ABC: WE (DON'T) KNOW DRAMA.

Ben Smith rounds up reports that Senator Hillary Clinton, who was in Chicago yesterday, may be under consideration for the position of Secretary of State in an Obama administration. (It seems a little far-fetched to my mind but it's certainly not out of the question). Here's Mike Allen, too. Pretty much par for the course, right? President-elect meets with major party figure about a potential Cabinet job.

Not if you're ABC's The Note, which breathlessly arrived in my inbox proclaiming:

So much for no drama.

Surely a certain soon-to-be-ex-senator knows this by now, but here's the thing about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: She tends to steal the scenes she's playing in.

Until the subject of her "private business" Thursday in Chicago is resolved -- and maybe until and even beyond the press conference announcing the new secretary who's headed to Foggy Bottom -- it will be 3 am in the transition process.

The Hillary rumors are the first potential stumbling block for the smooth machine that is President-elect Barack Obama's transition efforts -- and it revolves around a storyline that seems never to get old.

No, it does get old! It's old right now! I spent some time looking around for some damaging blind quote from the Clinton camp, and shot an e-mail to an Obama aide to see if I missed anything. In fact, nothing happened. ABC is just being ridiculous -- have those writers had a vacation since the primaries? Get some down-time, folks.

On the other hand, this statement from the transition team offers the potential for actual drama:

On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain will meet in Chicago at transition headquarters. It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality. They will be joined in the meeting by Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Rahm Emanuel.

Possible Note headline: OMG MCCAIN SECRETARY OF DEFENSE?

-- Tim Fernholz