Obama: Time's Person of the Year

President-elect Obama was chosen as Time magazine's 2008 Person of the Year.

Time said Obama, who is set to become the 44th U.S. president Jan. 20, earned its award "for having the confidence to sketch an ambitious future in a gloomy hour." He showed "the competence that makes Americans hopeful he might pull it off."

The magazine named four runners-up: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; French and current European Union President Nicholas Sarkozy; former Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; and Zhang Yimou, who organized the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Last year's winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Caroline Kennedy tours upstate N.Y.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Caroline Kennedy finally made public her desire to carry on her family's legacy, reaching out to a handful of mayors and some political leaders Wednesday in an effort to win support for her quest to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

The daughter of President Kennedy was driven across the state along the main east-west road, hitting three of its four biggest cities to talk to elected officials and Democratic Party power brokers. In Rochester, she said, "I just hope everybody understands that it is not a campaign but that I have had a lifelong devotion to public service," she said.

As she left Syracuse City Hall, she spoke briefly to reporters and took no questions. "I just wanted to say, as some of you may have heard, I would be honored to be considered for the position of U.S. senator," Kennedy, 51, said.

Gov. David Paterson has said he won't name a replacement until Clinton is confirmed, which won't happen until at least the end of January.

Also

Appeal rejected: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Wednesday denied without comment an appeal by Philip Berg, a Pennsylvania attorney, that claims President-elect Obama is ineligible to be president because he is not a "natural-born citizen" of the United States. Another appeal from California, based on Berg's claims, also was denied.

Guilty plea: Nathan Johnson, one of three men arrested after allegedly making racist threats against Barack Obama before the Democratic National Convention, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a weapons charge in Denver federal court.

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