"The next time a chairman decides to use his committee to advance the interests of his district while ignoring the interests of most of his colleagues, he might think twice," Pershing writes. "Lest anyone doubted who was in charge of House Democrats, today's vote provided a helpful reminder."
Dingell lost his gavel on the same day that Sen. Ted Stevens gave his last Senate speech: "Age and seniority gave way in Congress on Thursday, a transformational shift for an institution where tremendous power has traditionally been built on sheer longevity, accumulated and savored with the passage of years," Carl Hulse writes in The New York Times.
"It was not only Mr. Stevens, an Alaska Republican, and Mr. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, who found themselves treated like old bulls put out to pasture. Senator Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat who turned 91 on Thursday and has amassed 56 years in Congress, had already voluntarily relinquished the chairmanship of his beloved Appropriations Committee before his colleagues could ease him out," Hulse writes. "The abrupt change in status for the three lawmakers sent this fact swirling around Capitol Hill: their combined age of 258 exceeds the age of the United States itself."
"My motto has been here: To hell with politics, just do what is right for Alaska," Stevens said in his final floor speech.
As for policy: "Mr. Waxman's victory ensures that the committee will move in a more liberal direction, especially on energy and climate change," The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid and Stephen Power report. "The California Democrat's ascent caused immediate consternation in the already-reeling automobile and coal industries."
Waxman's win "will put him at the center of efforts to advance President-elect Barack Obama's proposals to curb global warming, develop alternative fuels and expand health insurance coverage," Janet Hook and Richard Simon write for the Los Angeles Times. "Dingell's loss is a blow to the U.S. auto industry at a time when it says it needs additional federal help to avoid collapse. Some business interests worry that Waxman will steer the committee sharply to the left."
"Well, this was clearly a change year," Dingell said after his defeat.
Obama is pushing for a bit more change: "The elections aren't over," Obama says in a radio ad cut for the Georgia Senate run-off. "I want to urge you to turn out one more time and help elect Jim Martin to the United States Senate."
But not so much change: Can anyone explain why Joe Biden is still a United States senator from Delaware? (We're only accepting explanations that are not related to efforts to wire things so that Biden can choose his own long-term successor.)
"The Obama-Biden transition office refuses to explain or elaborate on why Biden feels it is appropriate to continue to serve in the Senate," per ABC News. "The lack of resolution has stoked speculation in Delaware and beyond that the only reason Joe Biden is still in office has everything to do with Beau Biden."
The latest on Attorney General Michael Mukasey: "Attorney General Michael Mukasey is 'conscious, conversant and alert' after collapsing during a speech in Washington Thursday evening, according to a Justice Department spokesman," per ABC's Pierre Thomas, Jan Crawford Greenburg, and Jason Ryan.
"But there is still no word on exactly why Mukasey fell ill," they write. "Mukasey, 67, had been delivering remarks on combating international terrorism to the Federalist Society's annual meeting at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. A lawyer in the room said Mukasey 'started struggling with [his] speech, slurring' just before he collapsed."
ABC's John Hendren: "Just before 7 am, President Bush spoke to Attorney General Mukasey. The AG sounded well and is getting excellent care."
One last trip for the current president: "President Bush departs Friday for his final scheduled foreign trip as commander in chief -- a three-day jaunt to an economic summit in Peru -- where he will continue to defend free-market capitalism and meet with an increasingly antagonistic Russian President Dmitry Medvedev," Jon Ward writes in the Washington Times.
Whither the GOP? National Journal's Ron Brownstein: "As George W. Bush's presidency winds down, the Republican Party's greatest problem is that it doesn't appear to be reaching much of anybody who isn't already watching Fox News. Bush leaves behind a party that looks less like a coalition than a clubhouse."
Must-see video: Sarah Palin and the turkey. (Turkey is pictured at right.)
In Minnesota -- narrowing by the day: "With about 46 percent of the 2.9 million ballots counted by Thursday evening, the gap between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken continued to close. Coleman was leading by only 136 votes, a drop from his unofficial lead of 215 that was confirmed Tuesday by the state Canvassing Board," Kevin Duchschere writes in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
He's popular in many, many places: "Iranians appear to be putting as much stock in President-elect Barack Obama's slogan of 'change' as Americans voters, seeing his victory as an opening for possible renewed relations between the two countries, which have been cut off for nearly thirty years," Farah Stockman writes from Tehran, in The Boston Globe.
And its impact can be felt everywhere: "While Barack Obama transitions from Chicago to Washington, his presence will be felt thousands of miles away, where finalists for the 2016 Olympics will put on their best show Friday for Europe's Olympic voting delegates," Philip Hersh writes in the Chicago Tribune. "That means Chicago's representatives will have their first chance since the election to tout the lakefront, the facilities and Chicago's summer weather, all leavened with the bid's connections to the president elect."
Anyone think early voting hasn't changed everything? "More Floridians voted for John McCain than Barack Obama on Election Day, but the Democrat sealed his victory in the state by winning more early and absentee votes," the AP's Jennifer Kay reports.
Friday night on ABC's "20/20": Ashley Dupre sits down with Diane Sawyer. "If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else," Dupre says. "I was doing my job. I don't feel that I brought him down."
The Kicker:
"I saw Frank Luntz, who is a moron -- I want to make sure this is clearly on the record -- he was talking to Republican governors, making fun of John for not being able to use a BlackBerry. The man can't do it because he is much more disabled than people can imagine. . . . I would like to take a hammer and start breaking bones in Frank's arms." -- McCain pollster Bill McInturff, threatening pollster-on-pollster violence.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
