Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has accepted an offer to become President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, CBS 2 has confirmed.

Emanuel finally won his wife's approval and accepted that vital job Thursday.

"I'm lucky enough to have a loving family and I'm lucky enough that my parents are still alive to see that their son is choosing professionally between either a chief of staff for a president at this point in American history," Emanuel said.

Emanuel serves in the House Democratic leadership and will have to resign his seat and put aside hopes of becoming House speaker.

A special election will have to be held to replace Emanuel, who was reelected to his 5th District seat this past Election Day. Among the names that have been mentioned by political analysts as possible candidates are state Reps. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) and John Cullerton (D-Chicago), Cook County Commissioners Mike Quigley (D-10th) and Forrest Claypool (D-12th), Ald. Thomas Allen (38th), and State Representative-elect Deborah Mell.

Emanuel is a fiery Democrat who served as a political and policy aide in the Bill Clinton White House. His selection is a shift in tone for Obama, who chose more low-key leadership for his presidential campaign.

Democrats credit Emanuel with developing and executing the strategy that returned them to control of the U.S. House last year.

Emanuel's selection is a shift in tone for Obama, who chose more low-key leadership for his presidential campaign.

The first job for the president-elect and his new team is improving the damaged economy. Obama is reportedly considering a big new public works program to generate new jobs for the growing number of unemployed. It's what Mayor Richard M. Daley has dreamed of for years.

"You give me enough money and I can put a lot of people to work," Daley said Thursday.

The mayor enjoyed it when a reporter from Paris asked him how it feels to have Chicago suddenly at the center of the whole world's attention.

"We've always been," he said, laughing. "Truthfully, I always thought… "Paris believes it…every mayor has to say 'we're center of world.'"

Daley also lavished praise on Axelrod, who has run nearly all of the mayor's many campaigns, calling him "Committed, disciplined, focused."

Emanuel got his start working in big-time politics after working his way through Daley's administration. Daley will have a number of sets of eyes and ears in the new Obama White House, and extraordinary access to decision-makers.

Meanwhile, President-elect Obama planned his first public appearance since his presidential victory for Friday - a meeting with economic advisers to discuss the nation's financial woes that Americans listed as their top concern on Election Day.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pledged Thursday to work closely with President-elect Obama to help pave the way for a smooth transition as the U.S. deals with its worst economic financial crisis in decades.

"A methodical and orderly transition is in the best interests of the financial markets and Treasury is committed to making sure that the incoming team can hit the ground running in January," Paulson said in a brief statement.

Obama plans to talk to the news media Friday afternoon following the economic meeting, aides said. He and his wife, Michelle, will visit the White House on Monday at President Bush's invitation, aides said.

Obama's schedule Thursday included meetings with top U.S. intelligence officials preparing him to be commander in chief and transition team leaders tasked with building his entire administration in 10 short weeks.

Obama advisers said he was selecting the leaders of the new government with a sense of care over speed, with no plans to announce Cabinet positions this week.

Obama's longtime friend and chief strategist, David Axelrod, will reportedly be named to the White House post of senior advisor Friday at an Obama news conference. Democrats who know Axelrod compared his role to that of Republican rival Karl Rove, who served in the George W. Bush Administration.

"He will be Karl Rove with a conscience," Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley said. "He will understand politics and policy."

Other White House officials were being lined up, including Robert Gibbs as the likely pick for press secretary, said several Obama aides. Robert Gibbs told CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery Thursday that it was "premature" for him to comment on reports that he will be the new White House press secretary. But he's played that same basic role since Obama ran for the U.S. Senate four years ago.

Obama is planning a trip to Hawaii in December to get away with his family before their move to the White House - and to honor his grandmother, who died Sunday at her home there.

Obama began Thursday as he almost always does, with a workout. Later, he planned to visit with the transition team he officially announced Wednesday but had been under way for weeks. Officials had kept deliberations under wraps to avoid the appearance of overconfidence in the weeks leading to Tuesday's election.

He also went to the FBI office in Chicago, a secure location for him to receive his first president's daily brief. The document is mostly written by the Central Intelligence Agency and includes the most critical overnight intelligence. It is accompanied by a briefing from top intelligence officials that typically lasts 45 minutes to an hour, although Obama's first is expected to be longer.

Bush talked outside the White House as he gathered with a host of Executive Mansion and administration workers to urge cooperation with the Obama team on the transition that will take place over the next 75 days.

Bush said that "this peaceful transfer of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy." And he warned that the United States would be vigilant against any attempts by enemies to take advantage of the country during its period of transition.

CBS 2's Joanie Lum, Political Producer Ed Marshall and Political Editor Mike Flannery and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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