Obama arrives in Washington
President-elect Barack Obama rejoined his family in Washington on Sunday evening after bidding a poignant farewell to his Chicago home as he begins final preparations for his Jan. 20 inauguration.
“I’ve got to tell you, I choked up a little bit leaving my house today,” Obama told reporters aboard a government 757 plane typically used by vice presidents and first ladies. It was his first trip on a government aircraft since winning election Nov. 4.
Obama has a busy week ahead of him. Today he has a meeting planned with Democratic and Republican leaders to discuss the stimulus plan. On Wednesday, he’s scheduled to attend lunch at the White House with former presidents.
Minneapolis
Schumer calls Franken winner
New York Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday that Democrat Al Franken is the clear winner in Minnesota’s Senate race and should be seated as soon as possible.
Schumer, who until recently was the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, made his statement a day after Minnesota elections officials completed the re-count. The latest numbers showed Franken with a 225-vote lead over Republican Norm Coleman.
The state Canvassing Board is expected to certify the results of the re-count today, then there will be a seven-day waiting period before an election certificate is completed. If any lawsuits are filed during that waiting period, certification is conditional until the issue is settled in court.
“With the Minnesota recount complete, it is now clear that Al Franken won the election … and while there are still possible legal issues that will run their course, there is no longer any doubt who will be the next Senator from Minnesota,” Schumer said.
Dayton, Ohio
Boy leads police to slain mother
Authorities searched Sunday for a gunman who killed a woman at her home and then abandoned her 4-year-old son at a highway rest stop.
A Maryland couple found the boy on Friday, wandering around a rest area along Interstate 70 in central Ohio.
The travelers, Mike and Judith McConnell, said Sunday on NBC’s “Today” that the boy told them a strange man had entered his home in Dayton without knocking and shot his mother.
Police later found the boy’s mother, Jennifer Nelson, 29, dead in her home.
“I began asking him questions, and he told me that a stranger had come into his house without knocking,” Mike McConnell said via satellite from Baltimore. “And I said ‘Well, where was your mommy?’ And he said ‘He shot my mommy.’ ”