If Gates isn't asked to stay, a leading candidate for Defense would be retiring Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Hagel accompanied Obama on his trip to Afghanistan and Iraq in July, and the two have become close. The Illinois senator has said he wants a bipartisan Cabinet.

Initially, the Obama camp had hoped to have the Cabinet and White House staff picked by Nov. 15. Several events, including a likely trip to Hawaii for the funeral of the president-elect's grandmother, and a sense that it's important to look at the overall cohesiveness of a new administration, make this unlikely to occur until closer to Thanksgiving.

Obama needs to strike a balance, assuring that sufficient numbers of women and minorities get top jobs, experienced and fresh faces, longtime supporters and some converts, and at least a Republican or two.

"It has to be the old and new, the tried and true and geographically representative," says Jordan. "And it has to be educationally balanced—they can't all come from Harvard or Ivy League schools."

Although there is strong sense that Summers and Geithner are the odds-on favorites for Treasury secretary, there is an outside chance Obama would turn to an even more experienced graybeard such as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker or former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

More likely, however, is that Rubin—who talks frequently with Obama—will be given a senior portfolio to advise on the financial crisis, and Volcker may be used as a troubleshooter on the same issues, dealing with the Europeans and others. Top Obama advisers say none of this has been decided.

Another important post is the National Economic Council, which coordinates policy-making at the White House. Two leading candidates are Peter Orszag, the current director of the Congressional Budget Office, and Jack Lew, who headed the Office of Management and Budget under Clinton.

There is little consensus yet on who will direct the Office of Management and Budget. One possibility is John Podesta, Clinton's one-time chief of staff, though Podesta has told friends he doesn't want another White House job.

Austan Goolsbee, an economic adviser to the campaign and a University of Chicago economist, is widely considered to be the leading candidate to head the president's Council of Economic Advisers.

Two other economic advisers, Gene Sperling, another veteran of the Clinton white House, and Jason Furman, are also in line for jobs.

Associates say Obama surely will have a woman, and someone from the business community, at the higher echelons of any economic team, perhaps a top Treasury post or the trade ambassador.