With the looming reauthorization of President Bush’s controversial No Child Left Behind legislation, longtime education watchers expect Obama to choose a secretary of education who has both expertise in education reform and proven political skills to negotiate between competing interests. That seems to give the inside track to Democrat Jim Hunt, the former four-term North Carolina governor who made aggressive education reform his signature cause while in office. Hunt is particularly known for his work to boost teacher quality, and improve and expand preschool education, both areas in which Obama has expressed particular interest.

The likeliest Republican: Tom Kean, former governor of New Jersey, former president of Drew University, and chairman of the 9/11 Commission. Other oft-mentioned names: Democrat Tim Kaine, the current governor of Virginia, who made Obama’s short list for vice president, and Democrat Roy Romer, former governor of Colorado and former superintendent of the Los Angeles public school system. Outside the box possibilities might include Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, who has been notably successful in attracting and graduating minority students in highly demanding college programs, and Kati Haycock, the head of Education Trust, a nonpartisan powerhouse pushing for bold education reforms.

 By Daniel Stone

And the transition is off. A day after winning the presidency, Barack Obama is getting down to the business of assembling his staff. First up, the position of chief of staff,  which the president elect has reportedly offered to Rahm Emanuel, who is expected to accept.

The four-term congressman certainly has a high profile in Washington. Known for being a tough and pit bull-like figure, it was Emanuel who helped orchestrate the 2006 Democratic takeover of Congress. Even before Obama's victory was certain, rumors had swirled that Obama would tap Emanuel to head the West Wing. And for good reason. With all his toughness -- a quality that Obama has promised in his administration -- Emanuel has shown a record of brokering difficult deals. He played an important policy role beside President Clinton, earning favor with the former president. But he also showed loyalty to Obama, as a fellow Illinois Democrat, and got behind the senator's campaign from the beginning.

Back when Obama was duking it out with Hillary Clinton, Democratic Party leaders suspected that Emmanuel would be called in to broker a deal between the two -- not just over personal differences, but also to encourage the one who was straggling (at the time, Hillary) to make a graceful exit early on. NEWSWEEK reported at the time, under the headline "Come, O Come, Emanuel," that the congressman would be called on to have the "difficult talk" with Hillary Clinton, reminding her that a drawn-out nomination process would spell defeat for Democrats in November.The process was drawn out, and early fears of a divided party ended up being irrelevant, but it certainly boosted the congressman's profile.

Emanuel's first task will be to help the new president craft his cabinet. And since Obama has emphasized his intention to delegate tough problems to the people in his administration who are most knowledgeable and well-placed to help solve them, finding solutions to the core challenges -- the economy, health care, energy policy -- could fall more on top staff than on the executive himself.