All Blog Posts from Horserace

With the campaign (almost) in the history books, Horserace has come to the end of the 2008 trail. For the past fifteen months, the political reporters and producers from CBS News and CBSNews.com have followed every detail of this historic and unprecedented political year. After all the campaign stump speeches, the ads, gaffes, fundraising and, of course, the polls, the racing is over and the hard work of governing is about to begin.

With the tireless help of CBSNews.com’s Brian Montopoli and Kevin Hechtkopf and loads of assists from all the correspondents, producers and off-air reporters from CBS News, we helped guide you though the maze of the never-ending primaries, delegate counts, conventions and Election Night.

But just because the campaign is over doesn’t mean we’re going away. CBSNews.com today launches the Political Hotsheet, a new blog which will combine the best political reporting, analysis and observations from the reporters and producers at CBS News.

From the transition to the incoming president’s first 100 Days in office and beyond, we’ll keep you up on the very latest happenings in what’s about to become one of the busiest and most closely-watched towns in the world. Hotsheet will chronicle the news from the White House, Congress and all the institutions in Washington during these historic and uncharted days.

The challenges that lie ahead for the nation are immense and we’ll be your eyes and ears to keep you informed about what the new administration and congress are doing, or are not doing, about the issues that impact your life and the nation’s future. With a laser-like focus on the economy, health care reform, taxes, spending, foreign policy and many other issues, we’ll track the progress of the new team in Washington from Day One.

President-elect Barack Obama is coming to town with a strong wind of change at his back and Hotsheet will be here to help keep you informed as it sweeps through Washington, the nation and the world.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whom President-elect Barack Obama has asked to stay on in his current position, today suggested he is open to speeding up U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center, two of Obama's stated goals.

As the Associated Press reports, Gates said in a press conference that military commanders are now looking at how they might pull troops out in accordance with the 16-month timetable pushed by Obama during his presidential campaign.

"Commanders are already looking at what the implications of that are in terms of the potential for accelerating the drawdown and in terms of how we meet our obligations to the Iraqis," Gates said.

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Robert Kennedy Jr. has told New York Gov. David Paterson he is not interested in being appointed to the seat that will be vacated by Senator Hillary Clinton (and the same seat once held by his father) if she is confirmed as the next Secretary of State, the New York Times reports. Kennedy has been among a lengthy list of names being circulated and he becomes the second to publicly bow out, joining Rep. Nita Lowey who yesterday said she was not interested. Paterson is reportedly interested in tapping someone from upstate New York, a woman or an Hispanic for the seat.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and activist, said he’s happy doing what he’s doing right now. “I have spent lots of time thinking about it,” he told the Times. “I have spent time talking with my uncle, by brothers, my cousin and, of course, my wife. And I think I’m in a good position right now doing what I’m doing.”

As expected for a runoff election the three weeks after the main event, turnout appears lighter in the Georgia senate race, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But reports are that the lines are steady. Early and absentee voting appears to be indicating slightly higher turnout in some counties than expected, according to election officials.

At stake today is the senate seat currently held by incumbent Saxby Chambliss, who faces Democrat Jim Martin. Chambliss finished the general election with a plurality but state law requires a runoff if any candidate fails to get 50 percent of the vote. Should Martin win, it would give Democrats 59 seats in the U.S. Senate with the Minnesota race remaining in a recount. Polls in Georgia close at 7:00pm.

Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken's campaign says it may appeal to the U.S. Senate or the courts because it believes that up to 1,000 absentee ballots were improperly disqualified in the state's recount of votes, The Hill reports.

"Wherever the numbers stand today…that number simply cannot be relevant if it does not include all the votes that were legally cast," Franken attorney Marc Elias said, according to the newspaper. "No recount can be considered accurate or complete until all the ballots cast by lawful voters are counted."

Franken trails Republican rival Norm Coleman by 282 votes with most of the vote counted, though his campaign claims the deficit has shrunk to 73 votes.

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President-elect Barack Obama today offered kind words for President Bush's work on AIDS in Africa in videotaped remarks to the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health.

At the Washington DC forum marking the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, Obama said he "salute[s] President Bush for his leadership in crafting a plan for AIDS relief in Africa and backing it up with funding dedicated to saving lives and preventing the spread of the disease."

The president-elect vowed to "continue this critical work to address the crisis around the world."

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President-elect Barack Obama today offered kind words for President Bush's work on AIDS in Africa in videotaped remarks to the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health.

At the Washington DC forum marking the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, Obama said he "salute[s] President Bush for his leadership in crafting a plan for AIDS relief in Africa and backing it up with funding dedicated to saving lives and preventing the spread of the disease."

The president-elect vowed to "continue this critical work to address the crisis around the world."

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Should Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama's pick for homeland security chief, be confirmed as expected by the Senate, Napolitano will need to step down from her current position as governor of Arizona.

The state has no lieutenant governor, and its laws dictate that the governor, who is a Democrat, be replaced by Secretary of State Jan Brewer – a Republican.

The Associated Press reports that Brewer, who would be governor through 2010, "had a reputation as a fiscal hard-liner and conservative on social issues while a legislator in the 1980s and 1990s, so her taking over the governorship would mean a new approach from Napolitano's direction."

Since governors are not members of a legislative body along the lines of the House or Senate, a shift from blue to red in the Arizona governor's office doesn't hold great national significance. There would be far more fanfare if a Senate seat was to switch hands due to an Obama cabinet selection, though such a scenario is extremely unlikely.

There are three senators who have left or will likely give up their seats: Illinois Sen. and President-elect Obama, Delaware Sen. and Vice-president elect Joe Biden, and New York Sen. and secretary of state nominee Hillary Clinton.

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In what it is billing as part of "President-elect Obama's pledge to run the most open and transparent transition in history," the incoming administration's transition team has begun releasing the names of its donors.

The names will be released on a monthly basis, and the first batch came out today. The transition team says that 1,776 donors have given $1,170,937.44 as of November 15th.

The full list of donors is here, and the release includes each donor's name, employer, town of residence, and the amount of their donation. (Donations range from $25 to $5,000.)

Notes the release: "The Obama-Biden Transition project only accepts contributions from individuals' personal funds – we refuse all donations from corporations, labor unions, and PACs. Individuals may not donate more than $5,000. We also refuse all contributions from registered federal lobbyists and registered foreign agents."

Reviews are flooding in on President-elect Obama’s selections for his national security and foreign policy team but one in particular stuck out of the in-box – a statement from former President Bill Clinton, who was quick to laud the selection of his wife, Hillary Clinton, to be Secretary of State. Here’s the full text:

As an American, I am thankful that President-elect Barack Obama has asked Hillary to be Secretary of State and that she has accepted. As her husband, I am deeply proud.

She is the right person for the job of helping to restore America's image abroad, end the war in Iraq, advance peace and increase our security, by building a future for our children with more partners and fewer adversaries, one of shared responsibilities and opportunities.

She has already earned the respect of foreign leaders and diplomats through her work to promote human rights and the empowerment of women through access to education, healthcare and economic opportunity. And Americans know, from her leadership in the Senate on national security, that she will always put the security, values and the interests of our people first.

In her service to the people of New York and our nation, Hillary has demonstrated the knowledge, passion, resilience, and capacity to learn that our country needs at this critical time. She loves being a Senator from New York, but as she has in all the thirty-seven years I've known her, she answered the call to serve. I commend President-Elect Obama for asking her to be a part of a great national security team. America will be well-served.