Q: Karen Finney is the spokesperson for Howard Dean at the Democratic National Committee -- a much happier Karen Finney now that this election's over and you guys have won.

Finney: Yes. It's been a great week.

Q: Thank you for coming back. We really wanted you on this week because -- not only your role at the DNC -- but more importantly in this case because you were part of the Clinton transition. Can you talk about what this kind of transition is like?

Finney: Sure. As you know, in this instance there's the transition of government, so there is obviously putting together the White House staff, the Cabinet, secretaries and the staffs within. They've announced some of the policy review teams that will be kind of going through agency by agency looking at sort of how things are structured, the budgets, you know, where things are, kind of getting a feel for the best way to kind of implement that transition.

But then there's also transition of a family moving into the White House. Obviously the Obamas have two small children. When the Clintons moved into the White House, Chelsea was about 12 years old. So there is that family transition as well, as well as first lady-elect Michelle Obama -- you know, she is making her transition -- as well as the vice presidential family making their transition to the Naval Observatory. So there are lots of different parts of the transition. You know, last week when you saw President Bush and President-elect Obama in their meetings they were talking about the meetings of the two women as the sort of softer side of the transition, but it's, you know, just as important and frankly, you know, just as involved in terms of the logistics of moving a family.

Q: Well, it was so strange to see them walk and -- President Bush and President-elect Obama -- that long walk as we've seen so many other presidents take it before, and also to see Obama look so comfortable, like he was having the time of his life. You know, I don't know if you read his book -- and it's now an audio tape which the networks have been playing -- about how he went to visit -- he was at the White House for something, and President Bush said, 'Look out, 'cause you're, you know, you're good at what you do, you know, you're a star and people are going to be gunning for you, and I don't mean my own party.' Did you love that?

Finney: I did, you know; I did, and I'll tell you, when he ran for Senate a good friend of mine went to one of his fundraisers, and she called me afterwards, and she said, 'I think I've just met the first black president of the United States.' So I think there was a feeling for some time that this may be where Barack Obama would end up.

Q: Wow. It's just unbelievable. Okay, back to the transition. Everyone in Washington is playing the parlor game of who gets what job, but take us inside and how you make those kinds of decisions. They're clearly very, very organized -- with all due respect to the Clinton transition -- but they're very organized and have been planning this for a while. Of course John Podesta was a Clinton official and knows how to do it. So why haven't they already announced new positions?

Finney: Well, you notice what they've tried to do is make sort of like some of the key announcements, Rahm Emanuel obviously being the first one, as well as David Axelrod, because, you know, I think the speculation is they'll obviously -- it's important that they play a role in making some of the decisions about the transition and about who ends up where. So I think it made sense.

You know, the other thing about this parlor game is, as with many things in Washington it's kind of hard to keep a secret, so you know, the sort of quicker you move and once you start having pretty serious conversations, you know, things tend to get out. So a lot of what happens, though, is sort of looking at each of the positions, looking at the Cabinet both as a whole and then in each sort of as its own. And by that I mean I think President-elect Obama has a similar goal to what President Clinton did, which is, you know, to have a Cabinet that reflects the diversity of our country, that brings together the best and the brightest. So certainly, you know, that means that there are short lists in each of those categories, but then you also want to kind of lay that out and take a look at both, you know, again, who is right for an individual position, but what does that look like if you look at the full composite of the Cabinet? So that's kind of part of what those discussions are like.

And then once you kind of get through that, you start to look at some of those undersecretary positions and those positions sort of underneath that Cabinet level. The other thing that may -- probably not going on yet, but during the Clinton transition in about December there was a team that was working out of the Old Executive Office Building, had a small office, that was just at a very tactical, logistical level looking at office space, trying to figure out, you know, who was going to go where in the West Wing. Obviously that's an important land grab in terms of, you know, proximity to the Oval Office. So there's those kinds of discussions -- looking at who goes where, who's got office space in the Old Executive Office Building, where those offices are going to be -- so there's that sort of logistical piece as well as the staffing piece.

Q: Well, I want to talk to you about the political piece, because your former boss, Hillary Clinton, met with Obama, and there's a lot of conversation about whether or not she wants to be -- I don't know if they offered her -- did they offer her secretary of State? What can you tell us?

Finney: You know, as far as I know, it's just basically what's been reported -- that they had a conversation. Obviously there's been some speculation for a few days that her name was on a list. I don't know if a formal offer was made. I mean, certainly Senator Clinton is a star in our party, a very popular figure both here at home and I think abroad. Certainly she's -- you know, could have a brilliant career in the Senate, so I am sure she's kind of considering -- if they have made an offer I would imagine she's sort of considering the options.

Q: Do you think she'd be interested in it?

Finney: Well, I think she -- you know, I would hope so. I think she would do a fantastic job representing the United States. Both in her role as first lady and as senator, I think she has just a really important perspective. I think she would be a huge asset to helping to rebuild our relationships around the world, so I certainly -- I hope she's interested, and I hope it's a serious consideration.

Q: What about Karen Finney? What job would you like? Let's play the Karen Finney parlor game.

Finney: You know, I have to tell you, it's so funny; I was joking with somebody the other day that -- it's just -- I can't believe the election was just a week ago, because I feel it was about a month ago, I'm so exhausted. So for right now the Karen Finney plan is to try to catch up on sleep and spend time reintroducing myself to my friends. You know, the campaign has been a long two years, but obviously it's been a long four years for me here at the DNC, so I'm going to try to, you know, catch up on sleep and figure out what comes next.

Q: And what about your boss, Howard Dean? Well, he's leaving in January, right?

Finney: That's right. So technically his chairmanship ends in January, and he's said that he's not going to run again for chair. And you know, he's looking forward to the next challenge. It's unclear what that's going to be. You know, there was some speculation that his name was being floated for HHS secretary. Don't know if that's, you know, going to happen, but again, he's kind of open to whatever the next challenge is.

Q: What do you think about Terry McAuliffe running for governor of Virginia?

Finney: I think it's going to be great, but I think the state of Virginia better hold onto their hats.

[Laughter]

'Cause Terry's coming to town. I think it's going to be great. I'm sure he'll run just a fantastic campaign, and it'll be interesting to see it unfold.

Q: Marc Fisher, the columnist from the Washington Post, wrote this story: 'He would be the worst! He'd be there in a Hawaiian shirt!' And you know what, it really made me think -- and I like Marc very much -- but it made me think, you know, that's probably what people are looking forward to now, you know, a more casual approach to government and someone that's connecting more on a personal level.

Finney: Well, absolutely, and I certainly think Terry would do that. I know there'd be a number of other folks entering the race, so it'd be an interesting primary, no doubt, and an interesting race. But I do think people want to connect on that personal level. You know, I think we saw that just in this election -- that at the end of the day people really wanted someone that they felt understood and had a connection to the problems they were facing -- and I just don't think John McCain quite met that test, and I think Barack Obama did.

Q: Do you think that President Clinton will campaign for him in Virginia?

Finney: That's a great question. I would imagine so. I can't -- I mean, that would be kind of fun -- Terry the Macker and Bill Clinton campaigning together in Virginia. That'd be a lot of fun.

Q: Well, what I was thinking was -- when the story came up about Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, to see she and her husband traveling the world -- he already knows everyone around the world.

Finney: Well, I think she knows a lot of the same folks as well...

Q: Right, but they're a formidable pair. It's hard to say no to the two of them together, don't you think?

[Laughter]

Finney: That's very true.

Q: That would be the ultimate arm-twisting. She would have one arm, he would have the other. An interesting idea. All right, let me go back to politics, because the Obama administration is coming in at a time of terrible economic crisis. This weekend there's -- the world leaders are here to meet with President Bush, and I want to ask you because you're inside: How engaged do you think the Obama-elect administration will be in these various conversations, not just this weekend? Because you've got to be part of it. I mean, I don't want you to give me their company line, because you've been inside enough to know that you've got be part of it even if it's not your lookout.

Finney: Sure, and certainly the world leaders who are coming are coming with the knowledge that while President Bush is, you know, participating in these meetings as the president of our country, we're going to have a different president come January. But the Obama-elect administration is absolutely engaged. You know, I believe it's Jim Leach and Secretary of State [Madeleine] Albright are participating, representing in these meetings and I'm sure that they will continue to be very engaged.

And remember that a lot of the goal of starting this transition process as soon as possible is to make sure that the Obama administration is, you know, hitting the ground running at 12:01 basically on the day of the inauguration. So I've no doubt they'll be very engaged. It sounds like from what I've heard -- the reports -- that a lot of the discussion will focus on kind of big ideas and sort of areas of common ground, and I think that leaves open a framework for which the Obama administration can then come in and sort of move the ball forward.

So I don't think you're going to see -- it sounds like we're not going to see some big decisions coming out of it, but rather a discussion of how to move forward, that again the Obama Administration could then, you know, take up and run with.

Q: Are they talking to Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg about Treasury secretary?

Finney: I have not heard that one. You know, the...

Q: You've got to go to New York, my dear!

Finney: I know.

Q: It's all over New York City.

Finney: Well, you know, but Mayor Bloomberg just won the ability to run for mayor for a third term.

Q: You know, we're the National Journal. We're the bible of politics. We're just here to ask the questions.

Finney: That's right. So why don't you -- obviously the one I keep hearing is [Jon] Corzine.

Q: Corzine was great today on the "Today" show. I would like you, by the way, as a publicist to explain to people listening how people are floated. If you're up for a job they float you on the "Today" show. Andrea Mitchell was talking about it on "Morning Joe" earlier, and I had just told someone who didn't believe me, right? So, floated last week was Larry Summers. Isn't that what people do?

Finney: Sure. I mean, you know, part of what happens is that names will get floated, sometimes inadvertently, but generally a name will get floated; you kind of look to see what the reaction might be, and that helps inform the decision, potentially. Absolutely, and...

Q: So -- but I'm talking about a float on the "Today" show. Isn't that the official floating location?

Finney: Well, you know, there are a few official float locations. Remember, we're multimedia these days, so sometimes things get floated on the Web. You know, you'll see it pop up maybe on National Journal, let's say, and that'll sort of start a cycle. You could sort of see then -- I know for me that sometimes that means my phone starts ringing from other outlets who've seen that who are, you know, trying to confirm, you know, what do you know about what you saw? So that's generally how it works. It can start on the "Today" show, it can start on a Web site, it can -- you know, it can start in the newspaper, it can start a couple of different places -- and then you see it start to sort of work its way through the media.

Q: We're available for all flotation devices here at the National Journal.

[Laughter]

Finney: I'll make sure everyone knows that.

Q: Thank you, Karen Finney, Democratic National Committee.

Finney: Nice to be with you.

Q: Take care. Bye-bye.

Finney: Take care.