Person of the Year 2008  —  INSIDE:

Blago drama for Obama  —  President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was pushing for Obama's successor just days after the Nov. 4 election, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.  —  Emanuel privately urged Gov. Blagojevich's administration to appoint Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett …

LaHood considered for Cabinet post  —  Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) is in discussions with the Obama administration to take a Cabinet-level post — most likely secretary of the Department of Transportation, according to knowledgeable GOP sources.  —  When reached on his cell phone …

Nepotism Nation: Dems embrace dynasty politics  —  Barack Obama's path to the presidency included beating what had been one of the nation's most powerful families.  But, in an unusual twist, his election last month is helping accelerate the trend toward dynasty politics.

Obama's Pressers: No Comment — and NoDoz  —  A month from now, the nation will say farewell to its sports-obsessed president who doesn't like tough questions.  And it will replace him with, well, another sports-obsessed president who doesn't like tough questions.

US Bankrupt?  —  Glenn posts this: … They're not accurate: … They palmed a card, actually two cards: the first one is they're using household net worth ... but that leaves out corporate net worth, so they're ignoring, eg, Exxon.  The second is that they're comparing future obligations …

Aretha Franklin to Participate in Inaugural Ceremony  —  Aretha Franklin and Dr. Rick Warren, an author and leader of the Saddleback Church, are among the select group of people who will participate in Barack Obama's inaugural swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20.

Prostitution vs. war crimes: The real moral offense  —  In October, the extremely pro-war, neoconservative New York Sun ceased operations, and its journalists are now finding a warm and welcoming home, appropriately and revealingly enough, at The New Republic.

Blagojevich was bookie, says federal informant  —  The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an attorney who went undercover for the FBI in the late 1980's says he told federal authorities years ago about wrongdoing by Blagojevich.  —  His name is Robert Cooley.  —  Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer …

Lincoln: ‘Card-check’ proposal not necessary  —  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Sen. Blanche Lincoln says she doesn't think federal legislation that would allow labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret-ballot elections is necessary.  But in an interview with The Associated Press today …

Rep. Eshoo to push for Fairness Doctrine  —  Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (pictured), D-Palo Alto, said Monday she will work to restore the Fairness Doctrine and have it apply to cable and satellite programming as well as radio and TV.  —  “I'll work on bringing it back.

George Tenet, Drunk in Bandar's Pool, Screaming about Jews  —  I just picked up Patrick Tyler's forthcoming book, A World of Trouble, about America's tortured relations with the Middle East, and the prologue contains this whopper of a scene, one that is quite devastating, if true …

The Great Unraveling  —  The stranger, a Western businessman, slipped into the chair next to me at an Asia Society lunch here in Hong Kong and asked me a question that I can honestly say I've never been asked before: “So, just how corrupt is America?”  —  His question was occasioned …

Scientists Call AP Report on Global Warming ‘Hysteria’  —  Scientists skeptical of the assertion that climate change is the result of man's activites are criticizing a recent Associated Press report on global warming, calling it “irrational hysteria,” “horrifically bad” and “incredibly biased.”

VILSACK TO BE NAMED SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.  —  Contrary to a statement he gave to the Des Moines Register a few weeks ago, Tom Vilsack will indeed be appointed Secretary of Agriculture.  As I've argued before, the pick is not necessarily comforting.  Vilsack is the former governor of Iowa.

In Fraud Case, Middlemen in Spotlight  —  As a go-between who shepherded clients and their money to Bernard L. Madoff, Walter M. Noel became so prosperous that he was only too happy to show off his good fortune to the world.  —  In 2002, Vanity Fair dispatched the photographer Bruce Weber …

Between Obama and the Press  —  ROBERT GIBBS'S HEADY WASHINGTON RISE was certified on a humid day in June when a procession of media and political fancies gathered in tribute to Tim Russert, the “Meet the Press” host who died of a heart attack several days earlier.