Back to school, back to work...

Click here to listen to today's RoN episode (runtime 36:20)

Today, my daughter Alison had something in common with Sasha and Melia Obama- they all started new schools! Yes, I'm no longer a felon, as I moved my kid to the school she's supposed to attend.

Oh, it's a long story, but she's now at a brand new, state of the art school. Unfortunately, the economy in Miami-Dade County is so bad that they're looking at a 4-day school week! Here in Florida, our not so brilliant legislature keeps taking the money they need out of the education budget, making Florida 50th our of 50 states in per-capita spending per student! Nice, huh?

So, the fact that all three kids started a new school today is where the similarity ends. The Obama girls are going to a very exclusive private school in DC, and Alison is going to a better school than the one I originally lied about my address to keep her out of.

On to the news of the day: Richardson withdraws from contention for the Secretary of Commerce cabinet position, claiming innocence combined with magnanimity so as not to hold up the Obama administration from doing the necessary work while waiting on the results of his grand jury investigation. I hope I'm wrong on this one! But this story gives me good enough reason to once again plead for campaign finance reform and getting the money out of elections! There will always be an appearance of impropriety when money is involved!

We have the current DNC Chair, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, stepping down in a couple of weeks. The new DNC Chair will be the soon to be former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. The hopeful new Virginia Governor is former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe, who just announced he'll run form Kaine's seat in 2010. Got that? It's gubernatorial chair chairs.

There's a competition of sorts up at www.change.gov/openforquestions, where people submit questions for the PE, and we vote to see which questions he'll answer. Log in, and click on "Additional Issues" and you'll see Bob Fertik's (of democrats.com) question currently in the lead: "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor - ideally Patrick Fitzgerald - to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?" Vote for it. Let's get an answer.

I spoke with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, on New Years Eve day while filling in for Ron Kuby on Air America Radio. I asked him about that possibility, along with the legality of Harry Reid's claim that they don't have to seat Blago's choice for Obama's former Senate seat when the new class is sworn in tomorrow. I included that interview at the end of today's Radio or Not episode.

Lots more to come... we've only just begun....

Click here to listen to today's RoN episode (runtime 36:20)