• Change.gov First Looks: After taking a quick initial look at Change.gov, the Obama transition team's new site, we concluded that while it echoes the campaign's talk of open government, the site doesn't have much meat on its bones yet. The Next Right's Jonathan Klingler suggests that the fact that the site has "plenty of feedback forms but not much more" points to the "contradiction of the postmodern left netroots." Let's take a deep breath here. As the first concrete product to come out of the Obama presidency, Change.gov is exciting. But Obama won Tuesday night. It's now Friday. Yes, yes, there's a new world order. But yeesh, websites still take time to build.

• Modernizing the GOP: But members of Team Obama aren't the only ones who have been busy. Familiar online conservatives Patrick Ruffini, Erick Erickson, Mindy Finn, Michael Turk; Justin Sayfie, former spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush; and others have launched RebuildTheParty.com. Their dream GOP: a bottom-up, Internet-driven party, and they're pushing for the next RNC chairperson to embrace their principles. This cadre of young(ish) Republicans isn't the first group of conservatives to attempt to reinvent the GOP -- but they are the first to have tools like this Digg-ish ideas forum at their disposal.

• Pushback Begins Against President-Elect's Picks: Some in the online left aren't pleased with the decisions President-elect Obama has made or is rumored to possibly be making. At the news that Obama might ask former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to take another turn at the job, Open Left's Matt Stoller launched an anti-Summers petition under the banner of "No Foxes in the Henhouse!" And Ivan Boothe, formerly with the Genocide Intervention Network, has started a Facebook group called "Obama Supporters AGAINST Larry Summers, Architect of the Financial Crisis!"

• Signs of Tech's Influence in the Next White House: The Washington Post's Cecelia Kang has a mini profile of Julius Genachowski, the former chief counsel to former Democratic Chairman Reed Hundt who has been named to the advisory board overseeing the presidential transition. Julius' relationship with the president-elect goes back to law school, and his role is raising hopes that high-tech -- and a Chief Technology Officer -- will indeed have high status in the Obama Administration.

• Off the Bus Wraps Up: The Huffington Post's Amanda Michel says thanks to the scores of citizen correspondents who participated in their innovative Off the Bus campaign project. OTBers broke news, most notably Mayhill Fowler's reporting of Obama's "bitter" remarks at a California event. Amanda puts the project in context: "Journalism isn't and never has been a monolithic craft." What's next, a citizens' White House press corps, maybe called "Outside the Gates"? Stay tuned.

• An Open Letter on Open Government: The Sunlight Foundation's Gabriela Schneider has put together an open letter to Obama co-authored by its stable of experts -- including Bill Allison, Paul Blumenthal, Nancy Watzman, and Clay Johnson. The subject? Detailed advice on how, exactly, to conduct an open and Washington. Looks like the guidance is much needed. Congressional Quarterly's Shawn Zeller reports on one DC expert who suggests that Obama's promised lobbyist disclosure standards are, in practice, difficult to achieve: "We're talking about a ton of paper." (Note: our Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry are senior technology advisors to Sunlight.)

• How Political Sites Stay Busy in the Off Season: So, the campaign's over. Where do political websites go from here? The Wall Street Journal's Russell Adams and Shira Ovide have a good look at the fate of some high-profile sites. Election prediction site FiveThirtyEight.com is reportedly turning to forecasting congressional votes, movie box offices results, and more. Politico is planning to syndicate content to fill the gaps left by cuts to other news outlets' political staffs. In the meantime, though, Politico has launched Politico44, its minute-by-minute accounting of Obama's transition to the presidency -- not be confused with 44, the Washington Post's minute-by-minute accounting of Obama's transition to the presidency. #

• In Pictures: Just for fun, have a look at this pictorial of powerful newspaper covers on this historic week from around the world. Also good viewing: Washington Post's Garance Franke-Ruta points us to the Obama campaign's Flickr album for a behind the scenes look at the first family's preparation and celebrations Tuesday night.

In Case You Missed It...

Nancy Scola says that when it comes to turning out voters, shame may work but funny gets forwarded. MoveOn's "Non-Voter" ad, produced by a former Onion writer now working with the liberal organization, may well be the most viral political video of all time.

And Mike Turk has a compelling suggestion for the president-elect: forget the fancy and exclusive inaugural celebrations. Reaffirm your commitment to a government of the people by holding a ball on the National Mall.

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