Sorry for the overnight. Have at it.

Yet another New Yorker for Obama's cabinet: Federal Reserve Governor Timothy Geithner.

John Heilemann thinks Obama's decision to tap Hillary Clinton as SoS demonstrates he has "nerve."

Clinton knew accepting the job was "the right thing to do," but needed to "sit with it for a bit to make sure," according to one adviser.

Bill Clinton will have to get his overseas travel and speeches pre-approved as a condition of his wife becoming SoS.

More than 200,000 people want to work in the Obama administration.

Obama delivered a video pitch for holding the Olympics in his hometown of Chicago in 2016.

A Gallup poll of Republicans found Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee leading the list of 2012 GOP presidential contenders.

Rep. Ed Towns may be poised to get his first committee chairmanship.

Towns might have to fight for that job.

Sarah Palin could have picked a better locale for her turkey-pardoning ceremony.

AG Michael Mukasey left the hospital and went straight to the office.

The alliance between Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr. and his onetime political rival, Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., would have been downright unbelievable just a few years ago.

Rick Karlin floats another possible New Yorker for an Obama administration job.

Obama recorded a radio ad for the Democratic candidate in the Georgia run-off, Jim Martin.

Russell Harding spotted Rep. Vito Fossella on the subway looking "trim, tanned, healthy and dapperly dressed."

A Long Island school renamed itself in honor of Obama.

Martial arts champion Lou Neglia is heading to the Capitol to lobby in favor of Ultimate Fighting.

The long-awaited (in some corners, anyway) Ashley Dupre interview with Diane Sawyer airs tonight.

Here's Councilman Bill de Blasio talking about how the city needs to improve its coordination with kosher food pantries and soup kitchens after meeting with Orthodox leaders in Borough Park yesterday.

The poll is in on Mickey Carroll, the popular director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. It turns out he has a heart after all, and it’s doing just fine, thank you very much.

Carroll had open-heart surgery earlier this week at Lennox Hill Hospital and is as chipper and talkative as ever. He chatted earlier today with the DN's Frank Lombardi.

“I feel fine, and I’ll be back in the polling business soon,” he said from his hospital bed, where he’s receiving a steady stream of calls from press pals dating back to his days as a reporter for the New York Times and Newsday and also members of the Inner Circle political gang and politicians who have been the subject of his polls.

Former Gov. Mario Cuomo reportedly told Carroll, “The way you (reporters) covered me, it’s good to know you have a heart.”

Carroll said he will be discharged from the hospital Sunday and plans to visit with relatives in New Jersey for the Thanksgiving holiday.

(There was no margin of error on the surgery. Carroll's heart was not immediately available for comment).

With Gov. David Paterson poised to become even more popular among aspiring junior US senators from New York, Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf suggests the governor might consider creating a "process" to select Hillary Clinton's successor to avoid making it look like a backroom deal.

The smart thing would be to create a process that elevates the discussion, gives the impression that the public has some input and doesn't make it appear that the fix is in," Sheinkopf said. "That way, it looks like everybody is involved, whether or not they really are."

Sheinkopf didn't go too far into detail about how this might work. I suggested some sort of vetting panel, although the last time that was tried when there was a vacancy in a statewide post, it didn't work out so well.

Ultimately, unlike in the case of replacing former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, which was up to the Legislature (much to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's dismay), the choice in this case is Paterson's alone.

And so far, the only person he has officially ruled out to replace Clinton in the Senate is...himself.

As for the timeline of when Paterson would have to name the new Clinton, Sheinkopf said:

"He can do whatever he wants. What's the rush? First she's got to be announced publicly, then she's got to go through the confirmation process. She won't give up the seat until after the first of the year."

There has been some confusion about how this would work, but I think the consensus now is that if the vacancy occurs after Jan. 1, whoever Paterson picks will have to run for the seat in 2010.

Since Gov. David Paterson refused to send his budget-cutting bills to the Legislature for an up-or-down vote, accusing the Senate GOP of playing political games, the outgoing majority plans to take matters into its own hands.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos announced he will bring the Senate back to Albany on Dec. 15 to take action on a plan that his conference will advance to close the ever-growing budget gap that the leaders tried - and failed - to close at this week's special session.

That's one day before Paterson has promised to deliver his 2009-2010 executive budget (a whole five weeks before the constitutionally-mandated mid-January date).

"It’s important that we take action to close this year’s budget gap as we begin work on a new budget Governor Paterson has promised to submit early," Skelos said in a press release.

"The legislation that we will advance and act on will include significant spending reductions, recurring savings actions and important initiatives to maximize revenue. We call on the Assembly to put forward its own plan so we can immediately begin conference committees to act on current-year solutions as we review the Governor’s budget for the next fiscal year."

While in Albany, the Senate will also pass an economic stimulus package that will overhaul the much-maligned Empire Zones program and use the savings to pay for tax cuts aimed at jump-starting development - particularly upstate.

Skelos acknowledged that the governor is taking steps to make administrative cuts, but said there are "other actions that can be taken to further those efforts." He called on the Assembly Democrats, which, under the leadership of Speaker Silver, stuck by Paterson and refused to push for a vote on bills without a deal.

Hillary Clinton's US Senate press office just sent out a statement in response to what are now numerous reports that she has accepted an offer to be President-elect Obama's secretary of state.

From Philippe Reines, Clinton's senior advisor:

"We’re still in discussions, which are very much on track. Any reports beyond that are premature.”

Dust off those resumes New York Democrats!

Citing two "confidants" of Hillary Clinton, the Times reports the state's junior senator has decided to give up her seat in the country's most exclusive club and accept President-elect Obama's offer to be his secretary of state.

Peter Baker writes:

"Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation. Mr. Obama’s office told reporters Thursday that the nomination is “on track” but Clinton associates only confirmed Friday afternoon that she has decided.

“She’s ready,” said the confidant. Mrs. Clinton was reassured after talking again with Mr. Obama because their first meeting in Chicago last week “was so general,” the confidant said. The purpose of the follow-up talk, he added, was not to extract particular concessions but “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together.

A second Clinton associate confirmed that her camp believes they have a done deal. Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement will be made until after Thanksgiving. But they said they were convinced that the nascent alliance was now ready to be sealed.

Rep. Anthony Weiner just released a decidedly low-key response to today's Marist poll that found Mayor Bloomberg's popularity is waning while the Brooklyn/Queens congressman's position in the 2009 race has strengthened.

It's a marked departure from Weiner's rhetoric at the height of the term limits extension battle, during which he led the charge for a public referendum and sought to strengthen his position as the champion of the middle class by railing against how a privileged few (Bloomberg, Ron Lauder, newspaper publishers) were doing an end run around the public.

Back then, Weiner was organizing the public to come and testify in opposition to the term limits bill. But now, he's talking about the need to "help the mayor be successful in New York" at a time when the city is facing a serious fiscial crisis.

(This isn't the first time the congressman has changed his tune on the mayor. After attacking Bloomberg as an out-of-touch billionaire back in 2005, Weiner sang the mayor's praises this past July at a Crain's New York Business forum).

Here's Weiner's statement on the Marist poll.

"Our economy is in trouble and we're feeling it in New York City more and more every day. We have to be honest and straightforward about the challenges we face: real people are hurting and tough choices lie ahead."

"My focus is doing the job I was elected to do and working in Washington trying to help get a recovery going, and help middle class people and those struggling to make it find some relief. I want to help the Mayor be successful in New York. I don't believe this is a time for reading polls, it's a time solving the problems our City and country faces."

While we wait for the official announcement on Hillary Clinton, we can we certain that at least one New York Democrat is definitely going to work in the Obama White House.

According to a well-informed source, Patrick Gaspard, political director of 1199 SEIU, broke the news to the union today that the leave of absence he took back in June to be Barack Obama's campaign political director has turned into something more permanent.

It will soon be announced that Gaspard, who has been serving as the associate personnel director for Obama's transition team, will be Obama's White House political director.

That post has been under fire during Bush's tenure given the lightning-rod tendencies of its former occupant, Karl Rove, and Rep. Henry Waxman, (soon to be former) chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has called for it to be abolished altogether.

Just this morning, another Republican who once held the political director's job, Ed Rollins, penned a defense of it in a Times OpEd.

Gaspard is a veteran operative in New York Democratic politics. He got his start when Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1988 (that's where he met former 1199 President Dennis Rivera) and since then has worked on numerous campaigns and on staff for several elected officials, including former Mayor David Dinkins.

Gaspard is the second political director to depart 1199 in less than two years. His predecessor, Jennifer Cunningham, left in January 2007 to join KnickerbockerSKD. She's also of-counsel at Cordo & Company, an Albany-based lobbying firm.

This leaves the union in a bit of a lurch at a time when it is gearing up to fight a difficult state budget battle. Gov. David Paterson has already proposed deep health care cuts, much to the union's chagrin.

Gaspard has been keeping his hand in New York politics despite the fact that he has been otherwise occupied with the Obama campaign/transition. He worked behind the scenes on the term limits fight and was integral in the union's decision to come out against Mayor Bloomberg's (eventually successful) effort to change the rules so he can run for re-election next fall.

Here's Marist pollster Lee Miringoff parsing today's poll on Mayor Bloomberg, 2009 and whether the mayor has been damaged by his push to change term limits and seek re-election.

Miringoff notes that Bloomberg is still ahead of his prospective Democratic challengers, but not by as much as in previous polls.

He's leading his strongest likely opponent, Rep. Anthony Weiner, by 14 percentage points, but gets just 51 percent of the vote with 37 percent for Weiner and 12 percent undecided.

"Firty-one is about as slim a majority as you can have, at this point, as an incumbent. So that is we think troublesome for the Bloomberg administration in terms of re-election prospects. He's ahead, but he certainly is far away from closing the door on that race."

Bloomberg is, of course, not the only New York elected official in an executive post whose popularity suffered a hit lately. In a Marist poll released earlier this week, Gov. David Paterson saw his approval rating drop six points, from 57 percent lasrt month to 51 percent this month.

The question, as Miringoff sees it, is whether Bloomberg gets blamed for the pain he will have to inflict in the face of the economic downturn. The same case holds true for Paterson, who has been warning of major fiscal distress and tried - unsuccessfuly - to get legislative leaders to make a second round of mid-year budget cuts earlier this week.

Marist Pollster Lee Miringoff On Bloomberg's Numbers from Elizabeth Benjamin on Vimeo.

The Working Families Party sent out a self-congratulatory memo to supporters this week that touts its success at the polls on Nov. 4 at the state and federal levels in New York and Connecticut.

This comes at a time when the WFP is also trying to flex its muscles in the city in preparation for the 2009 elections. It played a significant role in the fight over extending term limits, and ultimately didn't managed to prevent the measure from being signed into law. But it nevertheless did manage to raise its profile considerably.

The upshot from this past Election Day, as per WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor and Deputy Director Bill Lipton:

- With some ballots yet to be counted, the labor-backed party is on track to surpass the number of votes it garnered on its line, Row E, for Barack Obama compared to 133,000 it attracted in the 2004 election when it endorsed John Kerry.

So far, the party estimates Obama received 150,000 votes on its line, and might end up with as many as 170,000.

In the days leading up to the election, the WFP sent out a number of missives urging supporters to vote for Obama on Row E, in part to demonstrate the party's growing clout but also to get people in the habit of voting there.

Despite the fact that the WFP amost always endorses Democrats in statewide races, the party never much needs to hit the magic 50,000 mark in the gubernatorial election every four years to keep its ballot status. This hasn't been a problem as the WFP's profile has steadily grown, but it fell short in 2006 of its goal of ousting the Conservative Party from Row D and will likley make another go of that in 2010.

In congressional races, 31 of 34 candidates who ran on the Democrat and WFP lines were successful at the polls (26 in New York and 5 in Connecticut). The party is taking credit for plaing a "big role in the Republican collapse," noting that at the time of its birth (10 years ago) there were 12 Republican members of congress in these two states, and now there appears to be just three left (all in New York).

The WFP is also claiming to have provided the margin of victory in two races:

- 29th CD. Rep. Randy Kuhl vs. Eric Massa, who declared victory today with a lead of about 5,700 votes. He won 8,600 on the WFP line.

- 24th CD. Rep. Michael Arcuri vs. Richard Hanna. Hanna has conceded but the results aren't finalized. Arcuri appears to have ended up with a lead of about 8,400 votes (in a race that was never expected to be so close). The WFP is on track to break 9,000 votes for Arcuri.

In the battle for control of the state Senate, the WFP was a key partner for the Democrats, running their field operations in a number of hotly-contested races (a service for which the party was, for the record, paid).

Two WFP priority candidates, Brian Foley and Joe Addabbo, were successful in souting their GOP targets. But two others, "Baby" Joe Mesi and Rick Dollinger, didn't make the cut.

The WFP is also working to make in-roads in Oregon and Delaware (this was its first year fielding candidates there).

The Cantor/Lipton memo appears in full after the jump.

For the first time in three years, the Marist poll shows Mayor Bloomberg's job performance rating has slipped into the 50 percent range - albeit not far, as he is now at 59 percent, but that's a nine-point drop from just last month.

The mayor does still have majority support in the city, Marist pollster Lee Miringoff pointed out, but he has lost ground across the board.

However, Miringoff also called the drop in Bloomberg's popularity "statistically signiciant" and said it's difficult to say whether this is a short-term problem or a the sign of a longterm slide for the mayor.

"There's clearly fallout" from both the term limits extension push by the mayor and the economic downturn, which was his rationale for changing the rules to enable himself to seek re-election but has also required him to call for painful and unpopular cuts.

There's no clear-cut favorite among city Democrats among the would-be challengers to Bloomberg next fall. Thirty percent said they're unsure who they would choose if the election was held today.

Of those who have an opinion, Rep. Anthony Weiner has emerged as the leader of the Democratic contenders with 34 percent of Democrats saying they would back him over Comptroller Bill Thompson, who got 26 percent. Councilman Tony Avella received 10 percent, which isn't too bad, considering he's far less well-known than the other two.

In hypothetical head-to-head match-ups, Weiner and Thompson have both gained ground on the mayor. (All of these assume Bloomberg is running as an independent).

- Bloomberg vs. Weiner: 51-37, 12 percent undecided. (Last month: 56-30,14 percent undecided).

- Bloomberg vs. Thompson: 52-32, 16 percent undecided. (Last month: 55-30, 15 percent undecided).

- Bloomberg vs. Avella: 54-29, 18. (He wasn't included in last month's poll).

On term limits: 40 percent of those polled said they're less likely to support the mayor for a third term because he changed the rules mid-stream, 19 percent said they're more likely to back him now and 41 percent said it didn't make any difference one way or another.

The city’s housing czar is stepping down after seven years to return to the private sector, Mayor Bloomberg announced today on John Gambling’s weekly radio show.

Tino Hernandez, the chairman of the New York City Housing Authority, leaves at time when the ailing agency is making layoffs and facing yawning budget gaps.

“Tino has actually done a great job. Most cities are walking away from their public housing," Bloomberg said. "You see these pictures on the news of people blowing them up, that sort of thing. And we’ve gone in the other direction."

"We invested a couple of billion dollars in NYCHA housing, replacing elevators and appliances and locks and caulking windows and that sort of stuff," the mayor continued. "And we’ve made it an awful lot better for the people who live there. We brought crime down dramatically. We’ve also raised rents for those in NYCHA housing who can afford it…And Tino really has made a big difference. We’ve included NYCHA in our environmental stuff, upgrading boilers, planting trees."

NYCHA has about 180,000 apartments, housing 420,000 people, 90,000 get section 8 vouchers, total people they assist is 625,000, according to Hernandez who joined Bloomberg on the radio show.

The population has remained steady but the amount of federal dollars has dwindled over the past seven years, he said.

He said they expanded section 8 vouchers by 22,000. “We opened up the waiting list for probably the first time in decades. We’ll add probably another 12,000 units and we’ll reach 22,000 units of pubic housing by next year,” he said.

Hernandez is taking a job as president and CEO of Samaritan Village Inc., a substance abuse treatment provider, where he worked before coming to public service 15 years ago. He told Bloomberg last January that he wanted to return to Samaritan Village.

“I said, ‘You can go back but you’ve got to give us some time because there are so many things going on.’ And I wanted to make sure we found somebody to fill in in the meantime,” said Bloomberg.

NYCHA General Counsel Ricardo Morales is going to be the acting chairperson. City Hall will do a national search headed by Nat Leventhal, who put together the administration, the mayor said, adding: “And we’ll find somebody great and hopefully we’ll find somebody better who will take what Tino did and build on it."

This marks the second agency without a permanent head. DEP Emily Lloyd recently stepped down, as DN City Hall Bureau Chief Adam Lisberg noted in his column last weekend, which also highlighted how President-elect Obama is eyeing several Bloomberg commissioners for his administration.

Basically, this is all part of the same story: How Bloomberg will be forced to retool and reshuffle if and when he wins that third term he so desperately desires.

(Thanks to the DN's Kate Lucadamo, who was up early to catch the mayor's show).

Barack Obama is reportedly prepared to announce after Thanksgiving that he is inviting Hillary Clinton into his cabinet.

Clinton, who is still struggling with whether to say yes, could have an enhanced role in the Senate if she stays.

Have Gov. David Paterson and Sen. Chuck Schumer, not always BFFs, cut a deal on who will replace Clinton if she goes?

The jury's still out (at least in some minds) on the whole Obama-as-Lincoln theme.

Even if you land tickets to the Obama inauguration, getting to D.C. for the party will be challenging.

AG Robert Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech and was hospitalized, but seems to be fine.

Obama's cell phone records were breached.

Ed Rollins defends the right of a president to have a political operator on staff.

Mayor Bloomberg is prepared to negotiate on the $400 property tax rebate, saying: "Everybody obeys the law, get serious!"

This was a distinct softening of his previous stance on the issue.

Comptroller Bill Thompson rejected the mayor's argument that the city doesn't have the money to pay the rebates.

Greg David thinks a truce between the Council and the mayor on the rebate checks is in order.

The MTA formally unveiled its 23 percent fare hike. (More details of the authority's budget-cutting plan here).

The DN thinks the four legislative leaders are to blame for the MTA's money crunch.

Rep. Charlie Rangel is keeping his Ways and Means Committee chairmanship; Rep. John Dingell wasn't so lucky.

Barack Obama's face will appear on a special inauguration edition of the DC equivalent of the MetroCard.

Has Councilman Lew Fidler found Mayor Bloomberg's Joe the Plumber?

Pollster wars!

There's an on-line petition seeking bloggers to unite in support of the press pass lawsuit.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn blogs about the future of the LGBT community in a post-Prop. 8 world.

Penny Pritzker will not be Obama's commerce secretary.

Here's one way to cut government costs: Cut government.

David Corn thinks there will be too many leaks if Hillary Clinton is secretary of state.

A Gallup poll found 57 percent of Americans support Clinton for SoS.

Ben Smith recalls Joe Gentili, whose memorial service will be on Dec. 3.

Joe Mercurio floats a novel idea: Merit selection for Clinton's potential replacement.

Fred Thompson showed up in Georgia.

Perhaps Gov. David Paterson should have opted for the three men in a room technique before calling a public leaders meeting.

Michelle Obama picked her chief of staff.

Chris Cuomo did not get to answer the "boxers or briefs" question.

Randy Credico hopes the Senate Democrats step up to the plate on Rockefeller Drug Law reform.

Here's an interesting twist: Republican Sen. George Maziarz just put out a press release calling on Gov. David Paterson to appoint Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, a Democrat and former state senator, to replace Hillary Clinton in the US Senate if she joins the Obama administration.