McConnell reaches out to Lieberman  —  Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reached out to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) about the prospect of joining the Republican Conference, but Lieberman is still bargaining with Democratic leaders to keep his chairmanship, according to Senate aides in both parties.

Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal  —  New Obama Chief of Staff, Others on Board, Missed “Red Flags” of Alleged Fraud Scheme  —  President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac …

Conservatives blame moderates for GOP losses  —  (CNN) — A conservative leader Friday laid the Republican Party's poor showing at the polls at the feet of moderates who, he argues, led the party away from its core principles.  —  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council told CNN …

Juicy Bits Surfacing in Rather Case: In 2004, CBS Considered Matt Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter Independent Panel  —  This week, Dan Rather's legal team submitted a memorandum to the judge overseeing Mr. Rather's $70 million civil lawsuit against his former employers …

Obama Victory Alters the Tenor of Iraqi Politics  —  BAGHDAD — Barack Obama may have been elected only three days ago, but his victory is already beginning to shift the political ground in Iraq and the region.  —  Iraqi Shiite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward …

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MINNESOTA?  —  When the polls closed Tuesday evening, Minnesota's Secretary of State's office showed that Norm Coleman had a 725-vote win in his closely contested race against Al Franken.  By the next morning, however, Coleman's victory was already shrinking.

Change I Can Believe In  —  I have dreams.  I may seem like a boring pundit whose most exotic fantasies involve G.A.O. reports, but deep down, I have dreams.  And right now I'm dreaming of the successful presidency this country needs.  I'm dreaming of an administration led by Barack Obama …

Plouffe to the Senate?  —  Obama campaign manager David Plouffe speaks to the media in the spin room after the vice presidential debate at the Field House of Washington University's Athletic Complex on October 2, 2008 in St. Louis, Missouri.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

69% of GOP Voters Say Palin Helped McCain  —  Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republican voters say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin helped John McCain's bid for the presidency, even as news reports surface that some McCain staffers think she was a liability.  —  Only 20% of GOP voters say Palin hurt …

America Serves … The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation's challenges.  President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools …

Text of Obama's statement on the economy  —  President-elect addresses economic concerns before first press conference  —  The following is a statement read by President-elect Barack Obama before his first press conference since Election Day.  —  This morning, we woke to more sobering news about the state of our economy.

A Butler Well Served by This Election  —  For 34 Years, Eugene Allen Carried White House Trays With Pride.  Now There's Even More Reason to Carry Himself That Way.  —  For more than three decades Eugene Allen worked in the White House, a black man unknown to the headlines.

The Campaign Autopsy  —  In my previous life, I witnessed far more difficult postmortems.  This one is easy.  The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 — caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) — although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.

Fox News Blames Obama For Stock Market Fall  —  The last two days on Wall Street “were the worst in the American stock market since 1987.”  The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 1,000 points and the S&P 500 “a broader measure of stocks, lost nearly 10 percent of its value.”

Obama Comment of the Year  —  Two issues?  Oh, poor naive Obambi, you don't even begin to understand what you're getting yourself into with a dog.  There are never just two issues, and they can't all be reconciled.  —  On a serious note, I am glad to hear that Michelle is leaning toward adopting …

DeMint urges GOP to expel Stevens  —  South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint is pushing his party's leadership to expel Sen. Ted Stevens from the Senate during this month's “lame duck” session, according to people familiar with his plans.  —  DeMint, one of the most conservative members of the Senate …