What's happening tonight?

Actually, it's more like Joe with ghost author Thomas N. Tabback who has one work of historical fiction with a religious bent to his name but whatever. Joe's book, Joe The Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream isn't as yet available but being the one-man marketing machine that Joe is, you can pre-order it. Buy it now and you can chat with Joe on his up-coming blog, plus you'll get a one year subscription to "Joe The Blogger" Newsletter. But wait there's more, act now we'll throw in free shipping on all "Shop Joe" merchandise. Thankfully, his shelves are bare for a quick perusal of his on-line store reveals not a single item beyond the aforementioned upcoming book.

Joe, however, does have a dream and a website Secure Our Dream. Here's his message to President-elect Obama:

Congratulations to Barack Obama. The American electorate has decided that he will be our next president. As I have stated, I will honor and support my president, but there will be no free ride. When President-Elect Obama takes office in January, his term of service to the American people begins. We wish our new president blessings of wisdom and good judgment, and we pray he hearkens to our voice if ever we feel our American Dream is being threatened. It will be a loud voice, so good luck trying to ignore it.

Since we have launched this website, tens of thousands of you have expressed your desire to join this movement. I am truly humbled by your support, your kind words of encouragement and your becoming a part of something that I believe we all feel can truly change the course of this country for the better.

For those of you just visiting this website, remember that real change in America will only begin if the backbone of this country becomes personally involved in demanding more from our elected officials, and by helping one another in times of need. This is our mission. This is our fight. This is our time to secure our American Dream.

This is a heart-breaker. Via e-mail from Charlie Brown, Democratic candidate in CA-04:

Thanks to the extraordinary work of our local elections officials, I am pleased to report that the high standards of fairness, accuracy, and transparency have been met.  And with the counts and recounts across district four complete, and more than 370,000 votes tallied, the outcome of this election is no longer in question.  Unfortunately, we've come up less than one half of one percent---just under 1,800 votes---short of victory.  

So a short time ago, I called Senator Tom McClintock to congratulate him on a hard fought victory, and to wish him well in Congress.

To you, I can only offer my deepest gratitude-for your generosity of time and resources, and your unwavering energy and encouragement.  Together, we have transformed the 4 th District, and lifted this campaign higher and farther than anyone thought possible.

Charlie's a class act and really has always had an uphill battle in this district, which has a PVI of R+11, especially once Doolittle withdrew from a re-election bid. My uncle who lives there assured me there was no way this seat would go Democratic and Charlie almost proved him wrong.

Dave Dayen at calitics sums the race up:

Charlie fought a very good fight, actually becoming a point person for veteran's issues around the country and leading by example with his Promises Kept Challenge, donating 5% of his campaign contributions to organizations serving veterans and their families.  And he showed through two cycles that the supposedly hopeless 4th District is more than winnable to the right candidate.

What makes this an even more bitter defeat is that this race was our last hope at turning a red seat blue here in CA. Last cycle we defeated Pombo and despite having several solid candidates in bluing districts this cycle and despite having a presidential candidate at the top of the ticket who won 61% of the vote statewide, we were unable to convert a single seat. Ah the ole incumbency protection racket at work. Suffice it to say that for us here in California, Prop 8 isn't the only result inspiring some soul searching and some blame laying. As much as we've accomplished here in the last, really, just 3 years, it's clear how much more work there is still to be done.

With the nomination by President-elect Obama of two Southwest governors to his cabinet -- AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano to head up the Department of Homeland Security and now NM Gov. Bill Richardson to head up the Department of Commerce -- that means that, assuming both of them are confirmed, the governorships of these two Southwest states will soon be changing hands. Unfortunately, both posts will not be filled by Democrats.

First the good news:

That person would be the state's lieutenant governor, Democrat Diane Denish, who stands to become become New Mexico's first female governor. Denish was Richardson's running mate in the 2002 and 2006 elections and with the governor term-limited out of the 2010 race, was planning a gubernatorial run of her own.

Now the bad:

Arizona doesn't have a lieutenant governor, so when Napolitano steps down to head to Washington, Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer -- a conservative Republican -- takes over the job.

You know it's bad if Jim Geraghty is excited. He passes on this word from a source in the AZ state GOP:

We will now have a Republican governor because the Secretary of State is Jan Brewer. Since we control both of the houses of the legislature, a lot of bills that were vetoed by Napolitino will probably pass.

Arggh. Fortunately, the term Brewer will be serving out ends in 2010 but will Democrats be able to win the governorship back?

The Democrats have lost their best candidate in Arizona.  Napolitano was a canny politician who knew how to outflank the GOP.  I think going to Washington and taking up Homeland security will not be a boon to her future political career. Several Republicans were lining up to run for governor in 2010.  With Jan Brewer as an incumbent, they may modify their plans.

So far, this transition from Napolitano to Brewer is looking like the only really bad consequence of Obama's cabinet picks, which is not too bad considering. Hopefully it will prove to be only a two year break from a Democrat living in the Governor's mansion but one wonders how much damage Brewer will do in that time.

Wow.

President-elect Barack Obama gets soaring marks for his handling of the transition and his choices for the Cabinet, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, even at a time the public is downbeat over the economy.

More than three of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, approve of the job Obama has done so far -- broad-based support he'll need as he faces tough decisions ahead.

By 69%-25%, those surveyed approve of his pick of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former Democratic primary rival, as secretary of State.

By an even wider margin, 80%-14%, they favor his decision to ask President Bush's Pentagon chief, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to stay on the job.

These numbers are just stunning, and serve as further proof that Barack Obama will enter the White House with a greater mandate than any newly elected President in a very long time. While I certainly do not expect this spread to hold indefinitely, or even necessarily for the duration of Obama's first 100 days in office, this level of support gives Obama the juice to hit the ground running on January 20. A sky high approval rating doesn't mean that a President should get everything he wants -- but it does mean he should be able to get much or even most of it.

Update [2008-12-3 16:40:46 by Jonathan Singer]: Rasmussen pegs Obama's approval rating at 67 percent -- up 15 points since the election.

You have to leave it to Republicans. The Bush era has been a massive disaster for their party. And yet it looks like they might just have another Bush as their most prominent candidate in 2010. Marc Ambinder first broke the story:

Two sources close to Jeb Bush, including one who has spoken to the former Florida governor within the past few hours, say he is seriously considering a run for Senate now that incumbent Republican Mel Martinez has retired.

The folks at The Politico confirm it:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- the younger brother of the president -- is weighing a run for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Mel Martinez.

Martinez announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in 2010. Asked whether he was interested in running for the seat then, Bush told Politico by e-mail Tuesday night: "I am considering it."

In the past two election cycles, in which George W. Bush loomed large, the Republicans have lost significant number of House seats (closing on 60), Senate seats (at least 13) and Governorships (seven), moving from what appeared to be a national party into a regional one. Yet now they might have a Bush as their most prominent candidate and what could be the most watched election contest in 2010? Republicans may even be able to win the Florida Senate race with Jeb Bush as their nominee, but at what cost? If they're willing to believe that having Bush as their standard bearer in 2010 would be a net positive, I've got a bridge to sell them...

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as of this posting, with 96% of precincts counted, Norm Coleman is currently leading Al Franken by 295 votes, a net gain for the incumbent of 80 since the recount began. This count is obscured, however, by the fact that the Coleman campaign has challenged 3,094 Franken votes and Franken has challenged 2,428 Coleman votes. So, what's the real tally? For the first time since the recount began, the Franken campaign now believes it's ahead.

From TPM:

In a briefing going on right now with reporters, Al Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias made a stunning announcement: According to the campaign's methodology of tracking the recount results, they believe Al Franken now leads Norm Coleman by a margin of 22 votes.

This would be the first time that Franken has claimed a lead in this drawn-out process, and was clearly made possible by the discovery yesterday of ballots in the suburban St. Paul town of Maplewood, which gave him a net gain of 37 votes.

As I wrote yesterday, the Franken campaign has been releasing its own estimated tally according to its assessment of how likely certain challenged ballots are to be upheld. If accurate, Franken is in very good shape with just 3 days, 5 counties and 138,000 ballots left in the recount.

It's telling both that the Coleman camp has challenged 173 more ballots than Franken has AND that they are not having conference calls of their own to set the record straight on what they consider to be the real recount tally. In the coming days, expect the Franken campaign to withdraw at least 633 of their challenges; it will be interesting to see how many Coleman withdraws.

After a bit of a break for the holiday, the diarists have returned with gusto!  Good stuff.  Enjoy.

• Jharsin sees promise and possibility in Obama 2.0: The Look of Direct Democracy.
• Bobswern takes a look at the global economies and sees it Just Like a Scene in One of Those Sci-Fi Flicks...
• Former Gov candidate and OR Conservative Activist Bill Sizemore Gets Jailed! (skywaker9)
• BENAWU takes a microscope to The Northeast - Continuing the Realignment in 2010?
• Atdleft sees progress from "John Birch Society" embarrassment to dynamic urban environment in Looking Southwest for 2010 & Beyond.
• Bob Sackamento's career change thwarted by Reagan's drug war in Good Luck Finding Someone to Pee in Your Cup.
• Linc examines Nuclear Non-Proliferation Under the Obama Administration.
• Trey Rentz provides A Georgian Perspective on Chambliss' Win.
• In VP Calls for More Rail Transit, brbuchwal sees killing many birds with one big, expensive stone.
• BL Angert gauges the intent to retool a lemon in Car Manufacturers Con.