Latest total shows Begich ahead by 814 votes  —  Mark Begich made a dramatic comeback Wednesday to overtake Ted Stevens for the lead in Alaska's U.S. Senate race.  —  Late Wednesday night, Begich led Stevens by 814 votes — 132,196 to 131,382 — with the state still to count roughly 35,000 more ballots over the next week.

Why Palin Still Matters  —  Some readers think my continuing attempt to expose all the lies and flim-flam and bizarre behavior of Sarah Palin is now moot.  She's history - they argue.  Move on.  I think she probably is history.  Even Bill Kristol and his minions in the McCain-Palin campaign …

Dem senators try to save Lieberman  —  Several top Democratic senators have launched a behind-the-scenes effort to save Sen. Joe Lieberman's chairmanship, despite calls from a Democratic base seeking retribution for Lieberman's vocal support of John McCain's presidential campaign.

Cleland ad causes trouble for Chambliss  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  With Sen. John McCain returning to the campaign trail on Thursday on stump for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss in his runoff race in Georgia, Democrats are reminding voters and donors …

Hopeful signs on health care  —  This is very big news.  One of the key questions about the new Democratic majority was whether Congress would try to play it safe, backing down on big ideas about reform, especially on health care.  You can view the whole chorus about how we're still a …

Podesta Sketches Out Vision For Assertive Presidency  —  Before it was clear that Barack Obama would be elected, John Podesta, the current co-chair of the White House transition team, laid out an agenda for the next president that was aggressive, assertive but politically practical.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: CINDY MCCAIN CAUGHT CHEATING ON J-MAC!  —  The ENQUIRER's exclusive bombshell expose as Sen. John McCain's wife, Cindy, is caught with another man!  —  Not only that but multiple witnesses have caught the pair lip locking on several other occasions.

MN Secretary of State: Coleman's goal ‘to win at any price’  —  The Democratic Secretary of State of Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, was just on MSNBC talking about the recount in the Minnesota Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Democrat Al Franken, and his comments will likely upset Coleman's campaign.

Obama team expected to broker subpoena deal  —  President-elect seen as getting at least some information from Bush aides  —  WASHINGTON - A years-long legal dispute between the White House and Congress over testimony by President Bush's aides likely will be resolved under the incoming Obama administration …

Rino Season Is Now Open  —  Like any entity that abandons basic quality control, political parties rot from within.  It happened to the Democrats long ago, and now has become the case with the Republican Party, which has strayed from its conservative underpinnings.

Local Newspapers Cover Rising Number of Racist Anti-Obama Actions in Small Towns  —  NEW YORK Many conservative pundits and Republican officeholders on the national stage have reacted to the election of Barack Obama as a promising step forward in the history of race relations and democracy …

Maddow wears pajamas on air in solidarity with bloggers, says she sees herself as ‘a blogger on TV.’  —  Last night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow showed a clip of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) complaining about being criticized by “some blogger” sitting “in their parents' basement.”

Allergists' dander up about Obama quest for dog  —  CHICAGO - Not to put a damper on the Obama family's canine quest, but allergists have a news flash: There's no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog.  —  So Malia and Sasha, how about a fish instead?  —  President-elect Barack …

The Chutzpah of Bill Ayers  —  I did not intend to write about Bill Ayers again.  The man has already had far more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame, and he didn't even deserve that.  But Michael Moynihan of Reason magazine alerted me to his latest travesty.

Idaho students chant ‘assassinate Obama’ on school bus: Report  —  Madison County, Idaho was once dubbed “the reddest place in America” by Salon, but that didn't make it any less shocking when elementary school children started chanting “assassinate Obama on the school bus.

A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence  —  It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.  —  Who would say such a thing?

U.S. Shifts Focus in Credit Bailout to the Consumer  —  WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department on Wednesday officially abandoned the original strategy behind its $700 billion effort to rescue the financial system, as administration officials acknowledged that banks and financial institutions …

The Good Life of a New-Media Guru  —  Is Jeff Jarvis gloating too much about the death of print?  —  Take a look at this, from Jeff Jarvis' blog BuzzMachine: … Jeff Jarvis is living the good life.  (But he's still humble—he says so himself!)  Jeff Jarvis is the very model of a modern new-media guru.