Barack Obama is wasting no time transitioning into United States President. ABC News has just confirmed that Obama has asked longtime friend Rep. Rahm Emanuel to be his White House Chief of Staff.

The current chief-of-staff position is held by Joshua Bolten. The chief of staff, also dubbed the "President’s Gatekeeper" or "co-president," is responsible for managing the president’s schedule and deciding who is allowed to meet with the president. Emanuel could also be overseeing the actions of the White House staff. The Illinois Democrat began his career with the consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action. He worked on Paul Simon’s 1984 election to the U.S. Senate and in 1989 served as a senior adviser and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley.  Emanuel also was a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton. Click here to read more about Rahm Emanuel.

With 76 days until Barack Obama officially takes office, speculation has already begun as to whom else he will be appointing to his Cabinet.
The Washington Post and ABC News report possible candidates:

Secretary of Education: New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein
National Security Adviser: Retired Marine Corps Gen. Jim Jones; Susan Rice, a senior Obama foreign-policy adviser; James B. Steinberg, former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Clinton
Treasury Secretary: Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers; Former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin; Timothy F. Geithner, president of New York’s Federal Reserve Bank
Attorney General: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano

More women on the "shortlist": Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm.

His advisers are also debating whether to ask Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to stay on, to allow planning for a withdrawal from Iraq to begin as soon as possible.

Newsweek name-drops more people.

Barack Obama told ABC News’s Charlie Gibson last week that he has "a pretty good idea of who the candidates would be" in his senior Cabinet. He also said that his Cabinet would be bipartisan.

"On a whole host of these issues, I think we need Republicans, not just as show pieces," Obama told Gibson. "In some cases, Republicans have good ideas. And, you know, I’ve always been more than happy to steal good ideas from whatever the source."