President Elect

Yesterday's visit to Baltimore by President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden was the first time in 56 years that an about-to-be-inaugurated president rode a train to his swearing-in. On a mild Jan. 18, 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower, accompanied by his wife, son and staffers, boarded Pennsylvania Railroad business car 90 that was coupled to a five-car special train for the journey from New York's Pennsylvania Station to Washington. The special, which did not stop in Baltimore, arrived at Union Station at 9:05 p.m., whereupon the president and his official party, set out for the Statler Hilton Hotel, where he resided until being sworn in two days later.

Bob Wade, the athletic director for Baltimore public schools, has been nominated as president-elect of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association.Wade's nomination must be approved by the Board of Control next month, but if he is selected, Wade will begin a two-year term in June 2002.Cecil County's Mary Etta Reedy, the current president, completes her two-year term next June and will be succeeded by president-elect Marlene Kelly, of Anne Arundel County. Wade would then become president-elect, with duties including service on the Board of Control and the executive council.

County Council member C. Vernon Gray became president-elect of the National Association of Counties at a conference in Portland, Ore., yesterday, continuing his expected rise through the organization's top ranks.Gray was assured of the job a year ago, when he won a bid to become vice president of the lobbying group. He is expected to testify on Capitol Hill and help lobby Congress and the Clinton administration on issues for the association, which represents county officials from across the nation.

Los Angeles. -- Did President Clinton's unpopularity bring down the Democratic Congress? Or was it the other way around?Among those who believe the latter, that Bill Clinton crippled his own presidency by getting too close to Congress, is the feisty (or downright nasty) Republican who will become speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich of Georgia. But he is not the only one. Some of the president's closest advisers believe that the biggest political mistake their man made came even before he took the oath of office.

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Bill Clinton hugged every governor and ex-governor in sight yesterday with one predictable exception: William Donald Schaefer of Maryland.As soon as Mr. Clinton arrived at an inaugural luncheon honoring the nation's governors, he started working the tables that were arranged in the grand rotunda of the Library of Congress.Everyone got a big Arkansas embrace or a kiss or an energetic shake of the hand.Not Mr. Schaefer, though, not the turncoat, not the Democrat who took a ride halfway across the country on Air Force One about 10 days before the Nov. 3 election to endorse the Republican incumbent, George Bush.

WASHINGTON -- Although President-elect Bill Clinton pledged in his campaign to spend as much as $80 billion in his first term to rebuild and improve the nation's public works, key advisers say that they now think he is likely to present a substantially scaled-down plan to Congress this month.In recent weeks, Clinton staff members, advisers and technical experts have sorted through an array of possible capital investments in roads, bridges, transit lines, aviation, water treatment and communications systems to bolster long-term U.S. competitiveness and stimulate future economic development.

Message to a former City College quarterback: Play hard before the game is over.We're hard-pressed to understand Mayor Kurt Schmoke's request last week to the president-elect. He asked Bill Clinton to re-examine the federal government's verdict to build the Health Care Financing Administration headquarters in Baltimore County rather than Baltimore City.To be sure, like the mayor, we thought the decision by the Bush administration was short-sighted and politically driven; such a major job center would do this region far greater good downtown than on a suburban campus.

WASHINGTON -- Just before Bill Clinton was about to wad into a crowd of several thousand neighborhood folk in Washington last week, a Clinton adviser tried to squeeze in a quick policy briefing for the president-elect.It was like trying to give an algebra problem to a kid with his nose pressed against a candy store window.Mr. Clinton wasn't interested. Having been away from the roar of the crowd for two weeks, the perennial campaigner couldn't wait to splash back in, slap some high-fives, hug some toddlers, sign some autographs and breathe that adulation deep into his lungs.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- President-elect Bill Clinton travels to Washington today for a visit intended to enhance his blossoming relationship with the capital's elected and unelected power brokers.Unlike his first post-election visit to Washington last month, Mr. Clinton's schedule includes no neighborhood tours or other events with everyday people -- although if past practice is an indication, he'll find time to shake some hands and perhaps jog to a McDonald's.Mr. Clinton's second trip is marked by insider symbolism, such as the dinner tonight arranged by Washington Post Co. Chairwoman Katherine Graham.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Laying the groundwork for his administration while trying to keep expectations in check, President-elect Bill Clinton said yesterday that fueling the economy was his first order of business but warned that there would be no "overnight miracles."In his first news conference since his Election Day victory, Mr. Clinton strayed little from the themes and pledges of his campaign, honing his message of job creation and priming the economic pump."We cannot balance this budget -- ever -- unless we can get more economic growth than we've got," he told a large roomful of reporters at the Old Statehouse here.

Yesterday's visit to Baltimore by President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden was the first time in 56 years that an about-to-be-inaugurated president rode a train to his swearing-in. On a mild Jan. 18, 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower, accompanied by his wife, son and staffers, boarded Pennsylvania Railroad business car 90 that was coupled to a five-car special train for the journey from New York's Pennsylvania Station to Washington. The special, which did not stop in Baltimore, arrived at Union Station at 9:05 p.m., whereupon the president and his official party, set out for the Statler Hilton Hotel, where he resided until being sworn in two days later.

At the start of Barack Obama's whistle-stop tour to Washington yesterday, the president-elect hailed the "outstanding" mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter. In Wilmington, he acknowledged Mayor James M. Baker by name. Not so in Baltimore. Mayor Sheila Dixon was one of thousands of Obama supporters braving hours of sub-freezing temperatures to greet him at War Memorial Plaza. "It's an extremely huge deal for me," she said in an interview before Obama's address. "Words can't describe how ecstatic we are."

Even now, President-elect Barack Obama is struggling to keep his beloved BlackBerry. For reasons of security and privacy, Mr. Obama has been pressed to give it up. For a number of other reasons, that would be a shame. Through a long, grueling election year, Mr. Obama used his BlackBerry to stay in touch with a wide assortment of acquaintances beyond his inner circle of political operatives. They should stay within easy reach. Isolation should not be a cost of the 21st-century presidency.

As President-elect Barack Obama's train rolled slowly through Maryland yesterday afternoon on his way to the nation's capital, people eager for even a glimpse of him pulled on their warmest hats and snuggest gloves. They lined the railway paths and packed a downtown plaza, prepared to wait as long as it took. And what it took was hours - hours in the frigid cold, to spot the historic train car or, better yet, catch a wave from the man who, in a few days, will be president. 'I had to be here' A diverse crowd of about 60 began to gather at 1:30 p.m. in Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood, huddling together in the frosty air in the median of North Broadway.

President-elect Barack Obama is retracing the inaugural train route taken by fellow Illinoisan Abraham Lincoln and is scheduled to appear with Vice President-elect Joe Biden in War Memorial Plaza across from City Hall. The Baltimore appearance, scheduled to begin at 4:15, is expected to be the largest event of a whistlestop tour carrying the president-elect to his inauguration Tuesday in Washington. The Presidential Inauguration Committee chose Baltimore because of the War of 1812 bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key to write 'The Star-Spangled Banner.

With temperatures expected to remain well below freezing for today's visit by President-elect Barack Obama, Baltimore officials are urging parents to keep children younger than 6 away from the outdoor event at War Memorial Plaza, and are recommending that adults 60 and older consider watching from the safety of indoors. "We are very concerned that people who come out and wind up waiting for hours are at high risk of developing hypothermia," Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua M. Sharfstein said at a news conference that was held outdoors yesterday to stress the cold.

When President-elect Barack Obama arrives in Baltimore by train next month, he is expected to be greeted by an enthusiastic throng, thrilled to see and hear a man on his way to be sworn in as America's first African-American president. A Bible first used to swear in President Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed the slaves and saved the union, is expected to be used by Mr. Obama, who greatly admires the Civil War president. For Baltimore and America, it has been a remarkable political and social journey from the day Lincoln passed through this city on the way to his first inauguration and the anticipated triumphant visit of Mr. Obama.

Philadelphia - The nation's governors met with President-elect Barack Obama yesterday to help craft an economic stimulus plan that would include money for ready-to-go transportation projects and programs for the poor stretched thin by increased demand. Several dozen governors gathered here for the pre-inaugural summit as the country has officially fallen into recession, and as many state budgets have seen widening deficits brought on by sluggish tax receipts. The conversation also veered from funding for alternative energy and updating the country's power infrastructure to investing in a high-speed rail system and health care technology, participants said.

Washington - Think of Barack Obama's political organization as a Maserati, a luxury, high-performance vehicle that lapped the competition this year. The president-elect hasn't indicated precisely what he'll do with his baby, which he's called, perhaps accurately, the best ever built. One thing he's unlikely to do is put it away in the garage for the next four years. Modern presidents typically shut their campaigns down, bring their political advisers into the government and run their political operations out of the White House and national party headquarters in Washington.

Barack Obama's election as the next president of the United States has obviously generated a lot of excitement and optimism in a country desperate for solutions and, yes, change. But among the topics that the president-elect and Republican John McCain wrestled over in their campaign debates, I don't recall a college football playoff being mentioned. And on all those whistle-stops where Obama talked eloquently and convincingly about the top issues in Americans' minds - the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, education - again, I don't remember any discussion of BCS rankings.