Former President Bill Clinton, who was blasted by Black leaders for his campaign tactics during his wife’s run against Barack Obama, is back to the kind of talk that made him a star in the Black community. On Saturday, during Major League Baseball’s Beacon Awards Luncheon in Cincinnati, Clinton said that racial equality in America is still a long way off – despite the election of Obama as president. Read more.

Ready on Day One
Day No. 1 has arrived for President Barack Obama, and he’s not waiting around to get started.  On Tuesday night as Americans watched the first couple navigate 10 Inaugural Balls, a dozen or more members of Obama’s White House staff filed into Pennsylvania Avenue to get ready for what’s in store. Read more at Pamela on Politics.

Cuomo in the Running for Hillary’s Senate Seat
New York Gov. David Paterson acknowledged Tuesday that he is considering appointing Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to Hillary Clinton’s vacated U.S. Senate seat. At first, neither Paterson nor Cuomo would acknowledge that the son of former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo was in the running for the post. Suddenly, the notion that Caroline Kennedy is a shoe-in to fill the void is no longer a given. “He has outstanding qualities and is someone I am considering,” Paterson told CBS News at an interview during the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Paterson also reiterated his contention that there are still several other candidates in the mix. Still, Kennedy, whose uncle, longtime Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy collapsed during an inauguration lunch Tuesday, is considered by many to be a favorite possibility. “I was very impressed by her in our conversation. I found her to be very hardworking, very forthright. And she had some faux pas with the media when she first started, as have a number of people who have gone on to be outstanding in their service,” Paterson said. “So I am weighing her ability and her acumen and what she might be able to do in New York, more than that, and also, in comparison with some rather stiff competition in New York.”

It appears that there will be a political union between two once bitter rivals.  CBS News confirmed that Hillary Clinton decided earlier in the week to accept a job on President-elect Barack Obama’s team as secretary of state.  “She’s ready,” the New York Times quoted an unnamed Clinton confidant as saying, adding that the former first lady had made her decision after follow-up consultations with Obama on his vision for foreign policy.  Obama aides said that there were no plans for a formal announcement on Clinton’s appointment until after the Thanksgiving holiday late next week. A spokesman for Clinton would not confirm the deal, but wouldn’t deny it.  Meanwhile, there are several other posts Obama will be announcing, CBS News reports. New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner will be nominated treasury secretary and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will be nominated commerce secretary.

Will Hillary Clinton be the next Secretary of State? Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the candidates that President-elect Barack Obama is considering for secretary of State, reports The Associated Press. The news comes from two Democratic officials close to the Obama transition team, AP says. Read the rest here.

No records set on Election Day. Turnout in last week’s election increased from four years ago but fell far short of some forecasts, largely because many Republican voters either stayed home or left blank the presidential section of their ballots. In states won by President-elect Barack Obama, turnout was more than 5 percentage points higher than in states won by Republican John McCain, according to a Globe analysis of data compiled by a pair of researchers who study voting patterns in U.S. elections, reports The Boston Globe. 

A foundation funds Black archives. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has awarded a $1 million grant to the Kansas City Public Library to help finish the expansion and renovation of space for the Black Archives of Mid-America, reports the Kansas City Business Journal. The archives will be housed in a former administration building for the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. To recognize the grant, the archives will designate a public space named after Ewing Kauffman to be used for research, exhibits, training and presentations. The building’s renovation is expected to be completed by the fall of 2009.