secretary of state clinton?

All of the hard work that Sen. Hillary Clinton put in by hitting the campaign trail and making eloquent and passionate speeches on behalf of Barack Obama was paid off on Election Day, but she may be in for yet another reward.

Rumor has it that President-Elect Obama is not interested in the names that are vying for the Secretary of State slot in his new administration, such as Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Bill Richardson.

Two Obama advisers have told NBC News that Hillary Clinton is under consideration to be secretary of state. Would she be interested? Those who know Clinton say possibly. But her office says that any decisions about the transition are up to the president-elect and his team.

Speculation increased after Clinton boarded a flight to Chicago today, though an adviser claimed it was for personal business.

UPDATE: ABC News has a a knowledgeable source calling talks of Clinton being tapped "very serious" and Politico reports Obama sources calling her "the favorite."

maverick no more (dnc responds to mccain ad)

On Friday we showed you John McCain's new ad that features prominent Democrats giving him compliments, which ended with Hillary Clinton mentioning McCain's lifetime of experience and implying that Barack Obama had none.

Well the DNC has responded with a new ad, in which each of the Dems gets a chance to redeem themselves with an updated assessment of McCain.  Sen. John Kerry, who reportedly offered the VP slot to McCain back in 2004, calls him "a different John McCain."

"After eight devastating years under President Bush," Hillary says, "Sen. McCain is simply offering four years more."

The DNC allows President Bush to have the last word, and while it's a good one, it's obviously tying McCain to Bush in an attempt to show that the two are one in the same policy-wise.

View the ad below:

Kerry to Chicken Pickens: You Owe Me $1 Mil

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are back in the news today, after one of their funders, Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens, told a conservative audience at an American Spectator gala that he would pay $1 million to anyone who could disprove even a single charge levied by the group regarding John Kerry's war record.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) immediately took him up on it.

"I would be more than happy to travel to Dallas to meet with you in a mutually agreed upon public forum, or would invite you to join me in Massachusetts for a public dialogue and then together we could visit the Paralyzed Veterans of America in Norwood and see firsthand how we can put your money to good work for our veterans," the senator wrote in a letter addressed to Pickens’ Dallas home.

Pickens has responded. It seems he forgot to mention the fine print.

In his response, Pickens wrote: “I am certainly open to your challenge,” but he said he would not pay Kerry unless the senator first provided him with copies of his wartime journals, as well as movies he shot while on patrol and his complete military records for 1971 to 1978.

Kerry's war records were made available on his campaign website during the election, and the undeleted version was released after the election.

Many of the records contain praise for Kerry's service. For example, the documents quote Kerry's former commanding officers as saying he is ''one of the finest young officers with whom I have served;" is ''the acknowledged leader of his peer group;" and is ''highly recommended for promotion."

In the Forbes poll of the America's richest men, T. Boone Pickens ranked a mere #117th. He donated $2 million in funds to the SBVT, along with fellow Texan Bob Perry, who donated over $4 million. Of course, Pickens and Perry have plenty of money to throw around, thanks to the Republican's laissez faire economic policies and his yearly tax cuts to the rich.

By the way, Warren Buffet had a bet of his own for Pickens and his well-heeled friends. Buffet thinks we should up the taxes on the rich.

But if we don't reward folks like Chicken Pickens for raiding corporations and greenmailing the companies, or buying up our water rights to sell back to us for a profit, how will we encourage all those predatory capitalists, er... entrepreneurs who keep greasing the palms of our congressmen, um.... wheels of our economic engine?

Senator Hutchison's Plan to Get Out of Iraq

Tonight on Hardball, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison faced off with Senator Dick Durbin on the Iraq war. Senator Durbin was his usual self -- low-key, precise, if lacking passion. Senator Hutchison was a mess. On the key question regarding the Republican plan to end the war, she gave this response.

Norah O'Donnell: What is the plan to get out of Iraq? What's the exit strategy?

Senator Hutchison: The exit strategy is to see their government come together, to continue training their security forces, and to understand that they are victims, too. The Iraqi people - when they blow up a police station - it's those men who are coming in to be a part of the security force that are being tagged again and again and again by the insurgents. The insurgents are trying to keep them from having an economy, by not letting them have the ability to set up shops and start building commerce.

We've got to see it through, so that we can show there is a stable government, that America keeps its word, and that democracy can work with the three factions that are in Iraq. It has not been easy. These three factions have never worked together in the history of the world.

We can end the war by seeing it through to the end. Glad we cleared that up. Apparently, this plan requires nothing more from us than sheer determination. And anyone suggesting a proactive end to the war, you know, by actually having a plan and implementing it, is a "cut and run coward." You can catch the complete debate on video at the Hardball website, "The Senate Debate Over Iraq."

Here's Hutchison's opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, on the war:

I have consistently stated that Congress needs to insist on its right to be informed fully about what’s going on. Congress must not abdicate its responsibility to obtain, analyze, and act on timely military intelligence. Congress must demand accountability from defense leaders, civilian and military. Our military officers are eager to serve the legitimate ends of Congress, are eager to provide more information, and are eager to serve their intelligence role to Congress. Rather than a Texas senator who rubberstamps failed administration policy, who displays an absence of interest in learning about the real military situation from our military leaders and coming up with good solutions, we need an earnest, thinking, committed, and responsible senator.

We should set a timetable and safely withdraw.

There is a reason why Republicans are having such a hard time articulating the administration's exit strategy for Iraq. There is none. And that's all Democrats have to say between now and November. Stop defending the plans for withdrawal. It doesn't matter whether Kerry's plan matches Murtha's plan matches Durbin's plan. The Republicans want to keep the debate on the Democrats' perceived lack of unity to hide their own vulnerability on this issue. What matters is that the Democrats have a plan to end this war and the Republicans do not. Keep it simple and hammer it home.