ARIZONA GOVERNOR Janet Napolitano has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next homeland security secretary as a new poll shows most Americans want Barack Obama to appoint Hillary Clinton secretary of state.
Mr Obama is moving more quickly than previous presidents to select his cabinet, choosing Washington lawyer Eric Holder as attorney general and former senate majority leader Tom Daschle as health and human services secretary - although both appointments have yet to be announced formally.
As governor of a border state, Ms Napolitano has been on the frontline of the effort to control illegal immigration. She has backed tough measures but opposed the building of a fence along the frontier with Mexico.
Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who represents Arizona in the US senate, said yesterday that the governor would be a good choice for homeland security.
"Governor Napolitano's experience as the former US attorney for Arizona, Arizona's attorney general and as governor warrants her rapid confirmation by the senate and I hope she is quickly confirmed," he said.
A Gallup poll yesterday found that 57 per cent of Americans want Mr Obama to make Mrs Clinton his secretary of state, with just 30 per cent opposing the appointment.
Almost eight out of 10 Democrats want Mrs Clinton to get the top foreign policy job but six out of 10 Republicans disapprove.
Neither Mr Obama nor Mrs Clinton have commented publicly on the week-long speculation over the post but former president Bill Clinton suggested this week that he has agreed to restrictions on his international activities requested by the president-elect's transition team.
"I'll do whatever they want," Mr Clinton said.
Mr Obama's team wants the former president to disclose a list of major donors to his charitable foundations and to agree to clear all foreign trips and speeches with officials if his wife becomes secretary of state.
Some of Mr Obama's supporters are unhappy about the prospect of Mrs Clinton taking the top foreign policy post in the administration in view of disagreements during the Democratic primary campaign, notably over the wisdom of negotiating with enemies without preconditions.
Yesterday morning, veteran Alaska Republican Ted Stevens bade farewell to the senate after he lost his seat to Anchorage mayor Mark Begich.
Stevens, who was convicted last month on seven felony counts relating to gifts from oil contractors, faced almost certain expulsion from the senate if he had retained his seat.
"I still see the day when I can remove the cloud that currently surrounds me," Mr Stevens said before his colleagues gave him a standing ovation.
The 86 year-old senator, who has represented Alaska almost since it won statehood, took credit for the state's transformation from "nothing but tundra and forest", and defended his record of serving its people.