64 days to Inauguration — Tonight's cable today: Ball in her court — Bill Clinton vetting issues could sink HRC as SecState, but he plans to step up shortly  —  Arianna guest-hosts for Rachel Maddow — DNC Chairman Howard Dean is 60 today — Third Way out tomorrow with a report on public trust in government

A Giddy Sense of Boosterism  —  Perhaps it was the announcement that NBC News is coming out with a DVD titled “Yes We Can: The Barack Obama Story.”  Or that ABC and USA Today are rushing out a book on the election.  Or that HBO has snapped up a documentary on Obama's campaign.

George W. Hoover?  —  Last week, assembled at Miami's InterContinental Hotel for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, the governors seemed cheerful.  The G.O.P. had lost only one statehouse on Election Day.  The prospects for a Republican pickup in Virginia in 2009 were decent …

NO UAW BAILOUT  —  Jim Manzi has done some of the best analysis of the proposed bailout of GM, Ford and Chrysler—or, one should more properly say, bailout of the United Auto Workers, otherwise slated for extinction.  Here, he addresses the theory that the Big Three are in the midst of a turnaround …

Huckabee Finally Settles His Campaign Scores  —  The former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee  —  Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is not the sort of politician who likes to bite his tongue.  But that's just what he has found himself doing over eight months since he ended his surprising and colorful presidential campaign.

Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole  —  With newspapers cutting back and predictions of even worse times ahead, Rupert Murdoch said the profession may still have a bright future if it can shake free of reporters and editors who he said have forfeited the trust and loyalty of their readers.

Rather's Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry  —  When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago — claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a “60 Minutes” segment about President Bush's National Guard service …

Bailing Out in the Real World  —  I feel like some of the commentary on the prospect of an auto industry bailout is starting to remind me of some of the stuff I fell for before we invaded Iraq.  The kind of thing where someone yes, “yes this sounds like a bad idea, but if we do it like this …

A Bridge for the Carmakers  —  The Future Is in Sight.  They Just Need Help Getting There.  —  A government-supported restructuring of the auto industry is urgently needed for our economic and energy security.  If the Bush administration allows the auto industry to collapse …

Obama Courted Federal Employees With Letters Before Election  —  Workers at Seven Agencies Got Detailed Letters Before Election  —  In wooing federal employee votes on the eve of the election, Barack Obama wrote a series of letters to workers that offer detailed descriptions of how he intends …

Obamas On Picking The Presidential Pooch  —  Talk About The Tricky Issue Of A Family Dog, And How They Tackled The Task Delicately  —  (CBS) The full video version of tonight's broadcast will be made available online at 11 p.m. EST.  —  The president-elect has a lot of decisions …

Republicans ask: Just how bad is it?  —  Party leaders agree that the GOP has had a rough go of it at the polls in recent years.  —  How could they not?  —  Since 2004, they've gone from 55 Senate seats to no more than 43 once this year's last winners are determined …

Do newspapers have 6 more months?  —  After 50 newspaper company CEOs met behind closed doors at the American Press Institute on Thursday for their “Crisis Summit,” I was tempted to comment, but wanted to wait to see what would come out of the meeting.  Would some participants write what transpired that day?

Top Obama aide denies report president-elect will back Arab peace plan  —  A senior adviser to Barack Obama on Sunday denied reports that the U.S. president-elect plans to throw his weight behind the 2002 Arab peace plan, which calls for Israel to withdraw from all territories captured during …

Deregulator Looks Back, Unswayed  —  WASHINGTON — Back in 1950 in Columbus, Ga., a young nurse working double shifts to support her three children and disabled husband managed to buy a modest bungalow on a street called Dogwood Avenue.  —  Phil Gramm, the former United States senator …

Scoop: Palin book deal could rake in $7 million  —  Plus: Kanye West defends himself, stars don't help ‘30 Rock’ ratings  —  One McCain-Palin ad tried to paint Barack Obama as a celebrity, but it's Palin who's on the verge of a celeb-sized book deal.  —  The Scoop  —  msnbc.com

EXCLUSIVE: Cantor says GOP is no longer ‘relevant’  —  Urges real solutions on health care, economy  —  Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, poised to ascend to House Republicans' No. 2 leader this week, said the Republican Party in Washington is no longer “relevant” to voters and must stop simply espousing principles.

Pardon Me?  Don't Bet On It.  —  From the magazine issue dated Nov 24, 2008  —  The Justice department is getting flooded with a new wave of requests for pardons and commutations from convicted felons hoping for clemency from President Bush before he leaves office.

First Pictures of Extrasolar Planets Taken  —  Beautiful new images reveal our first visual glimpse that other solar systems share planets just like ours does  —  One of the central themes both to science fiction and to real-life space progress was the drive to find and eventually travel to extrasolar plants.

Road to GOP redemption: Roll back the bailouts, draw a line in the sand  —  While Republican strategists and Beltway blowhards convene VIP retreats and meetings and save-the-party parties, the road to GOP redemption starts right now.  There is opportunity to be seized right now.

Obama Transition Member Oversaw Fannie's Lobbying  —  Appointment Raises Questions About New Adminsitration's Pledge to Change Washington  —  One of Obama's top transition team members, Thomas Donilon, oversaw an aggressive, backdoor lobbying campaign by mortgage giant Fannie Mae to undermine …