Administration

As speculation runs rampant about President-elect Barack Obama's open cabinet slots, bettors on Intrade's political prediction markets are favoring former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) for top jobs in Obama's new administration.

Holbrooke is fetching the site's highest bids for secretary of state, at an average of $17.10. Clustered close behind Holbrooke are Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) at $16.40, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) at $15, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) at $14.45.

Napolitano sits at the top of a less crowded pack for attorney general. She leads with an average bid of $28.20, while former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, who helped head Obama's VP search team, is fetching an average bid of $20. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is next closest at $8. Read more...

Registered federal lobbyists working on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team will have to adhere to a strict set of rules limiting their ability to use connections to lobby the new administration, Barack Obama's transition chief John Podesta announced today at a briefing with reporters.

The rules, as provided by the Obama team:

• Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition.


• Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition.


• If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.


• If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration

When President-elect Barack Obama gave reporters the rundown on his family's pending dog purchase last week, the freshly elected Democrat stressed that two priorities may conflict: his daugher Malia's allergies, and the family's desire to adopt from a shelter. The Humane Society--the largest and most influential group advocating pet adoption in U.S.--says that won't be a problem.

Obama told reporters Friday, at his first press conference since the election, that "there are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic. On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog. But obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. Whether we

Lest President-elect Barack Obama forget that he will soon hear passionate calls on a wide range of issues, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) today called on the Democrat to pardon imprisoned border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean--a hot-button issue for immigration activists.

The agents' case has been a rallying cry for immigration hard-liners like Tancredo, but it has garnered attention from centrists and liberals as well -- Democrats Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), joined calls for an examination of the case.

Ramos and Compean are serving prison sentences for shooting a man near the Texas-Mexico border in 2005. They shot a man in the buttocks after he waved what appeared to be a gun at them, the agents said. Nearly 800 pounds of marijuana were found in the van he abandoned as he fled, according to news reports on the case.

Tancredo had this to say in a letter to Obama today:

President-elect Obama:

Congratulations on your electoral victory of last week; I hope that you do bring some needed changes to Washington. One such change that would bring hope to the men and women who protect America

Giving scant details about what will be discussed at the first meeting between President Bush and President-elect Obama at the White House this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Bush wants to focus on the economy and the threat of terrorist attacks at the private, one-on-one meeting.

"I know one thing that the President will want to talk about is what he's been talking about in the phone call that he had with the President-elect and in his radio address and in the two statements he gave to you all last week, which is the transition of power this time around is so critically important -- one, in regards to the economy, and two, in regards to the attacks -- the threat of attack that we currently live under," Perino told reporters at a news conference today.

Perino said America could be vulnerable to attacks (presumably from terrorists or enemy nations) during the transition of power, hitting on a theme first expressed by Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) during the presidential campaign--that America's enemies may test a new President Obama. "

"We all know that as we've seen in other countries that that period of transition can be one where a country is vulnerable to attack," Perino said "And we really want to make sure that we work with them through joint exercises, through providing briefings, so that when we hand the baton to them they're able to move forward and continue to protect the country.

Perino stressed that the meeting, where Obama and Bush will be alone in the Oval Office without the presence of aides, will be private.

When asked to recommend Republicans President-elect Barack Obama should consider for cabinet slots in his new administration, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) listed Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), and Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah) on CNN's "Late Edition" today.

"I have a lot of favorite Republicans," Reid told host John King, who was filling in for Wolf Blitzer. "Chuck Hagel, of course. I've read his book. I know a lot about his life. He was the one that allowed us to break -- and we won a vote on Iraq. We won it because of Chuck Hagel. So he certainly is a strong Republican. I like him very, very much."

"And we've got Jack Danforth in Missouri, who is still a young enough man to do something very, very good for our government," Reid added of the 72 year-old former senator and U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

"There's other senators I think -- Bennett from Utah, what a fine man. He could be a great secretary of the interior or do other good things," Reid said.

Which breed of dog the future First Family will choose is a

Giving his first press conference as president-elect today, Barack Obama vowed that he would pass a second economic stimulus package when asked what his first priorities in office will be.

"The one thing I can say with certainty is: we are gonna need to see a stimulus package passed either before or after the inauguration," Obama said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Congressional Democrats have pressed for a second stimulus package. Congress will return for a lame-duck session this month, when Democratic leaders will begin their push for a package.

Obama said his administration, in determining its economic priorities, will focus on job creation and assistance to state and local governments to prevent government layoffs.

President-elect Barack Obama on Friday will spend time focusing on education -- specifically, that of his daughters.

To portray the Illinois senator as an everyday man not changed by his election victory, his campaign announced that he would attend parent teacher conferences with wife Michelle at his daughter

This from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), reacting to news that the pugnacious Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has accepted a position as President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff:

"This is an ironic choice for a President-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center."

Boenher's office sent the statement out in a release this afternoon. The Republican National Committee expressed similar concerns earlier today.