Top Items:
Brian Ross / ABCNEWS:
Sources Say Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is ‘Senate Candidate #5’ — Feds Plan to Interview Chicago Congressman as Part of Blagojevich Probe — Chicago Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is the anonymous “Senate Candidate #5” whose emissaries Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich reportedly claimed offered …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, Power Line, Pantagraph, On Deadline, Emptywheel, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Progress Illinois, Political Machine, NO QUARTER, Blue Crab Boulevard, JustOneMinute, The Raw Story, Gateway Pundit, The Campaign Spot, RedState, New York Times, Flopping Aces, Don Surber, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, JammieWearingFool, PoliticalBase.com Blog and Sunlight Foundation
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Chicago Sun Times:
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is ‘Senate Candidate 5’ in Blagojevich criminal complaint — Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is “Senate Candidate 5,” who — through an emissary — allegedly offered to raise money for Gov. Blagojevich in return for being appointed as Barack Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate, sources tell the Chicago Sun-Times.
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Jackson gets pulled deeper into scandal — President-elect Barack Obama tried to further distance himself from the burgeoning scandal in Illinois Wednesday, joining a near-unanimous chorus of public officials calling on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to step down. — At the same, another prominent …
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
First Read: NBC — ‘Candidate 5’ is Jesse Jackson, Jr.
First Read: NBC — ‘Candidate 5’ is Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Discussion:
Think Progress
Matthew Bigg / Reuters:
Conservatives gleeful over governor's arrest — ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. conservatives rubbed their hands with glee on Wednesday over news that the Democratic governor of Illinois has been accused of attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Blagojevich questions censored on Transition site — President-elect Barack Obama's Transition today launched “Open for Questions,” a Digg-style feature allowing citizens to submit questions, and to vote on one another's questions, bringing favored inquiries to the top of the list.
Discussion:
The Politico, CNET News, Hot Air, Sunlight Foundation, The Washington Independent and Redhot
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Reid Prefers Senate Appointment to Special Election — Updated, 5:56 p.m. ET: The entire Senate Democratic caucus has signed the Reid letter to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. — Original Post — The momentum for a special election to replace President-elect Barack Obama ran …
The Trail / Washington Post:
Obama: Blagojevich Should Resign — Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2005. (James A. Finley/Associated Press) — By Anne E. Kornblut — President-elect Barack Obama believes that Gov. Rod Blagojevich should resign, his advisers said on Wednesday.
Chicago Sun Times:
Madigan may take him to high court
Madigan may take him to high court
Discussion:
TIME.com, CNN, Chicago Business, State Journal Register, Political Machine, Washington Wire and Washington Monthly
Wall Street Journal:
Chicago's Political Celebrations Give Way to Shame
Chicago's Political Celebrations Give Way to Shame
Discussion:
The Washington Note
Martin Kady II / The Crypt's Blogs:
All 50 Dem senators call on Blagojevich to resign
All 50 Dem senators call on Blagojevich to resign
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
CHU TO BE ENERGY SECRETARY — From NBC's Savannah Guthrie — Obama will name Steven Chu his choice for Energy secretary, Lisa Jackson for EPA administrator and Carol Browner as energy “czar” reporting to the president. — It is unclear whether the Browner position is cabinet level.
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, Gristmill, Think Progress, Ben Smith's Blogs, Hullabaloo, Wonk Room, The New Republic, TIME.com and Open Left
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Wall Street Journal:
Obama Picks Team to Guide Energy Agenda — President-elect Barack Obama has picked a Nobel laureate, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and officials from New Jersey and Los Angeles to run his energy and environmental initiatives, putting heft into roles likely …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Weekly Standard, rubber hose, Open Left and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
The Sun:
Fem-bot's my love machine — Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features. — She even remembers his favourite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks. — “Fem-bot” Aiko, who has cost £14,000 …
Discussion:
Hot Air
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Jindal says no — Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, seen by many Republicans as the most promising standard-bearer for a remade party, said at a Richmond, Va press conference that he isn't running for president in 2012. — At a news conference Wednesday with Bob McDonnell …
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Martin Kady II / The Crypt's Blogs:
Specter calls for delay in Holder hearings — Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has just thrown a wrench into the Eric Holder hearings planned for early January, saying Holder's involvement in the Marc Rich pardon is a “red flag” and a “very serious matter.”
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New York Times:
Kerrey Gets Vote of No-Confidence at New School — Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska governor and senator known for his acerbic tongue and iconoclastic tendencies, earned an overwhelming vote of no-confidence on Wednesday afternoon from the senior faculty at the New School, the Greenwich Village university he has run since 2001.
Chris Strohm / GovExec.com:
House Democrat urges Obama to keep Bush's intelligence chiefs — The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat said Tuesday he has recommended that President-elect Barack Obama keep the country's current national intelligence director and CIA chief in place for some time to ensure continuity …
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New York Times:
White House Struggles to Find G.O.P. Support for Auto Bailout — WASHINGTON — Even as House Democrats pressed for a vote Wednesday afternoon on a government rescue of the automobile industry, the Bush administration failed to generate enough support for the measure among Senate Republicans …
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Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Hit by Recession, NPR to Lay Off Seven Percent of Staff — Faced with a sharp decline in revenue, National Public Radio said today it will pare back its once-flourishing operations, and institute its first organization-wide layoffs in 25 years. — Washington-based NPR said it would lay off …
Foreign Policy:
The 10 Worst Predictions for 2008 — Prognostication is by far the riskiest form of punditry. The 10 commentators and leaders on this list learned that the hard way when their confident predictions about politics, war, the economy, and even the end of humanity itself completely missed the mark.
Mary Ann Akers / The Sleuth:
Fire Sale on All McCain-Palin Campaign Equipment — Run, don't walk, to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., for an amazing Blowout Sale! Computers, blackberries, televisions, desks, you name it - everything must go. Hurry while the offer lasts!
Discussion:
DCist