All Blog Posts from Horserace

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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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."

Alaska governor and former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is in Georgia today, where she is appearing at four events in an effort to get out the Republican base in support of Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Georgia voters will go to the polls tomorrow for a runoff election between Chambliss and Democratic rival Jim Martin, a vote that could help decide whether Democrats achieve a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. (Democrats now effectively hold 58 seats; if Martin and Minnesota Democrat Al Franken find their way to victory, they will have the necessary 60.)

Palin has already appeared in Augusta this morning, where she was greeted by several thousand supporters, according to the Associated Press, which notes that "Vendors sold bright pink 'Palin 2012' T-shirts and 'Palin for President: You Go Girl' buttons. She was greeted like a rock star with chants of 'Sa-rah!'"

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At a press conference in Phoenix today, Sen. John McCain said he would run for a fifth Senate term in 2010.

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee laughed when asked if he would run for president again, saying he does "not envision a scenario that would entail that."

You can watch video from the press conference below.

McCain lauded President-elect Barack Obama's decision to tap Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano for homeland security chief, saying she is highly qualified for the job.

The Arizona senator also discussed the presidential campaign, saying he looks back "with pride and honor" at the experience of running.

"I will submit myself to the judgment of history," McCain added. "I'm very proud overall of the campaign we ran and the people I was associated with and the dear friends that I have to this day."

He also discussed running mate Sarah Palin.

"I think that our base and most Americans viewed Governor Palin as a real breath of fresh air that swept across the country," McCain said, calling the Alaska governor an "energizing factor."

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Joe Biden's Senate seat will be filled by Edward "Ted" Kaufman, a longtime aide to the Vice President-elect.

Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced the appointment this afternoon.

Biden, who just won his seventh term in the Senate, must vacate his seat before being sworn in as Vice President on January 20th. Minner said Kaufman will be sworn in sometime in early or mid January.

Biden's son, Attorney General Beau Biden, had been seen as a possible replacement for his father. He announced last week that he wouldn't accept the appointment if offered, saying he planned to continue serving in the National Guard.

The [Wilmington] News Journal's Jeff Montgomery writes that "[t]he selection of the former Biden chief of staff was widely seen as a move by Vice president-elect Biden to protect his seat for" his son Beau, who is presently deploying to Iraq.

There will be an election in 2010 for Delaware voters to decide who will fill the final four years of Biden's term. Montgomery writes that the choice reflects a snubbing of Lt. Gov. John Carney; one Delaware professor suggests in the News Journal story that it will be viewed by some as "a backroom deal."

Hillary Clinton has sent a fundraising email out through her political action committee on behalf of Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken, whose electoral battle against rival Norm Coleman is headed for a recount.

"Just 206 votes," the email opens. "That's the difference separating Al Franken and Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate race -- 206 votes out of about 3 million cast."

"In the coming days, Minnesota officials will carefully count every vote to make sure they get the most accurate count possible," the email continues. "But once again, Republicans want to interfere any way they can with the vote-counting. They're setting up legal challenges and questioning the voting officials' integrity."

The email goes on to request donations to Franken's campaign to "make sure every vote is counted."

Democrats now effectively control 57 Senate seats. If this race, along with the other two outstanding contests in Alaska and Georgia, goes their way, they will have the 60 votes necessary for a filibuster-proof majority.