×
- Barack Obama will name Arne Duncan secretary of Education. Dana summarizes what this means for federal education policy.
- Yesterday the Illinois House voted 113-0 to begin impeachment proceedings against Rod Blagojevich.
- The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments tomorrow on behalf of the Norm Coleman campaign, which is seeking to create an emergency ban on reviewing any rejected absentee ballots cast in the election.
- Marc Ambinder on the "most important" White House office: "Everyone who wants anything from the federal government has to interface with the now conjoined office of intergovernmental affairs and public liaison in the Obama White House. To head this office, Obama has appointed his best friend and most trusted counselor, Valerie Jarrett. ... The bigger the federal government gets, the more important these offices become. They'll probably be THE powerhouse in the Obama White House from the perspective of politics, constituency relations, interest and client groups, the Washington community, state, local and tribal governments."
- Rick Perlstein digs up an unflattering article he wrote about Jay Carney in light of the Time correspondent's decision to become Joe Biden's communications director. Perlstein has no idea if Carney is suited to the position but offers, "[M]aybe Team O welcomes a flack who insults bloggers even when they're right -- it puffs up the prejudices of the legacy media, which is part of a flack's job."
- If I were Barack Obama, I'd be very uncomfortable with the idea that Dick Cheney likes my national security team.
- Chris Cillizza reports that appointing Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat was at the request of Harry Reid. One presumes this is tactical -- the well-heeled Kennedy Clan could probably hold any office for the Democrats. But I wish the rest of the Democratic party would follow Obama's example of promoting a system that advances meritocracy rather than aristocracy.
- The official 2008 election turnout statistics are now available, revealing the highest level of participation since 1968.
--Mori Dinauer
