A Fourth Picture  —  As Dish readers know, there are only three public photographs that I could find of Sarah Palin pregnant with Trig (the McCain campaign insisted there were “loads” and then was forced to retract).  But we now have another.  The date of this photograph …

The Note, 12/05/08: Another Senator Kennedy?  —  ABC News' Jonathan Karl, filling in for Rick Klein today Reports: The Big Three can't win for losing and it seems Barney Frank is already fed up with Barack Obama.  But first, an exclusive from The Note.  —  Another Senator Kennedy?

Jobless Rate Soars to 6.7% in November  —  With the economy deteriorating rapidly, the nation's employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the government reported Friday morning, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent.

If It's Not Your Fault, Then How Come You're So Rich?  —  One notion gaining in popularity among writers for publications likely to be read by members of the financial elite is that maybe this whole “finding out who's responsible for this giant catastrophe” business is a mistake.

‘At Least Bush Kept Us Safe’  —  The two words Democrats don't want tacked onto that sentence.  —  Washington  —  To drive through the suburbs of Northern Virginia is to marvel still at the widespread wealth, the mansions and mini-mansions that did not exist a quarter-century ago and that now thicken the woods and hills.

Critics rap MSNBC, Matthews  —  MSNBC and its talk show host Chris Matthews are coming under increasing criticism as more and more details have emerged to reveal the extent of the pundit's preparations to challenge Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Milestone in Baghdad  —  The barbarism in Mumbai and the economic crisis at home have largely overshadowed an otherwise singular event: the ratification of military and strategic cooperation agreements between Iraq and the United States.  —  They must not pass unnoted.

Who Will He Choose?  —  As in many other areas, the biggest education debates are happening within the Democratic Party.  On the one hand, there are the reformers like Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, who support merit pay for good teachers, charter schools and tough accountability standards.

One More Question...  Incoming Obama administration director of speechwriting Jon Favreau (L) and a friend pose with a cardboard cutout of incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a party.  (Obtained by The Washington Post)  —  Updated 9:22 p.m.  —  By Al Kamen

Team of Heavyweights  —  President-elect Barack Obama has appointed an extraordinary team for national security policy.  On its face, it violates certain maxims of conventional wisdom: that appointing to the Cabinet individuals with an autonomous constituency, and who therefore are difficult to fire …

SCOTUS considers Obama citizenship  —  The U.S. Supreme Court will decide Friday whether to take up a case over president-elect Barack Obama's citizenship — one of a few around the country seeking to nullify his election, but this one has an interesting lineage.

Issues Pressing, Obama Fills Top Posts at a Sprint  —  CHICAGO — The call summoning him was somewhat cryptic.  Only after Gen. James L. Jones showed up in a hotel suite for a one-on-one meeting with Barack Obama did it become clear what was going on.  —  Would General Jones be interested in a senior national security job?

Stuart Taylor: Obama Should Conduct Illegal Surveillance  —  A pretty stunning Stuart Taylor column in the National Journal: … Kicking the term “Bush critics” around is a huge red herring in this context.  Bush is going to be out of office on January 20th.

Liberal groups are ceding a key way to influence the Supreme Court.  —  In its last term, the U.S. Supreme Court heard fewer cases than it has in any single term in more than 50 years.  This means that getting your case heard at the high court is about 10 times harder than getting into Harvard.

He's Black, Get Over It  —  We may not have chosen to be a hybrid people, anymore than we chose to come here in the first place, but that's what we are now.  And it's a beautiful thing.  —  In a provocatively titled op-ed for The Washington Post last Sunday, Marie Arana declared …

Obama's choice of Xavier Becerra revives 2001 clemency case  —  Becerra, offered the post of U.S. trade representative, was involved in the 2001 commutation of a prison sentence for cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali.  So was attorney general nominee Eric Holder.

Bill O'Reilly to give up radio show, one of the nation's most listened to  —  Bill O'Reilly has formally confirmed he's giving up one of the most successful syndicated radio shows in the country, saying he has just run out of hours in the week.  —  O'Reilly said the radio show …

School buds: 20 Harvard classmates advising Obama  —  As Barack Obama puts together his administration, more than 20 Harvard Law School classmates dot the ranks of his transition team — solidifying the Crimson connection as his most enduring, yet least-known, personal network.