It's been a busy couple days for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

On Monday, Feinstein -- the incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- put out a statement in which she criticized the choice of Leon Panetta to run the CIA, saying, "My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."

Tuesday, Feinstein spoke with both President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden and her office released a new statement in which she took a more neutral position, but she still didn't offer Panetta her support. "I have been contacted by both President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, and they have explained to me the reasons why they believe Leon Panetta is the best candidate for CIA Director," she said. "I look forward to speaking with Mr. Panetta about the critical issues facing the intelligence community and his plans to address them."

Then, shortly after that, she was making news, once again for publicly disagreeing with her party's leaders. This time, the difference was over Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's choice to fill Obama's Senate seat. Feinstein now says Burris should be seated if and when he's able to get Illinois' secretary of state to give him the signature necessary to make his paperwork official. "The question, really, is one, in my view, of law," the senator said, according to Politico. "And that is, does the governor have the power to make the appointment? And the answer is yes. Is the governor discredited? And the answer is yes.

“Does that affect his appointment power? And the answer is no until certain things happen.”

As Josh Marshall observes, Feinstein probably has her legal analysis right. That doesn't make her public dissent on the Burris question any less embarrassing for Majority Leader Harry Reid, though.

Looks like the Bush family's political comeback will have to wait: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, has decided not to run for Senate in 2010.

"While the opportunity to serve my state and country during these turbulent and dynamic times is compelling, now is not the right time to return to elected office," Bush said in a statement released Tuesday. "In the coming months and years, I hope to play a constructive role in the future of the Republican Party, advocating ideas and policies that solve the pressing problems of our day. We must rebuild the Party by focusing on the common purposes and core conservative principles that unite us all -- limited government, a strong national defense and safe homeland and the protection of liberty tempered by personal responsibility."

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports that Barack Obama has made an interesting choice for surgeon general: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who's best known for his work on CNN and CBS.

Kurtz says Obama has offered the job to Gupta, a neurosurgeon, and told him he "could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice." Gupta reportedly wants the job, but hasn't officially accepted yet -- he's still being vetted, and figuring out the logistics of moving his family, and the pay cut he'd take is reportedly a concern for him.

Also rumored to be on Obama's radar: Willard Scott to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ron Popeil to take over Bill Richardson's spot at Commerce and of course Gupta's CNN colleague Lou Dobbs in the top spot at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

No, just kidding. And the mandatory jokes aside, this actually does seem like a good pick. Look at C. Everett Koop -- his success as surgeon general came because he built himself a high public profile. Gupta starts off with that, and we know he can look good in front of a television camera. Plus, he's not exactly a slouch as a doc, either.

It took a while -- longer than some partisans on both sides wanted -- but Barack Obama has now spoken publicly about the situation in Gaza.

"I'm very concerned with the conflict taking place there, I'm monitoring the situation on a day to day basis," the president-elect told reporters, continuing:

The loss of civilian life in Gaza and in Israel is a source of deep concern to me. After January 20th I'm going to have plenty to say about the issue, and I am not backing away at all from what I said during the campaign, that starting at the beginning of our administration, we are going to be engaged effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflict in the Middle East...

So on January 20th you'll be hearing directly from me on this issue. Until then, my job is to monitor the situation and put together the best possible national security team so we hit the ground running on national security issues.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that the Obama transition team had made a "mistake" in handling the choice of former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to head the CIA. Biden specifically criticized the failure to consult with incoming Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, who has expressed disappointment with the pick and with the fact that no one spoke to her about it.

"I'm still a Senate man and I always think this way: I think it's always good to talk to the requisite members of Congress," Biden said, according to the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim. "I think it was just a mistake."

Biden still backed Panetta for the job, however, saying, "Leon Panetta will do a first rate job. He's a great manager. He understands the community and I think he'll make a great director of the CIA. I've been here for I don't know how many of them and I think he'll be as good as any we've had."

Caroline Kennedy has taken a beating for her refusal to make a public disclosure of her finances. But she'll have to make a private disclosure, at least: New York Gov. David Paterson has asked her, and at least five other contenders for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, to fill out a 28-page form.

The New York Times reports that the other people known to have received the form were Nassau County executive Thomas Suozzi and Reps. Steve Israel, Carolyn Maloney, Kirsten Gillibrand and Jerrold Nadler. Those under consideration are asked about their employment history, their finances and their criminal record, or lack thereof.

Kennedy's finances will remain private for now, however -- her answers will not be made public.

Meanwhile, Kennedy's been seriously slipping in the eyes of New Yorkers. A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling shows that 44 percent of the state's voters now think less of her than they did before she began campaigning for the appointment. Only 23 percent of respondents said their opinion of her has improved. And while a similar survey last month had Kennedy getting a plurality of support, with 44 percent backing her, 58 percent of respondents now said they want to see state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo get the nod. Only 27 percent still favor Kennedy. And her favorable/unfavorable balance is at a dangerous level: 44 percent said they have a favorable opinion of her, while 40 percent said their opinion of her is unfavorable. (The margin of error was plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.)

Roland Burris held a short press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to announce that he had been turned away from the Senate, and that he will not -- for today, at least -- try to force the issue. "I am not going to seek to have any type of confrontation. I will now consult with my attorneys and we will discuss our next move," Burris said.

Still, he did refer to himself as "the junior Senator from Illinois," and maintained that the secretary of the Senate's refusal to accept his appointment "was improperly done and is against the law of this land."

 Roland Burris is certainly making a name for himself as he attempts to take the Senate seat to which Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed him. Lately, it seems, every time he speaks to the media he provides some noteworthy quotes. His appearance on Rachel Maddow's show Monday night was no different, as he used the opportunity to assert that the attempt to block him from being sworn in -- rather than the decision to appoint him against the wishes of Senate leadership -- is a distraction the country doesn't need. (Along the same lines, is it just me or is "There's an economic crisis" the new line politicians are using to work themselves out of a bad situation, replacing "Don't you know there's a war on?")

If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has his way, the Senate will be short two members even after the swearing-in ceremony set to take place later today.

Reid has previously said that he will not allow Roland Burris, the man Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat, to be sworn in. Now he's also made it clear that he won't try to seat Al Franken, at least for now. Republicans had promised to block any such attempt; the former comedian may have come out on top in the recount of his race against Republican Norm Coleman, but legal challenges remain, and they're hoping Coleman can still pull out a victory somehow.

Apparently, when it comes to choosing the next head of the CIA, Barack Obama just can't win.

The president-elect chose former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, a relative neophyte when it comes to intelligence issues, because the viable candidates who have experience with the Agency or in other areas of intelligence-gathering are all tainted by the Bush administration's policies.

After that news broke, it was only a matter of hours before two Democrats vital to Panetta's confirmation hopes came out to criticize the choice.

First, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released a statement in which she said, "I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I've read. My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."

Feinstein's predecessor as committee chair, Jay Rockefeller, was similarly nonplussed. NBC News reports that an aide to the senator says Rockefeller has "tremendous respect" for Panetta, but that "he believes the CIA director should go to someone who has significant intelligence experience and someone from outside the political world of Washington D.C."

With the question of who'll fill Sen. Hillary Clinton's seat if and when she's confirmed as secretary of State still unsettled, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has stepped in to offer his completely objective and unbiased opinion about the qualifications the replacement needs.

In an op-ed published on CNN.com, he writes:

The relationship between the mayor of a large city and a United States senator from that city's state reveals the genius of the U.S. Constitution. A good senator must perform two tasks simultaneously -- advocate for the interests of his (or her!) state while also helping to shape the direction of the entire country. As mayor of New York City, I thought of our U.S. senators as New York's advocates in Washington. All of New York's senators during the time I was mayor -- Alfonse D'Amato, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton -- were effective advocates for New York City. Each understood the crucial role that New York City plays in New York's economy and in America's economy, as the place that develops the capital that makes the economy work -- the heart that pumps the blood, so to speak. When New York City is functioning well, the entire economy is functioning well. As we see today, when the city's financial industry is not functioning well, the entire country struggles. As the nation's biggest city, New York City needs an advocate with the toughness to fight for everything to which we are entitled.

Giuliani also uses the piece to stress the importance of a senator having "a deep understanding of the many formulas that are used to calculate federally distributed aid." Coincidentally, he then goes on to demonstrate his understanding of these formulas and how they're structured.

Unfortunately, the former presidential candidate doesn't offer up any names of people he thinks would be good for the job. But based on his description and his focus on New York City and its mayor, we in Salon's New York bureau have come to the obvious conclusion: Giuliani really, really wants to see Ed Koch get the nod.

Norm Coleman, left, and Al Franken.

Minnesota's Canvassing Board has certified the results of the recount conducted in the state's U.S. Senate election, and Democrat Al Franken has been declared the winner. He currently leads Republican Norm Coleman, the incumbent, by 225 votes.

This isn't the end of the battle over the seat, which has now stretched two months past Election Day. After the Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Coleman camp's request to have additional rejected absentee ballots tallied, a fuller lawsuit became inevitable. It must be filed within seven days, but could take weeks to resolve. In the meantime, no election certificate can be issued, which throws a wrench into the works and means that no one's really sure who will be occupying the seat in the meantime, if anyone.

Coleman's term ended on Saturday, and on Monday Senate rules committee officials ordered the doors to his offices locked. New senators are supposed to be sworn in on Tuesday, and there are some indications that Democrats will try to seat Franken. However, top Republican Sen. John Cornyn, citing the lack of a valid election certificate, has said his caucus will fight any such attempt.

President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly settled on his choice to head the CIA: Former Rep. Leon Panetta, who served as White House chief of staff during Bill Clinton's administration.

Panetta will, if confirmed, come to the job without much in the way of intelligence experience. Obama is said to have wanted someone who's a veteran with this kind of work, but as the New York Times notes, that was all but impossible because of the Agency's history during the Bush administration. The choice, the paper's Carl Hulse and Mark Mazzetti write, "points up the difficulty Mr. Obama had in finding a C.I.A. director with no connection to controversial counterterrorism programs of the Bush era."

Democrats who've spoken to reporters about the choice are arguing that what Panetta lacks in insider knowledge of the CIA and intelligence gathering, he makes up for in other ways. "In disclosing the pick, officials pointed to Mr. Panetta’s sharp managerial skills, his strong bipartisan standing on Capitol Hill, his significant foreign policy experience in the White House and his service on the Iraq Study Group," Hulse and Mazzetti report. "The officials noted that he had a handle on intelligence spending from his days as director of the Office and Management and Budget."

AP Photo/Paul Beaty

Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's designate to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat, reacts to a speech by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., at the New Covenant Baptist Church during a rally in Chicago Sunday.

Since Illinois left our universe for somewhere more surreal about a month ago, it’s gotten a little difficult to keep abreast of political twists and turns in the Land of Blago. If wondering whether we can expect a Sen. Roland Burris has left you hopelessly confused, you’re not alone. Here, then, is an update, so you too can speak expertly about the situation.

As of the end of last week, things were at a standoff. Burris was saying he’d be a senator, while the Democrats already in the Senate were saying he wouldn’t, and were warning that if Burris were to show up, they might enlist the sergeant-at-arms to keep him out of the chamber. That’s a scene nobody wants to see: Burris ends up looking illegitimate, and after getting compared (no matter how unfairly) to Bull Connor, do the Democrats really want to use a police officer to keep the Senate’s black population at zero?

The pseudo-senator-designate is getting on a plane to D.C. today, but he told the Chicago Tribune that he was "not going to create a scene in Washington." So, for now, the Burris-gets-cuffed-in-the-rotunda scenario is looking unlikely, especially because the secretary of the Senate has now rejected Rod Blagojevich's letter of appointment, which was missing a signature from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who last week refused to sign it. Burris is hoping the Illinois Supreme Court will order White to reconsider; without that signature, he can only sort of claim to have been appointed.

Sunday, Burris attended a send-off rally with ministers and local black leaders at New Covenant Church on Chicago's South Side, where Rep. Bobby Rush called the Senate "the last bastion of plantation politics." Meanwhile, Majority Leader Harry Reid seemed to soften his position, saying on "Meet the Press," "I’m an old trial lawyer. There's always room to negotiate." Reid may feel more vulnerable to charges of racism than he originally might have been, as allegations have emerged that he pushed Blagojevich to appoint either Tammy Duckworth or Lisa Madigan over African-American options Jesse Jackson Jr., Danny Davis and Emil Jones.

It’s still unclear whether Reid was deliberately opening the door to Burris or not. His deputy, Illinois' Dick Durbin, said yesterday that there are no plans to seat Burris provisionally. However, Democratic leaders do plan to meet with him on Wednesday.

If the Senate does try to keep Burris out, we can expect a lawsuit, Burris lawyer Timothy Wright says. And, though there’s precedent (Powell v. McCormack) for forcing Congress to seat a duly elected member with dubious ethics, the meaning of that case for this situation is debated.

Writing at Slate, professors Akhil Reed Amar and Josh Chafetz say that a simple majority in the Senate has the power to reject Burris. Because the Constitution makes the Senate "the Judge of the Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its own members," appointments fall under its jurisdiction just as much as elections. The spirit of Powell, write Amar and Chafetz, is that the people's unambiguous choice ought to be respected, but if no such will has been expressed, the Senate gets to exercise its authority; as with impeachment, senators don't need a criminal conviction to judge someone unsuitable for office.

But, law professor Eugene Volokh writes on his blog, Powell makes clear that the judgment of suitability for office is an exclusively objective question. The Senate, he writes, has the power to reject someone who has been legally compromised, is not a citizen, or is not old enough. "But if the argument is simply that Blagojevich is generally a criminal, and not that the appointment of Burris was done criminally, I don't see how that can fit within the Senate's power."

We'll be keeping an eye on developments, naturally, and doing our best to discern and relay what they mean.

One day after the sudden announcement that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's nomination to be commerce secretary was being withdrawn, Richardson offered additional details during a press conference. It did not go off without a hitch.

Richardson maintained that the decision to withdraw was his, and said he came to make that choice because an investigation into state contracts given to CDR Financial Products Inc., whose president is a Richardson donor, had gone on longer than he expected it to -- he'd hoped it would be done in December, removing the cloud from over his head before confirmation hearings were to begin. The governor said, as he had in a statement on Sunday, that the country couldn't afford any delay in confirming a new head for the department. "Sometimes your own dreams and plans must take a back seat to what is best for the nation," he told reporters.

Still, Richardson made clear that he doesn't believe this is the end of his political career. Referencing a statement from Barack Obama in which the president-elect said he "look[s] forward to his future service to our country and in my administration," Richardson said, "I still believe I have a future in public service."

There was one odd note Monday afternoon. When one reporter asked Richardson -- who'd previously said he would not take any questions related to the CDR investigation -- whether he had a lawyer, the governor responded, brusquely, "I am not getting into any more questions," and the press conference was over.

The publishing industry is in a shambles, with major houses laying off employees and dropping authors, but rest easy: Laura Bush will still get to write a memoir. The Associated Press reports that Scribner has signed on to a deal that could be worth millions.

A book by the first lady is likely to be worth more, commercially, than one by her husband would be. That's historically the case, at least, and since the American public isn't exactly fond of the president, the trend will almost certainly continue.

Of course, commercial value doesn't mean the book will actually be worth reading. Sure, no one expects a tell-all -- or even a tell-some -- but if the early word from the New Yorker's Sheelah Kolhatkar (h/t to Gawker) is any indication, there might be even less insight involved in the book than one might normally expect. Kolhatkar writes:

One question that seems to be weighing on prospective editors is whether a book by Mrs. Bush will provide a candid account of her feelings, and perhaps counter the popular view of her as an opinion-free robot... The reception to Mrs. Bush’s pitch has been mixed so far. "She was not forthcoming about anything that I would consider controversial," [a] publisher who met with her said. "We questioned her rigorously, but it was one-word answers. I considered it the worst, or the most frustrating, meeting of its sort that I've ever had." "I chose not to meet with her," a publisher at another company said. "I got the impression that everyone was totally underwhelmed by her. That’s why there's so little buzz."

The book is scheduled to be released in 2010. No co-author has been announced yet.

As a contentious race to head the Republican National Committee continues, a group of big-name conservatives have banded together to back former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell for the job. A look at some of the names on the list, however, shows exactly why choosing Blackwell might prove disastrous for the GOP.

The most powerful impression that the collection of endorsers gives is that Blackwell is the choice of some of the Christian right's most prominent leaders. Among others, there's James Dobson, who heads Focus on the Family, Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left Behind" series, former Attorney General Ed Meese, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins and Phyllis Schlafly.

Electing an RNC chair supported by this cast of characters would almost certainly mean that the Republican Party would fare even worse at the polls in the years to come than it has recently. Simply put, in large part because of the influence of the evangelical base, the party has marginalized itself. It's gotten older, whiter, more male and more conservative just as the country has been trending the opposite way. And it's been pushed back so that it's now almost an entirely Southern party. In order to win back the votes it has lost in places like the Mountain West and New England, the GOP needs to become more inviting, needs to tamp down the stridency of its appeals on social issues and broaden its appeal. The kind of RNC chair who'd be endorsed by Dobson isn't the kind of RNC chair who could achieve that.

And that's not the only issue with Blackwell's candidacy. As my friend Steve Benen points out, the man isn't exactly renowned for his competence and political acumen. He writes: 

I'm beginning to think Blackwell would be the best choice, at least from a Democratic perspective. Blackwell was a fairly ridiculous Ohio Secretary of State, and his most notable accomplishment -- running as the state's Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006 -- turned out to be a complete trainwreck... [H]e's an awful manager who loathes compromise and seems to enjoy pitting people against one another, even within his own organizations. By the time Election Day 2006 rolled around, as I recall, Blackwell wasn't even especially popular with reliable Ohio Republican loyalists. If the RNC chose to make him chairman, I suspect a lot of Democrats would be thrilled.

I was in Ohio for Election Day in 2006, and Benen's right: In the weeks before his loss, Blackwell's campaign became almost comically bad. He ended up losing to Democrat Ted Strickland by 23 percentage points.

The union that represents Alaska State Troopers says politics played a role in the investigation of Sherry Johnston, Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law, and that there was one important delay in the case due to the timing of the election.

Sherry Johnston, the mother of Palin's fiance, Levi Johnston, was arrested last month on charges that amount to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, namely oxycontin, a prescription drug sometimes known as "hillbilly heroin." But one local drug investigator, and his union, says the case could have gone faster. Kyle Young, an investigator involved in the case, sent an e-mail to the union's members last week in which he said that once the political implications became apparent, the investigation "was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion."

"[T]he search warrant service WAS delayed because of the pending election and the Mat Su Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots," Young wrote.

Commanders like Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters deny the charges. "Masters said Young made assumptions in his e-mail and didn't know what was going on behind the scenes to make sure the investigation was normal. Troopers Director [Audie] Holloway said the higher ups were indeed scrutinizing everything in the Johnston investigation -- but only to ensure that it was conducted just like any other similar case would be," the Anchorage Daily News reports.

Barack Obama has tapped Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to run the Democratic National Committee, anonymous sources told the New York Times and the Associated Press. 

When the party elects officers in Washington next month, Kaine will succeed Howard Dean. It's a tradition for the party leaders to defer to the choice of a sitting president. War Room readers will recall that Kaine was among the top contenders under consideration to be Obama's vice-presidential running mate in the 2008 election.

Kaine was elected governor of Virginia in 2005, but is barred by terms limits from serving more than one term. His term expires at the end of this year, but he'll be able to continue serving as governor while also serving as Democratic party chairman.

Bill Richardson, the New Mexico Governor who Barack Obama tapped to be secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name from nomination for the position, NBC News reports.

While denying any wrongdoing, Richardson cited a pending investigation into an unspecified company that has done business with the state of New Mexico: "Let me say unequivocally that I and my administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact," he said Sunday on NBC News. "But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process." Richardson plans to continue in his role as Governor of New Mexico.

President-elect Obama said he accepted Richardson's decision to withdraw with "deep regret." Obama did not give any hint as to who might nominate instead, but said: "we must move quickly to fill the void left by Governor Richardson's decision."

UPDATE: A federal grand jury is investigating how CDR Financial Products, a California company which made financial contributions to Richardson's political activities, won a lucrative New Mexico contract, according to the Associated Press.