"Based on knowing Sen. Clinton for almost 40 years, I can say that she is strong and firm in her convictions and a great team player — but she is also a great listener," said Lanny Davis, a former special counsel to President Clinton and a friend of Sen. Clinton's since their Yale Law School days. "Most important, she has the rare ability to walk in other people's shoes and see the world through their eyes. That, to me, is an important quality in a secretary of state after eight years of this administration."

Davis, who supported Clinton's presidential bid, noted that he had not spoken to her about the position and that he was speaking only for himself.

During their primary battle, the Obama and Clinton campaigns had almost a blood duel over foreign policy credentials: Remember the famous 3 a.m. phone call Clinton ad?

Clinton's charge that Obama was not ready to be commander in chief had left many Obama aides angry and bitter. Greg Craig, one of Obama's top foreign policy aides, had detailed in a memo in March what the campaign called evidence of Clinton's lack of foreign policy experience. Another Obama adviser, Susan Rice, said in a conference call during that period that the ability to handle a 3 a.m. crisis phone call is not something that can be acquired "merely by being married to a commander in chief."

But as Clinton dutifully showed up at campaign rallies this fall for Obama, it prompted speculation that she could be secretary of state. By Friday, officials from both sides of the aisle were abuzz with talk of what an Obama White House flanked by a Clinton State Department would look like. John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who forecasted as early as this past July that Clinton could wind up at the State Department, laughed as he offered the incoming president this piece of advice: "Obama should remember the rule that you never hire anybody you can't fire, especially as secretary of state."