Top Items:
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:
JammieWearingFool, Commentary, Balloon Juice, Publius Endures, Hot Air, Pejman_Yousefzadeh's blog, Mashable!, Don Surber, CNET News, Political Punch, Tim Blair, Gawker, The Caucus, The Politico, NO QUARTER, Sunlight Foundation, 24Ahead, The Washington Independent, Megan McArdle, Brendan Nyhan, The Corner, Corrente, Redhot and Townhall.com
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Washington Wire:
Blagojevich's Big Conference Call and Valerie Jarrett's Clean Break — Cam Simpson reports on Rod Blagojevich — Among the hundreds of hours of conversations involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich secretly recorded by the FBI since Oct. 22, one phone call is drawing particular scrutiny among politicos …
The Politico:
7 Blago questions for Obama — Here are seven worth asking: — 1 - “Did you communicate directly or indirectly with Blagojevich about picking your replacement in the U.S. Senate?” — Obama issued a categorical statement Tuesday that he personally hadn't spoken with Blagojevich about the seat …
Discussion:
TIME.com, Comments from Left Field, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Crypt's Blogs, Althouse, The Hill and Firedoglake
New York Times:
Illinois Scandal an Early Test for Obama Team — WASHINGTON — When Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, began exploring whether she might fill Barack Obama's seat in the United States Senate, she called Rahm Emanuel. They served in the House together and, more important …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Reid Prefers Senate Appointment to Special Election
Reid Prefers Senate Appointment to Special Election
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight.com, Hot Air, Trust, But Verify, Blue Crab Boulevard, Flopping Aces, Swampland and Chicago Sun Times
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Jackson gets pulled deeper into scandal
Jackson gets pulled deeper into scandal
Discussion:
Wizbang, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Crypt's Blogs, The Capitol Fax Blog and The Swamp
Washington Post:
Nobel Physicist Chosen To Be Energy Secretary — Browner, Two Others to Get Climate Posts — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to be the next energy secretary, and he has picked veteran regulators …
RELATED:
Deborah Charles / Reuters:
Obama picks leaders of energy team
Obama picks leaders of energy team
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Politico, CNN, Reuters, Chronicle of Higher Education, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Boing Boing and Oliver Willis
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 …
Discussion:
Balkinization, Political Radar, Townhall.com, The Washington Independent, Marc Ambinder, Don Surber and The Raw Story
RELATED:
Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Rep. Reyes: Since Torture Might Be Necessary, Obama Should Keep …
Rep. Reyes: Since Torture Might Be Necessary, Obama Should Keep …
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!
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 …
Categories / Washington Post:
House Decidedly Passes Autos Bailout BIll — The House just passed the $14 billion Detroit Big Three autos bailout bill by a vote of 237-170, sending it to a Senate where approval is no slam-dunk, thanks to the promised opposition of leading Republicans. — The bill was overwhelmingly endorsed …
Discussion:
Donklephant
RELATED:
White House:
The President Participates in a Ceremony for 2008 Recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal — BACKGROUND — The Presidential Citizens Medal was established in November 13, 1969, to recognize U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation.
Discussion:
Connecting.the.Dots
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Europe OK's ‘Torture’ — Writing in Policy Review, John Rosenthal tells a tale of police abuse from 21st-century Germany: … Gäfgen broke and told police where he had buried Jakob's body. That was October 2002: … Also in October 2002, interrogators at Guantanamo Bay asked …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
John / Power Line:
GOODBYE TO NEWSWEEK — Much attention has been paid to the decline of print newspapers, less to the similar decline of news magazines. The cases are not identical: most obviously, the news weeklies never depended on classified advertising, as newspapers did.
Hans A. von Spakovsky / Weekly Standard:
Auditing Obama — Will the FEC examine the president-elect's campaign finances? — Sometime early next year, the six commissioners who run the Federal Election Commission will face an interesting dilemma—whether to approve a “for cause” audit of the presidential campaign of a sitting president, Barack Obama.
Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Poll Shows Obama Gains Support — Public Roots for His Success in Face of Economic Crisis but Is Wary of Big Spending — WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is entering the White House with an enormous reservoir of goodwill from an American public that is rooting for his success …
Salon:
What do the Clintons have on Obama? — Meanwhile, Sarah Palin's rehabilitation has been well launched. Step by step over the past five weeks since the election, headlines about Palin in the mainstream media and some Web news sites have become more neutral and even laudatory, signifying that a shift toward reality is already at hand.
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Liberal Legal Group Is Following New Administration's Path to Power — WASHINGTON — When Eric H. Holder Jr. addressed a convention of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy in June, he urged young lawyers to get involved in the liberal legal network, saying America would soon be “run by progressives.”
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy
Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Cleaning Service Used by Chertoff Calls Immigration Laws Unfair — Every few weeks for nearly four years, the Secret Service screened the IDs of employees for a Maryland cleaning company before they entered the house of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the nation's top immigration official.
The Politico:
GOP may seek Bill Clinton's testimony — Senate Republicans are considering asking Bill Clinton to testify at his wife's confirmation hearing about potential conflicts of interest involving his worldwide charitable enterprises. — “There are concerns about his international work across the board …
Discussion:
Political Machine