Obama rides rails to capital, as onlookers cheer  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  PHILADELPHIA - President-elect Barack Obama, cheered by onlookers along the train route Abraham Lincoln took nearly a century and a half earlier, undertook the final leg …

RNC candidates turn up the partisan heat on Obama  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Despite the climate of national goodwill surrounding Barack Obama as he prepares to take the oath of office, two of the candidates vying to lead the Republican National Committee unleashed harsh attacks against the president-elect on Friday.

Barnicle Man, Barnicle Man, Doing The Things That Barnicles Can  —  Matthew Yglesias at Think Progress catches this Mike Barnicle/Mika Brezenski exchange on “Morning Joe”: … http://www.youtube.com/watch?  v=1MEjX6ITLqY  —  Yup, sure is a disgrace to journalism when you're anonymous ...

The Growing Foreclosure Crisis  —  One oft-repeated assertion no longer holds true.  Those in trouble are not, primarily, lower-income borrowers.  The foreclosure crisis has become a wave, afflicting neighborhoods of every stripe — but particularly communities created by the boom itself.

The Only Thing We Have to Fear . . .  is Obama.  —  Barack Obama is the apostle of hope.  But he also arouses the flipside of hope—fear.  And while the fear he stirs may turn out to be unfounded, it's not irrational.  People don't know who Obama really is or where his ideological center of gravity rests …

Obama may not lift stem cell limits  —  PHILADELPHIA - President-elect Barack Obama signaled Friday that he might not use his executive authority to reverse Bush-era limits on stem cell research, but instead might wait for Congress to change the policy.  —  Obama pledged during the campaign …

By Request: Missing the Trees  —  John Bedell writes: … I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan and didn't actually realize how much I like to have a little greenery around until I moved to a rowhouse neighborhood in DC and got my hands on a small backyard.

White supremacists watched as Obama era begins  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials are closely watching white supremacists across the country as Barack Obama prepares next week to be sworn in as the first black president of the United States.

Obama For America Becomes Organizing For America  —  PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Obama political machine is merging with the Democratic National Committee.  —  The President-elect launched Obama 2.0, or Organizing for America, this morning with a YouTube video.

Inaugural Panel Sells Exclusive TV Rights  —  Barack Obama's inaugural organizing committee has struck deals with three television networks to the tune of more than $5 million, giving the networks exclusive access to inaugural events.  But the arrangement is prompting questions …

Israel plans ceasefire, Hamas vows to fight on  —  GAZA (Reuters) - Israel plans to halt its Gaza offensive without any deal with Hamas, an Israeli official said on Saturday, in an apparent effort to deny the Islamist group any gains from the three-week-old conflict.