Meanwhile, the civil rights division of the new Justice Department should initiate investigations and prosecutions where appropriate, of the organized, systemized voter suppression efforts that have bedeviled the country to the extent of the statute of limitations. Break this dog of suckin' eggs.

In the summer of 1984 (as I recall) the CBO (or OMB) alerted Congress to the future cost to the Treasury of this strategy. The Chairman of Ways and Means (again as I recall) wrote to Patrick Gray and strongly suggested the FSLIC desist making any more such deals until after that fall's election and rump Congress because he intended to implement a change in law in the next Congress. Gray and the FSLIC complied - until the last week of the year, when they approved 6 more deals. The Chairman and his allies in Congress were furious and in the next Congress not only closed the loop hole, they abolished the FSLIC.

Given the ginormous insured banks already failed or on life support, I think this was one of several measures to protect the FDIC insurance fund, including increased regular assessments on bank deposits, and the 10 bp extra premium for the additional, unlimited insurance on non-interest bearing transaction accounts.

Overall, lots of money is being spent and committed to provide stability and improve prospects for a quicker economic recovery. The overall approach combines Paulson's ruthless deal-making with Bernanke's academic expertise regarding efficacy of governments' efforts to combat deflation and monetary contraction. Bernanke seems like the right person at the right time. Paulson is a shark and is ripping off some huge bites for the Treasury and tax payers.

Allowing Lehman to fail was a huge mistake fomented IMO by the libertarian-leaning, fundamentalist conservative ideologues in the administration - the swarm Paulson swims with. (They didn't adequately consider the adverse impacts in the integrated, world financial system.)

Ultimately I expect the new Congress and Administration will re-consider this stop gap windfall for (mostly) financial giants. Hopefully along with something to roll back the excessive concentrations in finance emerged not only from this crisis but also from decades of careful, committed lobbying and envelope-pushing by the money center banks and their friends.

This was John Doolittle's seat and moderate Democrat Brown came close in this conservative district to unseating him in 2006. Brown is also seeking funding to hire lawyers to monitor counting of absentee and provisional ballots, and for the likely re-count.

Brown was career Air Force before entering education and law enforcement since his discharge. He's a fiscal conservative, social moderate. I've known him since we graduated from high school in Iowa.

At a higher level, federal law should be reconsidered to override and standardize the shambles of state voter ID laws, and to establish minimum standards for extending (early) absentee voting. States that 1) restrict voting to election day and 2) provide fewer voting machines than required for reasonable waiting periods effectively disenfranchise segments of the population who cannot afford to wait on line for hours. No doubt a disparate impact could be documented regarding single mothers, hourly workers, small business proprietors, etc.

During the campaign, Senator Obama said he would appoint and would surround himself with independent-minded people of high integrity with specific expertise. I'm hoping President-elect Obama fulfills this commitment by asking Jim Leach to be his Secretary of State.

The former, 15-term Republican Representative from Iowa, a one-time commissioned State Department officer who resigned his commission in protest and embarrassment over Watergate, has an academic, scholarly approach that would compliment the President Elect. His endorsement of Senator Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver was a highlight of the convention and contributed to the immediate post-convention surge.

Like President-elect Obama, Leach is cerebral, bipartisan, highly principled and tenacious. While with the State Department, he was a delegate to the Geneva disarmament accords and to the UN. He gave up his diplomatic career as a protest against the Watergate "Saturday Night Massacre". Subsequently he returned to his Iowa roots and unseated a 2-term, Democratic incumbent. (Iowa and Oregon are noted for conducting reapportionment by nonpartisan commissions, so Leach never had a "safe" seat.) His Congressional career was distinguished by reason and vision as well as bipartisanship.

In the House Leach was a respected statesman and long-serving member of both the Foreign Relations and Banking and Finance committees. At different times he chaired the Foreign Relations subcommittee on Asian affairs and earlier would have chaired the Banking and Finance committee except for his problems with the hard right leadership of the House. Leach's unique experience and understanding of foreign affairs and finance might be especially valuable at State during this time of international financial crisis.

Leach has said he is happy in his current teaching position at Harvard and is not seeking an appointment in the new administration.