Inauguration photos

Chief Justice John Roberts swears in President Barack Obama as his wife Michelle holds the Lincoln Bible

President Obama delivers his inauguratal address

Vice President Joe Biden takes the oath of office as his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and daughter stand beside him

President and Mrs. Obama take their first dance as the nation's first couple

Obama & Biden to visit Supreme Court

President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden will visit the Supreme Court and its Justices tomorrow at the inviation of Chief Justice John Roberts. From the Obama transition team’s release:

At the invitation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will pay a protocol visit to the Supreme Court of the United States tomorrow afternoon. This will mark the third time in recent history a President-elect and Vice President-elect have visited the Court. The last such visit was made by Bill Clinton and Al Gore on December 8, 1992. The first visit was on November 19, 1980, when Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush called on the Court. The President-elect and Vice President-elect will visit with the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices in the ceremonial West Conference Room where Obama and Biden will sign the same guest book signed by Clinton and Gore in 1992. Following the signing of the guest book, the Chief Justice and the President-elect and Vice President-elect will join the Justices on a brief tour of the Courtroom and the Justices’ Conference Room. This is the room where the nine Justices meet in private to decide pending cases. The visit is a private event. There will be no photo or press availabilities.

ICYMI: the end of the transition edition

Sarah Palin and the Anchorage Daily News are having a very public argument over Palin’s accusation that the ADN is pushing the rumor that Palin’s youngest son is really her grandson

Senate Democrats hope to pass President-elect Obama’s stimulus package by February 13

Obama reveals that the choice of first dog has been narrowed down to two breeds

Ambinder plays oddsmaker

Biden will resign from the Senate on Thursday

Obama will honor McCain at a dinner the night before the inauguration

Inaugural parade tickets sold out five minutes after they went on sale

The race to replace Rahm Emanuel in the House is wide open (putting it lightly)

New dog joins… the Biden family

Vice President-elect Biden & his new puppy

Vice President-elect Joe Biden has beaten President-elect Obama to the punch and gotten himself a dog. Biden, who was promised a dog at the end of the presidential campaign by his wife Jill, chose a month-old German shepherd from a Delaware breeder. The puppy will be named by Biden’s granddaughters.

Gore to meet with Obama

Former Vice President Al Gore will meet with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden tomorrow in Chicago.

From President-elect Obama’s press office:

Tomorrow, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will be meeting with former Vice-President Al Gore in Chicago to discuss energy and climate change and how policies in this area can stimulate the economy and create jobs. There will be a pool spray in the meeting and more details to follow.

Kaufman to replace Biden in Senate

Ted Kaufman has been named by Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner to replace Vice President-elect Joe Biden in the Senate when he resigns to become vice president. Kaufman, a longtime friend and close adviser to Biden, is believed to be a placeholder for Biden’s son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who cannot take the seat in right now due to his currently being deployed in Iraq.

Cheneys host the Bidens

Picture:

And video:

Klain accepts Biden’s offer to be his chief of staff

Ron Klain, former chief of staff to former Vice President Al Gore, has accepted Vice President-elect Biden’s offer to become his chief of staff.

Biden asks Klain to be chief of staff

Vice President-elect Joe Biden has asked Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to Al Gore when he was vice president, to be his chief of staff. Democratic insiders believe that Klain has either already accepted or is expected to accept.

Cheneys to host Bidens at VP residence tomorrow

Vice President Cheney and his wife Lynne will host Vice President-elect Biden and his wife Jill tomorrow afternoon at the official residence of the Vice President, the Naval Observatory.

Biden tags McCain on economy; calls him “erratic”

Biden off campaign trail through at least Tuesday

Joe Biden is being forced from the campaign trail due to the death of Bonny Jean Jacobs, his wife Jill’s mother. From Biden spokesman David Wade:

The Obama-Biden campaign today canceled Sen. Biden’s schedule Monday and Tuesday because of the passing of Jill Biden’s mother, Bonny Jean Jacobs, this afternoon after a long illness. Other details will follow, but we appreciate everyone’s respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.

Biden has been away from the campaign trail for the weekend when news that Ms. Jacobs’ health had taken a turn for the worse. Senators Hillary Clinton and Evan Bayh have substituted for Biden at previously scheduled events.

VP debate wrap-up

Senator Joe Biden debates Governor Sarah Palin the the vice presidential debate

Thursday’s vice presidential debate was much like the first presidential debate: neither candidate did anything to hurt themselves or their campaigns. Like Senator Obama, Senator Biden stuck to substance, offering specifics on what policies an Obama Biden administration would pursue and he looked vice presidential (he also looked like he was more than capable of assuming the presidency if needed).

Governor Palin’s performance was based more on style than substance. She did not answer questions unless it suited her, used phrases designed to say “I am in touch with what is going on,” attacked Senator Obama’s record and did not outline any meaningful policies that a McCain Palin administration would enact. Her entire performance came off as quite scripted and many lines seemed to be designed for being replayed as a soundbite. However, Palin did not come off like she had in her interviews with CBS News’ Katie Couric and ABC News’ Charles Gibson; where she looked to be out of her league. Many had been expecting Palin to destroy McCain’s presidential campaign by repeating her performance from those interviews, but she did not and did no damage to McCain at all. In fact, Palin silenced her critics within the Republican Party with her debate performance.

At the end of the day, this debate, which was the second most watched debate in history with just under 70 million viewers, will have no major impact on the presidential campaign. “Low information voters” are more likely to be swayed by the state of the economy than what Joe Biden and Sarah Palin said during the debate.

Video: the VP debate

VP debate: first impressions

Here are our first impressions of the vice presidential debate:

• Palin came out of the gate very strong, but trailed off halfway through
• Biden started off very weak, but was very strong when Palin trailed off
• Palin lacked substance and was all flash, while Biden was substance and lacked flash
• This debate will not have an impact longer than three days
• Palin’s strategy was to attack relentlessly and repeatedly, even when Biden refuted the attack with fact she continued the lines of attack again and again
• Palin certainly has silenced her critics in the Republican Party
• Palin did have a slight gaffe when she said of the economic crisis: “it’s a toxic mess on main street that is affecting Wall Street.”
• Biden was put in a jam by Palin toward the end when she talked about being a mother, lacking health insurance, etc. He came back hard and probably did well with women when he choked up talking about the death of his wife and daughter, and having to raise his two sons as a single father

Livestream of the VP debate

You can watch it here.

Five questions Biden & Palin should be asked in the debate

We have come up with a list of five questions that Gwen Ifill should ask Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

For Senator Biden:

1. Senator Obama has stated that his administration would be about changing Washington and the way it works. How would you be able to help him do that, especially since you have been in Washington for nearly 36 years?
2. You have the reputation of being quite opinionated and putting your foot in your mouth. Are you capable of serving as vice president without being a distraction or even behaving in a detrimental manner to an Obama administration?
3. What type of role will you play as vice president? Will your vice presidency be in the mold of Dick Cheney or Harry Truman?
4. At what instance would you advise a President Obama to go to war? Authorize the use of nuclear weapons?
5. What part of Senator Obama’s platform do you disagree with most?

For Governor Palin:

1. Your husband Todd has been reported to have been intricately involved and even represented your office in meetings. He is neither an elected official or staffer. Would you permit him to sit in on or represent you at meetings if you were vice president or president?
2. You are currently under investigation for the possible abuse of your power as governor of Alaska, where it is alleged that you used your office to access and distribute private information. If you were to become vice president, you would have access to far greater powers that are rarely subject to checks and balances. What assurances do we have that you would not abuse this power entrusted to you?
3. Throughout your campaign, you and Senator McCain have said that Alaska’s proximity to Russia has given you national security experience. Do you have any other national security credentials?
4. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska you enacted a policy of charging rape victims for their own rape examinations. Would you please explain your rationale behind enacting such a policy?
5. Were Pakistan’s government to fall and a radical government take over, thus gaining control of nuclear weapons, what course of action would you advise a President McCain to take?

Biden & Palin answer Couric’s questions before debate

First debate wrap-up & a note on the VP debate

Just a quick wrap-up on the first presidential debate. Neither Senator Obama nor Senator McCain can claim to have scored a knock out blow, but at the same time, neither of them had a major gaffe. After taking the weekend to think about it, the debate has to go to Obama because of what he accomplished. Senator Obama officially introduced himself to the “low information voter” and did so in a manner that showed he is able to lead as President of the United States. The “low information voter” already knows who John McCain is, but Barack Obama is new to them (even with the over twenty months of 2008 election coverage that has bombarded their TVs nightly). Obama’s answers spoke much better to this key group than McCain’s, as the “low information voter” wants to hear that Obama would send troops into Pakistan to get al Qaeda; they don’t want to hear McCain’s scolding response. At the same time, they don’t want to get into earmarks, which really don’t seem to mean much to this voting group at all.

Finally, a note on the upcoming vice presidential debate. Sarah Palin has been bombing her interviews and McCain aides have been privately expressing concern over how she will fare against Joe Biden on Thursday. She really could perform terribly, or all of these missteps and leaks of performance anxiety could be the greatest political trick ever pulled.

Biden hits McCain on Bermuda tax loopholes