CNN: Senate offers Clinton new options
The Democratic Senate leadership is considering a new role for Sen. Hillary Clinton should she decide to remain in the Senate and not accept the rumored offer of a position in President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet, a Democratic official told CNN Wednesday.

CNN: New Congress members meet big-money donors
Before being sworn in or casting their first votes, some newly elected members of Congress were introduced Wednesday to another hallmark of life on Capitol Hill — the big-ticket reception for big-money donors.

CNN: Huckabee says he's not settling scores
Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Wednesday he's not trying to settle old scores with his onetime GOP rival Mitt Romney, despite sharply criticizing the former Massachusetts governor in a book out earlier this week.

CNN: Iraq pact timeline calls for troops to leave by 2011, Pentagon says
A security pact between the U.S. and Iraqi governments will allow U.S. troops to finish the work it needs to do before leaving the country, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.

CNN: Minnesota Senate race recount could get ugly
The Senate campaign in Minnesota between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken was considered to be quite nasty, with attack ads and angry statements by both sides.

CNN: Obama brings Biden birthday cupcakes
The day before Vice President-elect Joe Biden turns 66, President-elect Barack Obama presented his running mate with 12 candlelit cupcakes after their weekly lunch on Wednesday.

CNN: Obama announces more White House staff
President-elect Barack Obama formally announced the additions of key White House staff members on Wednesday, including the previously expected choice of David Axelrod as Senior Advisor to the President

CNN: Palin congratulates Begich on Senate win
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is congratulating Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich on winning his Senate race against veteran lawmaker Ted Stevens.

CNN: Prostitute to Spitzer's wife: 'I'm sorry'
The prostitute at the center of the scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has apologized to his wife.

CNN: McCain wins Missouri; State's streak over!
It's taken more than two weeks, but we finally have a winner in Missouri.

CNN: With Minnesota recount underway, Al Franken visits Capitol Hill
As Minnesota begins to re-count the nearly three million ballots cast in the state’s tightly-contested Senate battle, the two candidates in the race — Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman — were on Capitol Hill meeting with Senate leaders.

CNN: Sessions tapped to take over NRCC
In another sign of the Republican Party’s efforts to regroup after multiple losses on Election Day, the National Republican Congressional Committee is now under new leadership.

CNN: Some Pentagon workers 'burrowing' in to avoid the axe
At the Pentagon they call it “burrowing”. Political appointees– typically low level — are scrambling to hold onto their positions in the next administration by getting their job description changed from “political” to “career civil service”.

Washington Post: Official Seeks to Make Inauguration Day a Holiday
A Montgomery County school board member is offering a resolution to declare Inauguration Day a holiday in Maryland's largest school system, against the recommendation of Superintendent Jerry D. Weast.

WSJ: OpEd by Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara: Let's Have a Real Middle-Class Tax Cut
President-elect Barack Obama is right: America needs a real and meaningful middle-class tax cut. Unfortunately, despite the rhetoric, that is not what his proposals offer.

Washington Post: Handshake Man Says He'll Steer Clear Jan. 20
A confounding and perhaps divinely inspired Inauguration Day tradition is coming to an end: Handshake Man says he can't make it to the celebration Jan. 20.

Detroit News: To rest of U.S., Detroit is mired in the past
To watch two days of hearings on how — or whether — Congress should rescue Detroit's close-to-failing automakers is to be haunted by a recurring question: How did we get here?