Four Senate vacancies. In one, literally a staffer is appointed to keep the seat warm for the Senator’s son. In another, it’s an ongoing battle of which high-profile election surrogate to reward for their loyalty. In the third, the trumping consideration was apparently in favor of the guy most connected to big money, at the expense of qualifications or experience. And in the fourth, the guy nominated was an unimpeachable public servant undeniably qualified for the job.

Now, this is actually a pretty interesting strategy by the the Obama team. Have Biden focus on the problems of the largest group in this country while Obama tries to save everybody.
From AP:
Vice President-elect Joe Biden will oversee an Obama administration effort to find ways of building up the ranks of the middle class, that [...]

So says Barack Obama this morning.

“Finally, on this matter, let me say that this Senate seat does not belong to any politician to trade - it belongs to the people of Illinois, and they deserve the best possible representation. They also deserve to know that any vacancy will be filled in an appropriate way.”
Umm, a [...]

Politico.com reports that Joe Biden plans to “limit the role of vice president” to what it supposedly was before the Bush-Cheney White House:
Dialing back his predecessor’s expansive view of the office, Vice President-elect Joe Biden plans on “restoring the Office of the Vice President to its historical role” as adviser to the president and tie-breaker [...]

It’s supposedly a done deal, so now the press can stop chattering about the Clintons being duplicitous and just accept the fact that Obama is genuinely forming a team of rivals.
From NY Times:
Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for [...]

MSNBC’s First Read speculates that there may be a nepotism play going on with Joe Biden’s Delaware Senate seat:
With President-elect Obama having resigned his Senate seat yesterday, folks may be wondering about what Vice President-elect Biden might do.
Biden told a local TV station right before Election Day he didn’t want to resign his seat right [...]

More free press for Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book that Obama is claiming will be his guide to building a robust, bi-partisan cabinet.
Here she is with David Gregory explaining Lincoln’s leadership and Obama’s intentions to stock his cabinet with campaign rivals…

First Biden. Then Hillary. And now we get word of Bill Richardson.
But who will be the [...]

These are the reports I’m hearing and neither the Clinton folks nor the Obama folks are denying it…which is a sure sign that this is on the table.
Ben Smith details…
Andrea Mitchell reported this evening that Obama is considering Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, something that’s been buzzed about as a possibility for a few [...]

Politico is reporting that Barack Obama’s administration will likely use Joe Biden as the “good cop” to offset Rahm Emanuel’s “bad cop” role:
The Democrats’ apparent failure to win the 60 Senate seats necessary to halt a GOP filibuster has created the need for inter-party ambassadors like Biden who are practiced at the art of aisle [...]

Some lighter fare before tomorrow’s showdown…

What do you think? Effective strategy? :-)

Maybe late-night comics should be rooting for John McCain and Sarah Palin. If the Republican ticket loses, the comics will have to find new material.
Check this story out.
From Sept. 1 through Friday, the Republicans were the target of 475 jokes by Jay Leno and David Letterman alone. The Democratic team of Obama and Joe [...]

When’s the last time you heard a local television news anchor quote Karl Marx?
Well, get ready, because you’re about to…

First off, I think Biden answered the way you should when somebody asks questions with such a heavy editorial slant. I mean that was laughably transparent. Karl Marx? Is she serious with that?
But second…I think what [...]

Joe Biden had been doing well on the campaign trail. But yesterday he made some odd comments which John McCain is jumping all over.
Here’s what Biden said:
Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy … The world is watching. We’re about to elect [...]

In this podcast we offer a preview of the third and final presidential debate between Obama and McCain as well as an overview of the state of the campaign. We also discuss our most recent election projection and the polling trends during the last week.
Additionally, we criticize both campaigns on their respective weaknesses and [...]

Editor’s Note: Justin here. I’m very excited to welcome Dan Hill to Donklephant, author of Face Time, a book about the political candidates and how their emotions play a vital role in the campaign. He’ll be penning some editorials about the “facial coding” that went on with each candidate after every debate.
Here’s part of his [...]

First, the poll shows us that Biden won the debate 54% to 46%. So yet again, he wins in a poll. I saw Pat Buchanan try to argue today on The McLaughlin Group that Drudge’s online poll and Frank Luntz’s focus group on Fox should count too. Well, good luck with that Pat.
Now, Palin was [...]

McCain gains one today, and Obama holds steady at the 50% mark. And with each day that McCain doesn’t seriously close the gap, the road gets tougher and tougher. It’s becoming like the primaries where Hillary had to win a bigger and bigger percentage of the delegates in each contest, but instead Obama simply ran [...]

I thought this was the hilarious. Fey nails Palin yet again and while Jason Sudeikis didn’t sound a lot like Biden, I thought he was still great.

During the Vice Presidential Debate on Thursday night, Senator Joe Biden had this to say about John McCain’s health care plan:
… do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you’re going to get, a family will get? He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you [...]

So far, not one poll I’ve seen has shown Palin winning. Well, except for the non-scientific online polls which anybody can game if they know how delete cookies from their browser.
So who thought what?

Obama supporters favored Biden by an 81% to 3% margin.

McCain voters declared Palin the victor 76% to 5%.

Government employees declared Biden [...]