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President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration is going to be a huge celebration bringing millions of people to Washington D.C. to party.

In order to literally keep the party going all night long, the city council passed emergency legislation this week allowing bars, night clubs and restaurants to stay open around the clock from January 17th until January 21st.

People could disagree about whether this is a real good idea. Yesterday, the leader of the Washington D.C. police union told the Washington Post he’s worried that police resources could be insufficient during Inauguration weekend because of extended hours for clubs, bars and restaurants.

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Oprah’s going to Washington along with everyone else. The daytime Diva plans to do her television show from the Nation’s Capitol during inauguration week.

Estimates are that 3 million people may show up for this historic event…the swearing in of the first Black President. The mayor of Washington says it could be as many as 5 million.

Some will come to watch and some to celebrate. There will be numerous parties and even formal balls.

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Ed Rendell is the governor of Pennsylvania. He’s been in politics long enough that he should know you don’t say stuff around an open microphone that can come back to bite you in your situation.

And if you’re a male chauvinist you should be extra careful.

Yesterday Rendell was commenting on the nomination of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to be the head of the Department of Homeland Security. There was an open microphone nearby and we were treated to Rendell’s musings that Napolitano would be perfect for the job because she has “no life.”

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A run-off is underway today in the U.S. Senate race in Georgia between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Poll watchers say the race will come down to voter turnout which is probably why Alaska governor and former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin flew down to campaign for Chambliss yesterday. That and to get her picture taken some more. She apparently hasn’t lost her touch. She drew huge crowds.

The Georgia race is one of two unresolved Senate races. Democrats need to win both to get a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority. The other undecided race is in Minnesota where a recount is underway between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. Don’t hold your breath for that one. The recount is expected to take weeks.

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More than 2,000 convicts are asking President George W. Bush for a pardon or a commutation of their prison sentences before he leaves office next month. Among them, junk bond king Michael Milken, media mogul Conrad Black and American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh. They’ve all applied to the Justice Department for this free pass of forgiveness.

Last week, the president issued 14 pardons and commuted two prison sentences, all for so-called “small time criminals.” During his eight years in office, he’s granted a total of 171 pardons and has commuted eight sentences. A president has complete freedom to pardon anyone he wishes, and he doesn’t have to justify his decisions or explain himself to anyone.

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It may feel like a long ways away, but Republicans are already looking ahead to the 2012 presidential election.

According to a new Gallup Poll, Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents most would like to see Sarah Palin run for president in 2012. That’s right…Sarah “I read all the newspapers,” Palin. Former mayor of Wasilla, first-term governor of Alaska and hockey mom. Her interviews with Katie Couric are the stuff of legend. After she and McCain got their clocks cleaned, Governor Palin couldn’t get enough of the TV cameras. They were in her kitchen, her office, virtually every corner of her life. She is now reportedly being wooed to write a book-that would be interesting-or maybe do a TV show.

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There are stimulus packages and there are stimulus packages. Remember the one President Bush, House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid collaborated on a while back? It was $168 billion and resulted in a few hundred dollars in most people’s pockets. It did it’s job, gave a short term jolt to the economy, but it’s effects are long since gone. And the economy is a whole lot worse now than it was then.

Stand by for “Stimulus Two!” Congressional Democrats say they will have a stimulus package ready for Barack Obama to sign the day he is inaugurated.

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There are high hopes for big change when Barack Obama becomes President of the United States in about two months. The expectations for this man are approaching euphoria and that could be setting the stage for a big disappointment. We’ve got big problems in this country and no one is going to wave a magic wand and fix them in a matter of weeks or months. It’s likely going to take several years.

Some of the president-elect’s advisers want to make sure Americans realize this and they’re speaking out.

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President-elect Barack Obama is inheriting a lot of problems from the Bush Administration including an economic crisis, two wars, and a whole list of international challenges, the most urgent of which is Iran.

According to a new International Atomic Energy Agency report, Iran is continuing to increase its stockpile of uranium and now has enough nuclear fuel to make a single atom bomb.

Iran insists it only wants nuclear energy to fuel power plants, but the United Nations Security Council isn’t so sure.

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President-elect Barack Obama won the White House on a message of change. Fifty-three percent of Americans said they wanted something new and different in Washington. Well, Obama is certainly new and different, but the same cannot be said for some of his early appointments. It’s like that song title, “Everything Old Is New Again.”

As Obama prepares to take over, he’s asking a bunch of former Clinton Administration members to come on board.

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President-elect Barack Obama met with Senator Hillary Clinton last week, and since then, a lot has been made about the possibility of Obama’s former rival becoming his secretary of state.

The big question this week is what sort of problems Bill Clinton could cause in the vetting process of his wife. Since he left office, President Clinton has started a new career which involves some “complicated international business dealings.” He also has a global foundation with a long list of donors who may not all agree with incoming President Obama’s policies.

But the Clintons have been here before. If Hillary gets the “all clear” and is offered the job, the next question is: Should she take it?

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Republican Senator Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma wants to put a “freeze” on the remaining cash in the big government bailout of the financial industry. In this week’s lame duck session, Inhofe plans to push for legislation that will require Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan for the remaining $350 billion in the bailout package to be voted on in Congress.

Despite promises from Congressional leaders that there would be both, there is absolutely no transparency or congressional oversight on where the first $290 billion has gone. Senator Inhofe suggests Paulson “may have given the money to his friends.”

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As GM goes, so goes the nation…That’s the old motto anyway. Financially neither one is looking so good right now. And General Motors, along with Ford and Chrysler, is looking for some help from our already cash-strapped government to get back on track. Estimates are if the Big Three go belly up, unemployment could hit 10 percent.

But doubts about a bailout for the auto industry grew yesterday on Capitol Hill as Democratic leaders conceded they don’t have the votes to get a measure through in next week’s lame duck session.

If General Motors fails– and it would likely be the first of the Big Three to fall because Ford is in better shape and Chrysler is a much smaller company– the impact would be huge.

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The New York Times reports that congressional Democrats are going to move forward with investigations of the Bush administration even after the president leaves office in January. That could prove to be quite a task.

Where to begin… Abuse of the power of the Executive Branch… Torture of detainees… The role of former White House aides Harriet Miers and Karl Rove in the firing of federal prosecutors… Eavesdropping without a warrant. It’s a very long list.

The rub is that President Bush may be able to block subpoenas long after he leaves the White House.

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The three dollar bill with the $400 haircuts is back. Former Senator, Vice Presidential candidate, Presidential candidate and adulterer John Edwards gave a speech at Indiana University yesterday. He was paid 35-thousand dollars for the appearance. He talked about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, politics…everything except his adulterous affair with campaign filmmaker Rielle Hunter.

Afterwards there was a question and answer session. But no press and the questions he agreed to answer were submitted in advance…that way he could avoid anything that made him uncomfortable.

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When’s the last time a losing vice presidential candidate was still in the news a week after the election? Nobody seems interested in interviewing Joe Biden, or for that matter, John McCain. But we just don’t seem to be able to get enough of Sarah Palin.

The news media are scrambling to get her thoughts on everything…the campaign, the charges from within the McCain camp that she is a “whack job” and a “rogue,” the $150,000 wardrobe, the travel expenses for her family that were charged to taxpayers of the state of Alaska. It’s obviously something besides her keen and subtle grasp of the complexities of being president of the United States.

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Barack Obama won the White House last week on a message of “change.” That’s something that’s easier said than done in Washington.

But the president-elect’s transition chief John Podesta told “Fox News Sunday” that Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office in January.

Podesta said, “As a candidate, Senator Obama said that he wanted all the Bush executive orders reviewed and decide which ones should be kept and which ones should be repealed.”

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After getting the wind knocked out of them in 2006 and 2008, Republicans are a party in disarray...

From putting a woman on the presidential ticket who reportedly can't name the members of the North American Free Trade Agreement and thinks Africa is a country rather than a continent, to a presidential candidate who declared: "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" at the same moment the worst financial crisis in almost a century was descending on the U.S. economy, they appear to have lost their touch. And if they're pinning their presidential hopes on Sarah Palin for 2012, well, good luck with that.

Bush damaged the brand but John McCain and Sarah Palin didn't do much to restore it.

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Barack Obama made history Tuesday night, after voters came out in record numbers to support him and many voting for the first time.

It was a stunning rise to the presidency for a 47 year-old freshman senator, let alone one who is African-American.

Along the way, he beat out a handful of familiar Washington names for the top spot on the Democratic ticket...Former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Joe Biden who eventually became his running mate and, of course, most notably, Senator Hillary Clinton.

Her star power and powerful ties weren't enough to beat out Obama, but was there something more at play?

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The 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama and his family last night at Grant Park in Chicago.

There was perhaps no more profound way to slam the door on eight years of the Bush administration than to elect the first African-American to replace him. The symbolism is powerful; the history is breathtaking. We changed a lot more than our political orientation last night. The country finally grew up.

Something stirred us in a profound way. The disillusionment and disappointment of failed polices everywhere you look were the catalysts. Barack Obama was the spark. Watching him in Grant Park last night, it occurred to me that just like Hemingway was born to write and Tiger Woods to hit a golf ball, this man, Obama, was born to do this, to lead.

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Record turnout is expected today for voters lining up to choose one new president as well as 35 new Senators, 435 Congressmen and 11 Governors.

For some, casting a ballot today means waiting in long lines, sometimes in cold, wet weather. Damp ballots were actually to blame for delays at a handful of polling places in Virginia and North Carolina today.

For others, voting means dealing with polls that didn't open on time.-did this day sneak up on some districts? Or broken or malfunctioning voter machines. At least three precincts in Kansas City received the wrong registration books. New ones had to be printed, holding up lines there.

Some people got their votes in early– more than 30 states allowed voters to cast their ballots either through the mail or at the polls ahead of Election Day. An estimated one-third of all voters took advantage of this, but that process wasn't exactly seamless either.

The last 2 presidential elections were shrouded in controversy. In 2000, the Supreme Court in effect appointed our president, and in 2004 there were strong suspicions that some voting machines had been tampered with, affecting the outcome. And a lot of Americans don't trust that the election results this time around will be legitimate either.

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These early voters in Ohio waited on a two hour line to vote on Friday.

The prescription for tomorrow is comfortable shoes and patience. It's going to be awesome.

Never in recent memory has there been so much interest in a presidential election. More than one-third of Americans are expected to have already voted by the time the polls open tomorrow, a 50 percent increase from 2004. But that doesn't mean there won't by a lot of people in front of you in line when you get to the polls.

Young people have signed up in unprecedented numbers. New voter registrations have broken records in almost every state. Turnout in many of the primaries was staggering. So be prepared.

Be aware also that tomorrow is a chance for all of us to strike a blow for democracy, and God knows she could use a shot in the arm. We're at our best as a nation when we're all involved.

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Palin is a huge hit with social conservatives who would love to see her run in 2012.

Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger - a Republican and supporter of John McCain - told national public radio yesterday that Alaska governor Sarah Palin is not prepared to take over the job of President if she had to. He said, "I devoutly hope that [she] would never be tested."

But the fact is that if some people in the Republican Party get their way, she could be tested one day. Should John McCain lose the race for the White House, you can bet your last dollar this moose huntin', gun totin', pro-life hockey mom will not fade from the political spotlight. She's a huge hit with a group of social conservatives who embrace her values and see her as a fresh face for a divided party… to them, a 2012 Palin run for President may be on the horizon.

But a lot of other people feel quite differently. Sarah Palin quickly became a national joke for her lack of experience, failure to grasp the issues and inability to handle herself with the media.

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Less than 140 hours until election day when Americans will rush to the polls in what is expected to be record numbers to decide the direction of their country for the next four years.

Never has more money been spent by candidates for president to try to convince you they are the answer to America’s problems. And yet after almost two years of campaigning, it is estimated that somewhere around seven percent of Americans still have not decided whether they want John McCain or Barack Obama to run things.

The differences between the two men are as pronounced as between any two candidates for the nation’s highest office in a very long time.

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Of all the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain, here's one that could really make a difference down the home stretch: One has a president to help him and the other one does not. And at first glance, it's not what you might think.

After his appearance with Barack Obama tonight at a rally in Kissimmee, Florida, former president Bill Clinton plans to criss-cross the country on behalf of Obama in the closing days of the campaign. Tonight will mark President Clinton's first joint appearance with Obama on the campaign trail. Despite his lukewarm support at first,President Clinton as well as Hillary Clinton will campaign hard in the next few days to help Obama close the deal.

But what about John McCain?

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Senator Ted Stevens has been convicted on seven counts of fraud.

Guess who's found himself in the express lane on the Bridge to Nowhere? Alaska senator Ted Stevens is now a convicted felon, another "public servant" who served himself instead of the public. Stevens was convicted on seven counts of fraud, for concealing more than $250,000 in personal gifts. He is the first sitting senator to go on trial in more than 20 years, and just the fifth in history to be convicted of a crime. Stevens is also running for re-election, and this arrogant, fraudulent felon says he's staying in the race and asking the people of Alaska to "Stand with me." Where you're going, Senator, no one is going to want to stand with you. And if you had any honor or decency about you, you'd get out of the race.

Alaska, one of the most conservative states in the Union, is playing a pivotal role in helping the Democrats in this year's election.

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What if John McCain had not picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate?

Some of John McCain's advisers are not happy that his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, is making a habit of going off-script and off-message with some of her comments... Most recently this weekend when she discussed her wardrobe at a rally in Florida.

So let's play "what if?"

What if John McCain had not picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate?
For one thing, the Republicans probably wouldn't have had to spend $150,000 buying clothes for the candidate.

Seriously. What if McCain had picked Mitt Romney. A self-made man with plenty of clothes and a knowledge of the economy that the current ticket is sorely lacking. And while he probably can't see Russia from his state, he could probably name at least one newspaper that he reads every day. And if he won, he probably wouldn't go to Washington in January thinking he was "in charge of the Senate."

Or what about Tom Ridge. The former Pennsylvania governor and Secretary of Homeland Security? The key to victory for McCain or Obama may well be Pennsylvania, where Obama holds a double-digit lead heading into next Tuesday.

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U.S. stock markets followed overseas markets as the global equities meltdown continues with another sharp decline. Overnight last night stocks fell almost 10% in Tokyo and more than 8% in Hong Kong. European markets didn't fare much better.

Investors around the world are becoming more and more convinced that a long, deep recession is beginning.

They're probably right.

The U.S. economy has lost jobs for nine straight months with no end in sight– more than 760,000 slashed from payrolls so far this year. Another devastating jobs report is likely on November 7, three days after we elect our next president.

The housing crisis isn't letting up either.

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A recent CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll found 60 percent think McCain has unfairly attacked Obama.

John McCain said this on February 3, 2008, when talking about his run for the White House: "We will run an honorable campaign."

McCain made that statement in response to a question about whether his campaign would resemble George Bush's run for the White House in 2000, one of the nastier campaigns on record.

With less than 2 weeks before Election Day, it's very much an open question whether John McCain has kept his word.

In fact, in the last few weeks John McCain has become downright nasty. It started around the time one of his advisers said that if McCain campaigned on the economy, he would lose. And the ugly personal attacks began.

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Sen. Obama leads Sen. McCain in CNN's latest Poll of Polls.

After the longest and most expensive presidential campaign in history, 7% of likely voters are still not sure who they're going to vote for. And the election is now less than two weeks away. These are the findings in the latest CNN Poll of Polls. So what's the problem? Maybe if you haven't figured it out by now you should not be allowed to vote.

Maybe it's the issues. We've had three presidential debates, one vice presidential debate, one economic meltdown, a $700 billion financial bailout package, a couple of wars and countless arguments about under whose plan you and I would pay more in taxes and for health care.

Or maybe it's the mud-slinging…

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This billboard in Belgrade, Serbia states, 'Change that we can believe in'.

Senator John McCain says when it comes to foreign policy he's light years ahead of Barack Obama. Over and over again, McCain has insisted Obama lacks the necessary experience to conduct business with foreign countries on behalf of the United States.

So how do you explain this?

Citizens of dozens of foreign countries prefer Barack Obama over John McCain as our next president by a margin of almost 4 to 1, according to a massive poll conducted by the Gallup Organization. About 30 percent of those surveyed prefer Obama, while just 8 percent favor McCain.

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Many Americans are worried that a John McCain presidency would be just like another term of George Bush.

Two thirds of Americans are concerned that McCain would pursue policies too similar to President Bush according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. 49 percent say they are "very concerned."

This creates a real dilemma for McCain. The conservative Republican base is less than thrilled with McCain as the GOP nominee. And that's where the few remaining people who think President Bush is doing a good job reside.

McCain can't separate himself too much from Mr. Bush or conservative Republicans will tell him to take a hike. But if he doesn't separate from Bush, he's going to have trouble attracting those voters who think President Bush is the worst thing to happen to this country in a good long while. And there are lots of those.

A new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll focuses on President Bush's disapproval rating and the unprecedented role it could play in the campaign. None of this is good news for McCain.

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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

With two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, the race couldn't be much tighter on the Democratic side.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests 33% of likely caucusgoers support Barack Obama, 29% back Hillary Clinton and 20% are behind John Edwards. The margin of error is 4 points.

The poll also shows Obama gaining ground on Clinton on the question of which Democrat is most electable, which had been one of Clinton's early advantages. However, when it comes to which candidate has the best experience to be president, Clinton still has a significant lead.

In Iowa, it could also come down to which campaign does a better job of motivating voters to come out in the dead of winter and spend hours attending these caucuses.

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