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- Mark Begich currently leads incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens in Alaska by 814 votes, with the counting to finish up between 7:00 and 8:00 PM Alaska Time.
- The RNC is filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, or McCain-Feingold. Although RNC chair Mike Duncan claims this is to protect his party's free speech rights, ABC's Political Radar gets to the real heart of the matter: "The move by Republicans, which comes just nine days after the election, indicates a concern among the GOP about party fundraising and its ability to influence state and local politics. One lawsuit, which the party says it filed today in the District of Columbia, seeks to overturn the ban on unregulated contributions or 'soft money.'"
- Al Gore takes a pass on being the "climate czar" in the Obama administration and SEIU president Andy Stern denies interest in a cabinet position as labor secretary.
- Barack Obama will resign his Senate seat on Sunday, leaving the appointment of his replacement to IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Adam Doster has a breakdown of each of the likely candidates over on the main site.
- Newt Gingrich describes the GOP as "a midsize college team trying to play in the Superbowl," and Tim Pawlenty, speaking at the Republican Governors Association, identifies the problem more concretely: "We cannot be a majority governing party when we essentially cannot compete in the Northeast, we are losing our ability to compete in Great Lakes states, we cannot compete on the West Coast, we are increasingly in danger of competing in the mid-Atlantic states, and the Democrats are now winning some of the Western states." Ok, so the geography isn't favorable. But surely the demographics are GOP-friendly, right, Tim? "Similarly we cannot compete, and prevail, as a majority governing party if we have a significant deficit, as we do, with women, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics, where we have a large deficit with African American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes and modest financial circumstances."
- The source for some of the more embarrassing McCain campaign leaks has been revealed to be an elaborate hoax perpetrated by two filmmakers. But as Steve Benen observes, the reports that Sarah Palin couldn't identify Africa as a continent are likely to still be true, since they were initially reported by Fox's Carl Cameron.
- Tim takes a look at this Washington Post story about the government of Iran not trusting Barack Obama because "people who put on a mask of friendship, but with the objective of betrayal, and who enter from the angle of negotiations without preconditions, are more dangerous." Perhaps. Or could it be that heightened tensions with the United States are the only thing likely to keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office when elections come around next year? Also, did you know Ahmadinejad's office has a blog? And, like many blogs, it hasn't been updated in about a year!
- Want a job working for Barack Obama? The New York Times looks at the application process: "The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professionalrecords, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well,that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, inshoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both theirachievements and missteps."
--Mori Dinauer
