After Wednesday's press conference, Palin said she’d be tackling the question of replacing Jim Clark on the ANGDA board today.

Her acting Attorney General, Craig Tillery, said he couldn’t say whether Palin has the authority to replace Clark right away, but the state law seems pretty clear: “The governor may remove a member of the board from office. A removal must be in writing and must state the reason for the removal.”

As for what Clark does next now that he’s no longer Murkowski’s chief of staff, he said: “I was practicing law before… I’m sure at some point here I’

Who will run the state’s various agencies and departments until Palin permanently appoints the rest of her cabinet?

Craig Tillery, who was deputy attorney general under Murkowski, will fill in as acting attorney general, for one.

Here’s rest of the list, hot off the fax machine from Palin transition leader Mike Tibbles:

-- Department of Administration: Kevin Brooks, acting commissioner.

-- Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development: Bill Noll, acting commissioner.

-- Department of Education and Early Development: Roger Sampson, acting commissioner.

-- Department of Environmental Conservation: Mike Maher, acting commissioner.

Warren Buffett has more than $46 billion dollars, controls a company that’s interested in Alaska’s gas pipeline plans and, apparently, is a Sarah Palin fan.

Click here for a video clip of Buffett congratulating Palin on her election victory.

Is it real? Palin spokesman Curtis Smith said her team thinks so, but hasn’t verified. I’ll update with details if possible.

Wonkette declares Palin “the nation’s hottest governor.”

You are:

A. Offended, and above such things.
B. In concurrence.
C. Not wasting another second thinking about this, when there are fisheries and pipelines to figure out.

(Don't forget our terms of agreement for posts, which means nothing you wouldn't say in front of your mom.)

ATWOOD BUILDING -- The furniture's the same, but the name outside the governor's office has already changed. So far, three companies have met with Palin and Parnell, beginning with BP, which brought new Alaska president Doug Suttles as well outgoing Alaska president Steve Marshall.

The second two companies were Enbridge and MidAmerican.

The meetings are closed door -- I'm not allowed in, and neither is the mysterious guy who showed up this morning and tried to get in on the first meeting before being turned away -- but Palin emerged after a couple hours and said the tone so far had been informal.

What did you think?

Just before the event, yellow school buses lined up outside the Carlson Center with kids filing out and into to the building’s upper floor. Former Fairbanks Sen. Ralph Seekins, who gave workers at his car dealership the option of taking a couple hours off to watch the event, described attendance as: “Almost as good a crowd as you’d get at a hockey game. Maybe better.”

It was noteworthy to hear Parnell talk about belt-tightening and Palin talk about the state relying less on money from its D.C. delegation now that power has shifted in Congress. She also seemed to zero in on fisheries issues.

FAIRBANKS -- As I write this, Palin is on the way from Signers Hall at UAF to the Carlson Center for her inauguration.

There was a maybe 45 minute gathering this morning at Signers Hall, where the remaining delegates from the Constitutional Convention talked to Palin about history and the power of the governor's office. They gave the new governor a warm welcome. Palin, her voice catching, said that on the campaign trail, she was told that a woman candidate can't cry, because it would be seen as a sign of weakness. "But I'm not a candidate anymore," she said.

The group of mayors and university regents -- and the Parnell and Palin families -- then watched a short video about the state's history before getting into a bus headed for the inauguration.

Considering all the fuss and the political wounds Murkowski suffered because of it, you’d think the state jet was at least comfy.

“No,” Murkowski said. The bathroom is a port-a-potty that you dare not use, and the whole thing is cramped.

“It’s like a tube. You can’t stand up in it.”

Also not so comfortable: The governor's mansion furniture, according to former Knowles chief of staff David Ramseur, who would sometimes house-sit for Knowles, watching his dogs while the governor was away.

It's like a museum, he said.

Palin’s team is shaping up to be a young crew. Tibbles, her chief of staff, is 37. Bitney is 42, while new revenue commissioner Patrick Galvin and Joe Schmidt, the corrections chief appointed early this week, are both 41.

Parnell’s role in the incoming Palin administration has been a large one so far -part of his job has been putting next week’s gas line talks together, as well as heading Palin’s budget transition team. (He just turned 44 by the way.)

After the press conference today, he said that some of the players in the gasline meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday could be new to the project. Shell and Chevron have expressed interest in the talks, he said, along with a company called BG Group, which he described as a large international gas company.

Just now got back from the Palin press conference.

The appointments/hirings:
· Major General Craig Campbell keeps his gig as head of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
· Patrick Galvin, a Democrat, is the new revenue commissioner. He’s currently the state Petroleum Land Manager in the Division of Oil and Gas.
· Palin's transition team leader and former Binkley campaign manager Mike Tibbles will be chief of staff.
· Palin’s advisor and longtime friend John Bitney, a lobbyist, will be her director of legislative affairs.
· Meg Stapleton, formerly of KTUU and ACS – and nearly Halcro’s runningmate in the general election – is Palin’s communications director.

Palin plans to announce her second round of cabinet members in about half an hour. Stay tuned.

Will there be any leftovers from the Murkowski household when Palin moves into the governor's mansion?

Murkowski says Palin will inherit a Christmas tree from Thorne Bay, but little else.

“Obviously the same towels, but somebody’s washed them,” he said in an interview yesterday.

And what about Todd Palin - Sarah’s husband - working for BP on the North Slope? Will he continue to do so once Palin takes office in Juneau?

“We’re still playing that by ear,” she said. “Any kind of flexibility there, if he can continue working in Prudhoe, keep his certifications up ...

One of Palin’s campaign promises was restoring the Longevity Bonus program that paid up to $250 a month to Alaska’s Sourdough seniors. While Gov. Frank Murkowski took heat for ending that program early, he also added a new system that paid low-income seniors $120 a month.

But that $120-a-month “Senior Care” payment is set to dry up this summer unless the state steps in.

So what happens to seniors who get the low-income monthly payment now, but hadn’t lived in Alaska long enough to get the Longevity Bonus?

“They’re not going to get lopped off, because those recipients … they are the ones in need,” Palin said today.

Let’s get started. Gov.-elect Sarah Palin says she doesn’t plan to announce more cabinet appointments today. Look for her to name more names tomorrow, barring any surprises.

Palin says she’ll begin natural gas line meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. As many as nine groups plan to deliver a one-hour pitch to Palin, incoming Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell and Palin’s acting DNR commissioner, Marty Rutherford.

The three oil companies Gov. Frank Murkowski negotiated with during his try for a gas line will each be part of the talks, but Palin said the companies aren’t meeting with her as a group.