In Transition

While it's lights out on the 43rd presidential administration, we'll be back soon after the new administration unpacks its bags with a new blog called "Balance of Power" that chronicles the yin and yang between the executive and legislative branches.

Look for it soon.

At a dinner last night honoring John McCain, Barack Obama prefaced his remarks about a man "I've come to know very well and admire very much," and added: "Then, according to the rules agreed to by both parties, John will have approximately 30 seconds to make a rebuttal."

He also had this to say about his onetime rival for the presidency: "We will not always agree on everything in the months to come. We will have our share of arguments and debates. John is not known to bite his tongue. And if I'm screwing up, he's going to let me know."

Barack Obama has not given up the fight - to keep his Blackberry.

Incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on NBC's "Today Show" that Obama is "fighting with the lawyers and such to make sure that that happens. He finds it a real way of being able to keep in touch with family and friends."

"You know, you get very serious work-related e-mails from him and you get some funny e-mails from him, too," Gibbs said. "So, it's almost hard to imagine him not being able to do that."

You know the transition’s just about finished when the Bush White House puts out a schedule referring to the current commander-in-chief as “The Former President.”

Yes, the peaceful handoff of power that’s awed generations and stoked countless political science treatises will go ahead as planned at noon on Jan. 20, making Bush’s first official event with that new appellation an address to his White House staff at Andrews Air Force Base at 1:25 p.m., just before he and Laura Bush leave for their new life in Texas.

The farewell address, which is closed to the press, is part of a busy official day for the soon-to-be-former president, according to the last daily schedule put out by his administration.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that the Senate would begin confirming President-elect Barack Obama’s nominees to various executive posts as soon as Obama is sworn in next week.

Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate planned to confirm “a number” of non-controversial nominations that won’t require a roll call in the hours immediately following Obama’s inauguration at noon Jan. 20 as the nation’s 44th president.

“Any nominations that require votes, we will schedule them for the next day,” Reid said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve the nomination of Eric H. Holder Jr. to be the next Attorney General on Jan. 21. Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., announced Friday that the panel would vote on the nomination on that day. Ranking Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said he was not inclined to try to postpone the committee’s action, as he is entitled to do under its rules. Holder is expected to be approved by the committee and quickly confirmed by the Senate.

— Keith Perine

No, it’s not going to be a story every time John McCain votes against President-elect Barack Obama. But today’s vote was a pretty big one: McCain was one of the Senate Republicans who voted against releasing the second $350 billion in bailout money that Obama wanted.

It didn’t make any difference. The Senate rejected the measure that would have blocked the funds, a major victory for Obama after days of lobbying by the president-elect and his team.

But in a statement released after the vote, McCain said he voted to block the release of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds because “I have seen no evidence that the additional and substantial taxpayers’ money will be used for its intended purpose.”

McCain’s main gripe was not with Obama, but with President Bush. He accused the outgoing administration of using money from the first $350 billion in bailout funds to help the auto industry “in direct defiance of Congress,” since the Senate had rejected the plan.

“No further TARP funds should be released until we are able to impose strict standards of accountability and ensure that the money is spent only as intended by Congress - to purchase mortgage-backed securities and other troubled assets and provide help to homeowners who are on the brink of losing their most important investment and roofs over their heads,” McCain said.

Even during the Bush presidency, McCain was often a stickler for congressional oversight. And now that he’s settled back into the Senate, with his former rival in the White House, it looks like he’s about to play the role with even more enthusiasm in the coming years.

— David Nather

Poor Phil Schiliro is finally getting some help. The top congressional lobbyist for President-elect Barack Obama has been working long days, nights, and weekends to help the incoming president pitch his massive economic recovery package to Congress. Now, finally, he’s getting reinforcements.

Lots of them. In fact, it seems that Obama’s strategy is to flood the zone with congressional lobbyists — even when his own party controls Congress — to help him get his way. And, once again, he has assembled a team heavy with crucial Hill experience. The newest hires announced today:

Lisa Konwinski, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs. As General Counsel to the Senate Budget Committee, she has been a specialist in the congressional budget process and Senate floor procedure.

Jay Heimbach. He’s currently the chief of staff for Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Christopher Kang. He’s the Director of Floor Operations for Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, one of Obama’s closest allies.

Sean Kennedy. Once an aide to former House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, he also has served as chief of staff to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Jim Oleske. He worked for former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, now the secretary-designate of the Department of Health and Human Services, and more recently was chief of staff in the Oregon Senate Majority Office during the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions.

Jim Papa. Another former Daschle aide, he most recently worked as director of member services for former House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, now the incoming White House chief of staff.

Alejandro Pérez. He’s the floor director for House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland and is a former executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Jonathan Samuels. He’s the acting floor director for House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., and was a longtime aide to Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

Shelly O’Neill Stoneman. She is the deputy chief of staff for Rep. Steven R. Rothman, D-N.J.

Louisa Terrell. A longtime Senate aide to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, she was his deputy chief of staff and previously specialized in criminal law issues, immigration policy, and women’s issues on his Senate Judiciary Committee staff.

Denise Wilson. She was a professional staff member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee under Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California.

— David Nather

Just call him Obama the Uniter.

Even before he's sworn in, President-elect Obama appears to be inspiring public confidence, with about seven in ten Americans predicting he'll do the right thing when it comes to addressing the economic crisis, fighting terrorism and managing the war in Iraq, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press.

What is more, the poll shows a sharp decline in the proportion of Americans who believe the country if fractured by partisanship.

The survey of 1,503 adults, conducted on cell phones and landlines from Jan. 7 to 11, reflects the optimism Americans generally show toward new administrations.

AFP / Nicholas Kamm

Well, that sure was a fast turnaround. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of John McCain’s most loyal supporters throughout last year’s presidential campaign, is now raving about the excitement President-elect Barack Obama has generated overseas.

“I cannot tell you how much enthusiasm we saw in Pakistan for this new president,” Graham told reporters today as he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden prepared to brief Obama on their trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

What’s more, he couldn’t resist raising expectations just a little bit higher.

“There is a moment in time here for this country to reengage the international community, to make sure that we have international support to stabilize Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq,” Graham said. “And this president’s popularity and the respect that he has earned throughout the world gives America a chance to reengage not only in the region, but in a way that will in the long term make this job easier, take some pressure off our troops.”

Graham allowed that many of the international leaders he and Biden met on their trip were “surprised that there would be a bipartisan delegation this soon and I would be in it, given my relationship to Senator McCain.” But that was the point of going, he said. “The campaign is over; I am disappointed in the outcome, but like every American, I’m excited about what awaits our country in the future.”

So will Graham get anything in return for this newfound burst of enthusiasm? It appears so. At the photo op, Obama said he was “drafting” Graham “as one of our counselors in dealing with foreign policy because the fact is, as our tradition has always been, that our differences end at the water’s edge.”

Sounds like Graham is going to get his phone calls returned by the White House after all.

— David Nather