Obama to Tap Berkeley Prof to Chair Council of Economic Advisers  —  From Jake Tapper and George Stephanopoulos:  —  ABC News has learned that President-elect Obama had tapped University of California -Berkeley economics professor Christina Romer to be the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers …

The Citigroup Bailout  —  It's bailout time.  Let's start with Paul Kedrosky: … Yves Smith: … Calculated Risk has the Joint Statement by Treasury, Federal Reserve, and the FDIC on Citigroup, while James Kwak says the bailout is “Weak, Arbitrary, Incomprehensible.”  I think he has it right:

Sloppy Dems may spell Franken advantage  —  One of the closest elections in U.S. Senate history is hurtling towards a critical juncture in its ongoing recount this week, as the campaign of Democratic challenger Al Franken opens a new legal front in its battle to break a virtual tie with Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

Fed Pledges Top $7.4 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit  —  Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

Media Notes: An Interview With Outgoing White House Press Secretary Dana Perino  —  The network stars were gone, the seats half empty and the questioning low-key as Dana Perino held a White House briefing last week, her biggest announcement that the administration would try to ease air traffic for the holidays.

Admit We Don't Know  —  “In my view it has to be between five and seven hundred billion dollars,” proclaimed Senator Charles Schumer Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”  The “it” is the economic stimulus package the new Congress intends to send to the new president, Barack Obama, in January.

For Obama, White House Is an Unusually Big Transition  —  Obama has nourished his soul on a life of routine, friends say.  Now they hope he can find comfort in a city he has never embraced.  —  A familiar number showed up on Terry Link's cellphone last week, the one that belonged to the friend …

Obama skips church, heads to gym  —  President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.  —  On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

Marines drafting plan to send more troops to Afghanistan  —  MISSION: A U.S. Marine meets with elders in Kunar province, in eastern Afghanistan.  Marines are eager to join the fight against the Taliban, with some feeling a sense of unfinished business from 2001 when they were abruptly called off.

Morning Bell: You, Too, Can Help ‘Save’ Millions of Jobs  —  In his weekly radio address, President-elect Barack Obama promised a national “Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011.”  One might think that would mean Obama had promised to create 2.5 million new jobs.

As President Bush's Term Comes to an End, Some Well-Known Offenders Seek Pardons  —  With a backlog of applications piled up at the Justice Department, high-profile criminals and their well-connected lawyers increasingly are appealing directly to President Bush for special consideration …