: world

||| POLITICS. Obama’s Cabinet slowly taking shape

Napolitano for Security job

||| With a month left to go, President-Elect Barack Obama keeps putting his hands to the plough to build the perfect team. ||| Meanwhile, contenders already in mind for a post at the White house are anxious to get the green light.

Liz Sidote | AP Writer
 

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama is likely to choose Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano for the job of secretary of homeland security, top Obama advisers and several Democrats said Thursday as the shape of the president-elect's Cabinet begins to emerge.
The Obama advisers cautioned no final decision has been made on putting Napolitano in charge of the Homeland Security department, the massive agency created by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But the advisers said she was by far the top contender.
Obama appears to be assembling a team that includes a mix of longtime aides, Washington insiders and a sprinkling of Democratic governors. Besides Napolitano, strong contenders for Cabinet posts include New Mexico Governor Bill Rich-ardson and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

The shape of the president-elect’s Cabinet begins to emerge.

Sebelius and Napolitano, who was once Arizona's attorney general, were among the first governors to commit to Obama's candidacy. Richardson endorsed Obama after ending his own presidential bid, angering Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Thus far, Obama has informally selected Washington lawyer Eric Holder as attorney general and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as health and human services secretary.
The plans could be sidetracked by unexpected glitches in the final vetting process, officials note.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton seems more likely than ever to be Obama's secretary of state. Clinton is deciding whether to take that post as America's top diplomat, her associates said.
Among other Cabinet posts: senior Democrats say there is a strong possibility Defense Secretary Robert Gates would stay temporarily and later give way to former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig.
Even so, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island are also said to be under consideration. |||

||| SENATE. As staffers weeps

Sen. Stevens last speech

Laurie Kellman | AP Writer

WASHINGTON – "Uncle Ted" Stevens, an old-style Senate giant and the chamber's longest-serving Republican, delivered his swan song address and yielded the floor for the final time Thursday. He was saluted by his colleagues as a staunch friend and teacher.
Family members and aides wept openly in the gallery as Stevens, who turned 85 this week, spoke of having "no rearview mirror" and looking forward to a time when he might be vindicated. He lost his bid for a seventh term this week after his convictions in federal court on charges of lying about gifts on Senate financial disclosure forms.
"I only look forward and I still see the day when I can remove the cloud that currently surrounds me," Stevens said.
The speech was a poignant coda to a four-decade Senate career that began not 10 years after his home state, Alaska, achieved statehood.
Stevens said he was guided by one motto: "To hell with politics. Just do what's right for Alaska." |||

||| PRIDE. After over two centuries

Columbia’s 1st prez graduate

Barry Schweid | AP Writer

WASHINGTON – It's taken two and a half centuries, but Columbia College, one of the oldest in the nation, finally will have a president who will be the first Columbia graduate to occupy the Oval Office.
"We note with pride" Obama's election, university president Lee G. Bolinger said in an elated statement the day after the presidential returns were in. "We are reminded of the university's core commitment to public service and its tradition of producing outstanding leaders for our nation and our world," he said. Columbia College is part of the larger Columbia University. |||