Toluu : Talking Points Memo

Talking Points Memo

Citigroup Inc faced a crisis of confidence on Wednesday as investors questioned the survival prospects of the U.S. banking giant, and its shares tumbled 23 percent to a 13-year low.
The second-largest U.S. bank by assets has been reeling on concerns that mounting losses from credit cards, mortgages and toxic debt could overwhelm its efforts to slash costs and add deposits. Last month, Wells Fargo & Co dealt a blow by derailing Citigroup's bid to buy Wachovia Corp.

Citigroup shares closed down $1.96 at $6.40 on the New York Stock Exchange and have fallen 33 percent this week as some investors concluded that Chief Executive Vikram Pandit's plan to shed 52,000 jobs and cut expenses by one-fifth won't restore the bank to health.

"People are looking at their business model and wondering how on earth they're going to be able to survive," said William Larkin, a fixed-income manager at Cabot Money management in Salem, Massachusetts.

Latest out of MinnesotaYesterday

Today was the first day recounting in Minnesota. And Al Franken made up some decent ground against Norm Coleman. The day started with Coleman ahead by 215 votes. And after recounting 18% of the precincts, Franken had picked up 41 votes, bringing the deficit to 174. As you can see, that's about the pace Franken has to keep up if he's going to catch up with Coleman. But of course there's no reason to think that the 'pace' tomorrow will be better or worse than today. So there's still really no telling what's happening.

Another point to keep in mind is that these shifts are in ballots that neither side disputed. In other words, these were changes based on based on ballots where the voter intent was clear enough that neither campaign questioned it. There's a whole other pile of ballots that one or the other campaign challenged. And those won't get looked at until mid-December.

According to the Star-Tribune, Coleman's people challenged 146 today and Franken's 123.

Annals of Bad PRYesterday

Detroit CEOs fly private jets to DC to seek taxpayer bailout.

TPMtv: The Day in 100 SecondsYesterday

Ted Stevens ConcedesYesterday

The old rascal finally admits defeat in Alaska's protracted election process.