JimEd Speaks Out

The biggest obstacle facing Hillary Clinton's Senate confirmation as President-elect Barack Obama's top diplomat may not be her husband's wheeling and dealing abroad for his foundation, as many suspected.

Instead, it could be the U.S. Constitution.

According to an emolument clause in the Constitution, no lawmaker can be appointed to any civil position that was created or received a wage increase during the lawmaker's time in office.

President Bush ordered Cabinet salaries raised to $191,300 from $186,600 by executive order early this year, while Clinton was senator.

Dreisdach said as long as Democrats control the Senate, the Obama transition team won't worry about this provision in the Constitution.

"The Obama team is well aware of it and they have dismissed it," Dreisdach said. "I find it hard to believe that a Democratic majority will take a different view."

The Pentagon's role in homeland security will be expanded with 20,000 uniformed troops expected inside the United States by 2011 to help state and local officials respond to a domestic catastrophe, FOX News has confirmed.

Under the phased plan, three rapid reaction forces will be ready for emergency response by September 2011. All the forces would be trained to respond to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive attack.

A spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command told FOX News that the first brigade under the phased plan will be made up of active duty soldiers; the next two will be comprised of a mix of soldiers from the National Guard and Reserves.

The Washington Post reported that the long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts.

Critics of the change fear that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement, the newspaper said.

Saying "I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government," former Maryland state police superintendent Thomas E. Hutchins authorized the infiltration of several anti-war and anti-death-penalty nonviolent protest groups, then added their members to the national terrorism database and the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database. In all, 53 citizens were thus included (that we know of -- it'd be naive to think that Maryland is the only state where the police abuse their powers). The police admit that there was "no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime" by those classified as terrorists.

Barack Obama’s tendency through the Democratic primaries to perform better in exit polls than he actually does at the ballot box has some media organizations nervous heading into Election Night.

Television networks want to avoid having their performance become an issue for the third straight presidential election. Their political experts hope that experience gained during the primaries will help things run smoothly Nov. 4.

It was the exit polls’ overstatement of John Kerry’s support in 2004 that caused problems for the networks, particularly when the first wave of results were leaked on the Web. That led to a “quarantine room” reform that will be in place this year; the people with access to poll results are locked away until at least 5 p.m. EST, giving them time to check for any problems and keeping the early numbers from conveying false information and possibly affecting turnout.

The problems were more serious in 2000, when networks prematurely “called” Florida, and thus the election, for George Bush. It led to a congressional investigation into their practices.

Rush Limbaugh may be John McCain’s best friend in the fight against Barack Obama, writes Zev Chafets in the LA Times. Vociferously anti-McCain during primary season, Limbaugh is now on board and can't be underestimated. "A lot of Limbaugh's critics dismiss him as a buffoon or a fanatic," Chafets writes. "These are people who don''t listen to his show."

McCain turned things around with Limbaugh, and with the GOP base, by picking Sarah Palin, writes Chafets, adding that the radio titan described his support of the ticket as "balls to the wall" in an email. "This is a very big deal," he writes. "A satisfied Limbaugh means an enthusiastic Limbaugh, and an enthusiastic Limbaugh could be the difference in a close race."