Top Items:
Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Bush leaving office more unpopular than Nixon — CNN Deputy Political Director — WASHINGTON DC (CNN) — On the day that President-elect Barack Obama is visiting the White House, a new national poll suggests that the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most unpopular …
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On Politics:
Gallup: 68% ‘favorable rating’ for Obama — President-elect Barack Obama comes away from Election Day with a 68% “favorable rating,” the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows. That's up from 62% who said they think favorably of him just before the election. The poll numbers were released just moments ago.
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Why Obama Should Copy Bush (Really!)
Why Obama Should Copy Bush (Really!)
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
The Huffington Post:
Dean Prepares To Step Down As DNC Chair — After four years at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean is preparing to relinquish his chairmanship. — Dean, who has been serving in the post since 2005, has said in the past that he would serve only one term …
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The Trail / Washington Post:
Dean to Step Down as DNC Chair — Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who rose to national prominence during a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, clearing the way for a loyalist …
The Huffington Post:
Obama Wants Lieberman To Remain In Democratic Caucus — President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants Joe Lieberman to continue caucusing with the Democrats in the 111th Congress, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post. — Obama's decision could tie the hands …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, AMERICAblog News, Cogitamus, Daily Kos, MyDD, Hullabaloo, Wonkette and Swampland
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES — A high-level senate Democratic source tells me former President Clinton is making calls on Sen. Lieberman's behalf. — I can also confirm, on the same basis, what Huffington Post has already reported, that President-elect Obama is signaling to Senate leadership …
Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:
Palin reflects on her run — The defeat, the future and the critics are all addressed — Gov. Sarah Palin blames the Bush administration for the failure of the McCain-Palin ticket, thinks people need to move on from the so-called “Troopergate” controversy and has no regrets about state per diem …
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Franken's Odds of Winning Recount May Be Long — or Short — Votes counted in Minnesota's senate race: 2,833,089 — Votes separating Norm Coleman and Al Franken: 221 — Determining a candidate's odds of winning a recount is a function of three parameters.
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Paul Walsh / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
From tight to tighter: Franken now just 204 votes behind — Al Franken's deficit just keeps on shrinking as the state adjusts the unofficial tally in the U.S. Senate election last week. — Today's latest results show the DFL challenger is now trailing Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by 204 votes.
John R. Lott Jr / Fox News:
Minnesota Ripe for Election Fraud — Minnesota is becoming to 2008 politics what Florida was in 2000 or Washington State in 2006 — a real mess. The outcome will determine whether Democrats get 58 members of the U.S. Senate, giving them an effective filibuster-proof vote on many issues.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Brian Knowlton / New York Times:
As Transfer of Power Begins, Obamas Visit White House — WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, were welcomed at the White House shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern time by the current occupant, President George W. Bush, a man with whom he expressed a sea of differences during the just-ended election campaign.
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Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Obama Weighs Quick Undoing of Bush Policy
Obama Weighs Quick Undoing of Bush Policy
Discussion:
The Swamp, Financial Times, Washington Post, TIME.com, CBS News, The Other McCain, The Heretik, Townhall.com, The Caucus and ACSBlog
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XXI: “Correcting The Record” — Just to get back to her looniness. A classic quote from the KTUU interview: … Proven? Where? And where in the MSM did anyone report that Trig was not her biological son? All I did was ask questions - and never received any proof of anything.
Discussion:
Brian Beutler
Brian Stelter / TV Decoder:
MSNBC Extends Keith Olbermann's Contract — Keith Olbermann, the anchor of “Countdown” on MSNBC. (NBC) — Keith Olbermann, the anchor of “Countdown,” will remain at MSNBC through the next presidential election season, the cable news channel announced Monday afternoon.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Gawker, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Hot Air, Prairie Weather and The Raw Story
Michael Yon / Pajamas Media:
Afghan Quicksand Awaits Obama — The president-elect will face escalating violence, feckless allies, and time that's quickly running out. — The Iraq war is over. Barring the unforeseen, the darkest days are behind, though we are still losing soldiers to low-level fighting with enemies that are true “dead-enders.”
Scott Rasmussen / Wall Street Journal:
The Polls Show That Reaganism Is Not Dead — Barack Obama won the White House by campaigning against an unpopular incumbent in a time of economic anxiety and lingering foreign policy concerns. He offered voters an upbeat message, praised the nation as a land of opportunity …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, VOTE, The Heretik, American Power, Commentary, Moonbattery and Betsy's Page
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Keeping Gates? — I totally understand the anger, hurt and pain now roiling the gay community and our families, especially in California. But it's important to keep our heads. — Tolerant and inclusive Mormons should not be forgotten; the Mormon tradition of church-state separation should not be forgotten either.
Discussion:
Greg's Opinion
The Trail / Washington Post:
White House to Establish Office of Urban Policy — The intense back-stabbing amongst Democrats for top jobs in the Obama administration assumes there are a fixed number of jobs worth having. But it's looking likely that some extremely choice, even consequential, jobs are going to be created by the new administration.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Agenda disappears from Obama Web site — Over the weekend President-elect Barack Obama scrubbed Change.gov, his transition Web site, deleting most of what had been a massive agenda copied directly from his campaign Web site. — Gone are the promises on how an Obama administration …
Associated Press:
Obama plans US terror trials to replace Guantanamo — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - President-elect Obama's advisers are crafting plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terrorism suspects in the U.S., a plan that the Bush administration …
Discussion:
The Swamp, ATTACKERMAN, Newshoggers.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Heretik, Jules Crittenden, MyDD, protein wisdom, Townhall.com and Reuters
Bloomberg:
Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Identify Bank Loans — Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Discussion:
Washington Post, naked capitalism, Outside The Beltway, Hullabaloo, The Corner and Pajamas Media
Nonny Mouse / Crooks and Liars:
Want to Win the War in Afghanistan? Forget Guns - Think Pomegranates. — James Brett is an Englishman who, in 1999 while on a business trip to Peshawar in the north west province of Pakistan, had his first glass of pomegranate juice, and fell in love with it.
Discussion:
At-Largely