The New Republic

Here's a fascinating Friday-afternoon toy from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: A website that lets you view challenged ballots from the neck-and-neck Al Franken/Norm Coleman showdown, and -- if you create a free login -- vote on the ballots. The program is intelligent: As you accept or reject ballots, it uses your tendencies (are you throwing out lots of challenged ballots? READ MORE >>

Yesterday, I wrote about the Nevada GOP's struggle to find anybody plausible to run against Harry Reid in 2010. In that vein, it's worth noting that one of the leading contenders was indeed indicted yesterday by a grand jury on four counts of fraud. Let the search resume! --Eve Fairbanks READ MORE >>

I got the same mass e-mail Ben Smith did, in which a fellow Michigan Republican colorfully bashes Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis, one of the candidates for the hotly-contested RNC chair post: READ MORE >>

Like the young Julius Caesar--who confidently boasted, while languishing helpless and imprisoned by pirates on an island, that he would soon crucify his own captors--the embattled Senate Republicans, who haven’t won a single seat from Democrats in two election cycles, are already dreaming of taking the biggest prize of all in 2010: Majority Leader Harry Reid. READ MORE >>

I'm a day late on this, but don't miss David Sanger's intriguing story on what the transitionistas are uncovering about the inner functionings of the formerly-opaque Bush administration: READ MORE >>

Ben Smith notes that "the name currently swirling to the fore [to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate] among my New York sources is Caroline Kennedy." READ MORE >>

No, no need for new vision, better policies, or retooled political rhetoric. The National Republican Congressional Committee has determined that this next election can be won for the GOP by ... vigorously bashing embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel! From PolitickerWA: READ MORE >>

From MarketWatch: [Ford CEO Alan] Mulally will reportedly drive the 10-hour trek to Washington from Detroit after all three CEOs rankled congressmen by arriving on corporate jets for their first [hearing]. READ MORE >>

Maybe! To win a bailout from Congress, General Motors may agree to sacrifice the Hummer brand. READ MORE >>

Yes, reaching 60 seats in the Senate is still technically possible for the Democrats, if the Georgia runoff and Minnesota recount both go their way. But a pair of number-crunching, history-examining stories illuminate the dim odds that either race will turn in the Democrats' favor. The Minnesota Star-Tribune handicaps Al Franken's chances of closing his vote gap with incumbent Norm Coleman: READ MORE >>