From Jack Healy at The NYTimes.com: President-elect <a title="More articles about Barack Obama" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Barack Obama</a> said on Thursday that he never spoke to the governor of Illinois about Mr. Obama’s replacement in the <a title="More articles about the U.S. Senate." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/senate/index.html?inline=nyt-org">United States Senate</a>, and that no one on his staff had been involved in any deal-making regarding Mr. Obama’s successor.

Democratic officials say that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is a leading contender for the job of secretary of homeland security in President-elect Barack Obama‘s administration.

From HuffingtonPost.com: "Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has been offered the job of Health and Human Services secretary by President-elect Barack Obama and has accepted the job, according to a Democratic source close to Daschle," <em>Roll Call</em> <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/30285-1.html">reports</a>.