Below The Beltway

Or, at the very least, surprised that Obama picked Hillary and that she said yes:
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh says he’s “stunned” that Hillary Clinton accepted the job as President-elect Obama’s secretary of state.
In an interview with Barbara Walters to air on “The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008,” Limbaugh called the choice of Clinton [...]

Anyone remember this little exchange from the December 13, 2007 Des Moines Register debate:

Well, it took a little less than a year, but Hillary finally responded to the offer:

H/T: Justin Gardner

Since we’ve all been speculating about it for weeks now, there’s not really any surprise to it, but nonethless, Barack Obama officially named Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State Designate:
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama called for “a new dawn of American leadership” on Monday as he formally introduced his national security team, led by Senator [...]

I haven’t written much about the latest round of efforts to “prove” that Barack Obama is Constitutionally ineligible to be President of the United States because he isn’t a “natural born” American citizen, mostly because the arguments being advanced by the people making those arguments are as baseless as they were when I wrote about [...]

The Washington Post reports today that the incoming Senate is likely to be much easier on Barack Obama than Republicans would like:
Democrats said much of their disappointment about falling short of 60 Senate seats dissipated when Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) was declared the winner of the Senate race in Alaska, giving Democrats 56 seats, [...]

Some time this morning, the selection of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State will be official:
(CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama will officially nominate members of his national security team at an event Monday morning, including Sen. Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, according to two officials.
The Obama transition team announced Sunday that Obama will unveil [...]

MSNBC’s First Read picks on the theory that Hillary Clinton may be Constitutionally barred from serving as Secretary of State:
If President-elect Barack Obama nominates Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state, many legal scholars believe it would be the former law professor’s first violation of the Constitution as president.
Why? Because the Constitution forbids the appointment [...]

Patrick Ruffini thinks his fellow conservatives should spend a lot less time worrying about the Fairness Doctrine:
I have two words for these people: Not happening. Not only has Obama, though a spokesman, flatly denied any interest in reimposing the Fairness Doctrine, or otherwise failed to show any interest in the issue, but his pursuing it [...]

Yesterday, we were promised that Barack Obama would be discussing planned budget cuts today:
Obama’s staff won’t elaborate, but the President-Elect said just now that he’d roll out a plan to cut the federal budget tomorrow — something both presidential candidates said they’d do, but neither detailed.
“[T]o make the investments we need, we’ll have to scour [...]

Delaware’s Governor has appointed a long-time aide to Joe Biden to fill his Senate seat, but it looks like it’s just a temp job:
Ted Kaufman, a longtime aide to Joe Biden, will be appointed by Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to fill the vacancy created by the vice president-elect once he resigns from the Senate.
Kaufman [...]