Bill Richardson: What I've Learned  —  The just-tapped Secretary of Commerce shares intimate new stories on how Barack Obama saved his ass before he became his boss, Saddam Hussein's guile, Bush's charm, racial politics and more.  —  After the campaign, I grew a beard as a rebellion …

Chambliss: Palin ‘allowed us to peak’  —  Fresh off his runoff victory Tuesday night, Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss credited Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with firing up his base.  —  “I can't overstate the impact she had down here,” Chambliss said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.

Judicial Watch Announces Hillary Clinton Constitutionally Ineligible to Serve as Secretary of State  —  Ineligibility Clause of Constitution Prohibits Clinton Appointment  —  Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption …

Obama Gives Political Ambassadors Their Pink Slips  —  The incoming Obama administration has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, a State Department official said.

Newt Gingrich Hasn't Gotten The Memo  —  Michelle Goldberg is the author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.  Her new book, The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World, will be published in April by Penguin Press.  —  As I was walking out the door yesterday evening, the phone rang.

Novak: 'I Don't Think I Hurt Valerie Plame' And I Would Out Her Again Because The Left ‘Tried To Ruin Me’  —  During a recent interview with the National Ledger, conservative columnist Robert Novak was asked if he would reveal Valerie Plame Wilson's secret CIA identity if he could go back and do it all over again.

Campbell Brown: Sexism sneaks in over open mic  —  Editor's note: Campbell Brown anchors CNN's “Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull” at 8 p.m. ET Mondays through Fridays.  She delivered this commentary during the “Cutting through the Bull” segment of Tuesday night's broadcast.

Federal Prosecutor Is Making Inquiries in the Investigation of the Dismissal of 9 U.S. Attorneys in 2006  —  A prosecutor who is investigating the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys has been meeting with defense lawyers, dispatching subpoenas and seeking information about the events, according to legal sources familiar with the case.

Jeb: I am considering Senate run  —  Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush - the younger brother of the president - is weighing a run for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Mel Martinez.  —  Martinez announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in 2010.

Against Soft Power  —  Via Michael Chertoff is making sense: … I might note that draconian security rules and visa policies are not helpful in this regard, something Chertoff might want to consider.  Foreigners don't like being treated as if there's a presumption that citizens …

Beatings and abuse made Barack Obama's grandfather loathe the British  —  The President-elect's relatives have told how the family was a victim of the Mau Mau revolt  —  Barack Obama's grandfather was imprisoned and brutally tortured by the British during the violent struggle for Kenyan independence …

Obama Team Restates Strong Support For Union Bill  —  An aide to Barack Obama reaffirmed the President-elect's support for the labor movement's chief legislative priority in a one-word statement issued to the Huffington Post on late Tuesday.  —  Asked if Obama's support …

College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S.  —  The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans, according to the annual report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Franken claims he is in the lead  —  Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken's campaign said Wednesday that the comedian has taken the lead in his race against Sen. Norm Coleman (R).  —  Franken's lawyer, Marc Elias, has been pressing for the media to focus on the campaign's internal vote totals …

Greening The Suburbs  —  What with the coming tidal wave of new infrastructure spending, the rising concern over climate change, and, of course, that gnawing fear that gasoline prices are going to cruise back upward once the global economy hauls itself out of its malaise …

Exclusive: Blagojevich talks about Obama Senate replacement.  —  WASHINGTON—Gov. Blagojevich, in the most detailed interview to date on how he will fill the Senate seat formerly held by President-elect Barack Obama, told me Tuesday his replacement does not have to be an African American …

‘No Line Responsibilities’  —  What Robert Rubin did for his $115 million.  —  On October 18, 1999, Citigroup announced that former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin was joining the firm.  But what exactly would Mr. Rubin do at Citigroup?  Citi's SEC filing eight days later noted …

Majority oppose taxpayer aid for automakers, poll finds  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll suggests that six in 10 Americans oppose using taxpayer money to help the ailing major U.S. auto companies.  —  Sixty-one percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday …

LYING HIS WAY INTO THE SUNSET.  —  George W. Bush's interview with Charlie Gibson was an incredible bit of performance, in which the president asserted that his biggest “regret” was “the intelligence failure in Iraq.”  As Andrew Sullivan points out, Bush's “admission” that lays the failure …

Calling All Pakistanis  —  On Feb. 6, 2006, three Pakistanis died in Peshawar and Lahore during violent street protests against Danish cartoons that had satirized the Prophet Muhammad.  More such mass protests followed weeks later.  When Pakistanis and other Muslims are willing to take to the streets …

Military contractor in Iraq holds foreign workers in warehouses  —  BAGHDAD — About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work.

Obama shelves oil company tax after price fall: aide  —  CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama is not planning to implement a windfall profit tax on oil companies because prices have dropped below $80 a barrel, an aide said on Tuesday.  —  “President-elect Obama announced …