Accountability time.

The Friday before the election, I got a call from Representative Dennis Kucinich, who was predicting that the Democrats would take back the House. I could hear the excitement in his voice as he talked. "I'm in line to become chairman of one of the most important subcommittees in Congress," he said, referring to the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations. "The Republicans are going absolutely insane that I may get it." Just as they're going insane about the prospect of John Conyers heading the House Judiciary Committee or Henry Waxman over at Government Reform or John Dingell at Energy and Commerce or Charlie Rangel at Ways and Means.

It is accountability time. Not a moment too soon. Start printing the subpoenas.

While Barack Obama is basking in the noonday sun of media attention, John Edwards works by night to pull off an upset in 2008. Obama's announcement that he is considering a Presidential run has galvanized large crowds. And a recent CNN poll that showed him in second place behind putative nominee Hillary Clinton has made him red hot.

But I actually think the boomlet for Obama will help Edwards.

First, it drops Gore down. In a poll done at the end of August, without Obama in the mix, Gore was in second place at 19 percent. Now he is in third, and has lost a chunk of support.

Second, Obama sucks all the oxygen away from the also-rans, who will not be able to move while Obama is in the picture.

Third, Kerry has self-immolated with his gaffe about U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Edwards is holding steady, actually gaining a point, up to 13 percent, since the previous poll.

Fairly soon, Obama will have to decide whether to run in 2008 or whether he'd prefer to bide his time till 2012 or even 2020, when he'd still just be sixty.

My guess is that he won't ultimately run this round, which will leave Edwards as the only candidate within a shot of Clinton.

Even if Obama decides to run, Edwards has quietly done an enormous amount of campaigning around the country and will come out of the gate strong. He is in good shape in Iowa, according to Democratic activists I've spoken with. A June Des Maines Register poll had him leading Clinton 30-26, though that was without Obama in the running.

The conventional wisdom that Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee does not hold up to scrutiny. Obama represents a threat to her, and with a cleared field, so, too, does Edwards.

Every December for the past fifteen years, we've been providing you with our favorite book picks. This year is no different. Except it's better. We have more people reviewing, and they are nominating a greater variety of fascinating books. I hope you share my assessment.

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