Democratic Chatter 11-20-2008

George Wenschhof

Today President-elect Obama in in Chicago continuing transition efforts - Vice-President-elect Joe Biden is home in Delaware where he is celebrating his 66th birthday.

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More rumored cabinet picks - Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano for Secretary of homeland Security . Politico.com has more here. Also, Penny Pritzker, who was Finance Chair for the Obama campaign for Commerce Secretary.

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Meanwhile, Obama-Biden Transition Team makes official four staff positions at the White House - all were previously rumored and are: David Axelrod - Senior Adviser to the President - Lisa Brown, Staff Secretary, Greg Craig - White House Counsel, and Chris Lu - Cabinet Secretary. Change.gov has more here.

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Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) set to become chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee - the musical chairs continue as it now becomes apparent Kerry will not be chosen for Secretary of State, a position that was reported he wanted. He will replace Vice-President elect Joe Biden who will resign as chair. The Boston Globe has more here.

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Big Three U.S. Auto makers still looking for 25 Billion - in what one would classify as a "not so smart move", the CEOs all flew private jets to D.C. yesterday asking for funds to bail out the ailing auto industry. They left without any assurances. The White House and Congress have differing views on where the money should come from. The Bush administration says to redirect the earlier 25 Billion directed at fuel efficiency to a loan. While Democrats in Congress want to use some of the 700 Billion approved for the Trouble Assets Relief Program (TARP). Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Bad news on the economy continues - Unemployment hits highest level since 1992 as 542,000 new jobless claims were filed last week. Read more here. Yesterday, with a drop of 400, the Dow closed under 8000 for the first time since 2003. McClatchydc.com has more here.

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