MORNING READ

The recount in Minnesota’s Senate race has devolved into chaos, according to bloggers keeping close tabs of the latest vote count. The argument that President-elect Barack Obama hasn’t chosen a bipartisan Cabinet is dismissed by liberal blogs. And the Treasury department’s latest plan to revive the housing market is received with skepticism from blogging economists on the left.

Both Democrat Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) are claiming that they’re winning the recount, which is so close that it reminds Chris Cillizza of a 1974 Senate recount in New Hampshire that was resolved by a revote. But Franken’s campaign seems to be claiming a lead just to introduce uncertainty and to set the stage for litigation, according to Power Line’s Scott Johnson.

Obama hasn’t lived up to his campaign talk about reaching out to Republicans since he’s done nothing more than making the “token appointment” of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, writes In Transition’s David Nather. But that argument is nonsense, as Obama has chosen both Gates and retired Gen. Jim Jones, another Republican, to fill two of the most high-profile posts in his administration, writes TalkingPointsMemo’s Josh Marshall. Obama may also ask former GOP Rep. Jim Leach (Iowa) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to join his administration, notes Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to revive the housing market by offering more cheap credit to mortgage lenders seems to forget that the housing mess was created by an abundance of cheap credit, writes Mark Kleiman at The Reality Based Community. Providing even more money to lenders won’t address the underlying problem of foreclosures, writes Angry Bear’s Ken Houghton.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Counting Chaos! – Chris Cillizza, The Fix
Recount Update – Scott Johnson, Power Line
Why The Different Numbers? – John McCormack, Weekly Standard
Missing Ballots in Minneapolis? – Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight
Last Call for Bipartisan Cabinet – David Nather, In Transition
No Transition From Nonsense – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
A Bipartisan Cabinet – Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
The Latest Bailout Plan – Doug Mataconis, Below The Beltway
Brilliant! – Mark Kleiman, The Reality Based Community
I’d Like to Refinance – Ken Houghton, Angry Bear

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Treasury Weighs Action on Mortgage Rates – Washington Post
U.A.W. Makes Concessions in Bid to Help Automakers – New York Times
Obama Keeps Distance From Treasury on TARP – Wall Street Journal