RAHM EMANUEL: CHIEF OF STAFF
Rahm Emanuel, a hard-driving leader of the Democratic majority in the House, will bring an unusual hybrid of high-level experience as a top adviser to President Bill Clinton with proven expertise as a congressional leader and political strategist. He is a close friend of Obama, a fellow Chicagoan. As the No. 4 Democrat in the House and an architect of the Democratic majority, Emanuel knows Congress from the inside out. In the Clinton administration, he was aggressive, profane and instrumental in shaping domestic policy on issues such as health care, welfare and trade. He earned the nickname Rahmbo for his take-no-prisoners approach.
He was born Nov. 29, 1959, in Chicago. He received a liberal arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College, and a masters from Northwestern. He served briefly as a civilian volunteer on an Israeli military base during the Persian Gulf war of 1991. In his youth, Emanuel lost half of the middle finger on his right hand in an accident while working at Arby's. As a young man, he trained as a ballet dancer. His brother, Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood agent, is the model for Ari Gold in the HBO series "Entourage."
JOHN PODESTA:
TRANSITION TEAM
John Podesta served as chief of staff in the Clinton White House and has led transition planning for the Obama campaign. He is said to be under consideration to be co-chairman of Obama's transition team and possibly for energy secretary.
He has extensive experience at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and in the world of think tanks whose work often underlies policy initiatives. Under Clinton, he also served as staff secretary and deputy chief of staff, and he was an aide to Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. He is president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group that he founded in 2003 with help from George Soros and other financiers, and that effectively is a government-in-exile for Democrats.
When he was staff secretary, he was particularly annoyed by intelligence bureaucrats who dressed up routine memorandums with "top secret" designations to get the president's attention. When the CIA or the National Security Council submitted a classified report that Podesta had seen on CNN, he stamped it "EMBARRASSING" before sending it to the president.
He supported Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries, but he nevertheless switched over to the Obama campaign smoothly and has earned Obama's trust with weeks of preparations for building the next administration. Born Jan. 8, 1949, in Chicago, Podesta graduated from Knox College in Illinois and earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
VALERIE JARRETT:
ADVISER AND MENTOR
Barack Obama is a man with many mentors, but Valerie Jarrett has been one of his most longstanding and influential tutors, navigating him through Chicago civic and political circles. Jarrett coached both Obamas at once -- they met when Michelle Obama applied for a job with Jarrett in the Chicago mayor's office -- and she has guided them since.
Jarrett was born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1956, and educated at a New England prep school, Stanford and University of Michigan Law School. Her great-grandfather was the first black person to graduate from M.I.T., her grandfather was the first black man to head the Chicago Housing Authority and her father was the first black resident at St. Luke's Hospital. She has been mentioned as possible a secretary of housing or transportation, but more likely as a White House adviser. She is expected to take a leading role in the transition.
PETE ROUSE:
TRANSITION LIAISON
He has been Obama's chief of staff in the Senate, and is now the co-chairman of Obama's transition team, and possibly being considered for another senior position in the White House.
He is known for his deep knowledge of Washington after spending three decades on Capitol Hill. As chief of staff to Tom Daschle, a former Senate majority leader, Rouse was known as the 101st senator. He maneuvered as a discreet problem-solver with a knack for navigating bureaucracy. He is respected by Democrats and Republicans. He has been working on this potential next step for weeks as the liaison between the campaign and the transition.
SUSAN E. RICE:
FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER
Susan Elizabeth Rice, a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, is a member of the advisory committee for the transition and has been mentioned for several positions, including deputy national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations.
She spent eight years at the White House and the State Department under President Bill Clinton. She was a member of the National Security Council staff and has expertise with Al-Qaida and in the problems posed by weak and failed states. A protégé of Madeleine Albright, she was given the job as assistant secretary of state in 1997.
She was born on Nov. 17, 1964. She earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford and both a master's degree and a doctorate in international relations from New College at Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
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