Kirk Late for Work on First Day

ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf reports:

Massachusetts Sen.-designate Paul Kirk was supposed to meet with Sen. Teddy Kennedy's staffers at 11:15 this morning, but is running “at least an hour late.”

This has nothing to do with the Mass. GOP challenge to his appointment, we are told. It has to do with mechanical or weather issues with his plane, according to Kennedy staffers. Its just a coincidence, apparently, that Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Thomas Connelly has promised to rule by noon on a Republican challenge to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's emergency waiver of a 90 day waiting period before the special law allowing him to appoint Kirk took place.

Kirk is still scheduled to be sworn in on the Senate floor at 3:15 pm and will address Kennedy staffers in the old Kennedy office in the Russell office building before he is sworn in.

The sign outside the door there still reads “Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts” as it has since 1987, when Kennedy took control of the suite.

UPDATE: Sen.-designate Kirk finally arrived to Kennedy’s office at 12:40pm – within moments of the Massachusetts judge dismissing the Republican challenge to his appointment.

Politics Live: Late Night Laughs?

President Obama became the first sitting president to hit the late-night comedy circuit on Thursday. While he was hoping to soften the mood during a week plagued by economic turmoil and congressional in-fighting, instead the president made headlines with a joke that went awry.

Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis and Republican strategist Alex Conant debate the impact of the president’s gaffe on Friday’s edition of Politics Live.