CAROLINE KENNEDY ENDS SENATE SEAT BID  —  By FREDRIC U. DICKER IN ALBANY and MAGGIE HABERMAN IN N.Y.  —  Caroline Kennedy has told Gov. David Paterson that she is withdrawing her name from consideration to replace outgoing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate, The Post has learned.

McCain Lends Hillary Clinton a Helping Hand  —  Patrick Yoest reports on Congress.  —  Sen. John McCain unexpectedly lent a hand to Sen. Hillary Clinton on the Senate floor today, calling for her quick confirmation as secretary of State without a lengthy roll-call vote.

Obama takes presidential oath again after stumble  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office.  Again.  Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama …

Mitchell As Envoy Could Split Center … The expected appointment of a special envoy to breathe new life into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could split the pro-Israel center while pleasing the Jewish left and outraging the right.  The schism could be particularly deep if …

A major Bush rule gets scrapped by Obama  —  (CNN) — It's the same Oval Office.  The same desk.  Even the same curtains.  But President Obama has already made one major change: Go through eight years of White House photos, and you won't find one of former President Bush in the Oval Office without his jacket on.

Obama blows off Medal of Honor recipients  —  According to TSO who was at the “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball”, this newly sworn-in President for the first time in 56 years blew off the ball (that's 14 Inaugurations).  —  Some background on the ball;

Holder confirmation delayed  —  Eric Holder's confirmation vote before the Judiciary Committee will be delayed for up to a week as Republican senators continue to press him on his views about interrogation and other Bush administration intelligence methods.  —  The Judiciary Committee …

Obama Should Quit War on Terror, Talk to Hamas and Taliban  —  Of course, I agree with my passionate friend, Bernard-Henri Levy, who writes elsewhere on this page that Gaza cannot be allowed to become an “advance base for total war against Israel.”  —  But for the current Israeli government …

On the new whitehouse.gov: ‘Pool’ reports to be public?  —  But a quick tour around its features indicates it will have some interesting features, along with the usual pages about the president's agenda, the White House and the federal government:  —  • Pool reports.

GOING, GOING, GONE  —  The mood at the Inauguration was so joyful, so filled with unalloyed expectation and—there's that word again—hope, that it seems almost peevish (and historically repetitive) to sound a sour note, but here it unavoidably is: the hostility among some in the vast crowd toward …

Obama Will Get His Blackberry  —  President Barack Obama is going to get his blackberry.  —  On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration — but that is probably the National Security Agency — added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package. …

Daily Show - What Differences Between Bush & Obama?  (VIDEO)  —  Tonight Jon Stewart rightly pointed out that there really are no differences when it comes to philosophy about national security, and he demonstrates it with sequential video clips, comparing Barack's speech with past Bush speeches.

Found - AGAIN - the Poster Source Photo  —  The photographer is MANNIE GARCIA, a Washington DC freelancer for the Associated Press.  —  Driving home from Washington after the inauguration, cruising on adrenalin from covering the historic event and then stopping two or three times for coffee …

Inaugural Committee Apologizes for Ticket Fiasco  —  The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which was responsible for planning and executing Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony yesterday, apologized today for keeping thousands of ticket-holders outside the security gates, causing them to miss the ceremony.

Have you met the French, Mr. Obama?  —  God bless France.  You knew, once Obama was sworn in, that Paris would welcome the new president with open arms and not get all passive-aggressive-y ike they [always] [frequently] occasionally do.  —  What's that?  There's a Reuters story about this?

Hearing Over, Geithner's Confirmation Is Expected  —  WASHINGTON — Senators of both parties interrogated Timothy F. Geithner, President Obama's nominee to be Treasury secretary, on Wednesday about his personal tax delinquencies and his role in the run-up and response to the financial crisis …

My “To Don't” List for the Right  —  The only thing worse than bad winners are sore losers, and we've had enough of them for the past eight years.  So with that in mind, in the wake of today's historic inauguration, here's my Handbook For The Loyal Opposition, 2009 edition - a “To Don't List,” if you will.

Murtha Says He'd Take Guantanamo Prisoners in His District  —  Rep. Jack Murtha volunteers to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his Pennsylvania district, as President Obama prepares to order the shut-down of the facility.  —  FOXNews.com  —  Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa. …

Mohammed Jawad and Obama's efforts to suspend military commissions  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  This is a very good and important step — not only because of its substance, but also because it was something Obama did almost immediately, even before his first full day in office:

Gadhafi says US should seek peace with bin Laden  —  WASHINGTON: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has a seemingly unthinkable suggestion for new U.S. President Barack Obama: give Osama bin Laden a chance to make peace.  —  Gadhafi, who is known for outspoken comments, told an audience …

Worshipping Obama  —  Churlish right-wingers will likely keep complaining about the “cult of Obama.”  I won't indulge in that easy cynicism.  I will note, however, that as I stumbled home, tired and scotch-afflicted for the first time in my life, I talked to one of my best friends …

Who's Afraid of the Big Tent?  —  John Avalon has a great piece up at David Frum's New Majority website about how the GOP can win in New England again.  He notes that before the Bush-era there were still an favorable number of Republicans holding office in New England and now there are none (two if you include New York State.)