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OBAMA BITS: Clinton announcement expected today; ratings for Walters interview; Raul Castro wants Gitmo meeting; chocolate chunk cookies.
*President-elect Barack Obama is scheduled to be joined by Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Chicago news conference today announcing the New York senator as secretary of state, reports the Associated Press. Bill Clinton's business deals and global charitable endeavors had been expected to create problems for the former first lady's nomination. But in negotiations with the Obama transition team, the former president agreed to several measures designed to bring transparency to those activities. Obama also plans to announce today that Defense Secretary Robert Gates would remain in his job for a year or more and that retired Marine General James M. Jones would serve as national security adviser.
*The Barbara Walters' ABC interview featuring Barack and Michelle Obama drew 11.5 million viewers Wednesday night, according to Nielsen. In comparison, Rosie O'Donnell's NBC special "Rosie Live" only pulled about 5 million, which is worse than the network's regular 8-9 p.m. occupant, the struggling "Knight Rider." CBS' CSI: NY (12.2 million) was Wednesday's most watched show.
*During an interview with actor-director Sean Penn for the Dec. 15 edition of The Nation, Cuba's President Raul Castro said he would like to meet President-elect Obama on "neutral ground" — and he suggested the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba's main focus in such a meeting would be on normalizing trade, Castro said. Obama has said he is willing to meet with Castro without preconditions, and that after taking office on Jan. 20 he would "immediately" lift all restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba. Under tough rules imposed under President Bush, Cuban Americans can now visit their relatives on the island only once every three years.
*Sales of chocolate chunk cookies at Baby Boomers Café in Des Moines, Iowa have jumped from 400 in a good week to more than 1,000 per week ever since the Obamas expressed affection for the treat. The family visited the place often during the summer of 2007, when the Illinois senator devoted much of his time to Iowa. Obama's main office was next door to Boomers, and his daughters – Malia and Sasha – would stop by with their mother, Michelle. Word got out about the Obamas' chocolate chunk love during a stop in Iowa last month, when his staff ordered about a dozen cookies for the family. Soon, sales jumped with requests coming from as far away as Mexico.
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