Top Items:
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Mel Martinez To Retire — Fla. Sen. Mel Martinez figured to be a top target for Democrats in 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) — Florida Sen. Mel Martinez (R) has decided against seeking a second term, a decision he will formalize shortly in the Sunshine State, according to an informed party source.
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Steve Bousquet / St. Petersburg Times:
Martinez won't seek re-election; Sink will — U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez plans a major announcement in Orlando shortly and a highly-placed Republican source says Martinez will announce that he's not seeking re-election and that he may leave his seat in advance of the end of his term in 2010.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Sen. Martinez won't run for re-election in 2010 — Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in 2010, passing on what looked to be one of the most difficult reelection battles in the country. — Martinez, 62, has been saying for weeks that he intended …
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TPM Election Central
Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:
Sink not running against Martinez
Sink not running against Martinez
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Swamp, MSNBC, Senate Guru, MyDD, Swing State Project and Bark Bark Woof Woof
Brendan Farrington / Associated Press:
GOP official: Mel Martinez won't seek re-election
GOP official: Mel Martinez won't seek re-election
Discussion:
Wizbang
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Murkowski to Palin: Leave my seat alone — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has some Republican-to-Republican advice for Gov. Sarah Palin: If you want to make a run at the White House, keep your hands off my Senate seat. — Murkowski, up for reelection in 2010, is nervously awaiting word …
Reliable Source:
Christmas Colors for the White House: Red, White and Impeach — When Deborah Lawrence got the invitation from the White House, the Seattle-based artist decided to make a lefty political statement. — But she never expected it would hang on the official Christmas tree.
New York Times:
Pardon Is Back in Focus for the Justice Nominee — WASHINGTON — In the much praised career of Eric H. Holder Jr., President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, there is one notable blemish: Mr. Holder's complicated role in the 2001 pardon of Marc Rich, a billionaire financier …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Politico, Washington Post, Spin Cycle, Brilliant at Breakfast, TPMMuckraker, Prairie Weather, The RBC and TIME.com
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Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Pardon My Exception — Soon after Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, the former president and I had a brief telephone conversation. I had been downright heated about the pardon, a lot angrier than I had ever been about Monica Lewinsky. Clinton implied that I had things historically backward.
Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:
A Concession Wrapped in an Acceptance — Presentations of presidential appointees can be important, but they are rarely interesting. Usually, the men and women chosen for top cabinet roles are not well known to the public; if there is drama behind the scenes, most in the audience are blind to it.
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Gregory to host ‘Meet the Press’ — NBC News plans to name David Gregory as moderator of “Meet the Press,” infusing one of television's most prized franchises with a sharp edge leavened by a youthful style and versatility, according to network executives. — Gregory, 38, celebrated …
CNN:
Bill Clinton not interested in wife's Senate seat — WASHINGTON (CNN — Former President Bill Clinton has no interest in replacing his wife in the U.S. Senate, his spokesman said, adding any speculation that he would be interested is “completely false.” — As Hillary Clinton prepares …
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Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
Gates's Top Deputies May Leave — Major Shifts at Pentagon Anticipated in Obama Administration — Although President-elect Barack Obama's decision to keep Robert M. Gates at the helm of the Pentagon will provide a measure of continuity for a military fighting two wars …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Talking Points Memo, Booman Tribune, TIME.com and The Reaction
Robert Kagan / Washington Post:
The Sovereignty Dodge — What Pakistan Won't Do, the World Should — “We don't think the world's great nations and countries can be held hostage by non-state actors,” Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said yesterday. Fair enough. But what is the world to do when those non-state actors operate …
MSNBC:
Ford CEO: We may not need bailout billions — Automakers offer Congress turnaround plans to win $25 billion in aid — (L-R) United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, General Motors (GM) CEO Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli and Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally wait …
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Jim Oliphant / The Swamp:
Georgia battle: Palin vs. Ludacris — It's down to the wire in Georgia. Today is the Senate runoff election between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. — That meant that Monday was the opportunity for both sides to make their final case.
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Associated Press:
More Nixon tapes, records being made public — Release covers re-election, steps to bomb North Vietnam and make peace — WASHINGTON - The government is opening another window into Richard Nixon's shattered presidency. — Nearly 200 hours of White House tape recordings and 90,000 pages …
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Tim Fernholz / American Prospect:
INSULTS. — One of the clever things about the Catholic church has been it's ablity to maintain its status as a political force and a tiny state, and have some effect as a kind of diplomatic go-between and agenda setter.Think of the Vatican as the internationl equivalent of D.C. “Congresswoman” Eleanor Holmes Norton, say.
Discussion:
Crooked Timber, Balloon Juice, The Daily Dish, Lawyers, Guns and Money and The Debate Link
Yeas and Nays:
Reid: We won't smell the tourists anymore — The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened this morning, may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.
CNN:
Limbaugh calls Obama's selection of Clinton ‘a brilliant stroke’ — (CNN) — Rush Limbaugh seems to have given Hillary Clinton his stamp of approval for the second time this year. — The conservative talk show host — who urged supporters during the primary season to back Clinton in an effort …
Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Report Sounds Alarm on Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction — The odds that terrorists will soon strike a major city with weapons of mass destruction are now better than even, a bipartisan congressionally mandated task force concludes in a draft study that warns of growing threats from rogue states …
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com, Wake up America, Think Progress, The Swamp, PoliBlog (TM) and FP Passport
Wall Street Journal:
Governors Against State Bailouts — Hard to believe, but not everyone in politics wants a free lunch. — As governors and citizens, we've grown increasingly concerned over the past weeks as Washington has thrown bailout after bailout at the national economy with little to show for it.
Greg Mankiw / Greg Mankiw's Blog:
Fiscal Policy Puzzles — As a student of Alan Blinder, Larry Summers, and Stanley Fischer, I was trained to view the short-run effects of fiscal policy through the lens of Keynesian macroeconomic theory. I am sure that many of the economists in the new Obama administration share that intellectual framework.
Wall Street Journal:
Media Narratives Feed Terrorist Fantasies — For purposes of self-justification, Azam Amir Kasab, the only terrorist taken alive in last week's Mumbai massacre, offered that the murder of Jews in the city's Chabad House was undertaken to avenge Israeli atrocities on Palestinians.