President Bush meets with the heads of the Big Three automakers today, then travels to Russia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.  Bloomberg previews Bush's meeting with the automakers.  "The auto chieftains and Bush have ruled out a direct bailout or government loan guarantees.  So the executives want steps to help the industry compete against foreign imports...  Bush is expected to exhort automakers to push fuel-efficient new models, said White House spokesman Tony Snow.  He said the president won't offer much more than verbal encouragement for Detroit's restructuring efforts."  The Wall Street Journal says Democrats have their own ideas for how to help the automakers and other manufacturers. 

Congress yesterday "rejected a deal to normalise trade relations with Vietnam in a setback for [Bush] ahead of a visit to Hanoi," per the Financial Times.  "Supporters of the pact on Monday night said they expected the bill to be revived and passed by a simple majority vote as early as Wednesday after failing to secure the two-thirds needed to pass the bill without a debate.  The defeat of the first major piece of legislation brought forward since the election by the Bush administration was seen as a setback for the White House, which made clear the president's desire to arrive at the summit with the deal in hand." 

USA Today notes that the new Democratic majorities raise "the prospect of the most significant globalization debate" in the United States since the 1992 presidential campaign's bitter exchanges over [NAFTA]."  More: ""Several members of the Democratic Congress that takes office in January say the Bush administration's unquestioning celebration of free trade is bleeding the middle class and endangering the American Dream." 

By forming an exploratory committee in New York, Giuliani "stopped short of filing documents with the Federal Election Commission to create a presidential campaign committee…  Federal election law allows individuals exploring a candidacy to 'test the waters' before deciding to run for federal office.  The prospective candidate does not need to register with the commission, but must abide by the same contribution and spending limits as declared candidates." 

The New York Post says Giuliani's filing "ratchets up the early heat in the 2008 contest at a time when Giuliani was facing pressure to make a move..."  More: "Despite leading in national opinion polls, Giuliani has raised eyebrows for keeping a relatively low profile in terms of building a campaign operation, while other candidates - most of them current officeholders - have started hiring staff." 

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) is quitting her leadership post, The Hill reports.  "It would have been extremely difficult for Clinton to run for the White House while handling Senate Democrats' outreach to allied coalitions.  Clinton's spokesman, however, said she is leaving the leadership to focus on her regular Senate duties." 

Former Sen. John Edwards (D) is on New York's Upper West Side tonight signing copies of his latest book, "HOME: The Blueprints of Our Lives."  The book is a photo essay "that tells the story of Americans' common values and dreams through essays and pictures of the childhood homes of a diverse group of people, both celebrities and regular Americans," per the release.

Roll Call reminds us that the following presidential contenders are also up for re-election to their Senate seats in 2008: Biden (D), Hagel (R), and Kerry (D).

A couple of still unsettled House races will affect what can and cannot be said about just how striking last week's election was.  A recount in Connecticut will determine whether or not Rep. Chris Shays is the last Republican House member left standing in all of New England.  If his fellow Connecticut Republican Rob Simmons pulls out a win, Shays will have company.  If Simmons doesn't, then Shays will enjoy this dubious distinction.  And a recount in Democratic Rep. John Barrow's district in Georgia will make the difference between Barrow's party emerging from the election without losing a single House, Senate, or statehouse seat anywhere, and Barrow becoming the only guy to lose a seat.

Per the AP, Democrats currently hold a 230-197 advantage over Republicans in the House, with eight undecided races:
-- CT-12 (where Democrat Joe Courtney holds a slight lead over Simmons)
-- GA-12 (where Barrow holds a lead over Republican Max Burns)
-- NM-1 (where GOP Rep. Heather Wilson holds a lead over Democrat Patricia Madrid)
-- NC-8 (where GOP Rep. Robin Hayes holds a lead over Democrat Larry Kissell)
-- OH-2 (where GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt holds a lead over Democrat Victoria Wulsin)
-- OH-15 (where GOP Rep. Deborah Pryce holds a lead over Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy)
-- TX-23 (where GOP Rep. Henry Bonilla is in a runoff against Democrat Ciro Rodriguez)
-- WY-AL (where GOP Rep. Barbara Cubin holds a lead over Democrat Gray Trauner)

Also, even though the AP called it in favor of Vern Buchanan (R), he and Democrat Christine Jennings are involved in a recount in Florida's 13th district. 

From the AP and NBC's Huma Zaidi
"America's Mayor" wants to be America's president.  Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giulini has filed paperwork to set up a committee to explore a presidential bid.  The four-page filing establishes the "Rudy Guiliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc.," which will allow him to fundraise and travel so he can test the waters.  Last year, Giuliani told reporters that he would make a decision about running sometime this year.  He said at the time, "Sometime you warm up and get ready and you don't get in and pitch." 

A moderate who supports abortion rights, Guiliani has come close to seeking another public office before.  He was poised to challenge Hillary Clinton for retiring Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's seat in 2000 but was diagnosed with prostate cancer and dropped out of the race.  Perhaps this time around, Giuliani might finally get to go tete-a-tete with Clinton, who is also considered a formidable presidential contender.  But first, he'll have to survive a celebrity candidate death match against fellow "maverick" Republican John McCain.

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
Two lessons that House authorities have included to the newest members: how to cover your rear end (ethically), and how to duck and cover.

Newly elected members of the House, some wide-eyed in awe of the their surroundings, are here on Capitol Hill today for freshman orientation. The morning portion of the program was devoted to advice on how to run an office and an organization within the ethical boundaries of the House. On the way into the closed-door confab, congresspersons-elect were handed a pamphlet from the Hill's Office of Emergency planning that featured instructions on how to cover your head with a bio-hazard mask in the event of attack, replete with photographs of smiling models with the plastic sheaths over their faces. "It's fine, especially if I were having a bad hair day," said member-elect Nancy Boyda (D-Kansas).

Zack Space (D-Ohio), who won the seat vacated by Bob Ney (R), pronounced himself "overwhelmed" by the Capitol and his new place therein. The one question that reporters had for the new Democratic members-to-be, fresh off their own grueling campaigns, was about their preference in the House majority leader race. An informal poll of about six of them did not find one vote for John Murtha, who is gunning for that post. Opponent Steny Hoyer apparently laid a lot of groundwork in visiting these races during the campaign.

Also in attendance were at least three people who aren't sure yet if they are members. One is Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), who at last count was up by about five dozen votes over incumbent Rob Simmons (R). The others are Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Christine Jennings (D-Fla.), who are locked in a race being recounted and are said by staff to be here today.

Presumptive Speaker Nancy Pelosi now has a sixth grandchild. Pelosi's daughter Alexandra, of "Journeys with George" fame, has finally given birth after her due date, which was a few days before election day, required her mother's election-day and post-election schedule to quietly be marked "tentative." Baby, mom and dad are all said to be doing well. The happy grandmother is expected to be elected Speaker by her caucus on Thursday, with a formal vote by the entire House to follow on January 3.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Democrat Harold Ford Jr., who narrowly lost his Tennessee Senate bid last week, has just released a statement saying he has no interest in heading the Democratic National Committee. The unlikely prospect that Ford would replace current chair Howard Dean -- who isn't liked by many inside-the-Beltway Democrats, but who enjoys a tremendous amount of support from state party chairs and other DNC members -- was fueled when James Carville was quoted on The New Republic web site late last week saying he'd love to see Ford take over for Dean.

"I have just finished a tough Senate election, and while I care about the future direction of my party, I am not interested in taking over the DNC," Ford says in the statement. "We are now the majority party in the House and Senate, and it is time to move beyond the politics of the campaign and work towards bringing the country together around a common agenda that will strengthen us at home and abroad."

Meanwhile, regarding the speculation over who might succeed Ken Mehlman as Republican National Committee chair, Michael Steele -- who lost his own Senate bid last week -- said on C-Span yesterday that he is interested in the RNC gig. But as we reported last week, per White House and GOP officials, Steele is unlikely to get the job.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
President Bush and Vice President Cheney along with other Administration officials met with the Iraq Study Group in the White House as planned today. White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters at this morning's gaggle that while there was no set agenda for the meeting, a "presentation of alternatives" would not be discussed.  When pressed about what they would be talking about if not options for Iraq, Snow said they could "discuss how one analyzes the scene on the ground right now without getting into specific conversations of ways to proceed." Snow suggested they could discuss issues on a "fact basis" without getting into specific proposals. He also said that it would be "inappropriate" for the Commission to present any of its ideas and get reaction from the president.  Snow added that the group has been "very clear about its independence and we've been respecting that."

The ISG will meet with Democrats tomorrow.

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby.
Both halves of the McCain-Feingold team over the weekend clarified their plans for 2008.  The former is pretty clearly running for president; the latter has decided against it.  Republican Sen. John McCain's bid could be complicated by his continuing support for the war in Iraq, especially after voters rejected it at the polls last Tuesday.  But with Sen. Russ Feingold (D) out of the race, the field has lost its anti-war outlier, the only prospective major candidate who could claim to have voted against it. 

Feingold's decision not to run means one less headache for incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but the Senate in the 110th Congress still will be teeming with presidential candidates from both parties.  For that reason, and because Senate rules make it easier for the minority party to weigh in, the House will be where Democrats stand their best chance to promote an agenda and draw contrasts with Republicans that could build support for their party in the run-up to 2008.  (Which makes you wonder why not all of the likely Democratic candidates have put in calls to incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi.)  The latest Newsweek poll finds strong support for Democrats' top legislative priorities and a new low in President Bush's job approval rating, 31%.

The return of the 109th Congress for a few final weeks represents Bush's last chance to make progress on his agenda for the foreseeable future.  He'll get some of what he wants out of this session, probably including Robert Gates' confirmation as Defense Secretary.  But he's unlikely to win either UN Ambassador John Bolton's confirmation or passage of the NSA surveillance bill, two goals that will strain recent commitments to bipartisanship.  Then again, key Senate Democrats are now calling for the start of a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in four to six months, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is backing anti-war Rep. John Murtha for House Majority Leader.

White House officials continue to insist that Iraq was secondary in voters' calculations when they ousted Republican lawmakers from every region of the country last Tuesday.  They argue that congressional corruption was behind the losses.  House Republicans may see it differently.  Rep. John Boehner, who's running for Minority Leader, tells his colleagues in a letter seeking their support that their losses weren't because of "a battle of ideas in which Americans embraced the values of Democrats over ours.  In part it was a referendum on the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, but those are factors now beyond our control."

Bush and Vice President Cheney are scheduled to meet with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group today.  NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports that the White House considers the President's first-ever session with the group a private meeting, so no coverage is planned.  Tomorrow, Bush meets with representatives of the Big Three automakers.

These are two meetings that arguably could have boosted GOP prospects in the elections had the White House held them sooner.  As we wrote last week, some Republicans are livid that Bush didn't cut Rumsfeld loose before the election.  White House outreach to the Iraq Study Group before election day also might have been interpreted by voters as a willingness to be flexible on Iraq policy.  And the White House has said the meeting with the Detroit automakers was put off until now because it would have looked too political to do it beforehand.  But could an earlier meeting with the automakers -- say, back in the summer -- have boosted the GOP challengers for top offices in Michigan?

Per NBC's Ken Strickland, the Senate will convene this week, take two weeks off for Thanksgiving, and return the week of December 4.  Their adjournment date is TBD but probably by December 22.  The House will adhere to a similar schedule, per NBC's Mike Viqueira.  Both chambers will see leadership elections later this week.  House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has managed to ward off some potentially divisive leadership bids within her caucus, but is jumping head-first into one by supporting Murtha for Majority Leader over that of her current number two, Steny Hoyer.  House Republicans could see competitive contests for all top posts, including a three-way (at least) race for Minority Leader.

 

On ABC yesterday, "White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten indicated that the president would block legislation calling for a scheduled withdrawal" of US troops from Iraq. 

The Boston Globe says Democrats' call for a phased withdrawal of troops by mid-2007 "suggests an aggressive approach... on foreign policy," and "also sets up an early clash with the Bush administration, despite vows from both sides to pursue bipartisan solutions."

The Chicago Tribune says, "The Bush administration stands 'ready to make course adjustments' with the war in Iraq, the White House said Sunday, while insisting that the president remains committed to his vision of success there.  The administration's assurances came as violence rose to a height unusual even by Iraq's standards.  At least 159 people were reported killed, including 35 in suicide bombings at a police recruiting station in Baghdad and 75 whose bodies were dumped in the capital and Baqouba." 

The Sunday Washington Post looked at how the Iraq Study Group's imminent recommendations will hardly be a silver bullet: "Those familiar with the panel's work predict that the ultimate recommendations will not appear novel and that there are few, if any, good options left facing the country...  Given the grave predicament the group faces, its focus is now as much on finding a political solution for the United States as on a plan that would bring peace to Iraq." 

"Even before it is finished," the AP says, the group's "report is seen by many in Washington as having huge stakes.  It could give both parties a chance at consensus -- or at least a tenable framework for agreement -- after an election that gave Democrats congressional control and reshaped Bush's final two years in office." 

USA Today writes that Bush's trip to Asia later this week "also includes reminders of how the Vietnam War roiled U.S. politics and society and raises questions about whether the same thing is happening with Iraq...  Bush stressed what he said were the differences with reporters last week.  He said Iraqis overthrew Saddam Hussein with U.S. help, approved a new constitution and formed a government that is trying to move forward despite sectarian violence." 

In his Sunday column, Bob Novak wrote that one reason why Republicans want to quickly push Gates' nomination through the lame-duck session "is to avoid confrontation with an old enemy: James Webb...  Considering his background, Webb is likely to go on the Senate Armed Services Committee.  The White House wants to confirm Gates before Webb is sworn in." 

 

Newsweek asks how Karl Rove got his calculations so wrong.  "Rove placed so much faith in his figures that, after the elections, he planned to convene a panel of Republican political scientists-to study just how wrong the polls were."  Rove insisted to Time magazine that Iraq wasn't a top concern for voters, per the exit polls but outgoing Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman told Newsweek before the election, "There was no bigger issue than the war." 

Per the Sunday Washington Times, some GOP state "chairmen said that without the Iraq war, a number of Republicans would have won...  There was also a belief among many party officials that the war -- when combined with a number of other issues, such as excessive spending and the lobbying and congressional-page scandals -- produced a 'critical mass' that angered and frustrated Republicans and hurt turnout among party members...  But it was the Republican Party's abandonment of its core principles on spending and limited government that these and other Republicans outside the Beltway said was the biggest complaint among the party's grass roots." 

A recount in Connecticut's 2nd district, where Rep. Rob Simmons (R) may or may not win another term, will determine whether or not Rep. Chris Shays is the only Republican House member left standing in all of New England. 

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who has been blasting the GOP for straying from its conservative principles, does MSNBC's Hardball today at 5:00 pm.  A Wall Street Journal op-ed says Rep. Mike Pence (R) "will become the second most influential conservative in Washington, behind President Bush," if he wins his bid for Minority Leader.  "The congressional Republicans are engaged in a desperate search for a new revolutionary, a Newt Gingrich figure to help them rediscover who they are and what they believe in." 

The New York Times covers potential presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani saying the elections weren't a rebuke to the GOP.  "'I don't see this election, anymore than the one two years ago or the one four years ago, as a defining election,' said Mr. Giuliani." 

   

"What the election was not," says the Washington Post in its analysis of what the election was, "...was a powerful affirmation of the Democratic Party...  Republicans decisively lost independents and moderates, but it is not yet a given that those voters will stay with the Democrats...  The competition for the center of the electorate ultimately will be fought and won in the general election in 2008.  But before either party gets to that, they will have to resolve internal differences on Iraq, terrorism, health care, entitlement reform, taxes, trade and a cluster of social issues." 

The Sunday San Francisco Chronicle posed this question: Will Pelosi be able to get her ambitious wish list through Congress?  "Pelosi's 100-hour agenda is aimed at quickly passing the most popular parts of the Democratic agenda to build momentum to tackle tougher issues.  She's betting that few Republicans will take the political risk of voting against increasing the minimum wage or making college loans more affordable.  And she will dare the president to veto a bill to increase stem cell research."   

The New York Times has HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt strenuously objecting to the Democrats' plan to authorize the federal government to negotiate with drug companies to get lower Medicare drug prices, saying it amounts to "'government-run health care.'"   But: "The approach that Mr. Leavitt described as unacceptable is already used in other government programs" -- like Medicaid and VA health care.    

The liberals are now calling.  "Some of the very activists who helped propel the Democrats to a majority... are claiming credit for the victories and demanding what they consider their due: a set of ambitious - and politically provocative - actions on gun control, abortion, national security and other issues that party leaders fear could alienate moderate voters and leave Democrats vulnerable to GOP attacks as big spenders or soft on terrorism," per the Sunday Los Angeles Times. 

USA Today reports that per an interview with Pelosi, "Democrats aim to open the next Congress in January with a new rule that identifies lawmakers who use legislative 'earmarks' to help special interests - a change Republicans promised but didn't implement." 

But the Los Angeles Times casts doubt on Democrats' commitment to eliminating pork -- especially the leadership's.

The New York Post covers Sen. Joe Lieberman's comment on Meet the Press that he isn't ruling out a possible switch to the GOP. 

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz asks "whether a press corps that has been openly at odds with the president will hold the newly empowered Democrats to the same tough standards...  If the Democrats don't pass much legislation, or if they craft bills that Bush vetoes, will the press blame them for gridlock?  If they start rejecting one Bush nominee after another, will the press say they are obstructionist?  If, after railing against Republican corruption, they pass only cosmetic ethics reform, will the press say they were all talk and no action?" 

The Detroit Free Press previews tomorrow's meeting between Bush and the heads of the Big Three, saying the three "will press for more recognition of their issues, from the rising cost of retiree health care to the advantages a weak yen gives the Japanese...  All sides expect no firm commitments from the scheduled 45-minute session, which will include Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council...  Bush last met with the heads of Detroit's automakers in Michigan in 2003, as he canvassed the country to build support for his tax-cut package." 

Divided government could be good for the deficit, provided that both sides are willing to negotiate and compromise, says USA Today.  "Deficit-reduction packages that passed in 1987, 1990 and 1997 were negotiated between presidents and Congresses of opposite parties.  Only in 1993 did Democrats do it alone under President Clinton - and the tax increases they enacted helped elect a Republican Congress in 1994." 

 

In case you missed McCain on Meet the Press.

McCain supporter Keith Hirschmann says "he expects McCain will benefit from the fact that the Nevada caucuses have been added between Iowa and New Hampshire, adding that Arizona is right next to Nevada," reports the Manchester Union Leader. 

The AP notes that if "McCain were to run, he would turn 72 on Aug. 29, 2008, at the height of the campaign.  Only Ronald Reagan was older -- 73 at the start of his second term." 

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says Feingold's "decision surprised some supporters but didn't shock others.  By all accounts - including his own - Feingold faced a tall climb in winning the nomination...  There was some speculation Sunday that Feingold's decision could in an odd way help [Sen. Hillary] Clinton, since she won't have to defend her record on the war, which has been criticized on the left, from a fellow senator who voted the other way." 

In its look at how the Senate is oozing with potential 2008 contenders despite Senators' bad track record of winning the presidency, the Washington Post says that the idea of Sen. Barack Obama (D) putting in another several years of Senate service before running for president "may be a laudable goal.  But it's a highly questionable presidential strategy." 

"A tide swept out Republicans across the country Tuesday, but in South Carolina, it was the Democrats who were nearly swallowed by the sea," writes The State.  "More than 1 million S.C. voters cast ballots on Election Day, and the GOP came within a few hundred votes of sweeping all nine statewide elected offices outright."  Democratic state chair Joe Erwin is hopeful and said the state's "first-in-the-South Democratic presidential primary" in 2008 "will be key to motivating voters." 

With the congressional race in GEORGIA between Rep. John Barrow (D) and Max Burns (R) still undecided (Barrow leads by 963 votes), the New York Times notes how Barrow and fellow Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall, who narrowly won his race, seemed to have prevailed in a state that's trending Republican. 

In addition to the small handful of still-uncalled races, there are two runoffs that will occur next month.  First, LOUISIANA Rep. William Jefferson (D) -- he of frozen $90,000 fame -- got only 30% of the vote in a crowded field, forcing him to face fellow Democrat Karen Carter on December 9.  That's never a strong position for an incumbent.  "I just can't believe that Jefferson can pull this off," says Amy Walter of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.  "An incumbent who gets 30% in a crowded primary is not the favorite in the general election."  (Of course, we also thought Ray Nagin was doomed after being in a similar position, and he stunned the political world by winning his mayoral runoff earlier this year.)

On the flip side, TEXAS Rep. Henry Bonilla (R) received a near majority -- 49% -- in the free-for-all election last week for the redrawn congressional district (mandated by the US Supreme Court) he currently represents.  But that was still below the 50% he needed to avoid a runoff, and he could be in a tough race.  "I don't think this it's a runaway victory for Bonilla," Walter tells First Read, noting that his district isn't as GOP-friendly as it used to be.  Bonilla will compete against former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D) in the runoff that's likely to occur next month (a date still hasn't been set), and the already victorious Democratic congressional campaign committee sees the contest as another pickup opportunity.

From NBC's Elizabeth Wilner
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold is using the occasion of his 1000th listening session with Wisconsin voters to announce that he's not going to run for president in 2008 and will focus instead on his work in the Senate, where his party is soon to be in the majority.

"Although I have given it a lot of thought, I cannot muster the same enthusiasm for a race for President while I am trying simultaneously to advance our agenda in the Senate," Feingold wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "In other words, if I really wanted to run for President, regardless of the odds or other possible candidates, I would do so. However, to put my family and all of my friends and supporters through such a process without having a very strong desire to run, seems inappropriate to me."

The other half of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform team, meanwhile, explains to NBC's Tim Russert the reasons why he IS running for president on Meet the Press this morning...

From NBC News
As reported tonight on NBC Nightly News, Sen. John McCain (R) plans to set up an exploratory committee for a presidential run in 2008. It might seem awfully early but in fact, when he ran for president in 2000, McCain actually made similar news in late December 1998. Of course, back then he was far less well-known.

Unfortunately for McCain, the Democratic takeover of the Senate just deprived him of a key platform: He'll become ranking member of the Armed Services Committee in the next Congress, whereas he must have hoped to become the committee chairman. (Maybe that's why he recently made a controversial joke that he'd commit suicide if Democrats won control?)

McCain surely will expound upon his plans with NBC's Tim Russert during his appearance on Meet the Press this Sunday. Assuming no one beats him to the punch, he will become the first major Republican candidate to file with the FEC. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) became the first major candidate of either party to file when he did so yesterday. The next few months are expected to be crowded with similar announcements: Sen. Evan Bayh (D) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), to name two, have said they'll announce their plans shortly after the holidays.

From the White House pool report and NBC's Ken Strickland
President Bush and Vice President Cheney met today with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Whip Richard Durbin. Per the pool reporter's account: "We were led in at 12:20 pmET. 'The elections are over,' Bush said. 'The problems haven't gone away...' He assured the senators, he said, that 'we'll cooperate... To solve common problems. There is a great opportunity for us to show the country that Republicans and Democrats are equally patriotic,' Bush said. Noting that Reid hails from the West, Bush said: 'We tend to speak the same language.'

"Reid concurred: 'The election's over.' Seems they have this nailed down. Durbin: 'We talked about a lot of important issues... We talked about our agenda moving forward...This is a day about looking forward' and not backward at the campaign. Cheney was speechless.

"With that, after just a few minutes, the four men rose and they shook hands... Almost got a whiplash. Think it was three minutes, tops."

After Reid returned to the Senate, he told reporters that he doesn't want to "frighten" anyone with the notion that Democrats will launch a barrage of investigations on the Bush Administration. Instead, he said Democrats will conduct much needed "oversight," which Reid said was sorely lacking all this time that Republicans have controlled Congress. He added that subpoenas will be sought "rarely."

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby.
The White House and top Democratic lawmakers head into the post-election Sunday shows and this new era of divided government warily circling each other, trying to gauge each other's sincerity about bipartisanship.  President Bush meets with the Senate Democratic leadership at the White House today. 

Within the two chambers of Congress, bipartisanship, or at least collegiality, may be easier to achieve and maintain in the Senate than in the House, where First Read counts at least 126 Republican members (depending on the outcome of the still-undecided races) who will soon serve in the minority for the first time ever.  Democratic aides in both chambers, looking forward to a turn in the majority, suggest that the toughest adjustment for Republicans may be not controlling the hearing process -- particularly as hearings about the Administration's Iraq policy kick into gear.

Iraq and other security-related issues are the first big sticking point to emerge amid all the making nice.  Bush has heeded Democrats' call to replace Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and said after his Cabinet meeting yesterday that he's "open to any idea or suggestion that will help us achieve our goals of defeating the terrorists and ensuring that Iraq's democratic government succeeds."  But those goals at least today don't include the start of an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, which is being demanded by several top Democratic lawmakers, including some key incoming committee chairs.

Also yesterday, Bush re-submitted John Bolton's nomination to be UN Ambassador; Bolton's recess appointment expires in January.  But incoming Senate Foreign Relations chair Joe Biden made it clear that Democrats won't permit the nomination to proceed, NBC's Ken Strickland reports.  He was backed up by outgoing GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who will serve on Foreign Relations until the end of the lame duck session.  Chafee said in a statement yesterday, "To confirm Mr. Bolton to the position of UN Ambassador would fly in the face of the clear consensus of the country that a new direction is called for."

And Bush and Republicans appeared to dare Democrats on other security-related matters.  Bush said he hopes to see the NSA wiretapping bill passed during the lame duck, which Strickland advises is unlikely.  Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's communications director fired off in a statement, "Now that Democrats will have control of Congress for the next two years, they have a new responsibility for one of the most important issues of our time.  Quite simply, how shall we win the war on terror?"

The Democratic leadership, for their part, could be hard-pressed to tamp down the impulses of the party's liberal base.  Incoming House Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers yesterday reiterated that he agrees with incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi that impeachment hearings are "off the table," NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.  But a new liberal coalition will hold an event in Philadelphia tomorrow to call for a national movement in support of impeachment.

Meanwhile, Republicans continue to digest lessons from their defeat on Tuesday and re-order the troops for the next two years.  Reports that the White House has tapped a Senate candidate who famously distanced himself from President Bush and the party to chair the party's national committee are overblown.  A Republican source familiar with the deliberations tells First Read that while Michael Steele's name has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Ken Mehlman as RNC chair, he does not believe that Steele is actually in the running at this point, and that Steele ultimately won't be named chair.  NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports that a White House source says the same.

The GOP source confirms that the White House is in the process of trying to figure out who would be the ideal chair, and puts the floating of Steele's name down to the fact that "there's a vacuum at this point."  Mehlman's current two-year term expires in January and he has made it known that he won't seek another one. 

Even without Steele, African-Americans are expected to achieve unprecedented prominence in Washington as five ascend to top jobs in Congress, Viq notes: Rep. Jim Clyburn is likely to get elected House Majority Whip, and Reps. John Conyers, Charlie Rangel, Bennie Thompson, and Juanita Millender-McDonald are about to chair the Judiciary, Ways and Means, Homeland Security, and Administration committees.  Rep. Alcee Hastings is also in line to chair the House Intelligence Committee, though he may seek another post instead.

 

NBC's Ken Strickland reports that per a senior aide for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates' confirmation hearing before the Armed Services Committee will likely start during the week of December 4, and he may be confirmed by the full Senate before the end of the year.

"Gates' forceful pronouncements over the years routinely have been tempered by more moderate positions that make it difficult to discern exactly what sort of course the ex-CIA chief might chart for the military," says the Los Angeles Times.  "As a result, lawmakers and senior staffers on Capitol Hill said that although they expected relatively uneventful confirmation hearings..., senators would strive to decipher his often complex views and gauge his ability to lead a military that... was under extreme stress.  Most predicted Gates would sail through." 

The New York Times writes that Bush was already moving by late summer to replace Rumsfeld, but he postponed final action until after the election because he didn't want it to be interpreted as a political move.  Some Republicans are furious that the move wasn't made before the election. 

The Washington Post notes how Bush over the years has tried to demonstrate independence from his father -- but how he's now "seeking help from some key veterans of George H.W. Bush's team to salvage the remainder of his own administration...  The turn to representatives of the old Republican establishment such as Baker and Gates, whether it has anything to do with paternal relations or not, has sent a signal that Washington perceives as a bid to bring more pragmatism to policymaking." 

The Boston Globe says Bush's renomination of Bolton as UN Ambassador is "destined to provoke Democrats even before Congress adjourns for the year." 

Bloomberg reports that incoming Senate Armed Services chair Carl Levin plans to use his post to push for US troop withdrawal. 

USA Today does some fleshing out of Democrats' vague proposals on security, including more money for local first responders and for port security, and new standards for the screening of both security officials and incoming cargo. 

Then there's this, per Reuters: "Iran's most powerful leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Friday called [Bush's] defeat in the congressional elections an 'obvious victory' for the Iranian nation. 

 

The New York Times wonders if Bush can actually return to his bipartisan ways when he was governor of Texas.  Democrats are suspicious.  Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D) "invoked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, who famously repaired his relationship with Democrats.  'But I don't think he's motivated in the same way...  Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to get re-elected.  There's no real motivation for Bush.'" 

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger yesterday praised the new Democratic majorities in Congress, the Sacramento Bee writes.  "'I think this is good that we have new blood coming to Washington, that we have new people and new ideas coming to Washington,' Schwarzenegger said." 

McClatchy notes that some Democratic politicians who worked with Bush in the Texas legislature "speculated that key Bush political adviser Karl Rove, who's known for hardball politics, pushed the president to become more partisan [as president].  To be sure, Democrats also have played a big role in escalating partisan warfare." 

"The Bush administration will soon launch a big 'energy independence' initiative, likely to include renewed emphasis on biofuels, as part of an attempt to regain the political initiative following the midterm elections," says the Financial Times.  "Political analysts say a bold energy initiative could help Mr Bush regain some political momentum, while buttressing Republican support in the farming states of the west and the mid-west, where Democrats made inroads." 

The party lost serious ground among Latino voters between 2004 and 2006, and some blame it on harsh rhetoric about immigration. 

The party also lost a bunch of moderate lawmakers, giving House Republicans "a smaller and more ideologically homogenous caucus," with a lot less representation in the Northeast and Midwest.  "Republicans will have a difficult time recapturing many of the seats they lost," in part "because the districts are dominated by Democrats and independent swing voters," says the Washington Post. 

  

House Democrats have dodged a bullet now that Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chair of the party's highly successful House campaign committee, has decided to seek the fourth-ranking position of Democratic caucus chair instead of challenging Jim Clyburn for the whip post.

The San Francisco Chronicle examines how soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi helped propel Democrats to power by getting involved in more than 60 House races this cycle and making strategic decisions to unify the party "-- like recruiting conservative Democratic candidates, refusing to compromise on Social Security, threatening to punish House Democrats who don't vote with the party, and aggressively going after President Bush on Iraq."  

Bloomberg notes that incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have a tougher time than Pelosi in getting the Democratic agenda through his chamber because of "the Senate's Byzantine rules in a chamber where almost a dozen lawmakers are weighing 2008 presidential bids...  While Pelosi can promise to act on a half-dozen initiatives within 100 hours in the House, it might take Reid months to muscle similar measures to the Senate floor." 

The Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal both preview the variety of hearings expected to be convened by Democratic committee chairs in both chambers.

 

In his first post-election National Journal column, NBC political analyst Charlie Cook writes: "This wave election could have been much worse for the GOP.  At least 13 Republican seats in the toss-up column stayed Republican.  And five more might end up doing so...  But if the Republicans had lost all of their toss-ups -- and nothing else -- they would have suffered a 38-seat setback."

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) claimed yesterday to have secured enough commitments from his colleagues to win the minority whip job.  Alexander may be challenged for the post by Sen. Trent Lott.

The Washington Post chronicles the long rise and quick, if perhaps temporary fall of outgoing Sen. George Allen (R). 

After Allen's concession, the Boston Globe says, "Many Republicans staff members were disconsolate on Capitol Hill yesterday, aware that the party will lose both staff jobs and the ability to set the agenda for committees." 

Newt Gingrich calls Tuesday's outcome a defeat for Republicans, but not for conservatives.  "There is hope to advance a conservative agenda, Mr. Gingrich said, if House Republicans can find allies among conservative Democrats." 

The Boston Globe looks at how Allen's loss may be someone else's gain -- specifically, Gov. Mitt Romney's. 

Presidential candidate and Sen. Evan Bayh (D) tells a USA Today editorial board that people don't know what the Democratic party stands for.  "Bayh said Democrats must focus on middle-class concerns, including affordability of health care and college, as well as pension and job security.  But they also have to prove Democrats can be trusted with national security and should implement all the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.  He singled out reducing the nation's dependence on imported oil as an area where Democrats could immediately prove their willingness to work with Republicans." 

Aides to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) tell First Read that Richardson will announce his future plans in January.

The AP reports that retiring Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D), who filed the necessary paperwork with the FEC yesterday, "plans a 'Gala Celebration of American Community' on December 2 in Des Moines as his initial fundraising event." 

The Des Moines Register: "National party insiders said that his candidacy, like the candidate, was viewed as serious and that its biggest obstacle was becoming better known among a field of prospects that includes superstar names such as Clinton and Obama." 

Hoping to win the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Denver thinks its prospects for beating out New York improved on Tuesday when the state handed the party some big wins.