Yahoo! News: Elections

Elections

• Dems: Napolitano emerges for Homeland Security job (AP)

  AP - President-elect Barack Obama is likely to choose Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be secretary of homeland security, top Obama advisers and several Democrats said Thursday as the shape of Obama's Cabinet begins to emerge.

  
  

• Politics' next step? Donations go high text (AP)

  AP - In a 2008 Super Bowl ad, NFL golden boy Tom Brady asked nearly 100 million viewers to text "FIT" to donate $5 to the United Way. About 25,000 people responded, raising $10,000.

• Early, absentee voting pushed Obama to win in Fla. (AP)

  AP - More Floridians voted for John McCain than Barack Obama on Election Day, but the Democrat sealed his victory in the state by winning more early and absentee votes.

• Obama is 1st Columbia graduate to become president (AP)

  AP - It's taken two and a half centuries but Columbia College, one of the oldest in the nation, finally will have a president who will be the first Columbia graduate to occupy the Oval Office.

• Zogby won’t duplicate Obama poll (Politico)

  Politico - Pollster John Zogby has rejected a conservative commentator’s offer to sponsor a poll to test the knowledge of people who voted for John McCain.

• Ted Stevens' fall points to political shift (AP)

  AP - Alaska's incoming senator is bullish on gun rights, wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and believes less government is better. And he's a Democrat.

  
  

• On Capitol Hill, campaign rivals take orientation (AP)

  AP - In two undecided open-seat House races, both candidates are playing Congress member-elect this week.

  
  

• Sen. Clinton weighing secretary of state post (AP)

  AP - Associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the former first lady is weighing whether to leave the Senate and become secretary of state in the Obama administration, a job they say she believes is hers if she wants it.

  
  

• McCain wins Missouri in close race against Obama (AP)

  AP - Republican John McCain has defeated President-elect Barack Obama in Missouri — the last state to be decided in the 2008 presidential election.

• Ga. Democrat gets campaign help from Bill Clinton (AP)

  AP - Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday appealed to Georgians to send Democrat Jim Martin to Washington arguing the state's hotly contested Senate runoff must provide a "bridge not a firewall" to the progress promised by President-elect Barack Obama.

• Obama looks at border governor for homeland spot (AP)

  AP - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, President-elect Barack Obama's top choice to run the Homeland Security Department, is tough on illegal immigration, child abuse and Republicans.

• Congress rushes to extend jobless benefits (AP)

  AP - Jarred by new jobless alarms, Congress raced to approve legislation Thursday to keep unemployment checks flowing through the December holidays and into the new year for a million or more laid-off Americans whose benefits are running out.

• Obama to decide fighter jet’s fate (Politico)

  Politico - Soon after taking office, President Barack Obama and his defense team will decide the fate of the next-generation Air Force fighter, the F-22 Raptor. 

  
  

• Napolitano is no stranger to Washington scandals (AP)

  AP - President-elect Barack Obama's likely pick for Homeland Security secretary, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, is no stranger to headline-making Washington scandals and controversies.

  
  

• Obama chief of staff pick meets with Republicans (Reuters)

  Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama sent his top aide to Capitol Hill Thursday to tell leaders of the rival Republican party that he needed their help to confront the challenges facing the country.

  
  

• Waxman win elevates energy, climate change issues (Reuters)

  Reuters - U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, a California liberal, won the chairmanship of a key energy committee on Thursday and promised to work closely with President-elect Barack Obama to promote alternative energy, ease global warming and expand health care.

• Obama chief of staff mends fences in Congress (AFP)

  AFP - President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff, divisive Democrat Rahm Emanuel, reached out to Republicans Thursday with an appeal for cross-party solutions to pressing challenges.

  
  

• Who's in the running for Obama administration jobs (AP)

  AP - It's Washington's favorite parlor game during a presidential transition: trying to figure out who'll land a top spot in the new administration. President-elect Barack Obama is weighing an array of Washington insiders and outsiders, including some Republicans, for Cabinet and other top positions, according to Democratic officials.

  
  

• Obama seeks reforms in talk with UN chief (AP)

  AP - President-elect Barack Obama is urging the United Nations chief to embark on "far-reaching reform" of the world organization to help it address pressing global issues.

• Bum nominations hard to avoid, history shows (AP)

  AP - No matter how careful he is, sooner or later President-elect Barack Obama is likely to make a bum nomination or two.