Today’s Election News Roundup

President-elect Barack Obama has begun creating his White House team, offering Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) the position of chief of staff. Obama’s aides have said he will announce his choices for other Cabinet positions today, including heads of Homeland Security and Treasury.

The senatorial race in Georgia is fast becoming “a full-blown runoff” between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. State law requires that a candidate win by securing the majority, and neither Chambliss nor Martin have achieved 50 percent of the vote. “Georgia is about to become ground zero for national politics over the next 30 days,” said former state GOP leader Rusty Paul.

Democrat Jeff Merkley narrowly defeated Republican Sen. Gordon Smith in Oregon, earning the Democrats their 57th Senate seat. If the remaining undecided contests in Georgia, Alaska and Minnesota go Democratic, the party would reach the 60 representatives needed to have a filibuster-proof majority—political analysts say it is unlikely to occur, however.

In the Minnesota senatorial race, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and his Democratic challenger Al Franken will face a recount, as the results of the election were too close to call. The Kansas City Star profiles each candidate and provides details of their campaigning and the race thus far.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was recently convicted of seven felonies, is hanging onto his seat against Democratic challenger Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage. Thousands of votes have yet to be counted, though if Stevens wins, he will be the first convicted felon to be elected senator.

RealClearPolitics offers a chart with senatorial race results, showing that the Democrats gained 6 senatorial seats, while 2 remain undetermined.

RealClearPolitics offers a chart with the House race results from states across the country.

The findingDulcinea 2008 Election Web Guide highlights the best online resources relating to the candidates and the election.

Project Vote Smart describes the process of nominating a presidential candidate, with concise descriptions of the convention, caucuses, primaries and the process of awarding delegates.

An overview of the role of delegates and superdelegates is presented by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Daily coverage of the 2008 Election is gathered from media sources across the political spectrum and presented by Real Clear Politics to provide up-to-the-minute coverage. The site publishes daily political transcripts, including addresses on the campaign trail and withdrawal speeches. It also constantly updates and compares polling reports from Rasmussen, Gallup, CNN, Pew Research, and other major media sources. Additionally, the site provides a 2008 Primary Delegate Count, which presents the delegate counts of each candidate.

NPR provides an interactive calendar of past primaries. Headline stories that detail the events of the primaries and campaigns accompany the primary map. In addition, NPR hosts a “National Delegates Total,” with an ongoing count of delegates won by each candidate.

Minnesota Public Radio’s online “President Survey” matches the political convictions of respondents with the candidates’ policies in order to help voters make an informed choice come election day.

The New York Times publishes a constant stream of articles from the Associated Press. These concise AP stories cover new developments on the campaign trail.

As election momentum picks up, the Times of London offers British readers a glossary of campaign jargon that will be of use to many Americans as well.

OpenSecrets.org compares the total campaign donations for each candidate and looks into the war chests to see where the money comes from.