Democratic Chatter 12-24-2008

George Wenschhof Bio

President-elect Barack Obama announces more White House staff - Cassandra Butts - deputy White House Counsel, Elizabeth Sears Smith - Deputy Cabinet Secretary, and two Deputy Directors of Legislative Affairs: Shawn Maher -Senate and Dan Turner -House. Change.gov has more here.

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Wow! 82% approve of how the President-elect is handling the transition - a CNN'Opinion Research poll released today shows Barack Obama's approval rating to be much higher than George W. Bush (65%) and Bill Clinton (67%) when they were President-elect. Certainly a good start prior to assuming office. CNN.com has more here.

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Will the Obama Stimulus Plan be innovative or more of the same? - states are already preparing wish lists and they all contain requests for money for roads. Bloomberg.com has more here. While road upgrades are certainly needed, so is new approaches to transportation such as mass transit coupled with job creation closer to home. Let's hope the Stimulus Program also provides new direction and not just more of the same.

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Minnesota Senate race update - Democrat Al Franken has a 47 vote lead over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. This after all the challenged ballots have been ruled on by the state canvassing board. 2.9 million voted in this election which still has another 1600 absentee ballots to be counted. A Court ruling required both candidates and the canvassing to agree on a system by December 31 to count these 1600 ballots. The Coleman campaign is also challenging what they claim to be 150 duplicate votes. It is unlikely the winner will be decided by January 6, the date the new congress is sworn in. The NY Times has more here.

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Colorado Senate seat musical chairs update - with Ken Salazar's (D) nomination for Secretary of interior, yet another senate seat will be filled by a Governor appointment. State Senate President Peter Groff (D) is the early favorite to be picked by Governor Bill Ritter (D). The Governor intends to have made his decision prior to January 6, the swearing in day for the new members of Congress. If picked, Groff would be the only African-American serving in the U.S. Senate. Politico.com has more here.

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More bad news on the economy - The Labor department reported jobless claims increased to 586, 000 for the week ending December 20. This is the highest since November 1982. Consumer spending dropped 0.7% and the sale of existing and new homes dropped in November. Time.com has more here.

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