Minority Leader McConnell is getting set to fight Majority Leader Reid, Hillary apparently gets the nod for Secretary of State, House Republicans vow to fight “Card Check” but they still like their pork, Senator DeMint’s trying to stand for something, owning a gun is a disqualification for Obama’s administration, and a listing of Georgia links…

Redstate.com reported that Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may now become a serious thorn in Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) side (rollcall.com):

In the hours and days following his re-election win, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fielded dozens of congratulatory calls and reached out to Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as President-elect Barack Obama.

But despite a previously solid working and personal relationship with his Democratic counterpart, McConnell chose to ignore both the election night call and a subsequent follow-up call from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), whose party had dumped more than $6 million into Kentucky in an ultimately futile push to knock off the Republican leader.

In fact, according to Democrats and Republicans familiar with the situation, while McConnell and Obama spoke on the Thursday following the election, it took McConnell some nine days to ultimately respond to Reid’s overtures.

As redstate goes on to opine:

So, let me translate this next bit from the article for you:

“The Majority Leader made a tactical error that could potentially cost him his job when he signed off on $6 million of attack ads the last few weeks in Kentucky. McConnell never takes political attacks personally, but he is someone who has never hesitated to repay his opposition for their courtesy,” a senior Republican official said, adding that identifying a high-quality opponent to challenge Reid will be a priority for the party in the coming months.

McConnell is going to first break Harry Reid like a rotten stick, then make sure that he loses in 2010. And he has precisely the right tool to hand: he will probably end up with at least 41 votes in the caucus – 42 if you count Lieberman, and you should, for reasons that will become obvious – and he will be more than happy to sit down with the new President and say the magic words “bipartisan initiatives.” And the new President – who will be absolutely desperate for wins, especially when the economy collapses in, oh, say, March or so – will be more than happy to come up with some nice “moving to the Center”-type stuff, and never mind the Democrats in Congress.

Oh, right, the Democrats haven’t really had any experience in this lately. You seem there are two Democratic Parties: the executive branch one, and the legislative branch one. The two don’t actually have quite the same goals, and they certainly have their own priorities – and they have completely different sets of voters who they have to assuage. This is true of the GOP as well, by the way – and we had our fun little fights from 2002-2006, didn’t we just? Well, now it’s the Democrats’ turn… and if Obama hasn’t figured out yet that he can get legislation passed by getting the GOP caucus on board, then breaking the Democratic one in half, then Mitch McConnell will be happy to break out the PowerPoint slides.

Hearing this will probably annoy the partisans on both sides: to those on mine, consider this: it beats having them pass hardcore progressive legislation, and it won’t actually hurt us in 2010. To those on the other side… um, well, I don’t particularly care if you’re upset about this. I can only note that this is probably not going to get any better for you folks, from here on out…

It looks like Hillary’s going to be Secretary of State. Per hotair.com (via nytimes blog):

“She’s ready,” said the confidant. Mrs. Clinton was reassured after talking again with Mr. Obama because their first meeting in Chicago last week “was so general,” the confidant said. The purpose of the follow-up talk, he added, was not to extract particular concessions but “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together.

A second Clinton associate confirmed that her camp believes they have a done deal. Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement will be made until after Thanksgiving. But they said they were convinced that the nascent alliance was now ready to be sealed.

As hotair notes, don’tcha just love the “just getting comfortable” line?

From hotair.com and washingtontimes.com, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is vowing to fight “Card Check:”

House Republican Leader John A. Boehner said Democrats’ use of secret ballots to chose its leadership was ironic because the party wants to nix workers’ rights to a secret voting in deciding whether to unionize.

“The secret ballot election is a cornerstone of our American democracy,” Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Thursday. “If it is good enough for House Democrats to rely on during today’s high-stakes vote, shouldn’t it be good enough for millions of American workers across America who value their workplace privacy?”

He vowed Republicans would stand firmly against the Democrat’s “card-check” legislation – dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act or EFCA. It would allow organizers to unionize a workplace by gathering enough singed cards rather than the current process of employees deciding by secret ballots.

Yet, cqpolitics.com reports that Republicans haven’t lost their appetite for pork:

Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and Eric Cantor of Virginia had unveiled late Wednesday a moratorium on GOP earmark requests through Feb. 16 while a new panel of Republicans comes up with proposals for permanent restrictions and disclosure requirements for earmarks

But Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, an appropriator, offered an amendment to strip the requirement for an earmark moratorium. And Tiahrt’s moratorium-killing proposal was approved by the full caucus, said several GOP aides. The amended rules package was then adopted.

Tiahrt has been a staunch defender of earmarks, and has been a rival of outgoing Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, one of the strongest proponents of a permanent earmark moratorium for all Republicans. Tiahrt lost a bitter head-to-head race against Hensarling for the chairmanship of the RSC at the start of the 110th Congress, and later opted to leave the conservative faction.

And, as redstate via rollcall reports, the good ol’ boy GOP Senate network doesn’t like Senator Jim DeMint’s reformation tactics:

Since taking over the RSC in the 110th Congress, DeMint has used the committee as a base for launching a series of conservative crusades, to varying degrees of success. DeMint’s first major feat came during the 2007 immigration battle when he, along with a handful of vocal conservative Senators, such as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), successfully rallied the party’s base to defeat a massive immigration reform proposal backed by the White House and eventual presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

But DeMint also increasingly has used his position as the RSC chairman to take his conservative fight to other Republicans — most recently, his effort to expel Stevens for his seven-count federal felony conviction in October. Stevens has long been a target of DeMint’s efforts to reform the party, given Stevens’ extensive use of the earmarking system to pump billions of federal dollars into his home state. …

DeMint has suddenly found himself on the outside looking in — following what GOP sources said was an angry rebuke of his reform demands from party elders during Tuesday’s closed-door Conference meeting.

Publicly, Senate Republicans sought to downplay the tensions between DeMint and much of his Conference.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) — one of several Members who spoke out against DeMint’s proposed changes to the Conference’s leadership rules — said Thursday that while “there’s no feud here,” Republicans in the Senate feel that now is a time for unity, not for taking steps that could undermine leadership.

“I think there’s a realization within the ranks of the Republican Party that now Republicans are an endangered species, and that we should speak with one voice,” Roberts said. “To call for wholesale changes at a time like this that would limit the ability of the leaders to lead was really ill-timed.”

Also, are gun owners being discriminated against if they apply for a position in the President-elect’s administration? From politico.com:

But even some Democrats and transition experts are baffled by the inclusion of the question.

Tucked in at the end of the questionnaire and listed under “Miscellaneous,” it reads: “Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.” …

It’s just one question on a lengthy personnel form — No. 59 on a 63-question list — but the furor over the query is a vivid reminder of the intensity of support for Second Amendment rights and signals the scrutiny Obama is likely to receive from the ever-vigilant gun lobby.

Obama’s transition team declined to go into detail on why they included the question, suggesting only that it was done to ensure potential appointees were in line with gun laws.

Local to Georgia, here is a listing of pertinent stories via peachpundit.com:

• Leadership Changes in the State Senate
• Lithonia, Georgia’s 2008 City of Incompetence, finally has a new Mayor (via AJC)
• State Economics: Athens (onlineathens.com), Savannah (savannahnow.com) Reports
• State Unemployment at 7% (via AJC)
• Senate Run-off Ballots Online for Georgia’s Deployed Military Voters (via navytimes.com)
• Georgia Having Problems Getting SCOTUS Ruling on Water Issues (via AJC)