Begich Wins Senate Seat

With about 2,500 votes left to be counted, Mark Begich leads Republican incumbent Ted Stevens by about 3,700 votes, enough to secure him the Senate seat from Alaska.

Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator, was convicted on seven counts of lying on Senate forms about receiving gifts from VECO Corporation and CEO Bill Allen.

The Democrats now have 58 seats in the Senate, with the Minnesota and Georgia race still undecided. The Minnesota race is undergoing a recount, while early voting has begun in the Georgia runoff.

Eric Holder to be Attorney General

Former Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration, Eric Holder has been named by Barack Obama to be the next Attorney General of the United States.

Holder was first appointed Associate Judge for the D.C. Supreme Court by President Reagan and was later appointed Attorney for the District of Columbia by Clinton.

Sources in the Obama transition team says Obama has offered Holder the post of Attorney General and Holder has accepted. The transition team, however, is still vetting the candidate.

Holder would be the first African-American Attorney General.

More as it comes…

Kennedy Eastablishes Healthcare Working Groups

Senator Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions established three Healthcare Working Groups within the committee.

Prevention and Public Health: Chair Senator Tom Harkin
Healthcare Quality: Chair Senator Barbara Mikulski
Insurance Coverage: Chair Senator Hillary Clinton

Clinton once asked Kennedy to create a special Subcommittee on Healthcare reform, which she could chair. That request was denied by Kennedy, but it looks like Clinton may be part of a core group of Senators to work on Healthcare reform. As Chair of the Insurance Coverage Working Group, Clinton would be working on the heart of Healthcare reform.

Only one problem, Clinton may be heading to the State Department.

Begich Leading by 1,022

With about 24,000 votes yet to be counted, Democratic challenger Mark Begich leads Stevens Republican incumbent by 1,022 votes.

A vote to outs the convicted Senator Ted Stevens has been postponed as Alaska awaits the results of the election.

“After talking with many of my colleagues, it’s clear there are sufficient votes to pass the resolution regarding Senator Stevens,” DeMint said.

“The question now is timing. Some who support the resolution believe we should address this after the results of his election are confirmed in Alaska. For this reason, I will ask the conference to postpone the vote on Senator Stevens until Thursday,” DeMint said.

Stevens faces up to 35 years in prison.

Obama Team Vetting Clinton (Bill)

The Obama Transition team is vetting Bill Clinton’s finances, a sign that the President-elect is very serious about naming his former opponent as his Secretary of State.

Oddly enough, it is the former President who may prevent his wife from a possible promotion. The former President is being vetted for possible conflict of interests in the event his wife becomes the nation’s top diplomat. Clinton has receieved $30 billion since 2005 in contributions from around the world for the Clinton Global Initiative and has had some questionable foreign deals. If Bill Clinton passes the vetting process, it is likely he will offer his former Democratic rival to be Mrs. Foggy Bottom, though with almost a week of speculation, not naming her to the post may result in embarrassment to both parties.

If Obama nominates Clinton has his Secretary of State, it will be very reminiscent of Lincoln-Seward after the 1860 election. Lincoln, a little known former Congressman went on to beat the frontrunner, Senator Seward from New York, for the Republican nomination in a hotly contested nominating convention. Lincoln then went on to name Seward has his Secretary of State and served in that capacity for eight years.

Since speculation began about the New York Senator, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Senator Kyl (R-AZ), Senator Dorgan (D-ND) and Governor Schwarzenegger (R-CA) have all expressed support of the possible nomination. Supporters of Obama on the progressive left, however, are spinning heads. Clinton, who voted for the Iraq Resolution, the Iran Qods Resolution and once famously said she would “obliterate” Iran in the event they attacked Israel with nuclear weapons is no flower to those who worked hard for Obama during the campaign. Clinton who said Obama was not ready to be Commander-in-Chief still has some party-building to do with these Democrats on the far left.

Other candidates in the running for State are Governor Bill Richardson and Senate John Kerry. who both endorsed Obama early in the primary.

Lieberman Keeps Chairmanship

The Democratic Caucus voted 42 to 13 to allow Independent Joe Lieberman to keep his Chairmanship on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The vote included six newly elected Democrats and excluded Barack Obama, who resigned his Senate and Joe Biden.

Part of the deal also strips Lieberman of his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, but allows him to retain his Chairmanship on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Airland.

Lieberman received criticism from Democrats after he endorsed John McCain for President and criticized Obama on the campaign trail for being unprepared to protect America.

“There are some that I made that I wish I had never made at all,” Lieberman said later.

Obama had supported a compromise to keep Lieberman in the Caucus.