It would be nice to take a break from campaigning, at least until sometime in 2010.

"John McCain hedged yesterday when asked whether he's prepared to support Sarah Palin in 2012, if she runs for president. He noted that his 'corpse is still warm.'"

As I recall from watching "This Week w/G.S." yesterday, McCain essentially said that he's not prepared to support Palin in 2012, providing additional evidence that he picked her to be his running mate for reasons that had little to do with "Country First".

I have serious doubts about John McCain being alive in 2012 to support or not support Palin. If I had to, I'd probably bet on him living that long, but I won't be shocked if he checks out earlier.

Did Rendell take himself out of the running for the Senate in 2010? Because I'd consider him a much more serious candidate than Matthews. Rendell's term as governor ends in 2010, so it seems the timing is right too, unless he's a possibility for the Obama cabinet.

Allan Snyder, in response to your comment above . . . Rendell does not have the temperament to be one of 100 senators. He likes to be in charge and in a high-profile position, so unless he takes a Cabinet post, his political career will end when his term concludes.

I should also mention, he and Sen. Bob Casey have a deep-seated mutual hatred. I can't imagine that Rendell has any desire to serve alongside his long-standing political nemesis.

* Members of the electoral college will meet today and formally make Barack Obama the president-elect.

Well, not quite, Steve. I think it's not official until the votes are presented to the President of the Senate (that would be Dick Cheney), opened and counted. One hopes the count is closely monitored by someone other than a member of the Bush administration.

And, in case anyone is interested, I was there today at Vermont's gathering of its three members of the Electoral College in the state capitol building. The Electors took two oaths (one of loyalty to the state, one to faithfully execute the duties of the office), marked separate ballots for the president and vice president, then signed six copies each of two different documents. That was it for the formalities.

But the energy was intense, buoyant, emotion-laden. And for tiny Vermont, the first state called for Obama, and the highest vote total for Obama after Hawaii, the state with a 97 percent white population, the College of Electors was pretty diverse: a female state senator, a lesbian grass-roots Democratic activist, and a male delegate to the Democratic National Convention who happens to be black. All were elected via a new state party Platform Convention rule (in service of increasing transparency and participation) requiring all Elector candidates to be nominated from the floor and that there be a minimum of 6 candidates.

Well, not quite, Steve. I think it's not official until the votes are presented to the President of the Senate (that would be Dick Cheney), opened and counted. One hopes the count is closely monitored by someone other than a member of the Bush administration.

Boy do we ever need to get rid of the Electoral College!