Mori Dinauer

The Hill reports that RNC members have called for their own special meeting, an “unprecedented” move that allows the member states to bypass the usual Washington hierarchy. Ostensibly the meeting is to allow the large field of candidates for the national chair to get a chance to make their case, but I can’t help but […]

Joe Biden seems determined to be an assertive vice president, telling George Stephanopoulos he will oversee a “middle-class task force” that gauges how well the policies of the Obama administration are helping working Americans. Tim asks whether this is nothing less than Biden promoting himself to “labor czar” while Dick Cheney thinks Biden will weaken […]

As expected, the president-elect has named Hilda Solis for Labor, Ray LaHood for Transportation, and Ron Kirk for U.S. Trade Representative. Karen Mills was also named as head of the Small Business Administration and the rumor mill has either Julius Genachowski or Blair Levin as the next FCC chair. Unsurprisingly, Rod Blagojevich is determined to […]

Today’s official transition announcements: Mary Schapiro for chairwoman of the SEC, Gary Gensler for chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Dan Tarullo for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. Transition buzz: Hilda Solis for Labor secretary, physicist John Holdren for science adviser, William White for Naval secretary, Admiral Dennis Blair for director […]

Barack Obama has named former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack secretary of agriculture and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to head the Department of the Interior, leaving Transportation and Labor the only remaining unfilled cabinet posts. (Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) is being considered for Transportation and Harley Shaiken for Labor.) In other transition news, California Representative Xavier […]

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 […]

In his Saturday radio address, Barack Obama named New York Housing Commissioner Shaun Donovan to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and The Denver Post reports that Sen. Ken Salazar is a leading contender to head the Department of the Interior. Obama will hold a press conference this evening where he will officially announce […]

The Minnesota state Canvassing Board voted unanimously to ask county officials to identify and count improperly rejected ballots, giving a boost to the Al Franken campaign. Meanwhile, Norm Coleman will “ask the state Supreme Court to halt any counting of rejected absentee ballots from the U.S. Senate election until the justices can rule on the […]

Tom Daschle is officially on board for HHS head in the Obama administration, with the president-elect promising health care reform this year. Daschle will be joined by Jeanne Lambrew, named deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Steven Chu is in for secretary of energy, clearly a welcome change to the Bush […]

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 […]