Obama's Hiring Goal: Fill 325 Admin. Jobs By Inauguration

[babylonsister]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/Ambassadorial_hopefuls_take_note.html

December 18, 2008
Categories: Barack Obama
Ambassadorial hopefuls take note


President-elect Barack Obama is deeply, personally involved in filling the jobs in throughout his administration, a source said today, sharing some of the details of the president-elect's involvement.

Obama, I'm told, has an 11:00 p.m. nightly call to look at slates of personnel, casting his attention as deep as the assistant secretary level — that is, well into senior agency staff, suggesting a strong White House hand at the agencies, which isn't unexpected.

The goal: Filling 325 jobs by inauguration.

Of particular interest to some of Obama's prominent supporters: The first call about ambassadorial posts is tonight, though none will be named until after Jan. 20.

UPDATE: A couple more sources allow me to make the origins of this a bit more transparent: Top transition aide Jim Messina said it to a group of Jewish leaders yesterday, sources there said. A transition spokesman, Dan Pfeiffer, contested the account, but wouldn't go into detail.