at the stroke of midnight. The final tally was 15 votes for Sen. Barack Obama and six votes for Sen. John McCain. Dixville Notch has opened its polls shortly after midnight each Election Day since 1960, drawing national media attention for being the first place in the country to make its presidential preferences known. The last Democrat it picked was Hubert Humphrey over Richard Nixon in 1968. President Bush won the town in a landslide in the past two elections: He captured 73 percent of the vote in 2004 (19 residents picked Bush while six preferred Sen. John Kerry), and secured 80 percent of the vote in 2000 (21 votes for Bush, five votes for Al Gore).” Also in New Hampshire, “
Hart's Location reported 17 votes for Obama, 10 for McCain, and two for write-in Ron Paul. Independent Ralph Nader was on both towns' ballots, but got no votes."
***
726 days : To us at least, the presidential contest officially began on November 9, 2006, when Tom Vilsack (D) filed paperwork to launch his presidential bid, becoming the first major candidate to do that. Since then, according to MSNBC’s Vidhya Murugesan, 726 days have passed in reaching today’s Election Day. And it’s been quite a ride -- taking us to Hillary Clinton’s online announcement (“I’m in and I’m in to win”; isn't it amazing btw, the neither Clinton nor McCain ever formally announced in front of a live rally?); that frigid February day in Springfield, IL where Obama declared he was running; the countless Dem and GOP primary debates across the country; the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, and some 50 additional nominating contests (including Puerto Rico?!?!?) we closely followed through June; Hillary eventually bowing out; the Dem and GOP conventions; the surprise Palin VP pick; the financial crisis; the presidential and vice presidential debates; and the final stretch of campaigning. And today, it all comes to an end. (Until Bobby Jindal heads to Iowa at the end of the month, but we digress…)
*** And five months : While the presidential contest has lasted some 20-plus months, it’s once again worth emphasizing how short -- by comparison -- the general election has been. In fact, today marks exactly five months since the day the general election officially began, June 4, after Obama clinched the Dem nomination. We spent more time deciding the nominees than deciding the president. Ss that a good thing? Good government types: Discuss!
*** Welcome to the 21st Century : Win or lose tonight, history will note that not only was Obama the first African-American presidential nominee, but that he was the first true 21st Century candidate. His campaign used the internet in part to raise some $700 million over the past two years. It fired off countless text messages to supporters to get them to volunteer and vote. And it utilized social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to bring its supporters together. No doubt about it, future campaigns will be modeled after Obama’s.
*** The GOP’s bright spot : Even though national and state polls suggest that he faces an uphill challenge tonight, it’s important to remember that McCain has remained the Republican best suited to run in this political environment. Let’s face it, Republicans down the ballot are poised for big losses tonight. In fact, Democrats could pick up House seats in 27 different states. Win or lose for McCain, one of the best political stories over the next couple of years will be how the GOP tries to fix many of the shortcomings it currently faces. The party could find itself a regional party after tonight -- not unlike what happened to the Democrats during the last turn of the century, but in reverse.
*** When red states turn blue : The two red states that have lifted Obama over 270 in NBC’s current electoral map are Colorado and Virginia. What do they have in common? They happen to be the two lone states Bush carried in 2004 that rank in the Top 10 in education (bachelor’s degrees or higher) and in fewest senior citizens (i.e., they’re the youngest states). Virginia also was the sole state that Bush carried four years ago that ranks in the Top 10 in median household income. Demographically then, these two states were poised to be pick-up opportunities for the Democrats. And if Obama wins them tonight, the GOP’s challenge in future presidential elections will be to find a way to win them back -- or reach 270 without them. Republicans don't have any more states they can afford to slip into the tossup/battleground column. The Democratic base in the Electoral College is getting awfully large (CA, NY, IL, NJ, New England, the Agricultural Midwest). If CO, VA, PA and MI are added in, what does that leave the GOP? And then in four or eight years, Texas will begin slipping into competitive territory. Who says Democrats ought to be in favor of scrapping the Electoral College? This may become a Republican movement.
*** Taking the initiative : Unlike recent past elections, there aren’t many high-profile ballot initiatives this year that have grabbed the nation’s attention. The two biggest are the abortion ban in South Dakota and the gay marriage ban in California. Could California become the second state (Arizona was the first in 2006) to defeat a gay marriage ban?
*** On the trail : McCain begins his day in Phoenix (where he votes at Albright United Methodist Church), holds a rally in Grand Junction, CO, does some retail stops in Albuquerque, NM, and then returns to Phoenix, where he will watch election returns from the Biltmore Hotel. Obama, in Chicago, already voted at Shoesmith Elementary School, and then he heads to Indianapolis for a retail stop before heading back to Chicago for his election night party in Grant Park. Biden votes in Delaware, makes a campaign stop in Richmond, VA, and then travels to Chicago. And Palin begins her day voting in Wasilla, AK, and then heads to Phoenix.
Countdown to Electoral Vote Count: 65 days
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The AP : "Long lines have formed as polls open in Eastern states as Barack Obama's bid to become the first black president faced the final test of his remarkable two-year journey Tuesday, while Republican John McCain pressed for an Election Day upset." New York Daily News : "After the longest, most expensive, most-watched presidential election, the epic battle between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain shifts Tuesday to the nation's true deciders -- the voters. The candidates battled to the finish, the end of a sales job that spanned some 670 days, 45 debates, $2.5 billion spent and untold millions of YouTube video hits, all of them record-setters."
USA Today also runs a helpful what-to-watch-for story regarding the poll closings.
The New York Times’ Nagourney : “The 2008 race for the White House that comes to an end on Tuesday fundamentally upended the way presidential campaigns are fought in this country, a legacy that has almost been lost with all the attention being paid to the battle between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage — and withstand — political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds.”
CONTINUED >>
COLORADO : The Denver Post : "With nearly 300,000 mail-in ballots still left to be turned in and potentially as many as 1 million people statewide voting today at the polls, clerks still expect a late night tallying results." More: "...because clerks were able to start processing mail-in ballots 10 days before the election without actually tabulating results, most clerks expect to release a large chunk of results shortly after the polls close at 7 p.m. "That will be over 50 percent of the votes cast," said Secretary of State Mike Coffman. "It will give a clear direction for where Colorado is going in this election.""
Also, because of the potential influx of mail-in ballots and the reduction of electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots, "Do not expect results before midnight ," Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley said Monday. The counting will extend "well into the morning."
FLORIDA : "The final early voting numbers in Florida: 4.2-million have already cast ballots, roughly 38 percent of 11.2-million registered voters. The numbers include 2.6-million early voters and 1.5-million absentee voters. (Based on slightly different figures, Democrats say they have a 358,280 lead on Republicans so far.)" first big test of new optical-scan voting machines, which election officials promise will better serve voters than ATM-like touch-screens or butterfly ballots. After all, it was Florida's paper ballots and hanging chads in 2000 that left the country waiting 37 days for its next president-elect." IOWA : The Des Moines Register reminds us "It all began here." GEORGIA : The Atlanta-Journal Constitution : "Although 2 million Georgians had cast absentee ballots by mail or hit early voting booths last week, and alleviated some of today's expected onslaught, state officials predict an additional 3.2 million Georgians could cast votes today -- an Election Day record."
CONTINUED >>
Per NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy, McCain flew 3,704 miles yesterday. He made seven campaign stops -- first to Tampa, then on to Blountville, TN, then on to Pittsburgh, then on to Indianapolis, IN, then on to Roswell, NM, then Henderson, NV, and finally to Prescott, AZ.
In Prescott, Aigner-Treworgy adds, McCain held his event on the steps of the Yavapai County Court House, where Barry Goldwater launched several of his campaigns. While introducing him, Cindy McCain got a little choked up saying how proud she was of her husband, and McCain seemed to get pretty emotional too towards the end of his 10-minute, unscripted remarks when he thanked Arizonans for giving him the chance to sere.
McCain also told his favorite story about the curse of Arizona -- recounting that Mo Udall used to ask sympathy for the people of Arizona for being maybe the only state where mothers can't tell their children that one day they can grow up to be president. He said that tomorrow he was going to reverse that trend.
And he said that it had been a long journey to win his party's nomination, but he knows that he can win if only his supporters can get out the vote.
Video: Republican presidential candidate John McCain will make final stops in New Mexico and Colorado after voting in his home state of Arizona. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports. The
Boston Globe’s Milligan writes, "True, the math looks pretty daunting for the Arizona senator as voters head to the polls today. On paper, it seems improbable, with Democrat Barack Obama leading in every major national poll, as well as in numerous battleground states expected to determine the winner. But impossible? There have been greater comebacks. The Red Sox recovered from a three-game deficit in 2004 to win four games straight against the Yankees, as Sox star pitcher Curt Schilling, a McCain supporter, noted in Peterborough, N.H., on Sunday as he stumped with the GOP nominee. And while Obama has run a relatively error-free campaign, political specialists say, 'almost perfect' doesn't guarantee the big prize."
The Boston Globe writes, "Obama, sobered by his 86-year-old grandmother's death early yesterday, finished with three rallies in Republican bastions -- Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia -- that reflected his push to expand the Democrat map."
More: "She was somebody who was a very humble person and a very plainspoken person. She’s one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America who – they’re not famous, their names aren't in the newspapers, but each and everyday they work hard," he said, adding that there were a lot of quiet heroes like this in the crowd who sacrificed to give their children and grandchildren a better life, something he has said his grandmother did for him. "That’s what America’s about. That’s what we’re fighting for and North Carolina, in just one more day, we have the opportunity to honor all those quiet heroes all across America and all across North Carolina," he continued. "We can bring change to America to make sure that their work and their sacrifice is honored. That’s what we’re fighting for!”
Video: Rachel Maddow pays her respects to Barack Obama’s Grandmother Madelyn Payne Dunham, who died yesterday at the age of 86. The campaign says Obama's late grandmother voted by absentee ballot for her grandson before she passed away.
At Obama’s final campaign event last night in Virginia, it was estimated that 90,000 turned out to attend the rally.
Before takeoff after his last event in Virginia last night, Obama appeared in the back of the cabin and thanked the press corps for their work and for the condolences some had offered on the death of his grandmother, Jones adds. He shook hands and gave a birthday kiss on the cheek to photographer Scout Tufankjian, who has been following him consistently since he announced his candidacy in Springfield. He left saying it will be fun to see how this story ends.
CONTINUED >>
"Palin was cleared last night by a state personnel board of any ethics violations in the firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner. The report from Timothy Petumenos, an independent counsel for the Alaska Personnel Board, said there is no probable cause to believe Palin, Alaska's governor, or any other state official violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with the firing of Walter Monegan. A separate legislative investigation concluded last month that Palin 'abused her power' in seeking to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper."
Video: Countdown’s Keith Olbermann talks about a released statement from the Alaskan State Personnel Board which said it found "no probable cause" that Sarah Palin violated the state Executive Ethics Act in her handling of "Troopergate.” Per NBC/NJ’s Matthew E. Berger, the McCain campaign released Palin’s medical records in the final hours of the campaign Monday, showing the Alaska governor has a clean bill of health. The documents -- released just before 11 pm ET -- consisted of a two-page letter from Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, who said she had been Palin’s family physician in Alaska since 1997. Baldwin-Johnson said Palin is in “very good health,” being hospitalized for five births, including the 2008 pre-term delivery of her son, Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome. The report said Trig’s condition was discovered during the second trimester, Palin followed the recommended prenatal care and Trig was born without congenital heart disease or other issues associated with the condition. He was, however, treated for jaundice.
CONTINUED >>
MINNESOTA : It IS Hillary vs. Rudy! Two of the biggest guns in national politics headed to Minnesota for last minute appeals in the Franken/Coleman race -- Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.
Video: Former mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani knows that John McCain's chances were hurt by the economic crisis, but is not willing to give up on his candidate's chances. MISSISSIPPI : Check out
this sample ballot being circulated by incumbent Roger Wicker. Wicker's a Republican, but you wouldn't know from looking at this.
NORTH CAROLINA : The
final price tag in IE expenditures in the North Carolina Senate race? $22 million.
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
INDIANAPOLIS --
McCain addressed a somewhat tame crowd at an airport here this afternoon on the fourth of seven stops across the country today. He said over and over again that he was counting on Indiana to carry him to victory.
“Listen, my friends. The enthusiasm, the momentum that we see here in Indianapolis know makes me know we’re gonna win this election tomorrow. We got one day left and we’ve got the mo. We’ve got the momentum, my friends. We’ve got it."
This was McCain’s first campaign trip to Indiana since February 24, and his first visit since July 1, when he stopped by to speak to the sheriff’s association. At the beginning, McCain was introduced by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels , who tried to rally the crowd a bit by saying this: “Daniels is my name. I was sent out here for one purpose. We haven’t had enough practice at this. Do ya’ll remember how to welcome the next president of the United States to Indiana?”
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- For about a week,
Palin has been saying Democratic control of the White House and Congress would mean a “left wing” agenda in Washington. But today, she suggested the government could be run by people dismissive of the terrorist threat.
“Do they think that terrorists have all of a sudden become the good guys?” Palin asked of the Democratic leadership at a rally on the state capitol steps. “And changed their minds? No, the terrorists still seek to destroy America and her allies and all that it is that we stand for: freedom, tolerance, equality.”
Palin has said an Obama Administration, coupled with Democratic control of the House and Senate, would lead to a 25 percent cut in defense spending. Earlier Monday, she questioned whether Democrats believed terrorists have changed their minds, but went a step further in Missouri.
“The terrorists have not changed their minds,” she said. “This is not the time to gut the defense budget, and this is not the time to entrust the powers of the federal government to the one party rule of Obama, Pelosi , and Reid .”
Using stronger language than she has in the past, Palin also questioned Obama’s readiness for office. "If you think about it, Barack Obama's record -- what is in his record? What has he accomplished?” she said, adding she had discussed the issue with her husband, Todd, in recent days. “Has he ever wielded a veto pen? Has he ever had to make the tough decisions on how to govern best for the people whom he should be held accountable to? He is untested, as his own running mate said, throughout the primaries.”
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
The Democratic nominee's campaign announced this afternoon that
Obama's grandmother has died at the age of 86. The nominee last saw her on Oct 23-24 when he flew home to Hawaii to see the ailing "Toot," who helped to raise him while his mother was overseas.
Video: Madelyn Dunham, the grandmother who raised Barack Obama in Hawaii has died after a long battle with cancer. NBC's Lee Cowan reports. Here is the statement just released by Obama and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng.
"It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.
Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer."
*** UPDATE *** The McCain campaign just issued a statement in response to the news. "We offer our deepest condolences to Barack Obama and his family as they grieve the loss of their beloved grandmother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them as they remember and celebrate the life of someone who had such a profound impact in their lives."
From NBC’s John Talty Ralph Nader criticized the way the media covers the presidential race, citing the fact that Joe the Plumber has gotten more political coverage than the Nader-Gonzalez tandem.
Nader lamented that a third-party candidate has no real chance to win in the current system, he said, unlike the way in Western Europe. The presidential hopeful detailed three mountains that obstruct a third-party candidate, including the way debates are run.
“Every major poll since 2000 wants my name on the debates, but it doesn’t matter,” Nader said, though he didn’t say which polls specifically have showed this. “Because it’s a private government, you can’t sue it under the Bill of Rights and as long as the networks cooperate and play ball by it…then it’s a monopoly.”
Nader, who recently set a Guinness Book record for most campaign stops in one day, kept with his roots in consumer protection. Nader discussed commercialization, which, he said, leads to everything and anything being up for sale, including this presidential election.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- With the election one day away,
Obama returned to a central theme of his campaign:
McCain is not prepared to be the steward of the nation’s economy at this difficult time.
The Democratic nominee congratulated his rival on the tough race he had fought before going on to riff about how electing him would mean a continuation of the bad economic policies of George Bush -- another of his campaign’s main arguments.
Calling economy “central issue in this election,” Obama reminded the audience here about a phrase McCain had uttered in the same arena, which he said showed the Arizona senator did not understand the depth of the economic crisis the country was facing.
“Remember what he said when he was here in Jacksonville on September 15th? That day, more than 5,000 jobs were lost and more than 7,000 homes were foreclosed on,” he began. “The day before, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said we were in a 'once in a century' crisis. And yet, despite our economic crisis, John McCain actually came here, to Veterans’ Memorial Arena, and repeated something he’s said at least 16 times on this campaign. He said -- and I quote -- 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong.'"
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. -- Kicking off an election eve sprint in the Show-Me State,
Biden told an energetic crowd that America is “on the cusp of a new brand of American leadership” with
Obama .
“That’s what we need,” he said. “If we want to answer all those questions being raised around that kitchen table, we need to get out and elect Barack Obama president of the United States tomorrow!”
It wouldn’t be a Biden speech without at least one “rhetorical flourish.” The Delaware senator said
McCain has been trying to convince the nation he “was not John McCain” -- when he meant to say
George Bush .
“The truth is, he’s not the John McCain I served with a long time,” Biden said after realizing his mistake. “Freudian slip, you know, you know.”
McCain, Biden challenged, is taking the “low road” to the White House, and closed by again predicting that Obama’s foes will eat their words tomorrow night.
“
CONTINUED >>
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger
LAKEWOOD, Ohio – It was not the best of beginnings for
Palin Monday morning.
At the first of the Alaska governor’s six rallies of the day, there was plenty of room to spare. The crowd at Lakewood Park was sparse, to say the least, perhaps one of the smallest she has seen in weeks.
And then, speaking of Obama’s views on coal, she repeatedly stumbled on the word “bankrupting,” calling it “bankruptcing.” But she recovered to offer a stinging attack on Obama’s double speak, suggesting the city of San Francisco has a truth-telling effect on the Democratic presidential candidate.
“There must be something about San Francisco,” she said. “I heard on Fox News today, it’s like a truth serum where when he’s there, he seems to be more candid.”
It was at a San Francisco fundraiser earlier this year that Obama got into trouble, suggesting rural voters “cling to religion and guns” because jobs were being lost. Palin referred to them Monday as “bitter clingers” and “cling-ons.” (There goes the Star Trek vote?)
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro Obama has now led in 111 straight national polls with methodologies we trust (looking back through the
Pollster.com national trend ), including the trackers back to Sept. 22-24 when a Gallup Tracking poll showed the race tied at 46%-46%. Since a Big Ten poll that showed McCain up 46%-45%, Obama has led in 117 of 119 polls.
by NBC's Rehema Ellis
Many have coined the 2004 presidential election "the first Internet election" and I think the campaigns have taken the use of the Internet to new heights.
If you've signed up for one of the parties' newsletters, you're probably already bombarded by daily updates on what's happening inside the campaigns. You probably get multiple e-mails asking for donations. And it works! Thousands of voters have given to both candidates in record numbers this year, changing political fundraising forever.
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From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann *** Obama has a clear lead : With just a day left until Election Day, Obama holds an eight-point lead over McCain among likely voters, 51%-43%, according to the final national NBC/WSJ poll before the election. That’s down slightly from Obama’s 53%-to-42% advantage from almost two weeks ago. Still, to put his current lead into perspective, the last NBC/WSJ survey before the 2004 presidential election showed Bush with a slim one-point edge over Kerry, 48%-47%. Bush went on to win that election, 51%-48%.
Video: NBC’s Lester Holt speaks with NBC’s Chuck Todd, who gives the most up-to-date projected electoral map. Looking inside the crosstabs, Obama’s advantage is largely based on his overwhelming success with African Americans (winning them 90%-3%), Latinos (68%-27%), and 18 to 34 year olds (59%-38%). It's about as solid of a three-legged support stool as any candidate could ask for. Obama also wins independents (48%-38%), blue-collar voters (51%-44%), suburban voters (49%-44%), and Catholics (49%-46%). McCain, meanwhile, has the advantage among evangelicals (78%-19%), those 65 and older (53%-40%), white men (54%-42%), and white women (48%-47%).
Video: NBC's First Read team discusses undecided voters, how much turnout matters and how big a Democratic wave could be. One more thing: 30% say they’ve already voted, and those voters break by an identical 51%-43% margin. One thing that might keep the McCain folks somewhat hopeful about our numbers: We have Democrats with a +10 advantage on party ID; McCain's team believes the electorate won't produce that margin tomorrow.
*** Liking McCain but loving Obama : The poll also shows that McCain and Obama are pretty well liked by voters. McCain has a 47%-39% fav/unfav rating, while Obama’s is larger at 56%-35%. But what’s striking is the intensity gap -- almost twice as many respondents (44%) rate Obama “very positive” than they do for McCain (24%). In short, McCain’s supporters like him, but Obama’s LOVE him. Think about that 44% number for a minute: Obama's overall ballot number is 51%, meaning that 86% of Obama's supporters have a VERY positive view of him. Not since Reagan in 1980 has a base of supporters loved its nominee so much. Also, for the second-straight NBC/WSJ poll, Palin has a net-negative fav/unfav (39%-48%), while Biden has a net-positive one (50%-30%). In fact, if you add up Obama’s and Biden’s favorable scores, you get 106; for McCain-Palin, it’s 86.***CLARIFICATION*** For the number crunchers out there, here's the math on that whopping 86% "love" number.. Assuming that the 44% of respondents who say that they have a "very positive" impression of Obama are also in the 51% of respondents who support the Democratic nominee, that means that 44/51 (86%) of Obama's supporters LOVE their guy. That percentage is substantially lower for McCain: a 24% "very positive" rating, factored into 43% overall support, equals a 56% "love" factor for the Republican contender.
*** The Comfort factor : In addition to finding Obama likeable, voters are becoming more and more comfortable with him and the idea of him becoming president. Over the course of this general election, NBC/WSJ co-pollsters Peter Hart (D) and Neil Newhouse (R) have identified one key question in the poll for Obama: Do you identify with his background and values? And Obama has always trailed McCain on this score. Until now. In our new poll, an identical 57% say they identify with the candidates’ background and values. What’s more, 58% say they’re “optimistic and confident” or “satisfied and hopeful” that Obama would do a good job if he becomes president; 46% say that of McCain. And 42% say they have either a great deal of confidence or quite a bit of confidence that Obama will be able to get the nation’s economy back on track. That’s compared with just 27% who say that about McCain.
*** Other numbers : Also in the poll, Democrats hold a 12-point advantage over Republicans in the generic congressional ballot (48%-36%); just 11% believe the country is headed in the right direction; and only 26% approve of Bush’s job as president.
Video: One member of the first family will hit the trail on the final day of the campaign, but it won’t be President Bush. While first lady Laura Bush is set to stump for votes in Kentucky, the president has been notably absent from the trail. NBC’s David Gregory reports. Says Newhouse, “Of those voters who disapprove of the job that Bush is doing, McCain loses them to Obama by a whopping 74%-20% margin.” McCain needs another 5-10 points among Bush disapprovers to cut Obama's lead. The poll was conducted of 1,011 likely voters from November 1-2, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1%
*** When McCain stopped being McCain : The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd raised an interesting discussion point yesterday that could become catchy with the CW: While McCain has tried to cast doubts about Obama, “it is McCain who is the enigma, even though he entered the race with one of the best brands in American politics.” One of the more popular phrases many a columnist will write this week -- if McCain loses -- will be something like: "McCain stopped being McCain." There will be a lot of Wednesday-morning quarterbacking that he moved to far to the right to get the nomination, and that he didn't distance himself more from Bush. When you look at the current NBC/WSJ poll and some of the voting groups McCain is losing, it's in the ideological middle of the country. The whole idea of a McCain nomination was that he was supposed to be the guy who could compete best in the middle. Instead, he's spent a lot of time courting the right.
*** Are you ready for some … more McCain and Obama? In addition to all the campaigning, interviews with the two presidential candidates will air tonight at halftime of Monday Night Football. Also, an “Ask Obama” special appears on MTV this morning. Just askin’ ourselves, but have we gotten to the point where we've experienced too much of these candidates? No more SNL, please; no more Ellen; no more Monday Night Football. (In fact, is there a venue where they haven't appeared?) Americans are probably looking forward to having their escapism back.
*** On the trail : McCain holds a whopping seven events today: He starts off with a rally in Tampa, FL, then goes to Blountville, TN (which is near Bristol, VA), then to Pittsburgh, then Indianapolis, then Roswell, NM, then Henderson, NV, and he concludes the day with a 2:00 am ET rally in Prescott, AZ. Meanwhile, Obama makes three stops, holding rallies in Jacksonville, FL, then Charlotte, NC, and finally Manassas, VA at 9:00 pm ET. Biden campaigns in Lee's Summit, MO, Zanesville, OH, and Copley, OH before ending his evening with a rally in Philadelphia. And Palin is in Lakewood, OH, Jefferson City, MO, Dubuque, IA, Colorado Springs, CO, Reno, NV, and Elko, NV before flying home to Alaska.
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Here’s the
Wall Street Journal on the new NBC/WSJ poll: “Sen. Barack Obama enters Election Day with a solid, though narrowing, lead over Sen. John McCain as both men sprint to the finish line of their long presidential race.”
Here’s our writeup of the poll on MSNBC.com: “To put Obama’s eight-point edge into perspective, the final NBC/WSJ survey before the 2004 presidential election had President Bush with a slim one-point lead over John Kerry, 48 to 47 percent. Bush went on to win that election, 51 to 48 percent.”
More: “‘The McCain campaign is going to have to thread the needle to pull out a victory on Election Day,’ says Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart. ‘The campaign is facing an uphill battle.’ Hart puts it this way: ‘The results of this survey says it is going to take more than rain, sleet or snow to derail the Obama express. He is holding all the high cards, and that is a hand that is hard to beat.’” CONTINUED >>
The
San Jose Mercury News has the weather scoop: "Sunshine and temperatures in the 60s and 70s are predicted on Election Day for the key battleground states of Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service... The only states where the race is tight and where significant rain is forecast are Virginia and North Carolina. There's also a chance of some sprinkles in Philadelphia for part of the day, while western Pennsylvania cities like Pittsburgh remain dry and warm."
A final round of Quinnipiac swing-state polls shows Obama up two points in Florida (47%-45%), up seven in Ohio (50%-43%), and up 10 in Pennsylvania (52%-42%).
COLORADO: Depending on how you feel about the NFL (and the presidential contest), this one's either a brilliant move or an unspeakable outrage. Before yesterday's Broncos-Dolphins game at Invesco Field, the venue where Obama delivered his nomination acceptance speech, a liberal group flew a plane over the area with an anti-McCain banner sailing behind. The message: MCCAIN IS A RAIDERS FAN. may not be available until Wednesday, warn election officials, because of mail-in ballots that have yet to be processed. "Nearly 70 percent of the record number of mail-in ballots sent to voters this year have been returned. But that still leaves more than a half-million mail-in ballots. Because only a handful of counties offered weekend drop-off for mail-in ballots, most of those will probably pour into county offices today and Election Day."
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Politico previews McCain’s busy day today. “John McCain plans to barnstorm the country Monday with a final campaign push that will take him to seven states. McCain will start his last day of campaigning with a midnight rally in Miami. After a few hours of sleep, he'll start again in Tampa, Fla., and then head to stops in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico and Nevada, according to a memo e-mailed to supporters.”
”McCain also plans to tape a satellite interview to air during "Monday Night Football." ESPN will broadcast that and one with Barack Obama during halftime of the Redskins-Steelers game. "Monday Night Football" has an average viewership of 12.2 million, and this week's game pits two teams with swing-state fan bases in Virginia and Pennsylvania.”
With the Pennsylvania GOP airing an ad on Jeremiah Wright,
Politico’s Martin asks: What if McCain had played the Wright card. “Conversations with a number of veteran GOP consultants indicate that using Wright may have helped McCain with one set of voters — but would have hurt with others and not ultimately proved decisive in a contest subsumed by larger external forces such as the economic crisis and the unpopularity of President Bush and the Republican Party. ‘This was a race that was about the economy and about change,’ said Stuart Stevens, a longtime GOP adman who worked for Bush’s campaigns. ‘It really wasn’t about anything else, and all the king’s men couldn’t make it about anything else.’”
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New York Times’ Zeleny writes about what may be one of the secrets to Obama’s success, if he wins tomorrow: his even-keel demeanor. “While Mr. Obama smiles less than he once did, gauging his mood simply by looking at him is risky: his baseline cool temperament has seldom spiked along the rocky points of his journey. In a campaign where he has slogged through more competitive election days than any recent nominee, only one more lies ahead. And it is the long path of the Democratic primary, which lurched from the ups of Iowa to the downs of Ohio, that his friends say provided Mr. Obama with a steady equilibrium as he enters this final turn in the race for the White House.”
“Obama, if he wins, appears likely to draw several of his top aides, including some Cabinet secretaries, from three key sources: Democratic governors midway through their second and final terms in office; former top appointees of Bill Clinton's administration; and political pros from Obama's hometown of Chicago,”
AP writes. “McCain, a former Navy officer whose father and grandfather were admirals, is likely to rely more heavily on current and retired military officials. He probably would draw more people from the corporate world, and somewhat fewer people from think tanks and academia, than would Obama, according to people close to the candidates.”
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writes, “Outspent and under siege in a hostile political climate, Congressional Republicans scrambled this weekend to save embattled incumbents in an effort to hold down expected Democratic gains in the House and Senate on Tuesday. With the election imminent, Senate Republicans threw their remaining resources into protecting endangered lawmakers in Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Oregon, while House Republicans were forced to put money into what should be secure Republican territory in Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Wyoming.”
More: “Sensing an extraordinary opportunity to expand their numbers in both the House and Senate, Democrats were spending freely on television advertising across the campaign map. Senate Democrats were active in nine states where Republicans are running for re-election; House Democrats, meanwhile, bought advertising in 63 districts, twice the number of districts where Republicans bought advertisements and helped candidates.”
FLORIDA: The Miami Herald looks at those three Miami Congressional races -- Republican incumbents Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers -- to see how the once safe-GOP reps came to be fighting for their political lives.
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
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The quirky breakdown of electoral votes in Nebraska means that voters in a single Congressional district in the eastern part of the state are being heavily courted by the Obama team. If the national electoral vote tally is close, then the one electoral vote in the Omaha-area Second Congressional district would loom large.
With Obama apparently ahead in competitive states such as Virginia, the presidency may not hinge on Omaha’s vote. But what will matter is the Obama effect on Rep. Lee Terry , the five-term Republican congressman from Omaha.
Read more about this unique House race from MSNBC.com's Tom Curry here .
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
COLUMBUS, Ohio --
Barack Obama wants to see more laughter in politics. That’s what he told some 60,000 people at a rally here Sunday during the first event of a three-stop swing through a battleground where polls show a tight race.
The senator praised his rival’s appearance on Saturday Night Live during his usual riff on the need for a new kind of politics and for people to come together to solve problems. He said he had missed the live show, but had caught the Arizona senator on YouTube.
“We can argue and debate our positions passionately, but all of us have to summon the strength and grace -- and the humor -- to bridge our differences and unite us in common effort,” he began. “John McCain was funny yesterday on Saturday Night Live, but that’s part of what our politics should be about, being able to laugh at each other, but also laugh at ourselves, being able to understand that all of us black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American; Democrat ad Republican, young old, rich and poor, gay, straight, disabled, non disabled – all of us are in this together.”
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From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli Biden refused to let a few dozen boisterous McCain supporters step on his message today, and instead incorporated a counter-rally into his appeals to unify the nation after the final votes are tallied in 48 hours.
“We can’t move past the politics of division unless after this election is over -- if God willing we win -- we reach out to the very people out in the outer parking lot,” He said. “I know you find some of that obnoxious... [But] somebody’s got to be big enough to stand up and end this.”
Biden, speaking just feet from the “Unconquered” statue honoring the Seminole tribe at Florida State University’s football stadium, actually made several references to the protesters, who brandished colorful signs, blared a siren and shouted slogans like “Obama Not Ready” and “Country First.”
“The fact of the matter is, maybe those McCain folks could hear this, they’d be interested,” Biden said as he railed against McCain’s support for the Bush Administration. “I thought it, I thought was the siren, it’s just the whine.” He later called the protesters “good folks” who were simply committed to McCain.
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From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain connected his friend and introducer -- former Pennsylvania Gov. and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge -- with President Bush , thanking them both for keeping America safe.
"My friends, it is not an accident to me that there and I think that Tom Ridge and President Bush deserve some credit for the fact there's not been another attack on the United States of America since 9/11, and this is our first leader," McCain said of Ridge's service at the Department of Homeland Security.
President Bush's name has been largely absent from McCain's stump speech. And if it's mentioned, it's usually only uttered when McCain is trying to distance his positions from those of the unpopular president, as he did later in today's event.
"My friends, this is the fundamental difference between Sen. Obama and me," McCain said. "We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy. The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high."
Then McCain repeated a memorable line from the third presidential debate, "My friends, I'm not George Bush. If Sen. Obama wanted to run against George Bush he should have run four years ago."
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From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann Our final map: With two days before Election Day, the final NBC News map shows Obama remaining above the 270 electoral-vote mark, with a 286-157 lead over McCain. Last week, Obama held a 286-163 advantage. Our changes: We moved Montana and North Dakota (which has same-day voter registration) from Lean McCain to Toss-up. In addition, we moved Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New Jersey (the latter of which we should have moved a couple of weeks ago) from Lean Obama to Likely Obama. So here’s where we stand: Likely Obama: CA, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, NJ, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA, WI (227 electoral votes) Lean Obama: CO, IA, NH, NM, PA, VA (59 votes) Toss-up: FL, IN, MO, MT, NV, NC, ND, OH (95 votes) Lean McCain: AZ, GA, NE 02, SD, WV (34 votes) Likely McCain: AL, AK, AR, ID, KS, KY, LA, MS, NE (the rest of the state), OK, SC, TN, TX, UT, WY (123 votes)
*** Good news and bad news: Our new map comes at the same time as the release of a final round of Mason-Dixon polls, and they contain both good news and bad news for the candidates. The numbers: Obama is ahead five points in Colorado (49%-44%), two in Florida (47%-45%), four in Nevada (47%-43%), and three points in Virginia (47%-44%). Meanwhile, McCain is up one in Missouri (47%-46%), three in North Carolina (49%-46%), and two in Ohio (47%-45%). The good news for Obama -- and bad news for McCain -- is that if Obama holds on to his leads in CO, FL, NV, and VA, he’s going to easily win on Tuesday, racking up well over 300 electoral votes. But the bad news for Obama -- and good news for McCain -- is that Obama is below 50% in all of these polls. And if undecideds break decisively for McCain, that’s how he would pull off the upset. But if the 2004 presidential contest taught us anything, it’s that turnout sometimes is more important than undecided voters. In our final NBC/WSJ poll before the 2004 election, Bush held a one-point lead over Kerry, 48%-47%. And there was the assumption that undecideds breaking for the challenger over the incumbent would propel Kerry to victory. But that didn’t happen. By the way, our final NBC/WSJ poll comes out first thing tomorrow morning.
*** Southern discomfort: While everyone is trend-spotting demographics and geography through the Obama prism, don't forget to examine the state of the Republican Party through those same lenses. In the House, for instance, the grim picture for the GOP is on full display. According to one Cook Report estimate by House editor David Wasserman, the GOP -- in a worst-case scenario -- could have as few as 16 members left in the Northeast (versus 79 for the Dems). In the South, the GOP lead in House seats could be in single digits, 74-68. In the Midwest, 61-39 could be the House seat split. And finally, out West, powered by the Dem strength on the Pacific coast, the Dem lead could 66-32. Step back and look at those numbers: Nearly half of the House GOP caucus may be rooted in the South. Just as it wasn't healthy for the Democratic Party when it appeared rooted in just the Northeast and the Left coast, neither is it good for the GOP to be seen as simply a regional political party.
*** Vice squad: It shouldn’t be a surprise that Dick Cheney supports the GOP presidential ticket, but Obama didn’t let anyone forget that support after Cheney said nice words about McCain and Palin while campaigning yesterday in his home state of Wyoming. “Earlier today, Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location and he hit the campaign trail,” Obama said, per NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones. “He said that he is, and I quote, ‘delighted to support John McCain.’ So I’d like to congratulate Sen. McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it.” And the Obama campaign has now cut a brand-new TV ad noting McCain’s “Cheney endorsement’ (versus Obama’s endorsements by Colin Powell and Warren Buffett). Perhaps this is why we haven’t seen Bush and Cheney (until yesterday) on the campaign trail…
*** Biden as Bill Clinton? NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli, who frequently covered Bill Clinton during the primary season and now travels with Biden, says that he's been feeling a sense of déjà vu lately . In the past three days, Biden has held FOUR events in venues where the former president rallied supporters for his wife before the Ohio and Pennsylvania primary contests. (In all four -- Allentown and Williamsport, PA, and Lima and Marion OH -- Memoli notes that Clinton's crowds were bigger.) The coincidence makes sense in that the Scranton-born Biden has much the same mission on the road that Clinton did: to vouch for his candidate in small towns, often in red counties. The larger-than-life former president appeared to move the needle with his early-vote blitzes of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas. Can Biden do the same?
*** What “spread the wealth” means? The Boston Globe has a great piece from a Western, PA, county that Kerry won 51%-48%. It found folks open to Obama's message in an area hit hard by steel plant closings. But it touched on something we hadn't yet heard -- that for some voters "spread the wealth" isn’t necessarily a rich vs. middle class argument. Rather, it’s redistribution from middle class to poor. As the Globe puts it, "[T]he notion may play on racist fears of black welfare recipients siphoning money from working-class whites -- fears that have special resonance since Obama is black."
*** On the trail: McCain begins his day campaigning in Pennsylvania, holding events in Wallingford and Scranton before heading to a town hall in Peterborough, NH and then an after-midnight rally in Miami. FL. Obama spends his entire day in Ohio, attending rallies in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Palin also is in Ohio, hitting Canton, Marietta, Columbus, and Batavia. And Biden campaigns in Florida, stopping in Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Dayton Beach.
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 2 days
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The New York Times says McCain and Obama “began their final push for the White House on Saturday across an electoral map markedly different from four years ago, evidence of Mr. Obama’s success at putting new states into contention and limiting Mr. McCain’s options in the final hours. Mr. Obama was using the last days of the contest to make incursions into Republican territory, campaigning Saturday in three states -- Colorado, Missouri and Nevada -- that President Bush won relatively comfortably in 2004. In what seemed as much a symbolic tweak as a real challenge, Mr. Obama bought advertising time in Arizona, Mr. McCain’s home state.”
"Mr. McCain started the day in Virginia, a once-solidly Republican state that Democrats now feel is within their grasp. But he then turned his attention to two states that voted Democratic in 2004 -- Pennsylvania and New Hampshire -- reflecting what his aides said was polling in both states that suggested the race was tightening. Still, his decision to spend some of his time in the final hours on Democratic turf signaled that Mr. McCain had concluded that his chances of winning with the same lineup of states that put Mr. Bush into the White House was diminishing.”
The Boston Globe : "While Barack Obama enters the final days of the presidential campaign with a clear lead in the polls - but not so big as to rule out a surprise victory for John McCain - the impact of the 2008 presidential campaign will depend not only on who wins but also on whether the results signify a deeper realignment in American politics.” The paper has five questions this campaign may answer: (1) Is the "Reagan Revolution" over? (2) Is America prepared to move beyond its racial divisions? (3) Are young people becoming a driving force in American politics? (4) How much do Americans care about their image in the world? (5) What does it mean to be a conservative?
Is an Obama popular-vote victory assured? One forecasting firm thinks so . "If it's the economy, stupid, then Senator Barack Obama will win Tuesday's presidential election, according to IHS Global Insight, a Waltham economic forecasting firm. The firm's election equation, which has correctly forecast the popular vote winner in 13 of the past 15 presidential elections, predicts Democrat Obama will take 53.1 percent of the vote to 46.9 percent for Republican John McCain. IHS Global Insight analyzes pocketbook issues to predict the outcome of presidential elections. The equation's only misses came in the close elections of 1968 and 1976. (The firm considers its forecast of an Al Gore victory in 2000 as correct since Gore won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College)."
"While campaigning for Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday, [House Republican leader John] Boehner told a small crowd at a bar in the college town of Oxford that failing to vote 'yes' or 'no' on an issue meant a lawmaker was a 'chickens---.' The Ohio congressman said the last thing the country needs is to have a "chicken" in the White House."AP writes. "Obama's potential victory represents a previously unimaginable triumph over centuries of racism. But beneath the hope and pride lies fear: of polling inaccuracy, voting chicanery, or the type of
