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- Barack Obama has chosen Nancy Sutley to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality and former Clinton EPA head Carol Browner to be the administration's energy czar. On the other hand, two sources peg Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm for energy secretary while two others say it's UC Berkeley physicist Steven Chu. First Read also floats former NJ EPA commissioner Lisa Jackson for EPA head.
- The president-elect will use his full name when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20, according to The Los Angeles Times, but insists it is in the service of inaugural tradition, and not part of his professed desire to "reboot" the United States' image in the Muslim world. The day before the inauguration, Obama and Biden plan to engage in a undefined community service in the D.C. area.
- Sitting RNC chairman Mike Duncan wants to continue on in his job, mass-emailing Republicans this morning and launching a web site devoted to the effort. Since the party has only given lip service to making itself more palatable in the eyes of the public, why not just keep the same leadership?
- Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has indicated that she is willing to "invoke an obscure Illinois Supreme Court rule under which the state's seven justices could vote to oust a sitting governor deemed unfit for office," according to The Chicago-Sun Times. Meanwhile, Barack Obama has called for Blagojevich to step down and continues to deny meeting with the governor to discuss his replacement, despite contradictory accounts from his staff. Harry Reid has put pressure on Blagojevich, drafting a letter with Dick Durbin that promises to not seat any last-minute appointments by the disgraced governor. Finally, Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee has tendered his resignation for unknown reasons.
- Change.gov, the Obama transition web site, has launched a feature that culls questions from the public and ranks them according to whether the online community approves or disapproves of the question. Certainly an interesting experiment in direct democracy, although I am generally skeptical of the efficacy of these "town hall" approaches to something as complex as running the federal government. After all, somebody has to set priorities for the administration and decide whether these questions are valid, regardless of what those participating believe.
- LA Gov. Bobby Jindal doesn't appear ready to publicly commit to a 2012 presidential run, hardly a surprise. Jindal's record and policy positions ought to mortify most progressives but he's not stupid enough to throw his hat in the ring before 44 takes office. There's also the matter of his running for reelection in 2011, which would logistically complicate a presidential run.
- Given Norm Coleman's troubles with the FBI and Al Franken's claims of disenfranchisement, I'm pretty sure the Minnesota Senate race will never be decided.
- Holiday shopping watch: McCain 2008 merchandise now going for rock-bottom prices! Cheap laptops! Blackberries for $30! Ethernet cables by the pound! Nothing from the Sarah Palin collection, however.
--Mori Dinauer
