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 …

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.

Citigroup  —  Mark Thoma has the rundown of informed reactions.  A bailout was necessary — but this bailout is an outrage: a lousy deal for the taxpayers, no accountability for management, and just to make things perfect, quite possibly inadequate, so that Citi will be back for more.

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.

Needed: Network bailout?  —  Bad economy slows ad sales  —  It's D-Day for the broadcast networks.  —  They've been living on borrowed time for the better part of two decades, thanks to advertisers willing to toss in more cash each year even as ratings slowly trended ever lower.

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 …

Democrats' Stimulus Plan May Reach $700 Billion  —  Spending Package Could Rival Financial System Bailout  —  Facing an increasingly ominous economic outlook, President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats are rapidly ratcheting up plans for a massive fiscal stimulus program that could total …

Whistleblower: U.S. Snooped on Tony Blair, Iraqi President  —  Former Intercept Operator Tells ABC News He Saw Blair File, Heard “Pillow Talk” of Iraqi Leader  —  A former communications intercept operator says U.S. intelligence snooped on the private lives of two of America's most important allies …

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.

Vilsack ends ag secretary speculation  —  Washington, D.C. - Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack on Sunday said that he won't be the next agriculture secretary, ending speculation that an Iowan would snag the post important to a large swath of the state's economy.  —  In an e-mail, Vilsack …

“Right” And “Left” And Obama  —  Shadi Hamid struggles with foreign policy labels: … One the worst legacies of the Vietnam boomer syndrome has been turning complex foreign policy decisions - which should ultimately be pragmatic actions in defense of national self-interest …

THE CAMPAIGN VS. THE TRANSITION.  —  My working model of the distinction between the Clinton and Obama campaigns during the primary was that the Clinton campaign was somewhat more boldly progressive on domestic issues, notably health care, and quite a bit more conservative on foreign policy.

Halperin Decries ‘Disgusting’ Pro-Obama Media Bias in Election Coverage  —  Via Politico we hear that at a recent conference, Mark Halperin — of Time and ABC News — decried the media coverage of the 2008 race.  —  “It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war,” Halperin said.

What a Time It Was  —  Last night, some friends and I were listening to “Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend” and the little-known fact that The Mr. T Experience's Dr. Frank was a big-time liberal hawk warblogger back in the day came up.  Even better, unlike most classic blogs, his archives are still 100 percent intact.