The Minnesota State Canvassing Board rejected today the Al Franken campaign's request that rejected absentee ballots be included in the recount, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The board voted unanimously.

During the discussion, the board members stressed that they weren't rejecting the merits of the arguments made by Franken's attorneys. They also made it clear they expect the issue to be litigated separately from the recount procedure.

Also this morning, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who chairs the Canvassing Board, said that attorneys from each campaign have said they can find a way to trim the pile of ballots being challenged in counties across the state. Combined, the two sides are so far contesting more than 3,600 ballots.

President-elect Barack Obama announced today the formation of an Economic Recovery Advisory Board that will provide regular briefings to the president. The newly-formed board, modeled after the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is designed to give Obama independent, nonpartisan views on the administration's economic plans.

Leading the board will be former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who will serve as chairman, as well as Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist who Obama said has helped shape his economic views over the last four years.

"The Board will be composed of distinguished individuals from diverse backgrounds outside of government -- from business, labor, academia and other areas -- who will bring to bear their wisdom and expertise on the formulation, implementation and evaluation of my Administration's economic recovery plan," Obama said at a morning press conference in Chicago. "The reality is that sometimes policymaking in Washington can become too insular. The walls of the echo chamber can sometimes keep out fresh voices and new ways of thinking -- and those who serve in Washington don't always have a ground-level sense of which programs and policies are working for people, and which aren't."

This was Obama's third press conference on the economy and his economic team in the last three days.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin both continued yesterday the run of big names who've come to Georgia to campaign for them. Rudy Giuliani and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile were both in metro Atlanta yesterday, one week before the Senate runoff takes place. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The resulting showdown has brought an ongoing parade of political bigshots to Georgia, along with hundreds of volunteers and millions of dollars, much of it burned up on televised attack ads from both campaigns.

“We've got to make sure we don't give (U.S. Sen.) Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and (U.S. Rep.) Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats in Washington D.C. a blank check,” Giuliani said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference at Chambliss's Cobb County headquarters. “If we give them a blank check, they will sign that check and be taking money out of our pockets.”

As Giuliani spoke, Brazile addressed about 75 students and teachers at a get-out-the-vote rally at Spelman College sponsored by that institution's Young Democrats club.

“You have a great responsibility to make history next week,” Brazile said. “To send someone (to the Senate) who will be your voice, your champion, who will carry your water.”

In the Minnesota recount, problems continued yesterday with lost ballots and rejected absentee ballots. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Minnesota's U.S. Senate race took a dramatic turn Tuesday with a pair of developments involving absentee ballots: One county acted on its own initiative to count several ballots that it said were wrongly excluded, and two prominent county attorneys proposed a statewide process to reexamine rejected ballots.

The moves came on the eve of a state Canvassing Board meeting today at which the fate of such possibly decisive ballots may be determined.

Meanwhile, controversies involving dozens of lost-and-found ballots continued to pop up at recount centers around the state.

Granted, it's a bit silly to be talking about polling on Senate match ups that are two years away.  Nevertheless, this new survey from Quinnipiac University on the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate race won't send much of a thrill up Chris Matthews' leg. In a hypothetical general election match up, the Hardball host loses to incumbent Republican Arlen Specter by 12 points, 45-33, with 19% undecided.  Specter wins Republicans 72-9 and Indpendents 45-27. Matthews wins Democrats 55-25.

Sixty percent of those surveyed did not know enough about Matthews to form an opinion of him, while 21% said they view him favorably and 17% view him unfavorably. 56% have a favorable view of Senator Specter, while 23% view him unfavorably and 19% have no opinion.

More importantly for Specter, 62% approve of the way he is handling his job as United States Senator, the highest rating ever recorded for him by Quinnipiac.

In the ongoing saga that is the Minnesota Senate recount, the Franken campaign told reporters today that there appears to be several hundred missing ballots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Franken recount attorney Marc Elias said he's also bothered that counties that know they have missing ballots aren't bothering to look for them.

Elias declined to identify those counties but acknowledged that the Franken campaign is monitoring reports of several dozen missing ballots in Becker County.

Officials can determine they have missing ballots whenever they come up with fewer paper ballots than what the electronic Election Night vote total was for the U.S. Senate race.

It was reported recently that country music singer Hank Williams Jr. plans to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee in 2012 -- the next time a Senate seat is up in the state. An intriguing notion to say the least, but no announcement has been made yet, according to Williams's publicist.

When reached for comment by RealClearPolitics, a spokesman for Williams's publicist, Kirt Webster, said Williams "has talked about it, but no announcement has been made."

Should he run, Williams would likely need to mount a primary challenge to Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who defeated Democrat Harold Ford Jr. for the open seat in 2006. Williams was an active campaigner for the Republican ticket this year, appearing with both John McCain and Sarah Palin in the months leading up to the presidential election. He even wrote a reworked version of his hit tune, "Family Tradition," that he performed at campaign events.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, fresh off a losing presidential bid, announced today that he's planning to run for re-election to the Senate in 2010. From the Boston Globe's write-up of McCain's Phoenix press conference:

Asked about getting over a crushing loss, he said "you really have to take an attitude" that it was an honor to run as the GOP nominee and that the American people rendered their verdict.

"We worked hard and inspired a lot of people," he said. "We look back with pride on the campaign we ran."

Politico's Josh Kraushaar notes that the person seen as McCain's greatest competition for re-election has been tapped to serve in the new administration -- Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who will lead the Department of Homeland Security. Others, Kraushaar writes, who could take on McCain include: Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Attorney General Terry Goddard.

President-elect Obama will make an economic announcement tomorrow at a morning press conference, his transition office announced today. It will mark the third straight day Obama has held a press conference on economic issues. The past two days he has introduced key members of his economic team, including Treasury Secretary and OMB Director.

President-elect Obama makes it official today, announcing that Peter Orszag has been tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Orszag currently serves as the Congressional Budget Office director. National Journal first reported last week that Obama had chosen Orszag.

Obama has also chosen Rob Nabors to serve as deputy director at OMB. Nabors currently serves as the 13th Clerk and staff director of the House Appropriations Committee.

At a noon ET press conference in Chicago, Obama explained what role the OMB will have in his administration in addition to its usual duties of designing and implementing a budget. "It's also going to make sure that our government -- your government -- is more efficient and more effective at serving the American people," Obama said. "And there's no better person to help lead this effort as director of the OMB as my friend Peter Orszag."

ABC News's Jake Tapper noted last week that Orszag -- who keeps a blog at CBO -- would become the first blogger to ever join the Cabinet.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will appear with Sen. Saxby Chambliss at four rallies across Georgia next week, the Chambliss campaign announced today. Palin and Chambliss will stump together on Dec. 1 in Augusta, Savannah, Perry and north metro Atlanta.

Palin's visit comes after other prominent Republicans who have also swung through the state, including John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to appear with Chambliss today.