Adam Serwer explains how Tom Perriello beat Virgil Goode in Virginia's 5th Congressional District:
Even in a rough year for Republicans, most political observers still didn't give do-gooder Tom Perriello much of a chance against Virginia's Republican congressman Virgil Goode. Virginia's 5th Congressional District, situated in the middle of the state, is a deep pool of red in a state trending blue due to the steady influx of minorities and young professionals.
Gershom Gorenberg argues that Obama should make Israeli-Palestinian peace one of his first priorities:
Barack Obama will inherit this mess, along with all the others. Very soon, he must decide how quickly to throw his weight behind Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, what to aim for, and how to succeed where so many others have failed.
The answer: Move fast, very fast. Ignore all advice from old diplomatic hands who'll tell you to avoid big, difficult issues and to stick to crisis management and interim accords. Seek a full end-of-conflict agreement. And apply lessons from your electoral campaign: Enforce absolute message discipline in your own team, and employ dramatic public events and rhetoric to restore people's belief that change is possible.
Robert Kuttner explains how a stimulus package could break through congressional deadlock and be passed in the lame-duck session of Congress:
Watching the economy unravel while the government dithers is like viewing an accident in slow motion. Or to change the metaphor, it is like one of those movies where the film begins with the tragic ending and the rest of the movie recounts the unfolding back story.
And Terry Samuel reports on hopeful signs for Obama's relationship with Congress:
More than anything else, Barack Obama will need grownups to help him govern the country. He is in a position to choose some of them with Cabinet picks and Executive Office staff, but he is constitutionally bound to work with the Congress, which is not a target-rich environment in the area of maturity and reasonableness. But there are some hopeful signs.
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--The Editors
