An historic change election but look who's still in charge: McConnell, Pelosi, Hoyer, Boehner, Reid

House Democrats assemble today to pick caucus leaders for the new Congress.

Lots of fresh new faces, right, after an historically disastrous showing like Nov. 2?

Not.

Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided she'll stay on come January as leader of the minority. Maryland's Steny Hoyer will have the No. 2 job and Pelosi has crafted an ill-defined compromise to make South Carolina's James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress, something called assistant leader. Anything to keep the same old trio atop the smaller pile.

Leadership affairs on the Republican side of Capitol Hill are already settled with Ohio's ex-Speaker John Boehner to become the new speaker, Virginia's Eric Cantor as his No. 2 and Kentucky's Mitch McConnell still GOP minority leader in the Senate with Arizona's Jon Kyl as his No. 2. Harry Reid will still lead the diminished Democratic majority.

(UPDATE: 12:22 p.m. GOP House members unanimously elect John Boehner the new Speaker. Dems vote 150-46 to keep Nancy Pelosi as minority caucus leader.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee is the same, President's Obama's favorite bilingual, Harvard-educated ex-governor, Tim Kaine.

But new uncertainty erupted Tuesday over on the Republican National Committee, which was supposed to be the winning organization. When the GOP controls....

Sunday shows: Rand Paul, Perry, Ryan, Bayh, Steele

ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour": Sen-elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), George Will, David Stockman, John Podesta and Amy Walter.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital" with Al Hunt: Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

CNN's "GPS" with Fareed Zakaria: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley: Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas), Sen.-elect Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) with Mike Duffy and Karen Tumulty.

"Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: Incoming House leaders Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) with panel of Brit Hume, Bill Kristol, Mara Liasson and Juan Williams.

NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) with Marc Morial, Mike Murphy and Anita Dunn.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Ed Reinke / Associated Press (Rand Paul).

Sunday shows: Kaine, Shelton, Biden, Rove, Steele

ABC This Week with Christiane Amanpour: Gen. Hugh Shelton, author and former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; George Will; Ed Gillespie; Anita Hill and Amy Walter.

Bloomberg Political Capital with Al Hunt: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Vice President Joe Biden.

CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Former senior adviser to the president, Karl Rove and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

CNN  Fareed Zakaria GPS: Richard Holbrooke, Peter Bergen, Kishore Mahbubani and Shashi Tharoor.

CNN State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Florida U.S. Senate debate among former state Speaker and Rep. Marco Rubio, Republican; U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, Democrat; and Gov. Charlie Crist, independent.

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Two candidates for the U.S. Senate -- Republican former Rep. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- with panelists Brit Hume, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams and Nina Easton.

NBC Meet the Press with David Gregory: Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, with Rick Santelli, Rachel Maddow and Harold Ford Jr.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Pentagon

Sarah Palin pleads: 'Nobody tell Barack Obama what number comes after a trillion'

Sarah Palin, that reputed Republican rebel who's supposed to be at odds with the national party, swung through California this past weekend to rouse Republicans at a Republican National Committee rally in Anaheim.

Yes, yes, of course speaking near L.A. gives Palin a chance to visit her daughter, Bristol, who turns 20 today and performs tonight for the fifth week on "Dancing With the Stars." Our pal Kate O'Hare nabbed an exclusive interview here with Palin about that and her own new show premiering soon on TLC. "She's having a ball," Mom reports.

Palin seemed to be enjoying herself too in Anaheim, as part of a national RNC campaign tour that wraps up next Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, including an unusual chance to meet Palin for a photo.

The crowd packed into the Anaheim ballroom began chanting Sarah's name Saturday while the band was still playing "Journey" songs.

The audience cheered and whistled appropriately for other party speakers including GOP House candidate Van Tran, who's giving Democratic incumbent Loretta Sanchez a run for her money to represent most of Orange County. And Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger, got folks laughing with his initially unintended but then repeated campaign call to help fire "Harry Pelosi."

And RNC chairman Michael Steele got an enthusiastic response for his rising peroration not to let up despite a plethora of optimistic polls for the GOP on Nov. 2.

(A growing number of news reports indicate many Democrats already believe they have lost control of the House, will suffer badly in the Senate and in control of governor's offices. A new Associated Press/Knowsledge Network Poll released early today shows many 2008 Obama supporters are disspirited and peeling away from him in dismay over a lack of promised change.)

As Steele moved toward introducing the day's special you-know-who guest from Alaska, the roar of the crowd grew along with the cellphone camera flashes.

Palin's full remarks are just below here in video.

Palin said, please, nobody should tell the Democratic president what number comes after a trillion. (It's quadrillion.) Obama will bring Air Force One back to California later this month to help incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer against Republican Carly Fiorina -- and drop into Nevada again to do the same for embattled Harry Reid vs the GOP's Sharron Angle.

The top two other Palin quotes, the first one spoken from her own losing experience in 2008:

"There's nothing wrong with America that a good old-fashioned election can't fix."

and, speaking of Obama's oft-promised change for the country:

"Our America, we do not seek its fundamental transformation. We seek its restoration, all that is good and strong and free in America."

-- Andrew Malcolm

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H/T Steve Krakauer.

Social media wrap: Bachmann, Brewer, Rooney react to Florida healthcare lawsuit ruling [Updated]

 

(This post will be updated throughout the day.)

A lawsuit brought by 20 states seeking to overturn President Obama's  healthcare law can proceed, a Florida judge ruled Thursday.

In a blow to the administration, the ruling went against Justice Department arguments that the lawsuit, led by the state of Florida, is premature.

“In this order, I have not attempted to determine whether the line between constitutional and extra-constitutional government has been crossed,” wrote Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The ruling dealt primarily with procedural issues.

Politicians reacted on Twitter:

 -- Craig Howie

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Photo: President Obama electrifies a Florida crowd on healthcare, and perhaps sends one gentleman to sleep. Credit: Getty Images

Sarah Palin, Karl Rove rolling in donated dough

Who says the economy is struggling? Not Sarah Palin's PAC.

Her political action committee's cup runneth over, to the tune of $1.2 million last quarter, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The former governor, beauty queen and hockey mom spread the wealth, helping to fill the coffers of fellow GOP mavericks such as Delaware's Christine O'Donnell, Kentucky's Rand Paul, and fellow Alaskan Joe Miller to the tune of $5,000 each.

In what some are calling foreshadowing, Mama Bear Palin also wrote a check for $10,000 to the Iowa Republican Party. Iowa, coincidentally, is where the first 2012 presidential caucuses happen to be, and Palin just happened to be the keynote speaker at the Hawkeye State GOP's biggest fund-raiser.

Sarah PAC has not only supported candidates verbally, via Twitter and through personal appearances, but from July to September has doled out close to $100,000 to Republican candidates and PACs. Overall, Palin has raised $2.5 million and redirected almost $200,000 to candidates and PACs in 2010.

Another Republican rolling in donated dough is none other than Karl Rove. The George W. Bush administration svengali formerly known as Turd Blossom took to Twitter earlier Wednesday to thank the White House for the $13.3 million in donations Rove claims has come his way after the Democrats accused the GOP of using anonymous foreign donors to fund conservative causes and candidates.  "A big "thank-you" to @barackobama & @whitehouse for helping boost donations to @americanxroads," @karlrove gloated on the social network.

Earlier, Rove boasted to Fox News. "American Crossroads has raised $13.3 million since the president began his attack on the group last week," he said. So does that mean he has to stop saying Obama can't stimulate economies?

-- Tony Pierce
Twitter.com/busblog

Photo: Sarah Palin gestures while addressing the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday. Credit: Ed Reinke / Associated Press

 

Meg Whitman faces Meg Whitman tonight, as well as Jerry Brown

Meg Whitman faces her biggest campaign challenge in tonight's California gubernatorial debate.

After spending way more than $120 million, much of it her own money, to become the Golden state's next Republican governor, the former eBay CEO needs to come across to viewers as the businesswoman she was and paint her opponent, Jerry Brown, as the professional elected official he has been his entire life.

She's newer on the scene; hence, her immense advertising budget. He's already been governor for two terms, along with  numerous other offices.

Unless they're angrily throwing out another useless Democrat like Gray Davis in favor of a celebrity such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Californians tend to....

Bristol Palin: Being a working mom is exhausting; So, uh, welcome to adulthood

Bristol Palin says working (all right, dancing) and being a mom at the same time is "exhausting."

"Mentally, it's exhausting," the 19-year-old tells "Extra." "Physically, it's exhausting. But I'm making it work."

So far, so good. Palin competes again tonight on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Who knows, with Halloween coming this could be a real scary week because, as not quite everyone knows, Bristol and her partner Mark Ballas were among the bottom two last week. And some people know what that means.

The drama builds. But, first, these messages.

B. Palin also reveals that her mother, S. Palin, the professional politician who you may recall is in the rhetorical dancing business, plans to return to watch the show, assuming Bristol survives Tuesday's vote.

In fact, Sarah Palin will be in the Los Angeles area on Saturday to headline an afternoon Republican National Committee Victory Rally in Anaheim, even though the midterm election is not until Nov. 2. Advance tickets cost $20.10; get it? Palin will headline another RNC Victory Rally in Orlando on the following Saturday, Oct. 23.

Meanwhile -- my, isn't this a busy show-biz day? -- comes word that B. Palin is appearing in a new music video for the Alaskan rock band "Static Cycle." She wears a mink coat and hat actually shot by her mother on a long hunting trip. (We made up that hunting part.)

See a brief unedited promo video excerpt below.

 

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Greg Zabilski / ABC

Obama now blames poor job numbers on congressional inaction. Wait! His party runs Congress

Just a few minor things to catch up on for the weekend now that the Fundraiser-in-Chief has gone on another vacation (Don't worry though. White House chef Sam Kass went along, so the first family need not eat ordinary human food.)

-- The Congressional Budget Office says the 2010 federal deficit will be in excess of $1.3 trillion, as in $1,000,000,000,000+. (BTW, the next level we'll be talking about out of Washington is quadrillion, which has fifteen 0's.)

-- Despite Vice President Joe Biden's April boast that administration stimulus spending would spur the economy to add a half-million jobs a month by now, initial unemployment claims jumped a half-million last week, the worst since last November, as national unemployment remains at 9.5% and the economy sheds 131,000 more jobs.

-- But the economy's going great at the Democratic National Committee, which reports collecting $11.5 million from donors in July on top of the $53.8 million already taken in from various sources this year. The president just devoted three workdays across five states to rake in several more millions for his party.

-- But before leaving for his ninth presidential vacation, 10 days at a....

Sunday shows: Petraeus, Kaine, Gillespie, Rendell

ABC This Week with Christiane Amanpour: Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.); ex-Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey, Laura D'Andrea Tyson of the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board; Dr. Martin Regalia of the  U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Cokie Roberts, Matthew Dowd, Chrystia Freeland and David Ignatius.

Bloomberg Political Capital with guest host Lizzie O'Leary: Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine.

CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Kaine; Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.), Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee; Ed Rollins, Karen Tumulty and John Harris.

CNN GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University; Patrick J. Michaels of the Cato Institute; Gavin Schmidt of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Ayaan Hirsi Ali of the American Enterprise Institute, and Irshad Manji of New York University.

CNN State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.); Heidi Cullen, climatologist; Tom Wagner, a NASA scientist.

Fox News Sunday with guest host Bret Baier: Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics and Liz Clayman of Fox Business; with Bill Kristol, Dana Perino, Nina Easton and Ceci Connolly.

NBC Meet the Press with David Gregory: Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. forces in  Afghanistan.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press