Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), a stalwart progressive whose record of opposing Bush administration misdeeds makes him a bellwether senator, is just now coming out with his take on Leon Panetta. And he's pleased with the clean break signaled by the nomination.

I am pleased by reports of the nomination of Leon Panetta to be the next CIA Director. These reports indicate that President-elect Obama recognizes the need for fresh leadership for the intelligence community. Leon Panetta has a long and distinguished career in public service and there are few people of whom I have a higher opinion. He has been a strong voice opposing the interrogation practices authorized by the Bush Administration and he is well-equipped to restore our national security, which has been undermined by the current administration's policies. I look forward to closely examining his record, hearing his plans for protecting our nation against al Qaeda and other threats, and learning how he will help restore the rule of law after years of lawlessness that have undermined our national security.

Panetta's symbolic value as a critic of the Bush administration's detainee-treatment debacles may just trump his lack of insider's cred with intelligence officials.

House intelligence committee chairman Silvestre Reyes may not get to preside over Leon Panetta's confirmation hearing, but he's pretty psyched to see the former White House chief of staff get tapped as Barack Obama's CIA director. From Reyes' statement:

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Just interviewed Pat Roberts (R-KS), former Senate intelligence chairman, about the contention surrounding Leon Panetta's nomination to head the CIA. Roberts was castigated by the liberal establishment for his performance investigating the intelligence errors surrounding the war in Iraq, but his four years helming the committee gave him a front-row seat for previous confirmation fights. And he had an interesting message: He plans to support Panetta.

"On the one hand, I think it's good to take a fresh look with a new director" at CIA, Roberts told me. "On the other hand, it's not on-the-job training [at the agency]. But Leon is a fast study."

Asked about the Obama transition's failure to inform incoming intelligence chairman Dianne Feinstein and outgoing chairman Jay Rockefeller about the Panetta nod, Roberts replied: "I don't think it's intentional -- California politics aside." (A possible reference to Panetta and Feinstein's shared history in their home state.)

Still, Roberts acknowledged that the situation Feinstein faces -- a junior member of the intel committee being told of a pending nomination before the chairman -- never occurred during his time at the helm.

Roberts and Panetta are old friends from their days on the House administration committee, and the bond of shared congressional service runs deep -- which could help win Panetta several Republican votes. But on the deeper issues of operational knowledge of the CIA and antipathy to Bush-era interrogation tactics, Panetta also gets Roberts' nod.

"I know this job entails protection of civil liberties as well as protecting America," Roberts told me, seeming to acknowledge Panetta's staunch criticism of the Bush intelligence record. "Leon's the kind of guy who's very pragmatic. He'll do what's best for the country."

When he became chairman, Roberts said, his first order of business was visiting each of the 16 agencies that comprise the US intelligence world. "My advice to him would be ... to pay a courtesy call," Roberts said of Panetta.

Yet more bad news for Caroline Kennedy's Senate prospects: A new survey from Public Policy Polling (D) shows that if she were appointed to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, she could potentially put it in danger of a Republican takeover in 2010.

The numbers: Caroline 46%, GOP Rep. Peter King 44%, within the ±3.7% margin of error. State Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo leads King 48%-29%.

King's personal numbers are 34% favorable, 26% unfavorable, and the remainder having no opinion. So we can be pretty sure that a good chunk of people saying they would vote for him are really voting against Kennedy, whose own favorable numbers are at 44%-40%. Cuomo's numbers are 57%-20%.

A poll yesterday from PPP showed that Kennedy had also fallen way behind Cuomo as the choice of New York Democrats on who should get the appointment.

The Uptake reports that Norm Coleman will be speaking at 4 p.m. ET today in Minnesota -- his first public appearance since the state canvassing board certified the election results yesterday showing him losing to Al Franken by 225 votes, and also his first appearance since his term expired this past Saturday and he became an ex-Senator.

So what's going to happen? Will he announce that he's challenging the results in court, which could prevent Franken from being seated for weeks or even months? Or will he give it up and concede, in the face of some very long odds against him winning in court?

Meanwhile, Harry Reid just took to the Senate floor to urge Coleman to concede, rather than put the seat in limbo. Reid reminisced about how bad he felt when he lost a very close Senate race in 1974, and then how he later won a super-close race in 1998 -- and how much he admired his opponent John Ensign, now his co-Senator, for handling it better than he himself had 24 years earlier. We'll have video of that shortly.

Late Update: Here's the Reid video:

Just talked with Dianne Feinstein outside the Senate chamber about her qualms with the Leon Panetta nomination. The incoming Senate intelligence committee chairman said that both President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden called her after the fact to discuss the surprise choice of Panetta, who has no direct intelligence agency experience and whose nomination came as unwelcome news to Feinstein when it broke yesterday.

"I understand their thinking" in choosing Panetta, Feinstein explained, describing herself as "very respectful of the president's authority ... this is the man [Obama has chosen]."

I asked Feinstein whether her reticence about Panetta's lack of ties to the CIA would be mitigated by having Steven Kappes, her preferred choice for CIA director, stay on as the agency's No 2. "I believe very strongly" that Kappes should stay, Feinstein said, adding that Panetta's standing would be "very much enhanced" were Kappes to stay his deputy.

Feinstein seemed to acknowledge the Obama team's desire to find a CIA director who would signal an end to the abusive interrogation tactics of the Bush years. "We all want a break with the past," she told the reporters milling around her in the Senate. "I was the one who went into the conference committee" between the House and the Senate last year with an amendment that would use the Army Field Manual as the universal standard for detainee interrogations, she added.

"I understand the administration's desire to cut clean and open a new chapter and I support that. Whether those changes can be made" with Panetta at the helm, she added, remains to be seen.

In the latest development in the Obama intelligence appointments, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has put out a statement heartily approving the appointment of retired Adm. Dennis Blair to be the Director of National Intelligence -- a sharp contrast to her reaction to the nomination of Leon Panetta to be CIA Director.

The statement also has some language that could please the left, looking forward to the end of the Bush Administration's history of torture -- though Feinstein still refers to it in euphemistic terms:

"I met Admiral Blair several years ago in Hawaii, when he headed the Pacific Command, and I found him to be very knowledgeable about national security and global affairs. His experience gives him valuable insight into the many challenges facing the intelligence community and makes him a strong nominee for Director of National Intelligence.

...

"Of critical importance to me is that the next DNI deliver on President-elect Barack Obama's pledges to end the CIA coercive interrogation program, ensure the rule of law is respected, and improve our intelligence collection and analysis capabilities in order to better assess all threats."

Full statement after the jump.

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Just spoke to Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-OR) office, where a spokeswoman confirmed what was hinted at this morning: Wyden had been in contact with the Obama transition team to discuss the Leon Panetta nomination, while incoming Senate intelligence chairman Dianne Feinstein was still in the dark.

We checked in with Wyden because Bloomberg's report described him as "being consulted" on the choice -- whether he was consulted by the Obama camp or by Panetta, a former ally of Wyden's from their days in the House, remained unclear.

But now that we know Wyden had talked to the Obama transition, two questions arise:

1. Who else on Senate intel knew about it before Feinstein, whose support for AG Michael Mukasey had aroused the ire of many progressives?

2. Is this a case of the New York Times getting the news before the transition could inform Feinstein ... or a case of a powerful senator kept in the dark on purpose?

Evan Bayh (D-IN), a member of the Senate intelligence committee, just reiterated his support for the Leon Panetta nomination at CIA -- with a telling addition.

Bayh vowed to support Panetta, whose unexpected selection has opened a schism among Senate Democrats. But he also hailed the skills of Steve Kappes, the current CIA No 2 who is reportedly Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rockefeller's preferred pick to lead the agency. Here's Bayh's statement:

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It's official: Roland Burris came to the Senate, he saw the Senate -- and he was turned away at the door.

Burris just made a brief statement to reporters, after his credentials were rejected by the Secretary of the Senate. "Members of the media, my name is Roland Burris, junior Senator from the state of Illinois," Burris said, in an effort to establish his legitimacy. "I presented my credentials to the Secretary of the Senate and was advised that my credentials are not in order, I will not be accepted, and I will not be seated, I will not be permitted on the floor."

He then added that he was not seeking any kind of confrontation -- but did not expressly rule out any lawsuit. Instead, he said he would be consulting with his attorneys on what his next step will be.

Late Update: Burris' lawyer Timothy W. Wright III declared that the rejection of Burris "was improperly done and is against the law of this land." Wright added: "We will consider our options and certainly let you know what our decisions will be soon thereafter." So it sounds like we're looking at a lawsuit -- or at least the threat of one, as a bargaining chip.

On the Rachel Maddow show last night, Senate intelligence committee member Evan Bayh (D-IN) professed no objections to the choice of Leon Panetta to head the Obama CIA.

"Leon Panetta is an outstanding public servant and I intend to support his nomination," Bayh said. So we have Dianne Feinstein, the panel's incoming chairman, expressing her discontent with the nomination, alongside outgoing chairman Jay Rockefeller.

But two other Senate intel committee members -- progressive Ron Wyden and the, uh, less progressive Bayh -- remain copacetic.

The plot is thickened by Feinstein's revealing that the Obama transition team did not consult her in advance on the Panetta nomination before letting it slip yesterday. Wyden, on the other hand, appears to have known in advance. Who on the panel was consulted and who was left in the dark? We haven't yet heard from Russ Feingold and Sheldon Whitehouse, senators who are both stalwart progressives on intelligence issues. But we'll update you as soon as more committee members tip their hand.

The St. Petersburg Times reports that Florida Republicans are running into a problem in holding on to the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Mel Martinez: Their absolute best potential candidate, Jeb Bush, is starting to seem reluctant about making the race.

"I put it at dead even -- 50/50," said former Jeb aide Justin Sayfie, who met with Bush a few weeks ago. "I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to run, I wouldn't be surprised if he decided not to run." After Martinez first announced his retirement, state Republicans were generally sounding much more optimistic than this about lining up Jeb.

Even if Bush doesn't run, though, the GOP does have a few things going for them: The Republican primary is nearly 20 months away (it's held in late August), and the state party has a whole lot of elected officials making up a very deep bench. They would have plenty of time to find someone else and to make it a real race in the country's biggest swing state. But it would probably be much more difficult.

Today: Congress Being Sworn In, Biden At The Senate
This is the day that Congress will be sworn in. Joe Biden will be on Capitol Hill to be sworn in again for a seventh term in the Senate -- which he will resign within the next two weeks or so, to become vice president.

The Big Event: Burris At The Senate
With Congress being sworn in, of course, this means Roland Burris will be showing up at the Senate, and is expected to be turned away. Burris has said he won't make a scene or cause any confrontation -- but any scenario in which he's turned away from the door would inherently be a scene, no matter how civil it might be.

No Senator Franken Today
Senate Democrats will not make any attempt today to swear in Al Franken as the new Senator from Minnesota, instead leaving that seat vacant for now. There is some speculation that they might be planing to try it soon -- but they would encounter a promised Republican filibuster, while Norm Coleman pursues his legal challenges to the election result.

Obama Meeting With Economic Team Today
Barack Obama is meeting with his economic team, this afternoon at his D.C. transition office. The subject of the meeting will be to plan ahead for the 2010 budget, and how they will bring the deficit down as the economy recovers.

Gregoire D.C. Trip Sets Off Speculation About Commerce Department
Gov. Christine Gregoire (D-WA) is reportedly on a trip to Washington, after having cancelled a lunch appearance back home -- setting off speculation that she is being vetted as a last-minute choice for Secretary of Commerce after Bill Richardson's withdrawal. Gregoire was re-elected by six points this past November, and if this is true she would be succeeded by Democratic Lt. Gov. Brad Owen. (Late Update: Gregoire is visiting troops in Iraq, and is apparently not lining up for a cabinet post.)

Laura Bush Lands Book Deal
Laura Bush has secured a book deal, to publish her memoirs about her years as First Lady. The book will be published in 2010.

Former eBay Head And McCain Surrogate Preparing California Gubernatorial Run
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who hit the campaign trail in 2008 as a surrogate for John McCain, is considering a campaign for governor of California in 2010, when Arnold Schwarzenegger will be term-limited. Whitman has already made a key staff hire in lining up campaign strategist Jeff Randle, who has worked for Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson, and she has stepped down from three corporate boards.

Brownback Running For Governor Of Kansas
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) has filed paperwork to run for governor of Kansas in 2010, after having made good on his previous pledge to not run again for Senate. Brownback is actively aligned with the state GOP's Christian-right faction, and should be viewed as the frontrunner going into this race.

In a statement given to Election Central, Harry Reid's office says that he will not attempt to seat Al Franken in the Senate tomorrow -- though they are reiterating Reid's call for Norm Coleman to concede the race rather than drag it out.

The statement from Reid spokesman Jim Manley:

"Now that the bipartisan state canvassing board has certified Al Franken as the winner, we hope Senator Coleman respects its decision and does not drag this out for months with litigation. Shortly after Election Day, Coleman criticized Mr. Franken for wanting a recount and wasting taxpayer money. Now that it is clear he lost, Coleman should follow his own advice and not subject the people of Minnesota to a costly legal battle.

"However, there will not be an effort to seat Mr. Franken tomorrow."

Late Update: Reid separately told the Politico that Coleman has lost and "will never ever serve" in the Senate -- he can only stall things.

But for now, it appears that Coleman is stalling quite successfully.

On the first day after any congressional recess, the mood in Washington tends to be genial and relaxed, with reporters and aides swapping more vacation stories than legislative strategies. But today was different. The souring economy focused intense attention on the closed-door meetings that Barack Obama conducted with lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol.

After Obama emerged for his second public availability of the day, taking no questions, both Democratic and Republican leaders emerged to put their spin on what transpired. And while Harry Reid referred to the need for an economic recovery bill costing between $800 billion and $1.2 trillion, Mitch McConnell mentioned only one number: 40%, the share of the package that the Obama camp has said would go toward tax cuts.

But during the leaders' meeting with Obama, McConnell said, "there was no discussion about the overall size of the package. I don't think it's been determined."

The tactic is one familiar to savvy members of Congress: If they can delay public agreement on an issue, they win more time to shape it to their liking. The longer Republicans delay in accepting the size of the bill, the greater chance they have of shrinking it.

For now it appears that Obama's team is unruffled by the numbers game taking place. On Wednesday, when the House Democratic steering committee holds its first public forum on the recovery package, we'll be listening to see whether Republicans are finally ready to reveal the price tag they can live with -- and whether the new administration is ready to agree.

In six weeks, anyone want to bet that Republicans profess their alarm at the Democrats' hijacking of the process to promote profligate government spending?

Late Update: Here's the video of McConnell's remarks: