"Maybe Lieberman can get the morning coffee or something"

Dave Neiwert:

Dana Bash at CNN reports that Holy Joe is unhappy about his looming and well-earned demotion, and is thinking about joining the Republican caucus:

A Senate Democratic source familiar with the meeting confirms that account and tells CNN that one of options Reid gave Lieberman in a private meeting Thursday is Chairman of the Veteran’s Affairs Committee.

But the aide to Lieberman says the Connecticut senator made clear that was “not acceptable” to him, and reminded Reid that he was one of the Senators who wrote the legislation creating the Homeland Security Department, and that’s where he wants to stay.

Nothing was resolved in the meeting, and the Lieberman aide tells CNN that although he still wants to caucus with the Democrats, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell has contacted Lieberman about formally aligning with Republicans, and that Lieberman is “keeping all of his options open.”

An aide to McConnell confirms to CNN that the two men “have been talking.”

As Steve Benen says:

Look, Reid is offering Lieberman a very sweet deal. By some counts, much too sweet. Lieberman betrayed the Democratic Party and broke his word to his own Democratic constituents. Reid is nevertheless willing to a) let him stay in the Democratic caucus; b) keep his seniority; and c) give him the chairmanship of something else. That, by any reasonable measure, is ridiculously gracious of Reid. It's certainly more generosity than Lieberman deserves or has earned.

Joe can threaten all he likes, but fact is: He's irrelevant now. There's no reason for Dems to cave on these threats.

Let's let his Democratic colleagues know. As Josh Orton at MyDD says:

Before, Lieberman was hoping to privately lobby his colleagues to save him. But with the curtain pulled back, we can lobby the same potential Lieberman allies. And now they'll have to choose between personal loyalty to Joe and doing the right thing - with the whole world watching.

If they hear from enough of us, there's no way Joe keeps his position of power.

So let's get to the phones. And the emails.

The number for the Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. Start with your own Senator, but call the more conservative members of the Dem caucus too. Ask whether they support Lieberman remaining as Chair of the Homeland Security committee, given his unfair attacks on President-elect Obama. Be polite, and calm. The young people who answer the phones are entry-level staffers.

The key will be making sure the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee holds the line.

Howie P.S.: My grandfather was a plumber who installed most of the toilets in the Jewish households of Albany, New York during the first half of the 20th century, so I find the reference a little insulting. But overall, the image is irresistible.

"Oh, The Irony: Rove Blasts Rahm As Too Partisan (!)" (video)

Jed Lewison, video (01:37):

What a douchebag.

Howie P.S.: Karl is in contempt of the House Judiciary Committee (I believe), "at this point in time," so he should be careful who he calls "partisan."

Barack Obama

"Election Reaction: Selma, Ala." (video)

New York Times, video (04:30):

Watching the election from Selma, Ala., one of the emotional centers of the civil rights movement.

Barack Obama

"A Night To Remember: Barack Obama Elected 44th US President" (video)

Jed Lewison, video (10:00):

Election night, 2008.

Barack Obama

OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE--MSNBC LIVE COVERAGE (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Archived version here, video (18:51).

Live coverage here.

Barack Obama

More about Rahmbo (excerpts)

"Why Rahm: A Message To -- And From -- The Center" (Marc Ambinder):

Advisers say that Obama has sent a not-so-subtle message to Congress: President-Elect Obama will not cede much agenda-setting ground to liberals. While outside Democrats are interpreting Emanuel's selection as an institutional message for Nancy Pelosi, Obama advisers concede that Emanuel's ties to key party centrists and blue dog Democrats will be criticial to smoother relationships between the executive and legislative branches. (Emanuel is more liberal than these centrists, but he's not nearly the ideologue that people seem to think he is.)

"The Rahm era begins" (Ben Smith):

Just tonight, for example, I caught up with some Hill staffers at House-side watering hole. Also there was Carl Hulse, the New York Times's crack congressional reporter. Before I arrived, Emanuel had called Hulse on his cell phone. Being an unseasonably warm night for November in Washington, the gang was outside the bar together when Hulse took the call. The Timesman cracked to Emanuel that he was surrounded by a group of Republican Hill staffers. So what did the soon-to-be Chief of Staff to the next Democratic president do? He asked to talk to them. Hulse passed the phone to one senior House GOP aide and the two had a nice chat, with Emanuel recounting how he had a good conversation with the aide's boss today.

"Rahmbo" with video (Al Giordano):

Here's a theorem for the coming weeks and months before President-elect Obama's January 20, 2009 inauguration: The volume of teeth-gnashing and Chicken Little-ing from my friends and colleagues about what moves Obama makes during the transition will be inversely proportional to the amount of work they did to get him there.

Barack Obama

"Yes Business Can"

Howard Schultz:

Repairing the damaged U.S. economy will surely be among the top priorities of President-elect Obama's new administration. But it is not reasonable to assume that our great country's future economic prosperity lies in the hands of one man, or will necessarily follow simply from a change of administration in Washington.

Despite the mistrust that American businesses have engendered as of late, history suggests a different truth: that while government can create a framework and conditions that will support positive economic change, it is American business that will turn things around, and deliver the prosperity and sustainable economic stability and security that can follow.

But today, an increasingly challenging economic climate around the world and a historic decline in consumer confidence at home are combining to cause many business leaders to stop leading their businesses forward. They have become fixated on the short term. And when short term results alone drive or unduly influence management decisions, the temptation to push off sound longer-term investments, those that will fuel innovation and strengthen the enterprise for the future, can become overwhelming.

With that mindset comes the false belief that investments in people and training can wait; that corporate social responsibility can be put on the back burner.

I believe passionately that this is precisely what American business leaders should not be doing today. Now is the time for business leaders to step up ... and to lead. Just as the American public voted on Tuesday for a sea change in the way our country approaches the long-term "business" of being America, so too do business leaders have an obligation and a responsibility to think of the long-term benefit their companies must provide for shareholders, employees and customers.

Today, perhaps more than ever before, we need to remind ourselves where we came from, what we are about, what we stand for and where we are going. We must recommit ourselves to living up to the principles and the core values that helped us establish our businesses in the first place.

Now is a time to be bold. Now is a time to invest, truly and authentically, in our people, in our corporate responsibility and in our communities. The argument--and opportunity--for companies to do this has never been more compelling. A recent opinion piece by former Vice President Al Gore Jr. and David Blood makes this point eloquently. "Sustainability and long-term value creation are closely linked," they wrote earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal. "Business and markets cannot operate in isolation from society or the environment."

I share that belief, and it has guided me and my partners over the past three decades, as we have grown Starbucks into the company it is today. Sure, we are the first to admit that Starbucks is by no means perfect. We have made our share of mistakes. But I can tell you unequivocally that as Starbucks confronts today's economic challenges, it will do so while remaining true to our principles and fostering a culture that genuinely embraces our collective humanity.

Last week, Starbucks gathered 10,000 of our store managers together for a leadership conference in New Orleans. I am proud to report that among many other benefits of the conference, our leaders performed more than 50,000 hours of community service in that still-struggling city. During the conference we also announced a set of ambitious but realizable goals for the way we source our coffee, how we help to sustain our environment, and what we can do to work with, and continue to contribute to, the communities in which we do our business and the world as a whole.

Despite the tight economic conditions, we made this significant investment in our people now for the same reason many companies would consider eliminating it: the current climate is yielding more discerning and thrifty customers. Consumers are spending less and will more closely scrutinize products; they will embrace only the companies and brands they trust and with which they identify.

Consumers develop a memory based on their experiences, and it is critical that business remains sensitive to that reality -- particularly in times like today -- and to not just be pushed along, or off course, by economic tailwinds or cross currents.

While I believe that an approach that values people as much as profit is in step with where we are as a nation, some may say that this approach is counter-intuitive. Others may claim that it is the opposite of the standard MBA playbook during a down cycle.

But in my view, the approach Starbucks is committed to is the only one that will enable us to deliver long term value to shareholders, partners and customers. And I am convinced that other companies whose leaders embrace this approach will reap meaningful, long-term rewards as well.

Last Tuesday's election results mark a new page in our collective history. And while U.S. businesses are in the midst of extremely challenging times right now, I have no doubt that the core strength of American ingenuity, and the courage of American business leaders, are the engines that can propel our country and the world back onto the path of prosperity.

If we believe in ourselves and remain true to our core values we will all succeed. Today perhaps more than ever before, I am convinced that responsible capitalism is the way forward.

Howie P.S.: I know all you local libruls will scoff at this and some will say, "Hey, Howard, what about the SONICS!!!!! You dumped them like an old lover!!!

Barack Obama

"The Chief's Chief"

Washington Post:

It was another October midnight on Capitol Hill and the $700 billion economic bailout deal was flat-lining. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the president's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, on speakerphone and was getting nowhere on the final few sticking points. Next to her, Rahm Emanuel decided it was time to exercise one of his core political principles: When in doubt, shout.

"You gotta understand, Josh, this is politics at this point," thundered Emanuel, the Democrats' caucus chairman. In one of his signature high-decibel blasts, he described the relentless procedural torture Pelosi could inflict if the administration didn't yield. "That," he yelled, "will be like a fast football at your head coming down Pennsylvania Avenue!"

Within minutes, the White House bowed to the Democrats' demand, and by 12:30 a.m. Emanuel, 48, was settled in next to a statue of Will Rogers as Pelosi announced the deal.

And another Rahm bomb had found its mark.

Emanuel's flair for the well-timed verbal hand grenade -- or epithet or insult or, in one case, an actual dead fish -- has grown legendary during his 16-year career in politics. His explosive style, and midnight work habits, have fueled a noisy migration up Pennsylvania Avenue, from White House fixer under Bill Clinton to a House leadership position on Capitol Hill.

And now Emanuel is U-turning back to the West Wing to take over Bolten's job as White House chief of staff, mixing one of Washington's most combustible temperaments with President-elect Barack Obama's celebrated cool.

"He is that rare breed who can engage in a back-alley fight but also understands that there's a time to set aside bare-knuckle fights and attempt to move an agenda," said Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), who has battled Emanuel in the House. "Don't get me wrong. He's as tough as they come."

Obama must know exactly what he's getting by putting his White House in the charge of the man who once bluntly warned Tony Blair not to "[foul] it up" before the British prime minister left the Oval Office for a joint appearance with Clinton. The two have known each other for years.

"The first time I ever heard about Barack Obama was from Rahm," said Paul Begala, another Clinton alum and friend of Emanuel's. "When Obama was thinking about running for Congress against Bobby Rush, Rahm told me, 'This guy is the future of the Democratic Party.' "

The Hawaii-born and Harvard-educated Obama has grown to rely on the Windy City way. He turned to Chicago operative David Axelrod, a veteran of former Chicago mayor Harold Washington's campaign, to help execute one of the most improbable and incredible wins in history. Now he is putting his executive operation in the hands of a three-term congressman from the Polish and Catholic precincts of District 5 and a onetime protege of Mayor Richard M. Daley.

"He is a no-nonsense, fast-talking politician, and we've had a few of those in Chicago," Obama said of Emanuel in a 2006 interview with The Washington Post. "He's a little bit larger than life. We like them with a little bit of personality."

Personality is what Obama is sure to get, much to the delight of political reporters accustomed to getting unsolicited calls from the loquacious Emanuel at all hours. After months of Tupperware-tight leak control from the Obama campaign, Emanuel offered up one of the first peeks inside the machine, with an almost operatic two-day public debate with himself over whether he should take the job.

Tom Korologos, a veteran Washington super-lobbyist, called Emanuel's choice a "brilliant move" by Obama but said it was strange that he performed his Hamlet act in public.

"It's a little bizarre, a little backwards," he said. "I guess they're learning. It's a glitch on the first day."

The holdup, according to what Emanuel told friends over the past weeks, was twofold: stepping off a possible track to become speaker of the House and concerns over what the endless demands of the job would do to his family. According to a Democratic aide familiar with the situation, moving the household to Washington would disrupt a long-standing agreement Emanuel and his wife, Amy Rule, have to raise their three children, 9, 10 and 11, in Chicago, where the couple, like Barack and Michelle Obama, have their closest friends.

John W. Rowe, chief executive of Exelon and a friend, said Emanuel recently called him while he was shopping at a bookstore and agonizing over the toll that a move back to the White House would take. "There will be a long periods when there won't be Saturday mornings at the bookstore with my kids," Rowe recalled him saying.

According to Ezekiel Emanuel, a noted Harvard oncologist, his little brother Rahm ultimately said yes because of a dictate handed down by their maternal grandfather: "He told us all, 'If you've been called up in life to take on big responsibility, you may not want to do it, but you drop everything and you do it.' My brother will turn himself into a pretzel to do his duty."

Emanuel's other brother is Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel, inspiration for the Ari Gold character on "Entourage." The three hyperachievers grew up in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, the sons of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who worked for the Israeli underground in his youth. His mother, the daughter of a union organizer, took the boys to civil rights marches in the 1960s, instilling an interest in politics that would eventually take her middle boy to the inner sanctums of the White House -- twice.

According to two previous inhabitants of the office next door to the Oval Office, Emanuel's key asset as chief of staff will be his well-established friendship with his new boss. That probably will be enough to compensate for the political brush fires sparked by Emanuel's flint-and-steel personality.

"The job is to tell the president what he needs to know, not necessarily what he wants to know," said Kenneth Duberstein, who served as Ronald Reagan's chief of staff. "Because of his relationship with the president-elect, Rahm will be able to deliver not just the good news but the tough news as well. He has the ability to be a reality therapist inside the White House."

Mack McLarty, Clinton's first chief of staff, who has known Emanuel since the "War Room" days of the 1992 presidential campaign, agreed.

"My sense is that they have a relationship that is authentic and that will give them an important level of trust," McLarty said. "Given that, I think the strength of his high-energy personality will serve him well."

McLarty said Emanuel will start the job with an advantage he didn't have: experience on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. "It will help enormously that he's worked in the White House before," McLarty said. "I hadn't done that. He's got both pieces."

But it's Emanuel's congressional Rolodex that may be most of use to the Obama administration. With Joe Biden's intimate lock on Senate relations, Emanuel's three terms in the House could prove invaluable. Despite the egos he bruised along the way, Democrats hail Emanuel as an electoral Moses. As chairman of the 2006 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Emanuel delivered the party from 12 years in the minority wilderness.

But his accomplishment came at the cost of bitter feuds with party Chairman Howard Dean, Congressional Black Caucus members and several candidates he pushed off the ballot in favor of his favorite centrists.

"There was a lot of frustration on the ground, trying to figure why the national Democratic Party was trying to squash a strong local movement like this," Kevin Spidel said in 2006 when he was campaign manager for Christine Cegelis, a liberal candidate he said was starved of funds by Emanuel in favor of Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq veteran.

Many of the candidates Emanuel recruited are now members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog caucus, a group of Democrats Obama will badly need for any of his pricier initiatives.

"These are folks that know that Rahm looked out for them both in the campaign and in their first term in Congress," said Amy Walter of the Hotline political report.

The ease with which Emanuel slides down the halls of Congress would suggest he has never left. But he used Washington's revolving door to great personal profit, using his White House contacts to become a multimillionaire before returning as a member.

He was a guy of relatively average means when he left the Clinton administration in 1998 to become a partner at Wasserstein Perella & Co., a global investment and merchant banking firm. Four years later, as he began his first campaign, financial disclosure forms revealed him to be rich.

At the firm founded by Bruce Wasserstein, one of Clinton's Wall Street buddies, a top Democratic fundraiser and brother of the late playwright Wendy Wasserstein, Emanuel turned his blunt charm to the business of financial dealmaking. And by all accounts, he was good at it.

"He could go from the politics of the deal to the economics of the deal to the corporate strategy of the deal, and he just goes back and forth like quicksilver," said Rowe of Exelon, a company that Emanuel helped form out of the merger of two smaller utility companies.

The money rolled in quickly -- more quickly than is usual for a new member of Congress. On his 2003 disclosure, he listed $9,678,775 from the firm, enough to force a footnote that specified he had earned the money before his election.

His stock listings on the same form are filled with the all-too-familiar companies from the economic collapse: Lehman Brothers, Freddie Mac, J.P. Morgan.

Emanuel's political and financial connections, built during his time on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, have made him a darling of Wall Street when the New York financial hub has lost its luster.

One of Clinton's going-away presents to Emanuel was an appointment to the Freddie Mac board of directors, a year-long service for which he was reportedly compensated to the tune of $292,774.

Obama has clearly calculated that Emanuel's connections to the financial scandal are fleeting and not disqualifying. But they may yet be a vulnerability. In his career, Emanuel is among the top 25 members of the House or Senate when it comes to receiving campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- a total of $51,750.

And his prowess on Wall Street has translated into campaign cash for himself and others. He raises more money from the financial industry than from any other.

The man whom Emanuel will replace in a few months has spent the past two years battling the Chicago politician. Bolten leaves with a healthy admiration for his skills, saying he is "unusually smart. He is effective. He's a good tactical and strategic thinker. And he's very funny."

Bolten and Emanuel are not close friends. But they have shared a Nats game together. Bolten had the tickets, but Emanuel insisted on paying for his. But if Bolten thought they would talk only baseball -- not politics -- he was mistaken.

"He's got a mind that doesn't shut off. He was just a string of entertainment," Bolten said. A string of entertainment or a string of something else?

Bolten laughed.

"That, too," he said.

Howie P.S.: A kinder and gentler read, "This American Moment — The Surprises" is Timothy Egan's homage to Election 2008.

Barack Obama

"Howard Dean Touts Mandate for Democrats" (with video)

Kansas City InfoZine:

A day after his party snatched back the White House and padded majorities in both the House and Senate, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean had no time to bask in the victory. The question of the hour: What now?

Washington, D.C. - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - infoZine - A sleep-deprived Dean tussled Wednesday with his Republican counterpart, Mike Duncan, arguing that President-elect Barack Obama and the Democrat-bolstered Congress now has a mandate from the American people.

Declaring the election a referendum on President George W. Bush, Dean said the election marked a shift in the makeup of the electorate, reflecting a more moderate and younger base.

"We think this is a country that is right down the middle," he said, later adding the election was not a drastic mandate of New Deal proportions but one for common-sense solutions.

"Could you please stop fighting about things you can't agree on and do something about things you agree on?" he said was the voters' message. (my bold-Howie)

Presidential candidates often tout unity following election, as Obama did in his speech in front of more than 200,000 people in Chicago, but that is no guarantee they will follow through.

Obama need only look to Democratic President Bill Clinton to see the effect of straying too far from the center. Republicans took back Congress in 1994 just two years after Clinton won the oval office, in large part because the public thought his agenda was too liberal.

This time around, Democrats picked up at least five Senate seats, 18 House seats and eight states Bush carried in 2004.

But Duncan said the pendulum could swing back to Republicans in the 2010 midterm election.

"This is still a center-right country," he said, adding that Obama won because he adopted more moderate positions on tax cuts, merit pay for teachers and offshore drilling, among other stances.

"Barack Obama just ran the most successful moderate Republican campaign since Dwight Eisenhower," he proclaimed.

The scene at the National Press club Wednesday was a flip-flop from 2004, when Bush won a narrow re-election and Republicans picked up seats in both houses of Congress.

In fact, former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe didn't make it to the same event four years ago. But Duncan showed up Wednesday, a feat even Dean appreciated.

"It hurts too bad to laugh, and I'm too big to cry," Duncan said of the results, referencing the famous saying of President Abraham Lincoln.

He said the Republican Party was not dead but the victim of circumstances. Duncan pointed to an unpopular war in Iraq and the meltdown on Wall Street rather than a skewed philosophy.

He said Republicans need to "take a deep breath" and try to keep the Democratic-controlled congress in check.

Duncan pointed to vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, 44, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, 37, and a host of other young elected officials as the future of the party.

While he wasn't too interested in replaying the nearly two-year primary, Dean touted Obama's 50-state strategy, an expansion of the one he employed in his unsuccessful presidential bid four years ago.

Obama won Republican stronghold Virginia and forced John McCain to spend resources on deep-red states like Georgia, recently considered an afterthought for the GOP.

Previous nominees Al Gore and John Kerry were dependent on carrying battleground states Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

"I said the Democratic Party had run its last 18-state presidential campaign," Dean said.

Democrats enjoyed a huge financial advantage this time around, as Obama opted out of public campaign financing to build a massive war chest.

Duncan said Obama's fundraising success means no future presidential candidate will take federal dollars. Dean wasn't willing to go that far, but both noted the increase in small-dollar donations from millions of people.

However, Dean attributed victory not just to money but also to a grassroots get-out-the-vote campaign, something he admitted Republicans had traditionally dominated.

"We can argue about how well they run the country," Dean quipped. "But they certainly know how to run elections."

Howie P.S.: This story from WPTZ in Burlington, VT, "Dean Strategy Helps Obama Win,"also has video from Dean's appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, DC today.

Barack Obama

"Obama sends powerful signal"

Politico:

President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) as his White House chief of staff is the latest demonstration of a quality Obama showed repeatedly over the course of his campaign: He’s willing to do what it takes to win.

If his goal had been to create a cordial bipartisan tone in Washington — much less a calm, profanity-free West Wing — Obama would have looked elsewhere.

The selection of Emanuel, one of the Democratic Party’s most effective operatives over the past two decades, was a powerful signal of Obama’s determination to be effective under the existing rules of the Washington game.

“He’s from the Lombardi wing of the party — he’s a guy who wants to win at any cost and will do whatever it takes,” said John Lapp, a former top Emanuel aide at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Lapp called Emanuel “the best possible pick — a perfectionist and fighter who loves the president[-elect] like a brother.”

If so, he’s a sibling who long ago showed he knows how to talk back in the family. As a longtime aide to Bill Clinton, Emanuel was known for his willingness to talk bluntly to colleagues from the president on down.

When Hillary Rodham Clinton and then-White House chief of staff Mack McLarty unsuccessfully tried to ease him out of the West Wing during Clinton’s turbulent first year in 1993, Emanuel skillfully fought for his position. He told McLarty that he was not leaving unless Bill Clinton told him to his face, knowing that the conflict-averse president would not do it.

Emanuel stayed put, showing survival skills that have rarely wavered in the 15 years since.

Although Emanuel is undeniably a partisan fighter, his selection is not an ideological statement. The Chicago Democrat does not share the reflexively liberal views of many of his House colleagues. In the Clinton years, he helped pass the North American Free Trade Agreement and pushed for anti-crime and other centrist measures.

Emanuel is a composite of three distinct models of chief of staff: the personal confidant, the prominent public figure and the Washington operative.

Like McLarty, Emanuel is a close friend of the president-elect, from his hometown of Chicago. Like later Clinton chief Leon Panetta and President Bush’s first chief Andrew Card, he’s a well-known figure with an independent stature and reputation. And like Clinton chief John Podesta and current Bush chief Josh Bolten, he has the soul of an inside-Washington operator.

The choice of Emanuel is also a deliberate departure from the culture of Obama’s cool, Chicago-based campaign, a willingness to fully embrace the new Washington milieu Obama spent two years deriding.
Obama’s campaign was deliberately low-key and hermetically sealed from leaks. The Emanuel era arrived with a jolt before Election Day, when word leaked that he’d been offered the job. Then word leaked that he was “agonizing.” Then he agonized about moving his children to Washington in front of television cameras on a Chicago street. Then word leaked that he took the job.

“If it was from [the campaign], it was the first leak they’ve had in two years. That was obviously from him,” said a senior Democratic congressional aide, who added, “He’s strategic enough in his leaking — I don’t think that would be a problem" when he is in the White House.

Indeed, the unusual leaks from Obama’s expanding camp are part of one of Emanuel’s greatest assets: He talks to everyone. Emanuel knows more than most in Washington about what’s happening in both parties and in the media, because he’s in constant touch with all sides.

“It’s more how wired in he is than that he tries to leak things all the time,” said another Democratic aide.
Just because he knows reporters does not mean he is always chummy. In the Clinton White House, he hung up mid-sentence with a reporter, sputtering, “I can’t put up with this idiocy.”

Republicans immediately attacked Emanuel as a partisan and as a contrast to Obama’s pledge of a “new politics.”

“Barack Obama’s first decision as president-elect undermines his promise to ‘heal the divides.’ Rahm Emanuel is a partisan insider who played a lead role in breaking Washington,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant, and House Republican leader John A. Boehner called the choice “ironic.”

But Emanuel’s will to win, and his years in the ultimate partisan job of leading the Democrats’ House campaigns, masks good relations with members of both parties and a pragmatism that steers him well clear of liberal ideology.

“I see Rahm closer to the center, from a policy standpoint, than many of the Democratic Party,” Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), the retiring ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee, told Politico. “He has good instincts when it comes to resolving policy disputes and finding common ground in policy disputes, and that’s going to come in handy as chief of staff.”

McCrery noted that Emanuel spent time in the private sector, making millions as an investment banker before his run for Congress.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a McCain confidant, praised the pick in a statement. “He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together,” he said.

Emanuel’s arrival will brings a cultural shift to Obama’s circle. The Illinois senator’s campaign staffers took as their motto “no drama” and projected the candidate’s own cool. Emanuel is dramatic, impatient and profane, willing to speak truth to power in the crudest terms and the most difficult moments, as in the heat of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

"You got it backwards," Emanuel, who is Jewish, reportedly told Clinton at the time. "You messed around with a Jewish girl, and now you're paying a goyish lawyer.”

“Obama has made an assessment, and Obama’s no fool — Obama really does know himself,” said former Clinton aide Harold Ickes. “He clearly has concluded that Rahm is the kind of temperament and person that would serve his interests best in this White House.”

And Emanuel is unlikely to be shy in Obama’s circle. In fact, he and Obama share political roots in Chicago, and they share a political brain in the form of adviser David Axelrod. Emanuel’s former DCCC press secretary, Bill Burton, is Obama’s national press secretary. Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, is married to Emanuel’s top press aide, Sarah Feinberg. He’s close to Obama’s Senate chief of staff, Pete Rouse, and to his campaign chief of staff, David Plouffe.

“During my time in the Clinton White House, two of the most powerful words you could utter were ‘Rahm says,’” speechwriter Jeff Shesol said on Politico’s Arena page. “His selection makes clear, once again, that Barack Obama refuses to buy into the false dichotomy, the phony binary choice, of Old Hands vs. New Blood. He will have both.”

Other Democrats also welcomed the pick.

“He is the perfect choice. He knows the Hill, he knows substance, he knows politics, and most importantly, he can get the job done,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Emanuel’s equally driven Senate counterpart in 2006 and sometimes his rival.

Indeed, many said they were more surprised that Emanuel had taken the job than that Obama had offered it. He gives up a congressional career and a shot, someday, to be speaker of the House for a job that rarely lasts as long as a presidency.

“He’s giving up a huge amount. But I don’t think anyone will worry, ‘Is Rahm going to be OK?’” said Lapp, the former DCCC executive director. “I pity the Democrats or Republicans who get in his way.”

Howie P.S.: Back in the 20th century when I was working on a congressional campaign, Mr. Emanuel came to visit us and I picked him up at Boeing Field, where he deplaned from his private aircraft. We spent the evening with his boss, a congressman who headed the DCCC at that time, on Capitol Hill (the one in Seattle). He left me with an indelible impression that this article conveys quite well. He's not the ideal club companion, but he does get his work done at the office.

Barack Obama

"How will President Obama deploy his Internet army?"

McClatchy Newspapers:

A powerful new lobbying force is coming to town: Barack Obama's triumphant army of 3.1 million Internet-linked donors and volunteers.

In a mass e-mail thanking them, written moments before his Grant Park victory speech, Obama put them on notice. "We have a lot to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next," he wrote.

Many are eager. "I'm going to be sitting at the phone, asking, 'What do you want me to do next? I'm ready,' " said volunteer Courtney Hood, 37, a mother of three from Owings, Md.

How Obama will use his ardent laptop-armed cadres is unclear. So is the extent to which they'll rally behind his priorities, press him for their own or both.

Joe Trippi, the Internet politics guru whose computer geeks made Howard Dean a contender in 2004 and who went on to design Obama's socially networked campaign machine, offers a provocative and educated guess.

Trippi predicted that Obama would use his forces, first and foremost, to intimidate congressional foes of his agenda, rally his allies and forge "one of the most powerful presidencies in American history."

Certainly, Obama reaches the White House with the biggest, best organized, fastest-acting grass-roots army in the history of presidential campaigning.

Moreover, because his Internet operation was miles ahead of Republican John McCain's, Obama's liberal-to-libertarian electronic activists are in a position to dominate the new political medium much as conservative Republicans dominate talk radio.

As for political utility, many thousands of volunteers such as Hood will be deployable within hours, with great precision and at almost no cost, thanks to the campaign's state-of-the-art information-management systems.

The president-elect's political operatives know, for example, the ZIP codes and hence the congressional districts of each of Obama's million most active campaigners, those who volunteered via his Web site mybarackobama.com. It's a social network that the campaign set up to communicate needs, events and assignments to volunteers.

The profiles that Obama campaigners submitted to the site also reveal which supporters in each district are environmentalists, concerned about health care or keen on government reform.

Moreover, because the so-called "MyBO" site quantified volunteers' participation and fundraising totals digitally, there's a numeric score for each participant's success. It's even adjusted to give more credit for recent help.

"We really know who Obama's community leaders are," issue by issue, said Thomas Gensemer, the managing director of Blue State Digital, the Washington-based mobilizer of online communities created by four Dean campaign veterans.

Instead of e-mailing members of Congress, Gensemer continued, Obama's most effective supporters will meet with them in their district offices and press them at local town hall meetings.

Trippi offered a more dramatic scenario: "Obama will be able to say these are the 10 members of Congress standing in our way on health care. Basically, it'll be the president and the people united, with some members of Congress in between, which won't be a very comfortable place to be."

A million Obama activists nationwide translate to an average of nearly 2,300 for each of 435 congressional districts. "And if someone in my district had a list of them with e-mail addresses and a lot of good will, I'd pay a lot of attention to them," said Scott Lilly, a senior staffer for Democrats in the House of Representatives for nearly 30 years.

One question, Lilly continued, is whether Obama's activists are concentrated in liberal urban Democratic districts, where Obama needs no help, and not much of a presence in conservative ones, where resistance is most likely.

For example, Lilly wondered how numerous Obama supporters are in, say, Panama City, Fla. It's a hub of Florida's 2nd Congressional District, in the state's conservative Panhandle and represented by Allen Boyd, a Blue Dog Democrat.

Asked that question in late October, Alvin Peters, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Bay County, which includes Panama City, responded with shock and awe: "I've never seen so much political energy in this district ever," he said. "It's 10 to 20 times more than Kerry — maybe 1,400 in little Panama City alone — and it's all local!"

That's great news for Obama, whose legislative fate may depend most on his ability to persuade conservative Democrats.

What his supporters will accomplish in Republican districts is another uncertainty.

"If they're networked into PTA meetings and barbershops and call-in talk shows, they can let people know that their guy isn't doing what we want him to do. That could be an extraordinarily powerful tool," Lilly said.

He and others presume that Obama will pass on his activist database to the Democratic National Committee and/or a new nonprofit that takes direction from the Obama White House. That's permitted under MyBO's privacy policy, which says that its names and data may be turned over to "organizations with similar political viewpoints and objectives, in furtherance of our own political objectives."

The Federal Election Commission is unlikely to step in, said Washington lawyer Jan Baran, who's a specialist on federal election law, ethics and lobbying. "The FEC has generally laid off regulating Internet-based activity by political organizations and individuals," Baran said.

Reform advocates who see the Internet as a tool want to reduce Washington's grip on power by providing universal Internet access to more government deliberations and records. It's an idea that appeals to lots of Obama activists, who can be expected to push for it.

Obama has promised to create a "transparent and connected White House." He's also promised to appoint a Cabinet-rank chief technology officer to promote openness in federal agencies and help the new president communicate with the electorate. More generally, Obama supports expanding high-speed broadband Internet access, which roughly half the nation lacks.

An easy and popular step toward transparency would be for Obama to reverse the Bush administration's secretive policy on Freedom of Information Act requests for government records. That could be done by declaration, without congressional involvement, noted John Wonderlich, the program director of the Washington-based Sunlight Foundation, which promotes transparency.

Visionaries in the realm of Internet politics, several of them well-known among Obama activists, would like to see Obama go further and use Internet social networks for ideas and collaborative problem-solving.

Barack Obama

"Darcy Burner: Still in the media's Twilight Zone" (with video)

David Neiwert, with video:

I went to Darcy Burner's post-election party in Bellevue last night, and chatted with her as we watched the results come trickling in.

At the time, Darcy had a nice early lead, thanks to the early ballots. But we knew even then it wouldn't last, and sure enough, by the time I went home, the race was essentially tied.

We won't know the outcome of her race for a few days: Right now, Republican Rep. Dave Reichert has a a 900-vote lead, but only 41 percent of the vote has been counted.

Gauging from count trends we've seen so far, if Darcy is within shouting distance going into the final laps of counting, she has a very good shot at pulling out the win, since early-cast ballots went strongly for her.

Darcy was badly hurt in the last week or so of the campaign by the GOP's smear machine in claiming Burner "lied" about her Harvard degree, and especially by the disgraceful credulousness of the local press in picking up the story.

The leading disgrace was the Seattle Times, which managed even last night to smear Burner at the tail end. As we were hanging out in the comm room, HorsesAss blogger David Goldstein noticed that the Times was reporting that Darcy had gone home for the night and left her supporters behind. As it happened, Darcy was sitting next to us at the time. Here's Goldy's post, and a folo by McJoan.

You can see it all on the video.

And there's a special message to C&L readers from Darcy at the end.

UPDATE: Goldy finds even more Times stupidity.

"Seattle Celebrates Obama Victory" (slideshow)

Val Mallinson bikes along Harbor Avenue in West Seattle on Wednesday, celebrating Barack Obama’s election. Mallinson also cruised up and down California Avenue in West Seattle on Election Day. "I voted absentee and I just wanted to be part of it publicly," she said.

Seattle P-I.

Dave Letterman, Political Pundit (video)

CBS, video, (04:24).

"Big Election Winner: Indy Media"

Jeff Cohen:

Of all the factors contributing to Obama's victory -- luck, economic crisis, Bush, Palin -- a major factor is now so second-nature to us that we may overlook its transformative impact since just four years ago: the Internet and the progressive online boom.

First off, without its record-smashing Internet fundraising there would have been no Obama campaign. And without the February 1 endorsement from Netroots powerhouse MoveOn, and its infusion of energy and volunteers, Obama may well have lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton. This week, no age group voted more for Obama than the young generation that grew up online -- 70% of voters under 30, according to exit polls.

More important, the media terrain has changed dramatically since 2004 when Matt Drudge dominated the Net with his anti-Kerry vendetta. Today HuffingtonPost -- which didn't even launch until 2005 -- gets more visitors than Drudge. While conservative and establishment pundits still dominate TV and radio, progressive dominance of the Internet has made it easier for media critics and bloggers to instantly rebut the kind of hoaxes and smears that so damaged Gore and Kerry.

This time Swift-Boating was often countered -- as when Obama refused to be eclipsed by TV clips of Rev. Wright and made his speech on race that became the top video on You Tube (1.5 million views, 4,000 comments in 36 hours.) With Wright a media obsession, indy journalists from Glenn Greenwald to David Corn exposed McCain's bigoted preacher/endorsers.

Years ago, rightwing smears would flow up the food chain from Drudge to Fox News/talk radio into mainstream media. This year, the flow of serious, accurate charges about McCain got a push from progressive media -- like the story of "McCain's Mansions," which sailed from blogs to mainstream via the hugely successful Brave New Films viral video. Few will forget McCain's stunning answer when asked how many homes he owned: "I think -- I'll have my staff get to you."

The Nation's Net movement correspondent Ari Melber reports that muckraking bloggers have rendered Rovian attacks less effective than in past elections - including coded "dog-whistle" messages that activate rightwing audiences "while avoiding a backlash because the reference is lost on others." Melber writes: "Small groups of people are using the web to expose the targeted appeals of the analog world, and then injecting them into the mass media for the whole nation to assess."

To succeed, robocall smears need to operate below the radar. But this year, a backlash erupted over McCain's robocalls saying Obama supported baby-killing and "civil rights to terrorists." Talking Points Memo blog and its active readers were quickly exposing the calls -- providing sound and transcript. Several Republican senators denounced the calls.

Beyond their partisan role in this year's election, independent media also took the lead in using the Web to furnish objective source material. For example, HuffingtonPost's Off the Bus recorded and uploaded the previously press-only conference calls from both the Obama and McCain camps so members of the public could hear how campaign leaders spin the press. During the primaries, a collaboration of citizen journalists (involving groups like Off the Bus and Center for Media and Democracy) objectively monitored the leanings of Democratic superdelegates nationwide.

One of the ironies of 2008 coverage is that it was the Obama-friendly HuffingtonPost that published the reporting that nearly derailed Obama. Covering a San Francisco fundraiser closed to mainstream reporters, Off the Bus citizen journalist (and Obama donor) Mayhill Fowler posted a Web dispatch quoting Obama's lucid remarks about the cynicism of Midwesterners in economically-deprived small towns toward politicians' promises, including one poorly-worded sentence: "It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Fowler had hesitations about reporting comments that could be exploited by Obama's opponents, but she and Off the Bus felt it their responsibility as journalists to publish.

Blown out of context and proportion, the remarks -- soon dubbed "Bittergate" -- proved more damaging to Obama than all the venomous bluster from the Limbaughs and Hannitys.

The incident was yet another sign of the reach and impact of independent media. And perhaps its growing maturity as well.

Barack Obama

"Patriotism on St. Marks Street, 2008" (video)

melish99, video (00:42):

Obama Supporters Sing National Anthem In Street at 2am.

Howie P.S.: This is from New York City, where I was born. I was thinking, just before I ran across this video, that what we are feeling now is "we got our country back."

Barack Obama

Silenced Majority Portal:

That's what the newspaper said and I was in it.

Obama street celebration in Seattle

In Seattle, crowds of thousands of people spilled into the streets near the Pike Place Market and on Capitol Hill Wednesday night to celebrate the election of Barack Obama.

SEATTLE —

In Seattle, crowds of thousands of people spilled into the streets near the Pike Place Market and on Capitol Hill Wednesday night to celebrate the election of Barack Obama.

A police spokeswoman, Renee Witt, says the celebrations were peaceful and there were no arrests.

Barack Obama

"Obama’s Victory as Progress, Not History" (with video)

Ari Melber, with video of Obama's "Victory" speech (17:25):

Chicago, Ill — This victory is more than historic. President-elect Barack Obama’s victory marks political progress far broader than race — especially because his campaign de-emphasized it whenever possible.

The tens of thousands of people cheering here in Grant Park, at what is shaping up to be one of the largest victory celebrations in U.S. political history, are not just heralding another barrier broken in America. They are honoring a promise fulfilled — the advancement of a rare political leader who addresses the public honestly, engages his opponents respectfully and communes with his supporters openly. He built an agenda through a participatory politics that empowers organizers and upends civic culture by expanding the electorate.

In political terms, that means that Obama did not win “red states” Tuesday by treating them like red states. He did not energize his base by neglecting it. He did not convert wing voters by pandering to their occupational and cultural identities. After all the soundbites piled up, in fact, it was still Obama who had an actual policy conversation with Joe the Plumber, while Sen. John McCain invoked the everyman as a human prop.

Across the country, people, with their votes and their activism, are embracing the “change” agenda. Some scuffling over credit, priorities and ideology is inevitable, but the basics are clear: end the Iraq war; renew the economy; conquer corruption; prioritize alternative energy; pursue universal health care; and renew our civic life with a politics of good faith. It is ambitious, difficult and long overdue.

Barack Obama

VIDEO: "Obama fans flood Seattle streets"

Seattle P-I, video (01:29):

Thousands of people took to the downtown Seattle streets Tuesday night to celebrate Barack Obama being elected as the 44th President of the United States.

By 10 p.m. a celebrating crowd of some 2,000 people gathered outside Pike Place Market chanting "Yes we can!"

People hugged complete strangers. Drivers of some cars who couldn't get through the crowd left their vehicles and started hugging people around them.

"I never thought I would see what happened tonight," said Michael Turnbull, 28, who lives in the Wallingford neighborhood. "It is a change for America. For me, it erases the last eight years of the Bush administration."

Many people came from The Stranger's election party at The Showbox. Turnbull described the atmosphere as "pure jubilation."

Amanda Sapir, visiting Seattle from Arizona, and had her car stuck in the crowd as she was trying to return to her hostel.

The Obama supporter, driving with her 17-year-old niece, joined in the cheers.

"It is exciting and it is a pleasure," she said, surrounded by the ecstatic mob. "I am glad I drove down the street to be with people celebrating the moment."

Niamh McNamee, a Mullingar, Ireland, native living in Seattle for a year was in the crowd near The Showbox.

She said that while watching Obama's acceptance speech, she called her father in Ireland where it was 5 a.m..

He was watching the speech, drinking some Jameson whiskey and crying, she said.

"The whole world is watching," she said, looking at the massive Seattle crowd. "And I hope the whole world is seeing this."

Barack Obama

Barack Obama #44

"Election day and night 2008 on the radie-yo" (in Seattle)

BlatherWatch:

Radio is going all out to cover this historic election. Will a black man be elected to the presidency? Can a talk show host be elected to the U.S.Senate? Can a woman who can slime a salmon as well as an opponent win the vice presidency? Will negative campaigning have failed for once? Can lipstick gussy-up ignorance and craven ambition?

Seattle stations are bearing no expense to help you through the media and elctoral tangle of Tuesday.

KOMO: At 4-6p, coverage by Lisa Brooks and Brian Calvert. At 6p,The Commentators (John Carlson and Ken Schram) will join the news team four times an hour and open phone segments every 30-minutes. Lisa, Brian, the news team and The Commentators will be on the air until around 11p (possibly later). Art Sanders, Jennifer Harriman and the news team will keep things going until 1a (possibly later).

KVI: ABC's Mark Levin hosts his live election special from 3p-5p, then Fox News live coverage from 5p-7p, followed by Kirby & Co. live from the state Republican Party bash in Bellevue from 7p-11p (possibly later).

KPTK: Live national coverage anchored by Ron Reagan and David Bender from Grant Park in Chicago, with Thom Hartmann, Rachael Maddow and the Air America crew starting at 4p. Live updates on local, county and state races with Lee Callahan twice an hour starting at 6p.

KIRO will have all day coverage with extensive coverage at 4pm with Tony Miner joining Ron & Don. Starting at 7p, Miner, Dave Ross and Myron "Dori" Monson will anchor with reports from the GOP and Democratic HQ Parties, plus
reporters on the street.

KTTH will stay in format with updates from ABC News.

KUOW will run NPR live election coverage from 4 p - midnight with local updates from reporters in the field hosted by Marcie Sillman from 8-11p. Coverage continues at midnight with BBC election special from midnight until 5 a.m.

KXOT will carry BBC election special coverage from 1p-midnight.

Howie P.S.: I must confess (sorry Michael) that, so far, I am tuning in to MSNBC online, via Jed Lewison.

Howard Dean's Election Day Message, 11/4/08

DemocraticVideo, video (00:46):

VOTE NOVEMBER 4

Questions?
1-877-US-4-OBAMA
www.VoteforChange.com

Howie P.S.: Howard Dean dragged me into all this, after I had pulled back from politics, so he gets top billing this morning.

"The Unbearable Coolness of Obama"

Ari Melber:

Sen. Barack Obama is ending this campaign just like he started it — as the coolest guy in the room.

Obama’s calm vibe is a recurring theme in campaign coverage. Flying on his plane this season, I have often been struck by his relative serenity amid his hard-working aides, amped supporters and the constant surveillance of the traveling press. Another writer on the plane, Jeff Zeleny, captures Obama’s aura in a contemplative article for today’s New York Times:

While Mr. Obama smiles less than he once did, gauging his mood simply by looking at him is risky: his baseline cool temperament has seldom spiked along the rocky points of his journey …. Whatever emotions or anxiety Mr. Obama feels as his candidacy draws to a close, he displays little of it, either in public appearances or private conversations with his close advisers.

That demeanor is quite unusual in presidential candidates. Matt Bai, another Times writer, recently studied how Obama’s unflappable calm plays on the trail, both as a clear strength and potential shortcoming:

It is often said in politics that a candidate’s strength is also his weakness. Obama’s greatest asset as a candidate, the trait that has enabled him to overcome both a thin résumé and the resistance of his own party’s establishment, is his placidity. Even more than through his ability to give a rousing speech … Obama has differentiated himself from recent Democrats by conveying a sense of inner security that is highly unusual in a business of people who have chosen to spend every day asking people to love them … Obama is content to meet the world on his terms, and something about that inspires confidence.

And yet that same lack of pathetic neediness may in fact be a detriment when it comes to persuading voters who, culturally or ideologically, just aren’t predisposed to like him. I once heard a friend of Obama’s compare him with Bill Clinton this way: if Clinton sees you walking down the other side of the street, he immediately crosses over to shake your hand; if Obama sees you coming, he nods and waits for you to cross. That image returned to me as I watched Obama campaign [recently in Virginia]. Clinton wouldn’t have wanted to leave that gym until every last voter had been converted … Obama doesn’t connect to the world that way, which is probably why his campaign has always preferred big rallies to hand-to-hand venues. Obama gives the impression that he’s going to show up and make his case, and if you don’t fall in love with him, well, he’ll just have to pick up the pieces and go on. (emphasis added).

Obama has been this way during his entire time on the national stage — an incredibly intense though relatively brief period.

When most candidates were maxing out their retail politicking during the Iowa caucuses, showing signs of Bai’s “pathetic neediness,” Obama was the candidate of negative space. The Democratic star conveyed power, as my friend Eli Sanders wrote at the time, through that restraint:

His power and his allure are in his restraint, in its implicit promise that there is something more to him, something different, something that seems new but is actually old. It’s that seemingly paradoxical thing that used to draw people to America: soft power.

As the entire world looks to Obama in these last, tense days of a momentous campaign, it’s really no surprise that Obama is characteristically calm, with his equilibrium perfectly intact.

Howie P.S.: Being Barack Obama automatically relieves you of the pressure of making everybody love you. By definition, not everybody will.

Barack Obama

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Obama visibility in Seattle, 11/2/08. H/t to Silenced Majority Portal.

"When a non-licensed plumber who owes back taxes and would get a tax cut under Obama is held out by McCain as a stand-in for average working Americans who should vote Republican, you know truth-telling is taking a back seat to myth-making."-AP (via Huffington Post).

"Obama's favorable rating is 62% -- the highest that any presidential candidate has registered in Gallup's final pre-election polls going back to 1992."-Gallup's latest, via USA Today.

"Today, Barbara Anwine of the Election Protection Coalition (1-866-OUR-VOTE), a nonpartisan group, told MSNBC about voter suppression tactics they have witnessed around the country.The group says it has received over 80,000 voter calls at the Election Protection Command Center.Some emerging trends:

- Broward County leads Florida in voter requests for assistance.

- Registration-related problems rank #1 in nearly every battleground state - hundreds of calls focus on that problem, most often in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, and California

- Georgia voters are reporting more incidents of voter intimidation than any other state. Other reports of voter intimidation, scams or misinformation are also emerging in Ohio and Missouri.

- Florida voters rank #1 in requests related to criminal status and voting.

- Early voting problems are also being noticed, particularly Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, Florida and California"-(from Huffington Post).

Nate Silver notes "the national polls that include cell phone users have Sen. Barack Obama ahead of Sen. John McCain by an average of 9.4 points while the landline-only polls have him ahead by just 5.1 points."-via Political Wire.

"John McCain launched the final attack of his campaign, a fraudulent assault on Barack Obama that serves as a fitting reminder of the fundamental dishonesty not only of his own campaign, but also of the dishonesty of his allies in the right-wing propaganda establishment: Matt Drudge and FOX News.

All you need to know to understand the video is that the Drudge, FOX, and the McCain campaign joined forces with Newsbusters to push a story that the San Francisco Chronicle had concealed an eleven month old recording that supposedly contained devastating audio of Barack Obama proposing to bankrupt the entire coal industry.

Not only was that story false (more detail below), but it turns out that Barack Obama and John McCain have the same position on clean coal technology, and Ohio's Republican senator said McCain's plan to fight global warming would "put coal out of business."-Jed Lewison.

Barack Obama

"November 2, 2008: The Day in 100 Seconds" (video)

tpmtv, video (01:51).

Howie P.S.: MSNBC has this video, (06:06),"Election Obsessed? Prepare yourself for withdrawal" from The Today Show this morning.

"GOP Hack Begs For Mercy From Blogs" (with video)

Jed Lewison, with video (01:31):

Here's a perfect everyday example of just how much the pendulum of power is shifting in this country. Brad Blakeman, one of those GOP strategists you see on teevee, argues that an Obama victory would effectively result in a Democratic dictatorship.

Blakeman, whose counterpart was Ari Melber of The Nation, quickly realized he'd just stepped in it, and begged for mercy:

I'm kidding you Ari, take it easy. Don't blog it after we're done, get your people all in a bean about it.

To understand why Blakeman was begging for mercy, you need to know that the last time he and Melber squared off, Melber so thoroughly destroyed him that the YouTube clip of their encounter received over 150,000 views and subjected Blakeman to widespread mocking throughout the blogosphere.

So what we are seeing in this clip below is a Republican who realizes that conservatives no longer have exclusive dominance over the contours of our public discourse. There's a new seat at the table -- and we're the ones sitting in it.

You can view the full Blakeman vs. Melber segment here.

SNL: McCain Gets Mavericky on Weekend Update (video)

NBC: SNL, video (05:58).

Howie P.S.: Meanwhile, back in the real world, "The Stench Run: Republicans Ramp Up Negative Attacks As Election Day Nears."

Today's Seattle Media Stars for Obama

David Horsey (see above) is a Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist.

Ron Reagan (with audio) lives in Seattle (He is the son of.....Ronald Reagan!):

I assumed most people already knew that I had supported Obama. Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to my program would have known that. But if it helped to make it official, I'm happy to make it so.

"OBAMA SUPPORTERS AND VOLUNTEERS TO SPEND FINAL WEEKEND REACHING OUT TO WASHINGTON VOTERS"

Josh Field, (WA Communications Director-Obama for America):

SEATTLE, WA – This weekend, Obama campaign supporters will hit the streets to get out the vote for Senator Obama, Governor Gregoire and Democrats up and down the ticket.

The following canvass kickoff locations are open to the press on Saturday, November 1^st:

DOORS OPEN at 9:00 AM:

SPOKANE: Canvass kickoff with Governor Gregoire

Ferris High School

E. 3020 37th Ave
Spokane, WA 99223

PROGRAM BEGINS at 10:00 AM:

AUBURN: Canvass kickoff with Senator Maria Cantwell

Auburn Campaign for Change Office

240 Auburn Way S., Suite 1A
Auburn, WA 98002

SEATTLE: Canvass kickoff with former WA Governor Gary Locke

Seattle Campaign for Change Office

1310 Mercer St

Seattle, WA 98109

SHORELINE: Canvass kickoff with Senator Patty Murray

Shoreline Campaign for Change Office

15005 Aurora Ave. N
Shoreline, WA 98133

Barack Obama

BATBARN MEDIA: "WE HAVE ONLY BEGUN"

I'm in Seattle, looking to network with people with time to lend this weekend, Monday or Tuesday. Web, graphic design or video skills would be a great help. A small team could get this rolling very quickly.

This could potentially become a blog, if you have interest in running one.

We can start out independent, then network with the official campaign as we gather steam.

On the morning of November 5th, win, lose or draw, the real work will begin.

What kind of change will you be?

Let's get the concept started with a inspirational two-minute video.

I have the voice-over script and music. We'll produce now, using still images and/or video footage, and hit Youtube as soon as the results are official.

Contact: qmiller@batbarnmedia.com

Barack Obama