This Week In Fake News...

More Funnies

• McCain Slams Obama For Meeting With Bush Without Preconditions
• Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?
  
• Bush Opts Against Seeking Third Term
• International Con Man Barack Obama Leaves US With $85 Million In Campaign Fundraising
  
• Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity
  

Quotable: Comb Over

"The Republican Party in my view needs more than a comb over."

--Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, at the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami today. Over the summer, Pawlenty was widely mentioned as a potential running mate for John McCain.

Cartoon Monday

Start your Monday off right--with the best political cartoons from the week that was. Enjoy.

Borrowed from here, here, and here.

Leftovers: Obamaha

Barack Obama added another electoral vote to his total yesterday afternoon, claiming Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District that covers most of the Omaha metro area. Obama had trailed McCain by 569 votes after counting concluded on Tuesday, but uncounted absentee and early ballots pushed him ahead yesterday. Obama picked up 8,434 of the 15,039 ballots counted Friday, giving him a net gain of 1,829 votes. He now leads the district tally by 1,260 votes and though several thousand provisional ballots remain uncounted, Obama is expected to come out on top.

Obama's campaign worked diligently in the district, which went to George W. Bush by 20 points in 2004. His campaign opened three offices in Omaha and employed more than a dozen paid staffers who recruited an army of volunteers. Obama drew 10,000 supporters to a February event shortly before the state's caucuses, which he won handily. His campaign dispatched former rival Hillary Clinton to rally Democrats a week before Tuesday's historic vote. Sarah Palin did visit the district in early October, but the McCain campaign never really invested in the district--relying solely on the state Republican Party and local activists.

So after months of canvassing and registration drives, Obama became the first Democrat to win an electoral vote in the typically ruby red state since Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 landslide. This is also the first time Nebraska has split its electoral votes since adopted the district allocation method in 1991. State Republicans have been grumbling in recent days about changing to the standard winner-take-all allocation used in 48 of the 50 states, but such talk remains premature.

The win pushes Obama's total to 365 electoral votes to 162 for John McCain. Missouri, with 11 electoral votes, remains uncalled. McCain currently leads Obama by about 6,000 votes in the Show-Me State, but thousands of provisional ballots have yet to be tallied.

The Links: Transition

Served fresh (almost) daily...

• Change.gov
  
• After some hesitation, Illinois Democrat Rahm Emanuel will be chief of staff.
• Obama will meet with President Bush at the White House on Monday.
• Bush had previously promised complete cooperation with the transition.
• Obama announced his transition team yesterday.
• Campaign strategist David Axelrod will join Obama in Washington.
• Communications director Roberts Gibbs has been tapped to be press secretary.
  
• Nate Silver finds that Obama out-performed Kerry across the board.
• Sarah Palin demurs when asked about a possible 2012 presidential bid.
  
• Indiana Republican Dick Lugar rules out taking a job in the Obama Administration.
• Retiring Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel is open to an offer from Obama.
• Kenya declared a national holiday today to celebrate Obama's victory.
• After a deserved vacation, McCain is preparing for a return to the Senate.
  
• SNL invites Joe Biden to appear after having on Obama, McCain, and Palin.
• Obama was expected to receive his first intelligence briefing today.
• Chris Cillizza highlights some winners and losers (not just the obvious ones).
• The DNC credits Howard Dean's 50 state strategy for Tuesday's victories.
• CNN won the ratings race Tuesday night (surely thanks to their holograms).
• A new report suggests 2008 turnout was up only slightly from four years ago.
• A report yesterday, however, pegged turnout at more than 133 million.
  
• How did the pollsters do?
  
• Jobless claims are now at a 25 year high.
• The Dow fell below 9,000 today.
  
• This day in history: Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederacy in 1861.
  

Leftovers: Recount Coming In Minnesota Race

The margin continues to tightening the Minnesota Senate contest between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken and the race is almost certainly headed for a recount that could stretch into December. The two bitter rivals exchanged leads into the early hours of Wednesday, with Norm Coleman ultimately coming out with the lead.

The Associated Press initially declared Coleman the victor Wednesday, but retracted the call several hours later. That didn't stop Coleman from declaring victory yesterday. Coleman, always looking out for the voters, even had the audacity to suggest that his opponent waive the recount. "I would step back," he explained Wednesday morning. Coleman, hoping to save voters the $90,000 a recount would cost, wants the "healing process" to begin.

Of course, Franken is pursuing a recount as required when the final margin is less than half of one percent. With nearly 3 million Minnesotans casting ballots Tuesday, Coleman was ahead by just over 1000 votes. That margin has now shrunk to 336, as a few remaining votes are being tallied. While Coleman's concern for the state's emotional well being is admirable, the notion that Franken should refuse a recount is clearly ridiculous given those numbers.

"This race is too close to call and we do not yet know who won," a Franken statement noted Wednesday. "This has been a long campaign, and it's going to be a little longer before we have a winner."

Independent candidate Dean Barkley took over 15%--more than 430,000 votes--and exit polls seem to indicate that Franken may have won had he not been on the ballot.

Leftovers: Merkley Takes Oregon Senate Contest

It looked like Republican Gordon Smith might hold onto his seat in Oregon Wednesday morning. At the time, his lead over challenger Jeff Merkley (pictured) was more than 10,000 votes. The state, which votes entirely by mail, is still receiving and counting ballots and the tide has now turned.

Jeff Merkley has now moved into a reasonably comfortable lead with 84% of precincts reporting. He is ahead of Smith 49%-46%, or nearly 50,000 votes, and most of the remaining ballots seem to be in Multnomah County. The county, which includes the city of Portland, has been going heavily for the Democratic Merkley so far.

Most news outlets have now called the race for Merkley and Smith has conceded defeat. Merkley's victory moves the Democratic total to 57 seats in the Senate, including two independents in their caucus.

Merkley had surged ahead of Smith in most polls in the weeks leading up to the election and looked like the clear favorite.