Financial services giant Citigroup says it will cut more than 50,000 jobs, slashing staff to 300,000.

It looks like there will be some good sales deals for this holiday season. Are you going to take advantage of them or are you done with shopping? :)

Ahead of the eagerly anticipated new Bond movie comes this list of the best and worst Bond theme songs. More on star Daniel Craig here . Open thread for matters both weighty and trivial...

Some mid-week reading: CNN reminds us how dangerous an actual cult can be; Russia rejects US plan to put "missile shield" in Poland; CT now issuing gay marriage licenses; a movie made entirely of still frames.

Open thread -- what's happening?

Some news items this morning: CNN has the story of a US soldier held in a Nazi slave camp; Obama supports extending bailout aid to auto companies; Citigroup will not initiate foreclosure proceedings against struggling homeowners; the Phoenix Mars lander has gone silent after completing its mission.

Open thread; what's on your mind?

Obama visits the White House today.  He also plans on rolling back some of the executive orders and giving Gitmo detainees US trials .

Long week for everyone, I think. During election season it's easy to slip into a day-to-day reactive mode in which every news story or campaign event or candidate statement provides something fresh to discuss or argue to mock. Now that's all over, and the tenor of the conversations here and elsewhere on the political blogs will probably shift. There's still news items to drive debate, of course, but we can also take a step back and look again at big picture topics: for example, instead of slicing and dicing the fine points of Obama's plan versus Hillary's plan versus McCain's plan for health care reform, we can rethink what health care should look like in American, and how best to bring that about.

This doesn't mean we'll set aside the partisan fencing that lends the site its name, of course. Nor are we entirely finished with the election; there will be analysis about what went right, what went wrong, what was good, bad, and ugly. All it means is that if you felt a little frustrated now and then that the elections were dominating conversation at the expense of other topics -- well, with sincere apologies... this is your time. This is your opportunity to post your issue-oriented diaries, or bring up open-ended questions in the daily threads. Together, we will change this blog, change this internet, and change the world! 

The results for the Senate races in AK, GA, NM, and OR are still not final.  Its still anyone's race.

As Obama makes his staff decisions , there is talk that John Kerry wishes to be Secretary of State.  Kerry's spokesman denied the rumors.

You did well. Use your power wisely. You have it all.

Edit by stinerman:

The Republicans may have dodged a bullet in the Senate races.  Coleman looks like he's going to be in a recount situation with Franken in MN.  Smith is up in OR, and even Ted Stevens might end up winning in AK.

Chat here about the surprises (I'm predicting Florida for McCain), the non-surprises (I'm gonna call Pennsylvania for Obama), the exciting (Missouri could go either way), and the dull (gosh, let's stay up to find out which way Hawaii will go). Gripe about the pundits -- in my best Wolf Blitzer voice: "we're almost prepared to make a call, any minute now, we are looking at the latest returns, and the exit polls, and CNN is ready to project, wait, I'm sorry, not yet ready to project, but almost able to call a winner..." Congratulate or commiserate as you get ready for life under President Obama... or, in a stunner, will it be McCain? Put your comments here, and don't forget Stinerman has set up a channel (#SC in IRC room ) for live chat.

Get out there and vote, and then make sure all your friends vote too!

The line at our place was out the door and they already had 100+ people less than an hour after voting began, but everything was moving quickly (they switched from electronic back to paper ballots, and it's actually faster) and everyone was in a good mood.

What will you be watching for tonight besides the Presidential election? 

The rubber meets the road tomorrow.

Nate Silver has put up a post detailing what a McCain victory looks like according to his simulations.  The most likely McCain victory by his numbers is:

Oddly enough, the most likely Obama scenario is the 311 EVs I predicted.

Ok guys. It's not too early or too late so lets all go on record. Actually you can revise your prediction in this same thread later on, up until the night before the election. Let's do it!

Feel free to include anything you want like the popular vote percentages, electoral votes, state surprises, senate and house results, etc.

Yesterday's OT was very lively, so here's a new one for you.

Nate Silver has McCain winning only 2.8% of the time .  Recent polls show McCain up by as little as 1% in AZ and tied in IN and MO.  His best showing is being down 4 in a Rassmussen poll.  The numbers look grim for the Senator from Arizona, but the election isn't over until Tuesday night.

Four more days.  If McCain is going to have a shot, he's going to have to close the gap considerably by Tuesday.

GDP contracts by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter . Not great but probably not too horrible considering what we just went through. Only 5 days left!

I'm off to yet another interview this week for Nielsen.

What's on tap for today?

Two Appalachian men are being held on Federal charges of plotting to kill black children along with Sen. Barack Obama.  Authorities say that the men planned on robbing a gun store and then visiting a predominantly black school.  There is no evidence that the men had any means to attack Sen. Obama.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was found guilty on corruption charges Monday afternoon.  Stevens maintains his innocence and points at prosecutorial misconduct as an avenue of appeal as well as the reason he was found guilty.  He has refused to drop out of the race.

Editor's note: Don't forget that everyone in America is entitled to a free taco at Taco Bell between 2 and 6pm local time today.  I will be enjoying my taco during various errands during the day.

Eight days left until election day!  I, for one, can't wait.

Two people died and one person was injured by a shooter at the University of Central Arkansas .  The police have someone in custody but have declined to state whether or not the person is the suspected shooter.

A purported US missile strike killed approximately 20 in South Waziristan , near the Afghani-Pakistani border.  Among the dead is an aide to a local Taliban/Al-Qaeda leader.

Banks are using bailout money not to make loans but acquire other banks at firesale prices.  The UK required banks to make loans as part of their strategy, but apparently we do not have similar regulations on the books.

All hell is breaking loose on Wall Street as global markets are down sharply on global recession concerns. We'll see what happens today.

Also Treasury mulls backing mortgages .

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Open Thread

Stories to come...Apparently not!  Mods are busy these days!  I'll try to put up a "skeleton page" every day, but I don't know if I'll have time for any stories.