Scramble for top jobs at the White House, after the 2008 USA Presidential Election

Thursday Nov 06, 2008--WASHINGTON - The fizz had barely gone from the champagne flutes when President-elect Barack Obama received his first official national security briefing.

There is urgency all around.

With two wars raging and an economic crisis on a scale not seen since the Great Depression, Mr Obama needs to assemble an administration that will start delivering on his promise to transform Washington.

The President-elect is expected to operate from his Chicago headquarters for the next two months, but a vast suite of offices has already been set aside in Washington.

Strict protocol means that Mr Obama has no formal power until the moment of the hand-over, at lunchtime on Tuesday 20 January.

For foreign policy, for example, the most the President-elect is expected to do is to accept a few congratulatory phone calls from overseas.

As a sitting senator and President-elect, Mr Obama is in a unique position however.

With Congress convening in two weeks time for its final "lame duck" session, he must now decide whether to keep his distance, as his allies are advising.

The process of assembling a cabinet began before the election, with his staff hinting at the potential for "outside the box" picks for top jobs.

One of his first appointments is expected to be the chief of staff and there is speculation that he will pick the political street brawler and Chicago congressman Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton aide.

Mr Obama helped deliver a Democratic majority in Congress but needs an accomplished insider to drive his agenda.

Mr Emanuel has coveted the job of House speaker, but may defer that ambition.

Mr Obama also needs to find roles for the political aides who delivered his victory, including his campaign manager David Plouffe, chief strategist David Axelrod, and his communications team, headed by Robert Gibbs and Dan Pfeiffer.

Interim appointments will be announced at any time, in the hope that when Mr Obama formally takes power he will hit the ground running.

But while he may quickly select his staff, the appointments only become effective when he has formal Congressional approval.

That will happen after he has taken office.

The most vulnerable time will be the first days after 20 January 2008, when he has to rely on his gut instincts and will not have high level counsellors in place to guide him.

Instead there will be a cacophony of those who have been advising his campaign.

There are 300 advisers on foreign policy alone.

Many of the names being bandied about for top positions will quickly pass the vetting process.

John Kerry is a hot favourite for Secretary of State.

Our wish came true! Obama Won the US Presidential Election!

Our prayers had been answered! Obama now IS THE PRESIDENT of America! Let's see who be elected as the Prime Minster of New Zealand this weekend!

Obama 'is elected US president'

Democratic Senator Barack Obama has been elected the first black president of the United States, according to projected results. He is projected to have won enough states to guarantee that he has beaten Republican rival John McCain. He has so far held most of the states that voted Democrat in 2004, as well as seizing at least four from the Republicans. Several other key swing states are hanging in the balance. In Indiana and North Carolina, with most of the vote counted, there was less than 0.5% between the two candidates. However, the popular vote remains close. At 0345 GMT it stood at 50.7% for the Democratic Senator from Illinois, against 48.2% for Arizona Senator McCain. Mr Obama captured the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, before passing the essential figure of 270 electoral college votes at 0400 GMT, when projections showed he had also taken California and a slew of other states. The main developments include: Mr Obama is projected to have seized Ohio, New Mexico, Iowa and Virginia - all Republican wins in 2004. He is also projected to have won: Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Delaware, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Rhode Island. Mr McCain is projected to have won: Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Georgia, Louisiana, West Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Utah. Turnout was reported to be extremely high - in some places "unprecedented". The Democrats made early gains in the Senate race, seizing seats from the Republicans in Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire and New Mexico. Exit polls suggest the economy was the major deciding factor for six out of 10 voters. Nine out of 10 said the candidates' race was not important to their vote, the Associated Press reported. Almost as many said age did not matter. Several states reported a high turnout. It was predicted 130 million Americans, or more, would vote - more than for any election since 1960. Many Americans said they felt they were voting in a historic election, not least because of the possibility of choosing the first African-American president. Faton Fall, 40, a black voter queuing at a Baptist church in Chicago, said: "It means a lot to me. I'm overwhelmed. I can't say more." Congressional race There are also elections to renew the entire US House of Representatives and a third of US Senate seats. Democrats are expected to expand majorities in both chambers. They need to gain nine Senate seats to reach a 60-seat majority that would give them extra legislative power. In the presidential vote, under the US Electoral College system, states are allocated votes based on their representation in Congress. In almost every state, the winner gets all these college votes. To become president, a candidate needs to win a majority across the country - 270 college votes out of a possible 538. The presidential election has been the most expensive in US history - costing $2.4bn, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.