Blaine Luetekemeyer will be sworn in Tuesday when Congress convenes. Luetkemeyer defeated Judy Baker to win the 9th District Congressional seat.

COLUMBIA — Tickets to President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20 are few and far between for the general public.

A total of 240,000 free tickets were made available to U.S. senators and representatives to distribute to the public upon request. Generally, a person must call a congressional office and ask to be put on a waiting list for tickets.

Those hoping to get tickets from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill are already too late.

Nixon addresses the impact of the economy as number-one gubernatorial priority.

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri’s members of the Electoral College have cast their 11 presidential votes for Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Missouri’s electors — one from each congressional district, plus two at-large members — voted Monday at the state Capitol.

JEFFERSON CITY — Hundreds of properly registered Missouri voters had their ballots rejected in the November 2008 election. That was only half as bad as the last general election.

Half as bad, however, does not equal good in the eyes of voters' rights advocates.

At issue is a system set up to accommodate people whose voting eligibility cannot be verified by poll workers.

Instead of turning away such people, poll workers can give them provisional ballots, which are sealed in envelopes and counted only if the voters' eligibility later is verified.

The legal battle over the language of an anti-Affirmative Action ballot initiative is flaring up in Jefferson City.

COLUMBIA — Democrats have selected a former Springfield lawmaker as their new state party chairman.

Craig Hosmer is to begin his duties immediately. He was elected Saturday at a meeting of the Democratic State Committee.

Hosmer, 49, is the current Greene County Democratic chairman and was treasurer of Attorney General Jay Nixon's successful gubernatorial campaign. He is an attorney who served for 12 years in the House before narrowly losing a Springfield state Senate race in 2002.

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri has officially lost its status as the prognosticator of presidential winners.

Election returns certified Tuesday by the secretary of state's office show that Republican John McCain won the state Nov. 4 in Missouri's closest presidential election in a century.

Of more than 2.9 million votes cast, McCain edged Democratic President-elect Barack Obama by 3,903 — or 0.13 percentage point. McCain's total was one vote more than local election authorities had reported to the secretary of state two weeks ago.

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama announced Monday that Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President George W. Bush's Pentagon chief his own as he seeks to wind down the U.S. role in Iraq. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

At a news conference, Obama also introduced retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a pillar of the U.S. Senate and Alaska icon who apparently could not survive his conviction on federal corruption charges.

His defeat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats closer to the 60-vote majority needed to end a delaying tactic known as a filibuster used to obstruct passage of legislation.

JEFFERSON CITY — His slim lead has shrunk further, but John McCain remains ahead of President-elect Barack Obama as Missouri's local election jurisdictions turn in their official results.

Tuesday was the deadline for local election officials to mail their official results to the Missouri secretary of state.

At the close of business, McCain led Obama by 4,355 votes out of more than 2.9 million cast in the Nov. 4 election.

COLUMBIA — Blaine Luetkemeyer, the 9th District U.S. Representative-elect, is in Washington, D.C., this week for Congressional orientation, where newly elected members learn the ropes about the rules and regulations of the office.

Before he left for Capitol Hill, Luetkemeyer, a Republican from St. Elizabeth, shed light on some of his legislative priorities.

"Well, I think the priorities are to represent the people of this district," Luetkemeyer said.  "They've sent us to D.C."

COLUMBIA - The Columbia Police Officers Association hosted a casino night to raise money for the Rainbow House at Stoney Creek Inn Friday night.

JEFFERSON CITY — None of its candidates won, but the Constitution Party is celebrating success in Missouri.

Constitution Party treasurer candidate Rodney Farthing got 2.4 percent of the vote in last week's election. That's a large enough proportion to ensure the party a spot on Missouri's 2010 and 2012 ballots.

Under Missouri law, a new political party must receive at least 2 percent of the vote in at least one statewide race to become "an established political party" and guarantee a statewide ballot slot in the next two general elections.

JEFFERSON CITY - Jay Nixon and leaders held a special meeting to discuss legislative priorities before the upcoming session.