The Trail

Friday, November 7, 2008

PULLING FURTHER AWAY

Obama Declared N.C. Winner

Barack Obama was declared the winner of North Carolina by the Associated Press on Thursday, the first time a Democrat has won the state since 1976. The only state to remain undecided is Missouri, where John McCain holds a slight lead.

The Associated Press declared Obama victorious in the Tar Heel State after determining that too few provisional ballots remained uncounted for McCain to close a deficit of more than 13,000 votes. In Missouri, McCain led by more than 5,000 votes, but several thousand provisional ballots remained to be examined, state officials said.

With the North Carolina victory, Obama has won 364 electoral votes, compared with 163 for McCain.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

THE TRANSITION TEAM

More Clinton Officials Signed

David Hayes, a deputy secretary at the Interior Department under President Bill Clinton, has been tapped to oversee Obama's transition at the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department, according to a source close to the transition.

He will join a host of other former Clinton administration officials on the Obama team. Carol Browner, Clinton's EPA administrator, was named yesterday to Obama's transition committee, where she will have a broader portfolio.

As Obama looks to fill White House positions dealing with environmental policies, he could tap Hayes or Jason Grumet, who headed the Obama campaign's environmental and energy policy committee and serves as president of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

Other former Clinton officials said to be helping Obama's transition at environmental and energy agencies include: John Leshy, former solicitor at Interior; Donald J. Barry, former assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks at Interior; David B. Sandalow, former assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment and science; and Frank E. Loy, former undersecretary of state for global affairs.

-- Philip Rucker

TECHNOCRACY IN ACTION

Transition Web Site Launched

It took a little while, but the Obama transition team Web site is up and running.

With features on the inauguration, Obama's message and even how to apply for jobs, Change.gov looks like a fully functioning guide to the evolving Obama administration.

The tech-savvy Obama campaign did not get off to a great start with the site. After the Obama team announced on Wednesday that the public would be able to keep track of the transition in real time by visiting the site -- "live later today" -- visitors at first were prompted to enter a password and could not access it. By Thursday, a new message was posted, saying "Coming Soon, Under Construction," and later in the day the problems were resolved.

-- Anne E. Kornblut