President-elect Barack Obama said Monday that an internal review found no inappropriate contacts between his transition team and embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but added that the report would not be released at least until Dec. 22. (NationalJournal.com)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has told incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that she wants to know when and why the administration contacts "her rank-and-file Democrats." (Politico)
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, will fast-track retired Gen. Eric Shinseki's confirmation hearings for Veterans Affairs secretary, making him the latest nominee to learn that his Senate hearings will be expedited. (Government Executive)
The Electoral College voted to make Obama's win official on Monday, the president-elect's last ceremonial hurdle now being the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress where the House and Senate will tally Monday's votes. (AP)
Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that closing Guantanamo Bay prison before the war on terror ends -- a top Obama priority -- would be a bad idea. (Reuters)
The Supreme Court has rejected yet another challenge to Obama's citizenship, this lawsuit arguing that the president-elect is a British citizen through his Kenyan father. (AP)
Caroline Kennedy is lobbying to replace Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as New York's junior senator, reaching out to New York lawmakers even as some Democrats question her credentials. (New York Times)
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) may face tough questions at his confirmation hearing after a federal grand jury began investigating whether the Commerce secretary-designate engaged in "pay-to-play" politics. (Washington Post)
Name Game
Shaun Donovan, Obama's choice for Housing and Urban Development secretary, is winning plaudits from groups ranging "from those serving the homeless to Realtors and bankers." (CongressDaily)
Time's Washington bureau chief Jay Carney will become Vice President-elect Joe Biden's communications director, serving a candidate he once criticized for being gaffe-prone. (Washington Post)
Arne Duncan, Obama's expected choice for Education secretary, is something of a compromise pick, straddling an ideological divide among educators about how to fix the school system. (Wall Street Journal)
Green Team
Obama will tap Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., to be his Interior secretary, adding another Hispanic and another Westerner to his Cabinet. (Denver Post)
Scientists and environmentalists are celebrating Obama's green appointments, calling the contrast between Bush's team and this one like "night and day." (Los Angeles Times).
Obama said he is not pleased that Congress let the offshore drilling ban lapse without drafting a national energy policy. (Reuters)
Inauguration Conflagration
The Presidential Inaugural Committee defended its practice of rewarding donors who give $50,000 with inauguration tickets, saying that these people are "paying for the Jumbotrons and the Porta-Potties." (Washington Post)
Obama's inaugural train will begin in Philadelphia before moving to Wilmington, Del., Baltimore and finally Washington, D.C. (USA Today)
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