Huffington Post reports that Barack Obama has added Mike Lux, a blogger at Open Left and advisor to the Clinton transition team (among other accomplishments) to his transition team.

Veteran Democratic official Mike Lux has been tapped by Barack Obama to serve as an adviser and progressive liaison during the transition period, the Huffington Post has learned.

Lux, who worked on the Clinton administration transition efforts in 1992, confirmed the hiring but, citing a need for clearance, declined to offer further information.

More Lux credentials below:

Some fraudsters are peddling phony tickets to President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration. The Washington Post reports the only source for tickets, which are free, is the Congressional Offices. They are setting up a website with information.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has printed about 250,000 tickets to the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony at the west front of the U.S. Capitol.

The tickets are free and will be given to members of Congress and to President-elect Barack Obama's presidential inaugural committee, once that is established. Those who want to attend the ceremony should contact their local member of Congress to request tickets.

One drawback for out-of-towners planning to attend: "Tickets will not be given out until one week before the inauguration." Maybe the airlines will offer last minute inauguration fares? I don't think so either, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there.

Barack Obama's Transition Chief John Podesta says stem cell research and drilling are among the top George W. Bush-issued executive orders he will reverse when taking over the White House.

Grits for Breakfast has one they'd like see Obama take action on: the new FBI snitch/snooping guidelines approved last month. You can read them here (pdf) or a summary here.

Seems like a good time to start a list. What executive orders or other Bush-authorized decisions would you add to that list?

(Part 1 is here)

A substantial victory margin for Barack Obama and two strong elections for the Democratic Party unquestionably constitute a mandate. But a mandate to do what? In a broad sense, it is a mandate for change. In specific terms, the answer is somewhat less clear.

Paul Krugman argues that the mandate is for “a new era of progressive policies” because “this year’s presidential election was a clear referendum on political philosophies — and the progressive philosophy won.” That is certainly true with regard to the progressive changes that were at the forefront of the election: a tax policy that requires the wealthy to shoulder a greater burden while providing middle class relief; health care reform; investment in the nation’s infrastructure; more robust regulation of the financial industry; withdrawal of troops from Iraq; a foreign policy that emphasizes diplomacy over aggression. It is less clear that voters intended to send a mandate to enact a broader progressive agenda.

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The problem with political reporters is they know so little about politics. Even the smart ones. Ron Brownstein writes:

If Obama is shrewd enough, there's a lesson for the new president in the failure of the old one. Bush and his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, dreamed of cementing a lasting Republican electoral majority. Instead, Bush has left his party in rubble.

The 2008 election represented a final grade on Bush's bruising and polarizing political strategy. . . . His legislative strategy centered on minimizing dissent among congressional Republicans; his electoral strategy revolved around maximizing his vote among Republicans and conservative independents. Through Bush's first term, that approach generated undeniable successes. . . . But through Bush's second term, this insular strategy grew unsustainable. By targeting so many of his policies toward the priorities of his conservative base, Bush ignited volcanic opposition from Democratic voters and steadily alienated independents.

This analysis is simply and undeniably wrong. How Bush got his policies through is not what has caused the Republican electoral debacle. It was the performance of his Republican policies. If Bush's policies had been successful, Republicans would be expanding their majorities TODAY. It is ironic that political reporters never can accept that elections are judgments on the efficacy of the policies of the governing party, not the process by which policies are enacted. More . . .

Andrew Travers in the Aspen Daily News writes about speculation (see Newsweek, for example) that Barack Obama will name Penny Pritzker as Commerce Secretary. Pritzkger was the national financial chair of the Obama campaign. The Pritzker (and Crown family) ties to Aspen go back decades.

Pritzker’s wide-ranging business and civic achievements include starting Classic Residences by Hyatt, a successful luxury retirement development, working to improve public schools and serving as CEO of Pritzker Realty Group. Earlier this year, Forbes ranked her among the 500 wealthiest people in the world.

Update: Michael Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is also leaving early. He's going to Kirkland and Ellis.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey yesterday announced the resignation of Thomas Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-Trust Division.

Barnett was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division on Feb. 10, 2006. He became acting Assistant Attorney General on June 25, 2005, and previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General since April 18, 2004.

I suspect many of Bush's political appointees had their resumes out before the election. It's not like the handwriting wasn't on the wall.

In addition to an Attorney General, Obama will appoint 93 United States Attorneys, one for each district. These jobs are political plums. They don't always (or even mostly) go to trial lawyers. U.S. Attorneys rarely try cases themselves (Patrick Fitzgerald is one exception who comes to mind), they run the office and implement the agenda of the new Attorney General and the Administration. [More...]

Ana Marie Cox has an extensive interview in the Daily Beast with Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist of John McCain's campaign.

When he knew McCain would lose? September 29.

On the future of the Republican party:'

“The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct...there has to be a message and a vision that is compelling to people in order for them to come back and to give consideration to the Republican Party again.”

Lots of good quotes here -- on leaks, on Palin and more.

Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, whose name has been floated for months as a possible Obama Attorney General pick, says he's not interested. He'd rather run for Governor of Alabama.

Fine by me, as I wrote here back in May.

Apparently, some people are blaming African-American voters in California (instead of the obvious culprit, the radical right fundamentalists) for the passing of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. The progressive group People for the American Way (PFAW),which has done great work evaluating judicial nominees, says it's not true. From their Memorandum today:

Republicans and white churchgoers, among many other groups, voted for Prop. 8 at higher rates than African Americans. There are few African Americans in the inland counties that all voted overwhelmingly to strip marriage equality out of the California constitution. So why single out African Americans? Who’s really to blame? The Religious Right. Let’s start here:

• Conservative evangelical leaders who are unremittingly hostile to the rights of gay people and who put Prop. 8 on the ballot and bombarded pastors, churchgoers, and the public with lies about gay people wanting to destroy their religious liberty and come for their children – even suggesting that Christians would be thrown in jail if Prop 8 passed.
  
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Not since 1964 has Nebraska given an electoral vote to a Democrat. It was announced today that Barack Obama got one of Nebraska's 5 electoral votes, from the congressional district that includes Omaha. where Democrats outnumber Republicans.

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the nation that split its electoral votes based on congressional district. All the other states award their electoral votes on a winner-take-all system.

Only Missouri is still out with its 11 electoral votes. The electoral count now stands: Obama, 365, McCain, 162.

The transcript is here. Did any of you watch it? I just saw a clip on the local news and his face was so shiny. I guess the first thing he discontinued after the election is his makeup artist. He needs powder.

As for content, he proposed a new economic stimulus plan. A new report is out that the U.S. lost 240,000 jobs in October and unemployment is at 6.5%, its highest since 1994.

More than 10 million people are now jobless, actively seeking work but unable to find it, a number that has spiked by 2.8 million over the past year.

President Bush also had a statement today, telling people to be patient, relief will take time.