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Here's the latest from the Obama Pardon Scoreboard:

People: 0
Turkeys: 1

President Obama has yet to grant any pardons or commutations to people since taking office. Over 1,000 pardon requests are pending for Mr. Obama, who has received 232 since he took office.

He pardoned his first turkey today.

President George W. Bush granted no pardons until Christmas of his second year in office.

At one point, his pardon scoreboard was Turkeys: 4, People: 0.

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Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

"You know, there are certain days that remind me of why I ran for this office," President Obama exclaimed today. "And then there are moments like this, where I pardon a turkey and send it to Disneyland."

With a light tone and his daughters in tow, Mr. Obama participated in a relatively recent tradition on the day before Thanksgiving: The presidential turkey pardon. Though he eventually raised his hand over "Courage," the bird in question, to offer a pardon, the president suggested he was somewhat reticent to do so.

"That's a good looking bird," Mr. Obama said, later stating that his daughters convinced him to go through with the pardon. "Thanks to the intervention of Malia and Sasha, because I was planning to eat this sucker, Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate."

While turkeys have been coming to the White House for more than 50 years, they have only been pardoned for the last couple decades. Mr. Obama noted that both Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson ate the turkeys presented to them, while President Kennedy's turkey came with a sign that said, "Good Eatin', Mr. President" around its neck.

(Check out CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller's history of the presidential turkey pardon here.)

Courage, this year's lucky bird, will be the grand marshal of a parade at Disneyland tomorrow; he will then live out the rest of his days at the theme park. A backup turkey, "Carolina," was also spared, in case Courage cannot fulfill his duties.

Sasha and Malia Obama took the opportunity to pet the turkey, which was donated by the National Turkey Federation, following the pardon. One of the girls could be heard saying, "he is like a large chicken."

As Knoller points out, the turkey pardon today was moved from the White House Rose Garden to the North Portico today – because, ahem, of "fowl weather."

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In the last days of the previous administration, Vice President Dick Cheney aggressively lobbied President George W. Bush to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby and was “furious” when the president would not do so, according to the New York Daily News.

Libby, who had been Cheney’s chief of staff and close adviser, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for his role in the leaking the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the public.

President Bush commuted Libby’s 30-month sentence – keeping him from going to jail – but Cheney reportedly wanted a full pardon for Libby, who still had to pay a hefty fine, was disbarred from practicing law and lost the right to vote.

Cheney “went to the mat and came back and back and back at Bush," one source told the Daily News. "He was still trying the day before Obama was sworn in."

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From CBS News Producer Stephanie Lambidakis:

On Monday, January 19th -- as political observers engaged in the "pardon watch" ritual that accompanies the last fevered hours of an administration -- the Justice Department announced the final acts of clemency from President George Bush.

The president granted no pardons, but he did commute the sentences of two high-profile figures on the watch list, Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, former Border Patrol agents whose 10-year convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer drew howls of protest, especially among conservatives who called the sentences too harsh.

But as Mr. Bush was bestowing those grants of clemency, he was actively rejecting the clemency pleas from six high-profile (and notorious) figures convicted of a wide range of crimes. The Justice Department has now made those clemency denials public.

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President Bush today commuted the sentences of two individuals whose conviction stirred up the illegal immigration debate.

The two individuals, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, are former border patrol agents who have spent two years in jail in connection with the shooting of a Mexican drug dealer.

The pair had been given sentences of more than ten years, but should now be released on March 20, 2009. They were sentenced in November 2008 and have been in jail about two years.

As the Associated Press reports, conservatives and some liberals have been up in arms over the convictions, with talk show hosts railing against the prison sentence for two men they believed were just doing their jobs.

A number of lawmakers, including nearly every major elected official in Texas, have pressured Mr. Bush to commute the pair's sentences. Here's a letter (PDF) from members of the Texas Congressional delegation calling on the president to "correct this injustice."

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CBS News has confirmed that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has asked President Bush to pardon Ted Stevens, the former Alaska senator from charged with several felony counts by a federal jury in 2008.

Murkowski’s spokesperson, Mike Brumas spoke to CBS News' Ryan Corsaro by phone, saying that Sen. Murkowski had made the request to President Bush, but would not give details.

“It's a sensitive time right now,” said Brumas after confirming the pardon had been requested. Murkowski does not have an announcement scheduled for tomorrow.

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President Bush today pardoned 19 people and commuted the sentence of one more, roughly one month after he pardoned 14 others. Mr. Bush has now granted 191 pardons and nine commutations, far fewer than the total granted by Presidents Clinton and Reagan.

Robert Truman Reece, who was convicted of "unauthorized absence" and "unauthorized absence; missing ship's movement" way back in 1949, was among those pardoned; part of his sentence was "forfeiture of $30 pay per month for two months and a bad conduct discharge" from the Navy.

Also pardoned was Charles Winters, whose 1949 offense was "conspiracy to export, and exportation, of a military aircraft to a foreign country in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1939." Winters, who died in the 1980s, had been helping to ship arms and aircraft to Jews who were looking to found their own state in the Middle East, as the Associated Press notes.

Two of those pardoned were convicted of marijuana distribution, while the commutation came in the case of an Iowa resident given life in prison for intent to distribute methamphetamine. Others were pardoned for "conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens," possession of an unregistered firearm, mail fraud, and embezzlement. The full list is below.

Read full post…

President Bush today pardoned 19 people and commuted the sentence of one more, roughly one month after he pardoned 14 others. Mr. Bush has now granted 191 pardons and nine commutations, far fewer than the total granted by Presidents Clinton and Reagan.

Robert Truman Reece, who was convicted of "unauthorized absence" and "unauthorized absence; missing ship's movement" way back in 1949, was among those pardoned; part of his sentence was "forfeiture of $30 pay per month for two months and a bad conduct discharge" from the Navy.

Also pardoned was Charles Winters, whose 1949 offense was "conspiracy to export, and exportation, of a military aircraft to a foreign country in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1939." Winters, who died in the 1980s, had been helping to ship arms and aircraft to Jews who were looking to found their own state in the Middle East, as the Associated Press notes.

Two of those pardoned were convicted of marijuana distribution, while the commutation came in the case of an Iowa resident given life in prison for intent to distribute methamphetamine. Others were pardoned for "conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens," possession of an unregistered firearm, mail fraud, and embezzlement. The full list is below.

Read full post…

President Bush today pardoned 19 people and commuted the sentence of one more, roughly one month after he pardoned 14 others. Mr. Bush has now granted 190 pardons and nine commutations, far fewer than the total granted by Presidents Clinton and Reagan.

Robert Truman Reece, who was convicted of "unauthorized absence" and "unauthorized absence; missing ship's movement" way back in 1949, was among those pardoned; part of his sentence was "forfeiture of $30 pay per month for two months and a bad conduct discharge" from the Navy.

Also pardoned was Charles Winters, whose 1949 offense was "conspiracy to export, and exportation, of a military aircraft to a foreign country in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1939." Winters, who died in the 1980s, had been helping to ship arms and aircraft to Jews who were looking to found their own state in the Middle East, the Associated Press reports.

Two of those pardoned were convicted of marijuana distribution, while the commutation came in the case of an Iowa resident given life in prison in 1996 for intent to distribute methamphetamine. Others were pardoned for "conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens," possession of an unregistered firearm, mail fraud, and embezzlement. The full list is below.

Read full post…

We have not seen the last of George W. Bush's presidential pardons, CBS News' White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports. The White House says there are more pardons on the way in the final days of this administration and possibly a pre-Christmas announcement.

Knoller says this may not be the last batch of forvigeness, though we should not expect the sorts of last minute pardons undertaken by Bill Clinton as he left office.

Mr. Bush has so far granted 171 pardons and 8 commutations, which CBS News reported was less than half as many as Presidents Clinton and Reagan. Among those lucky few are individuals charged with cocaine and marijuana distribution as well as embezzlement and tax evasion.