WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has interviewed primary election rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Richardson to be his secretary of state, Democrats said, as he weighed the decision on folding former foes into his new administration.
Obama had secret meetings in Chicago with Richardson on Friday and a day earlier with Clinton, said several Democratic officials. He plans to meet there Monday with his Republican opponent, John McCain, but advisers to both of the general election rivals say they don't expect Obama to consider McCain for an administration job.
The meeting with Clinton, revealed to The Associated Press on Friday, excited a burst of speculation that Obama would transform the former first lady and his fierce campaign foe into one of his top Cabinet officials and the country's chief diplomatic voice. But where she stands in contention for the post came into question as other Democrats, also speaking on condition of anonymity about the private discussions, said Richardson was brought in as well.
The two are not the only candidates Obama has talked to about the job, Democrats said. One senior Obama adviser said the president-elect has given no evidence whom he is favoring for the post.
Obama asked Clinton directly whether she would be interested in the job, said one Democrat, who cautioned that it was no indication that he was leaning toward her.
Obama was deciding on his presidential staff as well, naming longtime friend Valerie Jarrett as a White House senior adviser. Jarrett met Obama when she hired his wife for a job in the Chicago mayor's office years ago and has been a close confidante to the couple ever since.
Obama was silent and out of sight in Chicago. On Friday evening, he attended a birthday party for Jarrett at a high-rise building in the city. Clinton, a New York senator, addressed a transit conference in her home state and said emphatically, "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration, and I'm going to respect his process."
Obama's aides say he would like to have McCain as a partner with him on legislation they both have advocated, such as climate change, government reform, immigration and a ban on torture.
All this fits with an idea that Obama often talked about on the campaign trail, as he praised the presidency of Abraham Lincoln as described by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book "Team of Rivals."
"Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his Cabinet because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was: How can we get this country through this time of crisis?" Obama said at one point.
Lincoln appointed three of his rivals for the Republican nomination to his Cabinet. Obama turned to one rival for vice president, picking Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden even though Biden had questioned whether Obama had the experience to be president.
In his first two weeks as president-elect, Obama has struck a bipartisan tone. He paired a Republican and a Democrat to meet with foreign leaders this weekend on his behalf in Washington, for example.
It's far from clear how interested Clinton would be in being his secretary of state. She'd face a Senate confirmation hearing that would certainly probe her husband's financial dealings - something the Clintons refused to disclose in the presidential campaign.
But remaining in the Senate may not be Clinton's first choice, either, since she is a junior senator without prospects for a leadership position or committee chairmanship anytime soon.
Being secretary of state could give Clinton a platform for another run at the presidency in eight years. Obama could also get assurances from her that she wouldn't challenge him in four years.
And, unlike the vice presidency that Obama never seriously considered her for, as secretary of state she would serve at his pleasure.
Richardson is the governor of New Mexico and has an extensive foreign policy resume. He was President Bill Clinton's ambassador to the United Nations and has conducted freelance diplomacy for the U.S. in such hot spots as Sudan and North Korea.
Richardson also served in Clinton's Cabinet as energy secretary and angered his former boss when he endorsed Obama after ending his own primary campaign this year.
Another Democrat emerged as a possible contender for an administration post Friday - Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle was contacted by Obama's transition team, according to a gubernatorial spokesman who did not disclose details. Doyle, a two-term governor and former state attorney general, was an early backer of Obama.
An alliance between Obama in the White House and McCain in the Senate could help both sides - Obama by having a Republican ally on some issues and McCain by helping rebuild his own power. The two men spoke about getting together when McCain called Obama to concede on the night of the election, advisers on both sides say.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a McCain confidant, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Democrat whom Obama has chosen to be his White House chief of staff, also plan to be at Monday's meeting in Chicago.
"It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality," Obama spokesman Stephanie Cutter said in announcing the meeting.
Also Friday, officials in Nebraska announced that Obama has won an electoral vote there, making history in a state that has never split its electoral votes. Under the American system, voters cast ballots for small groups of electors from each state, who in turn vote for the president.
After all remaining ballots were counted Friday, Obama emerged with a 3,325-vote lead over Republican John McCain in unofficial results in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes the city of Omaha.
Nebraska, with five votes, and Maine are the only states that divide their electoral votes by congressional district.
Obama now has 365 electoral votes to McCain's 162.
Missouri, with 11 electoral votes, is still too close to call. Election officials there have until Tuesday to finish counting.
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Hillary Clinton on Obama's short list for secretary of State
She could face tough Senate confirmation hearings if Obama chooses her. Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. John F. Kerry are reportedly also in the running.
By Peter Nicholas
November 15, 2008
Reporting from Washington Hillary Rodham Clinton emerged Friday as a top contender to be secretary of State after flying to Chicago the day before and meeting privately with President-elect Barack Obama, former advisors to the senator from New York said.
Obama is weighing other prominent elected officials for the post of the nation's top diplomat, but has zeroed in on the former first lady and runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to one of her campaign aides.
Many of Clinton's allies would like her to take the job, even though it would mean giving up her independent power base in the Senate. "She could weld this world together," said Susie Tompkins Buell, a Clinton donor and friend. "I think it would be amazing."
Since losing the hard-fought primary to Obama, Clinton has been on his radar. She made Obama's short list for vice president, but lost out to Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
Having passed over Clinton once, Obama would be hard-pressed to do it again by dangling the secretary of State's job and then giving it to someone else, members of Clinton's circle said.
"Having trifled with her on the vice presidency, it seems unlikely he's going to trifle with her on this," said one former Clinton advisor, who like other Clinton associates requested anonymity to be able to speak more openly.
Clinton's Senate office referred questions to the Obama transition headquarters. "Any speculation about Cabinet or other administration appointments is really for President-elect Obama's transition team to address," said Philippe Reines, a Clinton spokesman.
Obama's office declined to comment.
Former President Clinton's staff also would not comment, except to say that he had not been making phone calls to push for his wife's nomination.
Other candidates for secretary of State include Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), the party's 2004 presidential nominee; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who met Friday with Obama, a Democratic official said.
Obama is running a closed-mouthed transition operation, so it is difficult to assess the seriousness of Clinton's chances. Obama's team could be floating the prospect as a trial balloon to gauge public reaction. Or Clinton's allies may be talking up the possibility in hopes of influencing public opinion and improving her chances.
One thing is clear: Obama has done nothing to bat down speculation that Clinton may take one of the premier Cabinet posts in his administration.
Clinton's foreign policy bona fides were a running theme during the primaries.
She tried to make foreign affairs a selling point, repeatedly telling crowds that as first lady she had visited more than 80 countries. But she occasionally overreached. Clinton was forced to backtrack after claiming she had to evade sniper fire when landing in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996. Archival footage showed a peaceful arrival, not the harrowing scene she described.
During a conference call with reporters in February, her aides were asked to name a single foreign policy crisis in which she was tested. There was a lengthy pause. A reply offered by one aide seemed beside the point: She had been endorsed by more than two dozen high-ranking military officers.
Were Obama to choose her, Clinton might face tough questions during Senate confirmation hearings. Her husband has raised millions of dollars overseas for his presidential library. The Saudi royal family was reportedly among the contributors.
The Clintons' refusal to make public the names of donors dogged Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign. Obama aides pressed her to release the names of all donors to her husband's library and charitable foundation.
David Plouffe, as Obama's campaign manager, had once called Sen. Clinton "one of the most secretive politicians in America today."
Her husband's associations could also face renewed scrutiny.
In recent years, his charitable foundation received $31 million from Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining businessman, the New York Times reported. Months earlier, the former president accompanied Giustra on a trip to Kazakhstan, where Clinton touted an effort by the country's leader to head an international pro-democracy group. That position was at odds with U.S. policy on Kazakhstan's human rights record. Giustra's company later signed deals for uranium projects in Kazakhstan.
Sen. Clinton's allies said that her husband's work should not be a barrier.
Lanny J. Davis, a longtime friend of the family, said of President Clinton: "He has no business interests; that's a complete myth." Davis added that the former president's efforts "raising money for AIDS" prevention and tsunami relief should not be grounds for concern.
Sen. Clinton spoke Friday at a conference on public transit in Albany, N.Y. She joked about reports of her travel to Chicago. "I have to start by saying I'm very happy there is so much press attention and interest in transit, especially guesses about my own . . . " she said to laughter. "Let me just say that I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration. And I'm going to respect his process."
As a defeated candidate for president, Clinton has several paths open to her. One model is Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. After he lost the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter in 1980, Kennedy focused on passing major legislation, and compiled a formidable record.
Yet on one of her signature issues -- healthcare -- Clinton may already have been upstaged. Legislative colleagues, including Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), already have come out with detailed healthcare overhauls.
By trading in her Senate job for secretary of State, Clinton would command a global stage. She could use the position to take up causes that have long been important to her: Middle East peace, a resolution to the Iraq war, and international respect for women's rights.
But she would also face internal competition for control of Obama's foreign policy portfolio. Biden, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, considers foreign affairs to be a specialty and will undoubtedly want a strong hand in shaping the nation's diplomatic strategy.
Still, Clinton's friends believe the job would be a good fit.
Davis said: "There's no question in my mind that the combination of Barack Obama as president and Hillary Clinton -- who is a great listener and has the rare ability to walk in other people's shoes and see the world through their eyes -- would make a dramatic impact in international relations."
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