Morning line, Dec. 16, 2008
Obama will announce Arne Duncan, CEO of the Chicago school system, as his nominee for secretary of Education at a press conference at 11:45 Eastern. Duncan is viewed as a reformer who believes in charter schools and No Child Left Behind, while still getting along with the teachers' union. Harvard educated, Duncan played professional basketball in Australia. [Washington Post Wall Street Journal] (More after the jump.)
Obama has chosen Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as his nominee for Interior secretary, several papers report. Before his 2004 election to the Senate, Salazar led Colorado's Department of Natural Resources and served as the state's attorney general. The Los Angeles Times reports that environmentalists see Salazar as more of a centrist that Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), whom they favored. Nonetheless, one characterized Salazar as a "sympathetic soul" to environmental causes.
Time magazine Washington bureau chief Jay Carney will become spokesman for Vice President-elect Joe Biden. In July, the Washington Post recalls, Carney talked up Biden as a possible answer to Obama's quest for a vice presidential nominee but mentioned as a downside that Biden "sometimes says just wrong thing at the wrong time."
Politico reports that Attorney General-designate Eric Holder will get a $3.1 million separation and deferred compensation payment to leave his job as a partner at Covington & Burling. This information was reported in questionnaire answers Holder provided to the Senate. The start of Holder's confirmation hearings has been pushed back a week, to Jan. 15., the Washington Post reports. The Legal Times reports [registration required] that Republicans are gearing up to make Holder's confirmation contentious over numerous potential issues.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has set guidelines to restrict future White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel from interfering with House affairs, Politico reports.
A grand jury is investigating whether a financial services firm improperly won a $1.4 million contract from the state of New Mexico after making politico contributions to Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama's nominee for secretary of Commerce, says the Washington Post.
Obama will journey to his inauguration festivities via train, beginning in Philadelphia. [USA Today]
