Report: Obama Promised Hillary Access And Autonomy At State
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama capped off his effort to recruit Hillary Clinton as Secretary of state by promising her direct access to him in the White House, and the ability to pick her own staff.

Obama To Officially Roll Out Economic Team Tomorrow
The Obama transition team has officially announced that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will hold a press conference as 12 p.m. ET tomorrow to roll out their economic team, a development that was essentially known on Friday. The big task the Obama team has is to calm and reassure the markets during the Bush-Obama interregnum, and thus prevent a repeat of the disastrous lame-duck period between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.

Bill Daley: Obama Likely To Delay Tax Hikes On Top-Earners
Key Obama adviser Bill Daley, a former Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton, said on Meet The Press that Barack Obama is likely to delay his planned repeal of the Bush tax cuts on those earning over $250,000 because of the economic downturn. Instead, Obama could just end up waiting until 2011 for the tax cuts to expire on their own.

Axelrod: No Auto Bailout Until Companies Submit Real Plan
David Axelrod said on ABC's This Week that the incoming Obama Administration wants to help automakers, but also wants to see a plan first from executives on how they will retool their companies. "If they don't do that then there is very little the tax payers can do," said Axelrod. "I hope automakers come back to Congress, hopefully on commercial flights."

Report: Summers To Be Named Senior Economic Adviser
Larry Summers, the former Bill Clinton Secretary of the Treasury who later had a tumultuous period as president of Harvard, will reportedly be named head of the National Economic Council, a senior advisory position to the president on economic matters. Summers also previously had a very close working relationship with incoming Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

GOPer McClintock Declares Victory In Key House Race
House candidate Tom McClintock (R-CA), a champion of the California right, has declared victory in a very close race for the open seat of GOP Rep. John Doolittle, after absentee ballots have shown him maintaining his slim lead over Dem candidate Charlie Brown. For his part, Brown has not yet conceded defeat.

WaPo: Was This Election A Realignment? Maybe.
The Washington Post reports on the debate among pollsters over whether this election represented a true realignment to the left, or an interruption of the "center-right country" that the Republicans insist we are. Andrew Kohut of Pew Research argues that ideology itself did not drive the election -- but also says, "If the new administration takes us left and it works, then people will be won over."

Here's the latest on two key House races that are still up in the air and both seemingly headed for recounts. In one race, the Democrats may have just fallen short in a deep-red district, though there are still a lot more ballots to tally up -- and in another, they may have just succeeded in picking off a GOP incumbent that few people would have predicted.

In California's Fourth District, the open seat of scandal-plagued GOP Congressman John Doolittle, an audit will be conducted of 10% of the district's voting machines -- the first step under state law in deciding whether to proceed with a full recount. Republican candidate Tom McClintock currently leads the 2006 Dem nominee Charlie Brown by only 889 votes out of over 300,000 votes counted so far, with 40,000 ballots still to be counted across both candidates' strongholds.

In Virginia's Fifth District, home to the cartoonishly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim GOP Rep. Virgil Goode, the numbers between himself and Dem challenger Tom Perriello keep shifting. On Friday, Perriello declared victory and began his transition, but Goode has not conceded. As of right now, Perriello leads by 745 votes, and it's not implausible to imagine the race going back to Goode. By the time the race is certified on November 24, it will likely be so close that the losing candidate is entitled to a request a full recount at the state's expense.

New GOP Ad: Al Franken "Writes Pornography," "Laughs At The Disabled"
The NRSC, facing more poll data showing Al Franken taking the lead in Minnesota, is pulling out all the stops with their new ad against Franken's dirty humor:

Both the NRSC and the Coleman campaign have been attacking Franken's toilet-humor for months now, but Franken has nevertheless managed to take the lead in most of the recent polls. This increase in the intensity of the attack does come off as desperate, if it's meant to be a real closing argument against Franken and the Democrats.

Coleman Ad: I Work Really Hard For You!
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who is trying to keep it positive in his own new ads, has this new one-minute ad in which the incumbent seems to be begging Minnesotans to realize how hard he works for them:

"In times as thought as this, it's really easy to kind of be on the sidelines and cast stones, and say, you know 'This is the problem and that's the problem," Coleman says. "I think people know we've got problems, but I think what they're looking for is solutions."

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Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:

Bachmann Doubles Down On Obama = Anti-America
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has dug in further on her position that Barack Obama is against America. Bachmann appeared today on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, and had this to say: "And so, he [Chris Matthews] was using the word "Anti-American" and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama's views. Because Barack Obama's views are against America." And here's what she said on the Mike Gallagher show: "What are Barack Obama's policies? Are they for America, or will they be against traditional American ideals and values?"

House GOP List Sees Double-Digit Losses
U.S. News has obtained the NRCC's internal "Death List" of seats they consider to be probably lost to the Democrats. Ten seats are listed as "likely gone," another nine are tagged as "leaning Democratic," and another 22 are "pure toss-up." It's unknown whether this list was drafted before or after the party cut off support for Michele Bachmann.

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Here's tonight's rundown on the Congressional races: It wasn't a good day for the GOP, with a mixture of legal defeat, the wrong candidate winning the nomination for a key seat, and tough counter-attacks from the Dems.

Democrats Win Court Battle In Mississippi Senate Race
In a surprise victory for the Dems, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled against the efforts by GOP Gov. Haley Barbour to bury the hotly-contested special election for Senate at the bottom of the physical ballot used on Election Day, where lower-information voters might have overlooked it. Oddly enough, though, the court declined to issue a formal order that Barbour must change the ballot, but only threatened to issue one if he did not comply from here on out.

Late Update: Barbour's office says he will comply with the ruling.

NY Conservatives: No, We're Not Nominating Fossella
A leader of the New York Conservative Party is ruling out the possibility of subbing in scandal-plagued retiring Rep. Vito Fossella (R) as their new nominee for Congress. "No, absolutely not," said Brooklyn party chairman Jerry Kassar, in an interview with Election Central. "He is not under consideration, nor has he requested consideration."

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Here's tonight's rundown on Congressional races: Republicans across the country are getting desperate in the face of some very stiff Dem challenges -- so they're accusing their opponents of various kinds of personal sleaze.

GOP Congressman's Campaign Attacks Dem For Thinking About Masturbation Thirty Years Ago
Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) is stepping up his social-conservative attacks on Dem challenger Kay Barnes, circulating to reporters an article that Barnes wrote back in the 1970s on the subject of sexuality and masturbation. A spokesman for the Barnes campaign told Roll Call that Graves is "fixated on sex" and that voters have better things to worry about.

GOP Candidate's Ad: My Opponent Supports Hanging Soldiers In Effigy
Tom McClintock, the GOP nominee for the open seat of scandal-plagued Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), has premiered this new ad attacking Democrat Charlie Brown, an Air Force veteran, for attending an anti-war rally in 2005:

"Charlie Brown stood with anti-war radicals when a soldier was hung in effigy," says the woman in the ad, the mother of a Marine. "That's no way to support our troops."

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Okay, here's yet another twist on the false Republican claim that China is drilling for oil off American shores: Tom McClintock, the GOP nominee for the open seat of scandal-plagued Republican John Doolittle, has now asserted that China is on the verge of draining off all the oil in the Gulf!

"Meanwhile, the vast oil fields off the coast of Florida that American law prevents Americans from developing are now being drained by the Chinese government drilling in Cuban waters," McClintock wrote in a column for the Auburn Journal, pointed out to us by the campaign of his Dem opponent Charlie Brown.

"And still Nancy Pelosi and her supporters in Congress continue to block the development of these vast American oil reserves."

Question: Given how long it takes to set up offshore rigs, isn't it already too late to prevent China from taking every last drop of the oil they aren't actually drilling for?

Just when we thought we'd seen the last of Rep. John Doolittle, the TPMmuckraker All-Star whose associations with Jack Abramoff have forced him into retirement, it turns out he may be set to hit the campaign trail all over again -- and there's a Republican out there who will actually be seen with him!

As it turns out, he's in talks with GOP nominee Tom McClintock's camp to appear together -- a development that could increase the Dems' chances of picking up this red district thanks to Doolittle's high negatives.

McClintock spokesman Stan Devereux told Election Central that the ongoing investigations against Doolittle would not render him a political liability: "Doolittle is still the congressman for the area, has served the district well."

Of course, the source of the problem here is the extent to which Doolittle served Abramoff well.

Democrats got some good news in a major House race last night, with Republican nominating the candidate who is probably their weaker option for this open deep-red district.

In the Fourth District, where scandal-plagued GOP Congressman John Doolittle is retiring, arch-conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock defeated the more moderate former Congressman Doug Ose for the right to go up against Democratic candidate Charlie Brown, who just barely lost to Doolittle back in 2006.

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Muck-encrusted Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) is in so much political trouble that GOP leaders are convinced he has no chance of winning reelection next year and are privately urging him to retire, according to Roll Call (sub. reqd.).

Doolittle, whose home was raided earlier this year by the Feds, barely survived reelection against Dem challenger Charlie Brown, who is targeting Doolittle again for 2008. Brown is trouncing Doolittle in polls and has more money stockpiled for the 2008 race than the embattled incumbent does.

According to the paper, House GOP leaders held off on urging Doolittle to drop his reelection plans, hoping that he'd voluntarily decide to retire over the summer. But when Doolittle pressed ahead with reelection efforts, GOP leaders -- worried about losing an otherwise safe seat -- privately sat down with him and told him the game's over. No word on what Doolittle will do yet.

Despite having multiple primary challengers, plus the recent leak of a Republican poll showing him losing to his 2006 Democratic opponent, scandal-tarred Congressman John Doolittle (R-CA) has made it clear he's not backing down from his 2008 re-election fight.

"I will not step aside," Doolittle told reporters in a conference call today. "I am running again. Period."

Republican polling firm Wilson Research Strategies has released a survey showing scandal-plagued Congressman John Doolittle (R-CA) losing to 2006 Democratic nominee Charlie Brown by a lopsided 51%-31% margin. Also, Doolittle only takes 34% in a Republican primary, barely ahead of primary challenger Mike Holmes' 28%.

Doolittle currently faces multiple challengers in the primary, which could have the unintended consequence of helping him in a divided field. But the message being sent to Republicans from the leak of this poll is clear: If the GOP nominates Doolittle, they'll lose — even in a district where Republicans enjoy an 18-point registration edge.

(Via Kos.)

Looks like Congressman John Doolittle (R-CA), a TPMmuckraker all-star, has a primary challenge on his hands.

The Sacramento Bee reports that Eric Egland, a security consultant and intelligence officer in the Air Force Reserves, will challenge Doolittle in a GOP primary next year. Although Egland has campaigned with Doolittle in the past and praised his staunch support for the Iraq War, he now says bluntly that he is running against Doolittle because he doesn't think the incumbent can win re-election.

"If John Doolittle is the nominee, we will surrender our conservative voice in Washington, D.C., for a generation," Egland says.

Doolittle won re-election by a mere 49%-46% margin last year, despite representing a district that President Bush carried in 2004 with a more than impressive 61% of the vote, thanks to his connections to the Jack Abramoff scandal.

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This GOP mailing is pretty impressive: It's the first we've yet seen that manages to link a Dem to Nazis, child rapists and gay Boy Scouts all in one shot. It was sent out by GOP Rep. John Doolittle, who's facing an unexpectedly stiff challenge from Dem foe Charlie Brown:

The mailing attacks Brown for being a member of the ACLU -- and, yes, the cliche "card carrying" does make an appearance -- charging that the group has defended Nazis, groups that allegedly coach child molesters and even the rights of gay kids to join the Boy Scouts. View the rest of the mailer after the jump -- and don't miss the skinhead with a tatoo of a swastika on his neck.

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Though the district held by GOP Rep. John Doolittle is one of the most reliably Republican enclaves in the state, the combination of the Jack Abramoff scandal and Dem foe Charlie Brown's spirited campaigning has turned the race into "one of the year’s surprise hotly contested races," according to CQ Politics. CQ has just changed its rating of the race between Doolittle and Dem challenger Charlie Brown from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican." The change reflects the fact that that this year Dems have been able to compete seriously in deep red districts by combining attacks on the GOP culture of corruption with hard-hitting counterattacks on national security issues -- something Brown is doing by aggressively highlighting his own military background. More from CQ after the jump.

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This is interesting. GOP Rep. John Doolittle -- who regularly attacks Dem foe Charlie Brown for being a member of the ACLU, which has defended child sex predators -- himself testified on behalf of a friend who was accused of sexual assault, possibly helping him get a reduced sentence. And the friend subsequently committed sexual assault again. The Sacramento Bee and the L.A. Times's political blog both report today that in 1987, Doolilttle served as a key character witness for friend David Roy Phipps, a dentist accused of assaulting six patients in his chair. He got three years' probation. In 1994, Phipps assaulted another patient, the Times reports. More after the jump.

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GOP Rep John Doolittle put on quite a show last night at his debate with Dem challenger Charlie Brown. First Doolittle asserted that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction. Then he dismissed Brown's recounting of his military service and how it convinced him there were no WMD in Iraq — Brown's an Air Force vet who flew recon missions over Iraq when it was under sanctions — as a "ridiculous story." And perhaps best of all, here's what he said when an audience member drew attention to the fact that he'd hired his own wife, Julie Doolittle, to raise campaign cash for him at a 15 percent commission: "They want to drag my poor wife into this." The Sacramento Bee has an entertaining rundown here. More after the jump.

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Though CQ politics rates the seat of GOP Rep. John Doolittle as "safe Republican," he may be in some trouble: The first public poll done on the race, by Benenson Strategy Group for Dem challenger Charlie Brown, shows a statistical dead heat, with Doolittle leading Brown 41%-39%. TPM muckraker's Paul Kiel has the details.

Right, at this point if you’re a Republican congressman from California, you might want to think about just not doing any earmarks anymore… for anything… ever. Just to be safe. WaPo reports on the possibly earmark-contingent real estate deals of Representatives Ken Calvert (R) of California’s 44^th and Gary Miller (R) of the 42^nd, along with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

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