The people whose long Xmas break I’ve been envying are generally returning to work today. Welcome back. Here are some mid-day news treats for everybody:

* Obama formally nominates both Chuck Hagel and CIA-director-designee John Brennan at same White House ceremony. Joint packaging looks like bid for “bipartisanship” street creed.

* Digby raises the right questions about Chuck Hagel.

* Fascinating analysis by New York Times‘ David Carr on how Old Media’s “dancing dinosaurs” are surviving and even thriving.

* Pelosi joins Hill Democratic figures urging Obama to reconsider rejection of “constitutional option” to get around congressional approval of debt limit increase.

* Dave Weigel examines Paul Ryan’s very low profile after the election.

And in non-political news:

* Vegas line on BCS championship game tonight is settling in at Bama by 9.5 points.

Back after a light snack.

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.