Daily Digest
Roy Blunt, GOP’s 2 House Leader,
Steps Down
WASHINGTON mdash; Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt,
the No. 2 Republican in the House, announced Thurs-
day that he is stepping aside after Democrats added
to their numbers in Congress and captured the White
House.
Blunt said he had long ago decided that if Repub-
licans did not reclaim the majority in Tuesday’s elec-
tions, he would step down from the difficult job of shep-
herding votes. ”Ten years of asking people to do some
things they don’t want to do is a long time,” Blunt, 58,
told reporters Thursday morning. ”I can tell you more
problems about more members of Congress than you’ll
ever want to hear; I can tell you more reasons not to
do something than you’ll ever want to hear.”
Blunt was elevated into leadership by former whip
and majority leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and was
schooled in the hardball tactics employed when DeLay
was a driving force in running the House.
Blunt’s move avoids a difficult intraparty battle with
protege Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican who’s al-
ready campaigning for the job of Republican whip.
Blunt says it’s time for a new generation of Repub-
licans to assume leadership roles. Cantor is 45.
”We’re in a totally new environment now,” Blunt
said. ”We need to find a new way forward.”
Blunt also said he was impressed with the campaign
of Barack Obama and that it would be a mistake for Re-
publicans to assume that Democrats would overreach
now that they will control both the White House and
Congress for the first time in 16 years.
Meanwhile, conservative Indiana Rep. Mike Pence
has been recruited by GOP Leader John Boehner of
Ohio to serve as chairman of the Republican confer-
ence, the No. 3 leadership post vacated by Florida Rep.
Adam Putnam on election night.
Boehner will remain as GOP leader despite the dis-
appointing results on Election Day. He is also expected
on Thursday to endorse Texas Rep. Pete Sessions to
take over the GOP’s House campaign operation.
Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman contributed
to this report.
Obama Victory Sparks Baby Naming
Frenzy (PHOTOS)
1
The U.S. election has triggered a new generation of
mini Barack Obamas with parents in Kenya and the
United States naming their newborns after the new
president-elect.
At the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital in Kisumu,
western Kenya, Barack’s ancestral homeland, several
mothers were naming their babies after the U.S.’s first
African-American president.
The mothers told Reuters Television that they wanted
their babies to grow up to have the same successful
traits as Obama.
”I would like that by the time he is in his 40s he be-
comes the president of this country,” said Nancy Otieno
proudly of her newborn son Barack Obama.
Another new mother, Millicent Akoth, named her
new daughter Michelle Obama after the soon-to-be first
lady.
....South Florida couple Patrick and Sasha Hall were
reported on Wednesday to be among the first since
the election to bestow the name Obama on their child,
Obama Hall, according to the Miami Herald.
Keep reading.
PHOTOS:
An unidentified relative to Nancy Kijana, right, holds
her newborn son, Barack Obama at New Nyanza Prov-
invincial Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. More than half
of the babies born in a Kisumu Hospital on the day af-
ter the election were named either Barack or Michelle
Obama. (AP)
Lilian Osano, holds her newborn son, Barrack Jeremy
Obama, at New Nyanza Provinvincial Hospital in Kisumu,
Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. (AP)
Carolyn Anyano holds her newborn son, Barack Obama,
at New Nyanza Provinvincial Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya.
(AP)
Two baby girls named Michelle. (AFP)
-OR-
Read about the Tennessee man who, without his
wife’s permission, named his newborn daughter Sarah
McCain Palin.
-OR-
See a slideshow of Obama holding babies or see
other Obama slideshows.
More on Barack Obama
Obama Presidency’s Chicago Impact
 IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Tourism: The Land of Lincoln will enjoy another
”presidential halo effect” on its tourism industry, ob-
servers say. The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bu-
reau predicts increased interest in South Side areas tied
to Obama and in Springfield, where he announced his
candidacy. European tourist agencies are already mak-
ing inquiries, said Mark Theis, executive vice president
of the bureau. Still, the tourism bump may be smaller
than it was for other recent presidents, said hospitality
expert Bjorn Hanson of New York University’s Tisch
Center. ”When President Bush Sr. went to Maine it
had a significant boost to tourism because of scenes of
him in his boat, fishing,” he said. ”I don’t foresee too
much of Barack Obama water-skiing behind a boat on
the lake.”
More on Barack Obama
Rebecca Romijn On Pregnancy: ”I’m A
Beached Whale!”
In this week’s Page Six Magazine - Rebecca Romijn,
pregnant with twin daughters on the way, opens up
about fertility drugs, maternity sex appeal and her split
from ex-husband John Stamos.
On using medical intervention to get pregnant:
”We did not do IVF... A year ago, we tried [the
fertility drug] Clomid for a couple of months unsuc-
cessfully. But by the second month, I was like, ’Ahhh!
I hate this!’ I think when you start messing with your
own hormones, it’s crazy-making.”
On her body during pregnancy:
”I can’t move anymore...I’m a beached whale! ...I
have not been without a bra this entire pregnancy. I
refuse. I’m not taking any chances. I’m determined to
keep the puppies up!”
On speculation that the cause of her 2004 divorce
was that she did not want children:
”There is absolutely no truth to that. That [story]
was completely made up. I desperately wanted kids.
I was never a girl who dreamed about what her wed-
ding day would be like, but I’ve always dreamed about
decorating my baby’s nursery.”
On husband Jerry O’Connell’s fathering skills:
I knew early on he would be a fantastic dad. He’s
a pragmatic, smart, savvy, enthusiastic person. He re-
ally lives his life with tremendous integrity, and he’s a
healthy person in every single way.”
On parenting:
”I’ve just surrendered to the fact that [parenting]
will be the hardest thing I’ll ever do. I know my life
will never be the same - but in the best way possible.”
2
Reese Schonfeld: Final Poll of Cable
Television News Viewers – Comparison
to Actual Results
To start with the positive, the Cable Television News
Viewer Poll (CTNVP) predicted all the results accu-
rately, both overall and in all demographic groups.
To state the negative, the poll predicted that Obama
would do better than he did in every category.
In the final overall vote, cable news viewers favored
Obama by 11, he won by 6. The previous week, we had
Obama ahead by 6, and would’ve been dead on, but last
week’s numbers jumped. I did cover my butt by saying
that the final numbers might’ve been a statistical fluke,
and there were.
In the demos, my comparisons are with the CNN
”Vote by Age” statistics and their demos do not match
the Nielsen demos, so the comparisons are not exact.
Nevertheless, here it goes:
CTNVP predictions
18-34s- 75 Obama–25 McCain 18-49s- 66 Obama–
34 McCain 25-54s- 64 Obama–36 McCain Fogies for
McCain–Over 50
CNN actuals 18-29s- 66 Obama–32 McCain 30-44s-
52 Obama–46 McCain 45-64s- 49 Obama–49 McCain
Over 64- 49 Obama–53 McCain
What have I learned from all this: Cable news view-
ing is at least indicative, if not perfectly predictive, of
the way Americans will vote on Election Day. The com-
parisons between viewing and voting among 18-34s and
55s and over were reliable. It seems that the 35-54
year-olds watching cable news are not representative of
the general population. Those voters split almost 50-50
between Republicans and Democrats, while the viewers
were overwhelmingly Democratic. Maybe conservative
35-54s have given up the media, especially TV, entirely.
They’re not angry enough to watch Fox, but too fed up
with the prattle to watch either CNN or MSNBC. Four
years from now, I’ll keep this in mind and try again.
As for myself, I am satisfied with the results of the
2008 election – one candidate had, during his campaign,
clearly forfeited any claim to the Presidency; and while
the other has yet to establish his claim; it’s time to give
”change” a chance.
More on Election Results
Obama To Make First Public
Appearance With Economic Advisers
Friday
CHICAGO mdash; Barack Obama planned his first
public appearance since his presidential victory for Fri-
day a meeting with economic advisers to discuss the
nation’s financial woes that Americans listed as their
top concern on Election Day.
 Obama plans to talk to the news media Friday af-
ternoon following the meeting, aides said. He and his
wife, Michelle, will visit the White House on Monday
at President Bush’s invitation, aides said. Obama’s
schedule Thursday includes meetings with top U.S. in-
telligence officials preparing him to be commander in
chief and transition team leaders tasked with building
his entire administration in 10 short weeks.
Obama advisers said he was selecting the leaders of
the new government with a sense of care over speed,
with no plans to announce Cabinet positions this week.
The president-elect asked Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel
to be White House chief of staff, but Emanuel said he
was weighing the demands of the job on his family.
No announcement on the chief of staff position was ex-
pected Thursday, said an Obama adviser.
Other White House officials were being lined up, in-
cluding Robert Gibbs as the likely pick for press secre-
tary, said several Obama aides. Gibbs has been Obama’s
longtime spokesman and confidant and was at Obama’s
side from his 2004 Senate campaign through the long
days on the presidential campaign trail.
Obama planned to stay home through the weekend,
with a blackout on news announcements so that he and
his staff can get some rest after a grueling campaign and
the rush of their win Tuesday night. He is planning a
trip to Hawaii in December to get away with his family
before their move to the White House and to honor his
grandmother, who died Sunday at her home there.
Obama began Thursday as he almost always does,
with a workout. Later, he planned to visit with the
transition team he officially announced Wednesday but
had been under way for weeks. Officials had kept delib-
erations under wraps to avoid the appearance of over-
confidence in the weeks leading to Tuesday’s election.
He also planned to head to the FBI office in Chicago,
a secure location for him to receive his first president’s
daily brief. The document is mostly written by the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency and includes the most critical
overnight intelligence. It is accompanied by a brief-
ing from top intelligence officials that typically lasts 45
minutes to an hour, although Obama’s first is expected
to be longer.
In offering the White House post to Emanuel, Obama
turned to a fellow Chicago politician with a far differ-
ent style from his own, a man known for his bluntness
as well as his single-minded determination. Emanuel,
who was a political and policy aide in the Clinton White
House, told Chicago’s WLS-TV that he was honored to
be considered but needed to weigh the impact on his
family.
”I have a lot to weigh: the basis of public service,
which I’ve given my life to, a career choice. And most
importantly, what I want to do as a parent,” Emanuel
said in an interview aired Wednesday. ”And I know
something about the White House. That, I assume,
is one of the reasons that President-elect Obama would
3
like me to serve. But I also know something about what
it means to a family.”
The economy was the overwhelming concern on the
mind of voters Tuesday, according to Associated Press
exit polls. More than six in 10 voters picked the econ-
omy as the most important issue facing the nation.
Four in 10 said their family financial status was
worse than four years ago the highest number to report
that in a presidential race since at least 1992. Nine in 10
said the economy is in bad shape and nearly the same
number said they are worried about the economy’s di-
rection.
Associated Press Special Correspondent David Espo
in Washington and AP reporter Beth Fouhy in Chicago
contributed to this report.
More on President Obama
John McNamara: How Obama Upended
My Life of Diminished Expectations
and Cynical Regret
I have to say, I’ve been disgusted by most presiden-
tial candidates in my lifetime, bored by the rest and
only impressed by one, Clinton. But with Clinton, you
sensed calculation was the primary motor and every-
thing else – his compassion, leadership, et al – were all
in service of that.
With Obama, I kept waiting for him to finally reveal
himself as one of the two types we’ve all come to know
and loathe – the knucklehead or the sociopath... Jerry
Lewis or Richard III. Reagan, brilliantly, was both –
with the emphasis on Jerry. Clinton also conjoined
the two – with maybe a tip to Richard, while the two
Bushes tried hard for the same splice but never finished
reading the play and seemed gleefully suited to clown-
ing anyhow.
Up and down the long campaign trail, Obama was
tested so we might finally stamp him as one or the other
and get on with our lives of diminished expectations
and cynical regret. And he just kept... rising. It was
and is incredible. Though I admit I won’t really relax
for a while.
We are the children of bullets in 1963 and 1968;
of Watergate; of fake small town morning in America
happy psycho Actor President and so on and on and on.
The best I ever dared to hope for was another shrewd,
liberal, narcissist who’d govern with a reptilian brain
but a human heart.
I never expected to see someone in that job who I
feel is not only smarter, kinder, and more hard-working
than me (trust me – not a high bar) but inspires us all
to be more like him. To actually stop and ask, with
zero irony, how would Obama handle this setback or
that insult? He would assess, be compassionate, strong,
wise, deal with it directly, as if the whole world were
listening... and rise.
Is it possible that the worst presidency of a republic
can lead directly to the best? As I watch Obama rise,
my hopes rising with him, I can only believe what my
head and heart finally say in unison:
Yes.
More on Barack Obama
Obama, Giannoulias Clash On The
Court
Barack Obama’s favorite campaign stress reliever,
basketball, was a source of tension between the candi-
date and his friend and frequent playing partner, Illi-
nois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, before the Iowa
Caucuses, Newsweek reports in its exhaustive ”Secrets
of the 2008 Campaign”:
Obama has always been fiercely competitive and not
above stacking his team with the best players. This led
to at least one loud argument on the court with his
friend Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, in
the tense days before the Iowa caucuses. Obama had
loaded his team with Love and some other hot shots,
and Giannoulias’s team was losing badly. ”So I got
mad and started yelling at him–’I want to win too!’
” recalled Giannoulias. ”And it got under his skin.”
Obama responded, with rare heat, ”I don’t care who I
play with. I’ll play with anybody! You want to switch
teams? We can switch teams if you want!” Giannoulias
declined, out of pique more than anything, he recalled.
”And then he just gave me this smile,” Giannoulias
said, mimicking Obama’s signature smile, teeth flash-
ing, eyes crinkled, chin slightly tucked in, a surprising
gleam of warmth, guaranteed to disarm.
The on-court tension quickly ebbed, as Giannoulias
remained an Obama basketball regular and was among
those who played in Obama’s final campaign trail game
on Election Day.
Watch video of Giannoulias discussing that game.
More on Barack Obama
Tom D’Antoni: A Moment Which Will
Last a Lifetime
How many I’ll-never-forget-where-I-was-when’s are
happy memories? Think about it. From 9-11 on back
to Pearl Harbor, since we’ve had instant mass commu-
nication, none of those moments are happy.
Last night was happy, and we’ll never forget it.
We had some friends and family over last night.
From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that
4
Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon to-
day, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.
Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to
us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a
better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint’s Yes
We Can!:
Make this land a better land
Than the world in which we live
And help each man be a better man
With the kindness that you give.
I’m white. I know what this election means to me,
but I was listening to national African-American talk
radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were
agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks
weren’t so bad after all.
Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others.
Serious as lynching.
We’re all looking at each other, and I mean every-
body, in a new way today. Here in the People’s Repub-
lic of Portland Oregon, there’s a quiet sense of relief,
although last night, on my block there were a lot fire-
works exploded and much banging on pots. I know that
these feelings are shared by people of good will all over
the world.
How long will that last? Stay tuned.
But it’s still fresh. And if feels good. And I’m
beginning to be able to talk.
I can say this........WE WON!
Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack
Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential election
More on Obama Election Day
Despite ”Oprah Effect,” Kindle Sales
Won’t Meet Expectations, Analyst Says
Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney downgraded Ama-
zon’s stock to ”Hold” from ”Buy” in his latest report,
despite a surge in shares since Q3 earnings report which
he says is partially due to Oprah’s recent endorsement
of the Kindle.
He cites poor sales data from other online vendors
and doesn’t seem to think the O-Factor is enough to
raise Kindle sales above his previous estimates this hol-
iday season.
Oprah’s 10/24 public endorsement (’It’s absolutely
my new favorite thing in the world’) served as a mate-
rial stock catalyst,” he writes. ”We stand steadfastly by
our ’08 380K Kindle unit forecast. But also by our con-
clusion that it won’t be material to AMZN ’til 2010.”
Read the full story here
-or-
::MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer: Oprah Endorses
Amazon’s Kindle ::How Much Will The Oprah Bump
Do For Kindle?
More on Oprah
Malia And Sasha’s DC School: Where ”Los Angeles has long been envied for our sunny
Will They Go? weather, and now we are taking the first step toward
an aggressive plan to put that sun to work for us cre-
More on President Obama ating clean energy and good jobs,” said Eric Garcetti,
LA City Council President. Sponsored by Working Cal-
ifornians, the Green Energy-Good Jobs Initiative is one
component of LADWP’s effort to reduce its dependence
Paige Donner: Greening Hollywood: on coal-based power. L.A.’s goal as a city is to create
Staples Goes Solar 20 percent of our power from renewable energy sources.
The new investment tax credit (ITC) signed into
California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger trekked federal law on October 3rd, has everyone in the indus-
up to the rooftop of the STAPLES Center to commem- try excited. The new ITC eliminates a 2,000 cap on the
orate the final solar panel installation of the total 1,727 residential incentive which comes into effect in January.
photovoltaic solar panels that now grace the roof of the So homeowners who wait until January can save 9,000
Laker’s home court venue. instead of 2,000 on a 30,000 system. The 18 billion
Lee Zeidman, STAPLES Center General Manager; tax incentives package extends the 30-percent solar tax
Timothy J. Leiweke, AEG President and CEO; Gov- credit for eight years for residential and commercial in-
ernor Schwarzenegger; Steve Kircher, CEO of Solar stallations and allows power companies to benefit from
Power, Inc. the credit for the first time.
”Everyone these days talks about some states that ”I can’t tell you how exciting it is to be part of one of
are red, other states that are blue, we here in California the most important global movements that impacts so-
are more interested in building a green state. That is ciety in our lifetime,” said Steve Kircher, CEO of Solar
what this is all about here today,” he said, and joked, Power Inc. and added, ”Homeowners are now able to
”The outcome of the Celtics and Lakers would have finance their solar systems directly through their prop-
been different if we had these solar panels two years erty tax.” Solar Power Inc. supplies the pv solar panels
ago!” and offers easy installation with their proprietary Sky-
AEG and Solar Power Inc. worked together to in- Mount (TM) mounting system. Indeed, the Governor
stall the photovoltaic panels on the Staples Center rooftop simply snapped the last panel into place atop the Sta-
which will provide significant environmental benefits ples Center rooftop.
and is part of AEG’s overall sustainability initiative. Solar Is Affordable
The 345.6 kilowatt system will provide environmental The perception of solar energy as an expensive form
offsets over the next 25 years which include the elimina- of renewable energy is no longer valid. The Governor
tion of over 10,000 tons of CO2, 27-plus tons of sulfur had the following to say on the topic of affordability:
dioxide and over 33 tons of nitrous oxide, a principal ”With our Million Solar Roofs Plan, people, home-
greenhouse gas. The net clean energy benefits of the owners, get a tax incentive which is around 5000 which
system equates to the environmental benefits of 170 is really helpful. And people will find out very quickly
acres of mature trees. that by installing solar you will bring down the costs
A view of some of the over 1,700 Solar Panels re- of energy and this will pay back the investment very
cently installed atop STAPLES Center’s roof. quickly. So you will actually get your energy much
AEG is the world’s largest presenter of live sports more cheaply.
and entertainment events; They own and/or control The question really is how do we produce solar pan-
twelve sports franchises. They are also currently de- els and solar technology cheaper? And that’s the same
veloping entertainment districts such as L.A. Live, Lon- thing as it was with cell phones. That the more you
don’s O2 and adjacent to The O2 World Arena in Berlin. produce, the cheaper they will get, and the more they
LADWP, Mayor Villaraigosa’s office and LA City will be affordable. We see already the costs coming
Council are working closely together and also with large down, and this is why it was important to me to chal-
stakeholders such as AEG to facilitate this implemen- lenge businesses like for instance, here, the STAPLES
tation of solar generated power for our city. The Green Center, or the State University system, the prisons, the
Energy-Good Jobs Initiative was recently introduced hospitals, also SoCal Edison, to make deals with land-
which, when fully implemented, would produce 400 megawatts lords of the various different warehouses and big build-
of solar power, roughly 3 percent of the total power ings, government buildings, to really blanket the roofs
generated by the Los Angeles Department of Water of these buildings with solar panels.
and Power (LADWP). That’s the equivalent of remov- The more solar panels we have to produce, the cheaper
ing 400,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from L.A. they will become, the costs will come down and the
air and would provide power to more than 100,000 more affordable they will then be for everybody. So it
LADWP customers. is like the cell phone. It used to cost 1500 for a cell
phone and now they’re down to 50. That’s the idea.

5
 I’m proud of California. I’m proud of the model we
have created for the rest of the world. Go STAPLES
Center and Go Lakers!” concluded Governor Schwarzeneg-
ger.
”Today’s installation is another example of AEG’s
commitment to investing in energy saving technologies
and measures for all of our venues worldwide,” said
Timothy J. Leiweke, President and CEO of AEG.
Timothy J. Leiweke, AEG President and CEO; Gov-
ernor Schwarzenegger.
”We’re going to continue to be in the forefront of
this industry and we’re going to continue to look for
ways to make our facilities green not only in this city
but the rest of the state and all the other AEG facil-
ities we’re involved with,” said Lee Zeidman, General
Manager of STAPLES Center and Nokia Theater L.A.
Live.
Eric Hafter, President of Solar Power, Inc. says that
solar is open to everyone now.
”The savings off of your energy bill will be greater
than the cost of the system with full financing. It’s
open to everyone now. If you have good exposure for
your rooftop, then you could have a solar system in and
literally lower your costs from day one and never put
money out. So the perception of solar as super expen-
sive, we’re well past that. The system is completely eco-
nomic. This system is absolutely an economic choice,”
he said.
SolarCity, the largest U.S. residential installer claims
that their installed costs for their photovoltaic solar
systems are between 14 cents and 25 cents per kilo-
watt hour, including government subsidies. Their solar
modules are supplied by First Solar. For Southern Cal-
ifornians especially, a system that turns sunlight into
electricity makes perfect solar sense.
According to an economic study released last week
by the University of California at Berkeley and Next
10, California’s green policies will create as many as
403,000 jobs in the next 12 years and household incomes
will increase by 48 billion.
More on Green Energy
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway
Expected To Report Lower Earnings
Friday
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is expected
to report a decline in quarterly operating earnings for
the third quarter, its fifth consecutive year-over-year
quarterly drop.
Berkshire’s results will be released after tomorrow’s
(Friday) stock market close.
Thomson One Analytics has forecasts for Berkshire’s
earnings per share from just two analysts covering the
stock: 1425 and 1433.38.
6
More on Warren Buffett
Lauren Rubinfeld: Letters to President
Obama from Fourth Graders in Harlem
By the time the school day began at 8:05 on Wednes-
day morning, I had already read what felt like hundreds
of articles and listened to hundreds of commentators
about this historic election. But, as my students en-
tered the classroom chanting ”Yes We Can” I knew
that the 25 strongest voices in my life were yet to be
heard.
Nothing has hit me as hard as the letters my 4th
graders in Harlem wrote to their new president. A few
are pasted below.
Dear President Obama,
I am so happy you are our new president! And
it is not just because you are black, it is because you
have some great ideas! And I wanted to be a singer,
dancer, and actress but you open new doors for me.
You open the doors for everybody. Now I think that
now I can be the first female black president! And we
went from black people not being able to vote and that
changed and then black people never got a chance to
be president but you changed that. And for that, it is
like you are my and the whole world’s hero!
Love (a 9 year old), Tatiana
P.S. I won’t put TV before homework.
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations. I’m glad we have our first black
president and I’m glad we all (the United States) have
a great president like you! I am very sorry about what
happened with your grandmother, but I know if she
was here right now, she will be very proud of you! I
am very sure you will make the best decisions for all of
America! I was hoping you can make a recycling rule
to help something called Global Warming.
Love, E’Raya
Dear President Obama,
I want to say you are the bomb. I love all your
speeches. Even my grandma does. I feel sorry for your
grandmother but she’s there up in heaven watching over
you. When you get to the white house you will have
our help.
I’m so happy that you are becoming president. Can
you make a change about the cops? They need to pay
more attention at the Lincoln Tunnel.
Write back.
Your friend, Asia
Dear President Obama,
I like the way you think about turning off the T.V.
and letting kids do their homework. I know so many
things that the people in the world want you to fix.
Do you think you can do it? We CAN make change.
I believe you. Everybody believes you. Barack, we
can do it. Yes, we can. Don’t forget leadership and North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes brings Obama’s
responsibility is what we are looking for. total to 364 nearly 100 more than necessary to win the
Change we make. Change we believe. White House. Missouri is the only state that remains
Sincerely, Hawa too close to call.
Dear President Obama, Obama’s win in North Carolina was the first for a
I knew you would win. You easily won by a land- Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter
slide. Do you think you can lower taxes? Just 20 dol- won the state in 1976.
lars. My mom wants to move. I do too. The house we More on Election Results
want to move to cost twice as much. So, can you please
do that? I hope you have a good time being president.
I know I would. I also hope you get free time. How did
you get to spend time with family and do the election?
Also can you really bend the rules? If you can please
make children do less homework. Especially on holi-
days. On holidays they load us with homework. One
last request. I promise it’s my last one. Can you make
Friday a weekend like Saturday and Sunday?
Sincerely, Darnell
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on your win to be president of the
United States of America. What are you going to change
about littering, gas, and wars? Are you going to make
hunting stop? Are you going to lower taxes? Are you
going to give more money to schools? What are you
going to do about stock markets? What are you going
to do about parking spaces? What are you going to
do about more jail time, book store prices, gas prices,
robbers, the laws, houses, and long lines in Pathmark?
Your Biggest Fan, Rafi
Dear Barack Obama,
My name is Shareef and I am writing to you to
say congratulations on being the first black President.
Your wife must be very proud of you. Also your kids
too must be proud. Also I’m African American too and
I might be just like you. When you get to the white
house please try to stop the war for once and for all.
Obama I’m very proud of you especially my mom. She’s
really proud because she woke up 5:30 AM to go vote
for you and I went with her. Please write back to me
when you get a chance. To tell you, I’m nine years old
in the 4th grade. Obama, you’re the man.
Sincerely, Shareef
More on President Obama

North Carolina Called For Obama

RALEIGH, N.C. mdash; President-elect Obama has

won North Carolina, a symbolic triumph in a state that
hadn’t voted for a Democrat in more than a generation.
The Associated Press declared Obama the winner
Thursday after canvassing counties in North Carolina
to determine the number of outstanding provisional bal-
lots. That survey found that there are not enough re-
maining ballots for Republican John McCain to close a
13,693-vote deficit.