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.

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 …

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 …

Continuity We Can Believe In  —  The 2008 election results did not fundamentally change American foreign policy.  The real change began a few years ago in Afghanistan and Iraq.  —  It began with colonels and captains fighting terror on the ground.  They found that they could clear a town of the bad guys …

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.

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 …

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 …

Fox's Wallace defends Bush at screening  —  Takes on Hollywood filmmaker  —  Fox News journalist Chris Wallace on Monday evening defended President Bush against criticism by Hollywood filmmaker Ron Howard that the president has abused his office in a way similar to President Richard Nixon.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

Are You Better off Than You Were 40 Years Ago?  —  Government has grown, but freedom has grown faster.  —  In the November 1968 Mechanix Illustrated, James Berry gave an eerily prescient glimpse of life in the typical American household today: “The single most important item in 2008 households is the computer.

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 …

Hardball  —  I am pretty shy, and as such I have turned down every television interview request I have received since February of 2005.  However, I sucked it up today in order to appear on Hardball.  You can view it here.  Right now, I can't seem to get the html embed code to work with soapblox.

Lieberman now praising Obama  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman, the maverick lawmaker from Connecticut, has praised President-elect Barack Obama's national security team after criticizing Obama's ability to lead during wartime earlier this year.  —  Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent …

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 …

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.

Barack Obama: Ebony's Person of Year  —  Ebony magazine has chosen its first “Person of the Year.”  —  President-elect Barack Obama.  —  If the election of the first African-American president does not stand out as a landmark event in the history of a magazine founded for African-American readers …