Bill vetting could cost Hillary her Cabinet post  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is President-elect Obama's first choice for secretary of State but his aides are becoming exasperated by the Clinton camp's pokey response to demands for extensive information about former President Bill …

SEC Files Insider Trading Charges Against Mark Cuban  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  2008-273  —  Washington, D.C., Nov. 17, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Dallas entrepreneur Mark Cuban with insider trading for selling 600,000 shares of the stock …

Bailing Out in the Real World  —  I feel like some of the commentary on the prospect of an auto industry bailout is starting to remind me of some of the stuff I fell for before we invaded Iraq.  The kind of thing where someone yes, “yes this sounds like a bad idea, but if we do it like this …

Sen. Carper: Lieberman should pay consequences  —  Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a close ally of Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the Connecticut Independent should pay a price for his campaign attacks against President-elect Barack Obama.  —  “There need to be consequences, and they cannot be insignificant …

Chaos In San Francisco As Anti-Gay Christianists Are Chased Out Of The Castro  —  On Friday night, police in riot gear had to rush to the Castro District to protect a group of Christianists seeking to convert gays. … The Justice House of Prayer posted the above video on YouTube under their username …

Obama Meets With McCain in Chicago  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain agreed on Monday, in their first meeting since the election, to work together on some of the nation's most pressing challenges, from the financial crisis to national security problems.

A Giddy Sense of Boosterism  —  Perhaps it was the announcement that NBC News is coming out with a DVD titled “Yes We Can: The Barack Obama Story.”  Or that ABC and USA Today are rushing out a book on the election.  Or that HBO has snapped up a documentary on Obama's campaign.

Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole  —  With newspapers cutting back and predictions of even worse times ahead, Rupert Murdoch said the profession may still have a bright future if it can shake free of reporters and editors who he said have forfeited the trust and loyalty of their readers.

Huckabee Finally Settles His Campaign Scores  —  Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee  —  Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is not the sort of politician who likes to bite his tongue.  But that's just what he found himself doing in the eight months following his surprising and colorful presidential campaign.

EXCLUSIVE: Cantor says GOP is no longer ‘relevant’  —  Urges real solutions on health care, economy  —  Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, poised to ascend to House Republicans' No. 2 leader this week, said the Republican Party in Washington is no longer “relevant” to voters and must stop simply espousing principles.

Obama interview sets ‘60 Minutes’ viewership record  —  Barack Obama's first televised post-election interview gave Sunday night's “60 Minutes” its biggest audience in at least nine years.  —  The CBS News program was seen by 24.5 million viewers and earned a 6.4 preliminary adults 18-49 rating.

New Dem Ad In Georgia — Which Backed McCain — Hits Chambliss For Not Backing Obama  —  Jim Martin, the Georgia Democrat who has an outside shot at picking off GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss in the upcoming runoff election, has a new ad with a very interesting strategy for a red-state Dem …

At National Review, a Threat to Its Reputation for Erudition  —  In a span of 252 days, the National Review lost two Buckleys — one to death, another to resignation — and an election.  —  Now, thanks to the coarsening effect of the Internet on political discourse, the magazine …

The Thrill of Defeat  —  Let's call John Kerry's loss in 2004 what it is: the luckiest thing to happen to Democrats in 40 years.  —  After the 2004 presidential election Democrats were crushed.  Four more years of George W. Bush seemed unthinkable, disastrous.

Drama Club  —  How Obama handles people.  —  The morning after the presidential election, a group of top Obama staffers and consultants gathered for brunch at a restaurant a few blocks from their Chicago headquarters.  The mood was understandably emotional, and, before long, chief strategist David Axelrod rose to offer a valedictory.

Franken Wants Disqualified Ballots to Count  —  Democrat Al Franken's (Minn.) campaign filed a brief with Minnesota's Board of Canvassers Monday seeking to have the organization in charge of certifying the election include some disqualified provisional and absentee ballots in the vote totals.

BIDEN AIMING TO KEEP SEAT IN FAMILY?  —  From NBC's Doug Adams  —  With President-elect 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 …

Bill Ayers talks back  —  Sarah Palin called him a terrorist, Barack Obama called him an acquaintance.  A Salon editor who knew Ayers back when talks to the ex-Weather Underground member turned Republican talking point.  —  Video: Interview with Bill Ayers

Benjamin: Two birds, one stone  —  Rep. Nydia Velazquez is the front-runner - for now, at least - to replace Hillary Clinton if she becomes the next secretary of state, a source close to Gov. Paterson said yesterday.  —  There are two other top contenders: Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo and Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island.

NO UAW BAILOUT  —  Jim Manzi has done some of the best analysis of the proposed bailout of GM, Ford and Chrysler—or, one should more properly say, bailout of the United Auto Workers, otherwise slated for extinction.  Here, he addresses the theory that the Big Three are in the midst of a turnaround …

Here There Bee (More) Pirates ... and Might the Obama Administration Take Them Out?  —  US Navy vessel confronts Somali pirates, 2006.  Photo credit Chief Petty Officer Kenneth Anderson, USN, open access DOD (no, not me, but we Ken Andersons really get around).