Emanuel pick sends powerful signal  —  President-elect Barack Obama's selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) as his White House chief of staff is the latest demonstration of a quality Obama showed repeatedly over the course of his campaign: He's willing to do what it takes to win.

Franken's deficit: 236 votes  —  Sen. Norm Coleman's Democratic challenger is vowing to push ahead with a recount.  —  Just as Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was explaining to reporters the recount process in one of the narrowest elections in Minnesota history, an aide rushed in with news …

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 Great Debates  —  McCain bridled at reducing his opinions to sound bites.  Obama prepped as if he were taking the bar exam—nothing was left to chance.  —  This is part six of a seven-part in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign, consisting of exclusive behind-the-scenes reporting …

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 …

Reid looking to remove Lieberman as committee head  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Joe Lieberman's affiliation with Democrats was in question after a meeting Thursday with Majority Leader Harry Reid, steamed over the Connecticut independent's high-profile support of John McCain for president.

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)

Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question  —  TBILISI, Georgia — Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.

No hidden white bias seen in presidential race  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Whether whites supported Barack Obama or not, they don't seem to have lied to pollsters about it.  —  Obama's election triumph on Tuesday presented no evidence …

Palin Aide Fires Back at Reported McCain Camp Slams  —  Says RNC, Not Palin, Responsible for Wardrobe Missteps; Rejects Other Complaints  —  Now that the defeated Republican presidential team of Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have gone their separate ways, the knives are out and Palin is the one who is getting filleted.

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 …

Latinos push for Cabinet posts  —  Weeks before Barack Obama won the presidency, he met privately in Washington with his former Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and Latino political leaders who had fervently backed her bid.  —  The cards were laid upon the table, according to one of the participants.

Las Vegas Sands Plunges on Default, Bankruptcy Risk  —  Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — Las Vegas Sands Corp., billionaire Sheldon Adelson's casino company, fell the most in New York trading since going public after saying it may default on debt and face bankruptcy.  —  The casino owner …

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 …

Obama's ex-pastor: Media used me  —  Rev. Wright accuses media of using him as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’  —  MILFORD, Conn. - Barack Obama's former pastor complained Thursday that the media used him as a “weapon of mass destruction” in an attempt to derail Obama's campaign for the presidency.

Report: '08 turnout same as or only slightly higher than '04  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new report from American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday's election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.

www.change.gov smells like a fund-raising front  —  Government domain names (".gov") for websites are supposed to be restricted to eligible government organizations and programs.  —  Does Barack Obama's transition website, www.change.gov — which is basically a souped-up version of his campaign site — qualify?

Unemployment Rate at 14-Year High After Big October Losses  —  The American economy lost another 240,000 jobs in October, the government reported Friday morning, the 10th consecutive monthly decline and a clear signal that an accelerating slowdown is assailing households and businesses.

Dems split over Treasury choice  —  As Barack Obama faces mounting pressure to announce his economic team, Democrats are split over two of the leading candidates for Treasury secretary: New York Federal Reserve Chairman Timothy Geithner and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.