A busy day is ahead on Capitol Hill as President Obama pleads his case for the stimulus package to Senate and House Republicans. Vice President Joe Biden will also be on the Hill for the swearing in of New York’s newest senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. Capitol News Connection’s Todd Zwillich tells us what we should expect from the President and Vice-President's tag-team.

Follow The Takeaway's coverage of the stimulus package

It ain't over till it's over. A day before the 111th Congress convenes, Republican senators are claiming that they will block any attempts to seat Democrat Al Franken, who currently holds a slim lead over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck returns to The Takeaway to explain what this week will bring for Minnesota politics.

In just over a month President-elect Barack Obama will take over the White House and right now an unprecedented transition is taking place. While there have been transitions before, this is the first in the post-9/11 federal government and the first changing of the guard at the Department of Homeland Security. Peter Baker from the New York Times has been covering the issue.

For more of Peter Baker's coverage, read his article "Obama Team Has Forged Another Link With Clintons," in today's edition of the New York Times.

President-elect Barack Obama intends to nominate Steven Chu as Energy Secretary. For insight into what the pick illustrates about the Obama administration, The Takeaway talks to New York Times reporter Matt Wald.

Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss has been declared the victor in a runoff Senate race in Georgia.

If you thought the election was long over, you haven’t been to Georgia lately. For a look at how national politics is playing out in the final round of the election, we turn to Georgia Public Broadcast’s Susanna Capelouto.

An American president's economic advisers are arguably the most influential group of financial policymakers in the world. So why is that team so often free of high-regarded economists? "Freakonomics" co-author Stephen Dubner joins the program.

As the rest of the U.S. moves on from the 2008 election, Minnesota is still trying to determine who will represent the state in the US Senate. After leading by 215 votes, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is still in danger of losing his seat to Democrat challenger Al Franken despite Franken’s recent set back over absentee ballots. Now the US Senate’s Majority Leader has stepped into the fray increasing speculation that the Senate may take the rare move of getting involved in a state election. Today The Takeaway talks to Tom Scheck of Minnesota Public Radio as the manual re-count of more than two-point-nine million votes heads into its final days.

California’s Proposition Eight, which bans gay marriage, has brought to light a conservative streak among African Americans. Around seventy percent of black voters in California say they voted in favor of the ban. New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow joins The Takeaway to share his insight into why blacks voted yes on Prop Eight.

When Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Governor Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, ran for the top offices in the country, the White House's glass ceiling looked like it might be shattered. But Amanda Fortini, a writer for New York Magazine, says the “Year of the Woman” in presidential politics reinforced stereotypes, set women back and made President-elect Barack Obama’s road to gender equality a lot rockier.

Current U.S. Senate party affiliation numbers (Nov. 19, 2008):

58 D (56 D + 1 I + 1 ID) | 1 Runoff | 1 R leads | 40 R


» More on the close races for the Senate at vote2008.thetakeaway.org

"National Republicans really think they can hold the line and stop the bleeding."
-- Susanna Capelouto

U.S. Senate party affiliation numbers (as of Nov. 13, 2008)

57 D (55 D + 1 I + 1 ID) | 1 D leads | 1 Runoff | 1 R leads | 40 R



Read and listen to more about the close races in the Senate »

Alaska's Senate race remains undecided three days after Election Day, and Senator Ted Stevens is still fighting to hold on to his seat after being convicted on seven counts of corruption in a federal court.

Barack Obama's election to the top office in the United States was accomplished in part by his recruitment of thousands of new black voters. But though the president-elect is one of the more liberal members of the Senate, his constituency has a conservative streak. Nowhere is that clearer than in California, where the passage of Proposition 8 — an amendment to the state constitution that will ban gay marriage — can partially be attributed to conservative leanings among many black voters. So what does that say about the soon-to-be president's mandate? The Takeaway talks to Joe Hicks, a commentator for Pajamas TV and a talk show host with KFI.

Georgia is still red for a fourth consecutive presidential election, but in the Senate race, things aren't clear two days after Election Day. Votes are still being counted, and there may well be a runoff election called for Dec. 2 between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Georgia Public Broadcasting News Director Susanna Capelouto explains the status of the race, while Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College, scores Tuesday's voting process.