BEDFORD HEIGHTS, OH - Will he give up the blackberry or won’t he? That’s one of the (not relatively speaking) big questions facing President-elect Barack Obama as he is set to take office next week.

At a recent press conference he told reporters he fired off an email to one of his Secret Service detail leaders to congratulate his son for winning a football championship game, but presidents have not traditionally used email - even those in the email age. But Mr. Obama has been hesitant to give up the crackberry, thinking it will isolate him from the real world.

Well, four days from his inauguration, President-elect Obama is still using the device. As he was getting out of his Secret Service limo at Ronald Reagan airport today, reporters caught a glimpse of the storied blackberry when it tumbled from his grasp onto the tarmac.

A Secret Service agent standing nearby quickly picked up the blackberry, which had separated from its plastic holster, and returned it to the president-elect. Clutching it tightly, he soon boarded the plane which would ferry him to Cleveland for a speech on the economy.

On board incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs joked with reporters that Mr. Obama has been “discombobulated” due to the recent move to Washington, DC. “He can’t seem to find anything.”

HONOLULU - One year ago today, Senator Barack Obama was fighting to win the all-important Iowa caucuses, holding multiple campaign stops across the state. Then the underdog, Mr. Obama capped off a busy day with a nighttime rally in Ames, where he correctly predicted 2008 would be the year of the Democrat.

“Democrats have been waiting for 2008 for awhile and it’s just about here - it is just about here,” he told a crowd of about 1,000 on the campus of the University of Iowa on the cold December night. “Thank you so much, all of you, for taking the time to help celebrate, help ring in what is going to be an outstanding year for Democrats and an outstanding year for America,” he continued before he shared then-breaking news that he led Hillary Clinton in the latest Des Moines Register poll. “We might just pull this thing off, Iowa!”

Eager for publicity, the Illinois senator even took the time to share his plans to ring in the new year before an interview with FOX News’ Major Garrett.

This year, President Elect Obama is planning on staying out of the media spotlight as he enjoys the final day of his Hawaiian vacation. A transition aide expects Mr. Obama to stay at his Kailua rental home and ring in 2009, the first year with a President Obama, with friends and family.

No word on any resolutions, but last year he told reporters that other than winning Iowa, “I usually try not to make too many unrealistic resolutions. I try to make simple ones. I try to be a better husband, I try to be a better father. To be on time so that I don’t make [incoming Press Secretary Robert] Gibbs nervous.”

CHICAGO - Barack Obama and Joe Biden will meet tomorrow with former Vice President Al Gore at the President-elect’s transition offices in Chicago. The meeting, confirmed by the Obama-Biden transition team, was set up so the trio could “discuss energy and climate change and how policies in this area can stimulate the economy and create jobs.”

Of course it’s also fueling speculation that Al Gore will be asked to return to government after eight years as an influential statesman - despite Mr. Gore’s attempt to downplay the notion. “Vice President Gore has said both prior to President-elect Obama being elected and since he’s been elected that he does not have an interest in serving in the administration,” Kalee Kreider was quoted in a Reuters story just last week.

While Barack Obama may have a tough sell, expect a pitch of some sort. When asked last April by a Pennsylvania voter if he would consider the former veep for a cabinet-level position to help deal with climate change, then Candidate Obama replied, “Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem.”

CHICAGO - Last March when Bill Richardson endorsed then-Candidate Barack Obama during the thick of the heated primary race and while Rev. Jeremiah Wright was burning up the airwaves, Team Clinton was none too pleased.

Former Bill Clinton advisor turned TV pundit James Carville went as far as to call the onetime Clinton Energy Secretary under a modern day Judas for his decision to back Senator Hillary Clinton’s foe. Richardson himself admitted tension, describing the phone call to Mrs. Clinton to notify her of his decision. “Let me tell you: we’ve had better conversations,” he told reporters with an uncomfortable laugh.

But it was his relationship with President Bill Clinton, who has yet to fully forgive his former Energy Secretary, that suffered most. “‘It could be pretty much a permanent fissure. But that’s politics, that’s OK,” Richardson told NPR last month.

On Wednesday, Mr. Richardson was rewarded for his decision to endorse the then underdog candidate during a time when Mr. Obama needed help the most, when he was offered a cabinet role in the new Administration. The President-elect praised Richardson for his breadth of experience and then opened up the microphone to the new nominee, who noted what was at the forefront of everyone’s mind: Mr. Obama’s ever expanding “team of rivals.”

“There are some who speak of a team of rivals, but I’ve never seen it that way,” Mr. Richardson began his remarks. “Past competitors, yes. But rivals implies something harder edged and less forgiving. And in the worlds of diplomacy and commerce, you open markets and mines not with rivalry but instead with partnership and innovation and hard work,” he explained, perhaps aware of the many news reports that would be sure to rehash his relationship with the Clintons.

Richardson, who many considered a frontrunner for Secretary of State, of course did not get that, the most high profile Cabinet job, but was instead named Mr. Obama’s pick for Commerce Secretary. A Telemundo reporter called on during today’s news conference bluntly asked the President-elect if this was a consolation prize to appease Latinos.

“Well, Commerce Secretary is a pretty good job,” Mr. Obama said to laughter, before clarifying the job will play a key role in fixing the economy. “Bill Richardson has been selected because he is the best person for that job, and is going to be outstanding in helping me strategize on how do we rebuild America,” he added.

The soon-to-be President pointed out he’s only appointed half of his Cabinet so far, and predicted his Cabinet and White House staff will be one of the most diverse of all time. “One of the strong beliefs that I’ve always held, and has proven to be correct throughout my career, is that there’s no contradiction between diversity and excellence. I’m looking for the best people, first and foremost, to serve the American people. It just so happens that Bill Richardson is one of those people,” he concluded.

The Christmas spirit has already taken hold in Birmingham, Michigan. A layer of snow covers the ground. Tasteful lights and wreaths adorn the stately homes. A brightly colored Christmas tree shines in Rick Wagoner’s front window. Perhaps General Motor’s CEO will take some of this Christmas Spirit with him to Washington today, where he’s hoping Congress will give his company a big present this year.

There is no private jet this time. Wagoner will make the 525 mile trek to Washington, D.C. in a 2009 Chevy Malibu Hybrid. We’re here to give FOXNews.com readers a front-seat-passenger view of the trip, keeping an eye on pit stops, like how often the hybrid has to stop for gas and where Wagoner takes his pit stops.

Click here to read “General Motors CEO Begins Road Trip to Appear Before Congress.”

Another FOXNews.com team was deployed to follow Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally, but he slipped out of town before they could get to him.

We’re in a hybrid too, so hopefully we won’t have to fill up before Wagoner does. However, ours is a Toyota Prius, not a Motor City creation. We asked for a domestic, but there was not one to be had at all the rental places in the Detroit Airport.

5:45 am - We’ve been driving past Wagoner’s house for nearly an hour now. Finally, there are signs of life. A bedroom above the family Christmas tree is now illuminated. Could Wagoner perhaps be awakening?

6:01am - Pulling the Wagons around Wagoner: An SUV and a sedan just pulled into the church parking lot across the street from Wagoner’s house. So we drove in and met Mike Bruggeman, the Director of Global Security for GM, who poked fun at us for driving a Toyota in Motor City. We informed him that we were unable to fit in with the locals.

Mike informed us that Wagoner would be willing to speak with us prior to his departure, as long as we didn’t follow him on the way to D.C. Bruggeman expressed his concerns about everyone’s safety. We agreed. Then a cop asked us to leave the church parking lot.

6:26 am - We continue to drive back and forth past the house. On this run, we spot the much anticipated hybrid in the driveway.

6:34 - While parked along the side of the road near the church, Bruggeman calls to tell us the good news: Wagoner wants to talk.

7am - We are standing in a church parking lot with Bruggeman as Wagoner rolls up in his hybrid. He gets out of the car, appearing quite casual and rather jovial despite the pre-dawn hours. Without further ado, we stand under a streetlight so we can make out each other’s faces. Through chattering teeth, we speak about the monumental couple of days Wagoner has in store, starting with a drive that would make a trucker blush.

“We are in the car business and we thought it would be a kind of fun thing to do, to show off our new, in this case, hybrid vehicles,” Wagoner tells us.

Wagoner is taking a company car. His family’s “four or five” vehicles are not making the trip. They’re too busy being driven by his wife and children “of all ages and sizes,” he says.

(Warning: this video is very dark.  We really did get up in the early hours of the morning.)

Security for the drive appears to be substantial, but Bruggeman is downright friendly and understands our interest in Wagoner’s journey. But he can’t help but keep poking at our Prius.

Before departing, one of Bruggeman’s colleagues in security joked that this was a long way for us to come from New York just to snap a few pictures.

As part of our bargain, we sit in our hybrid and watch Wagoner’s fade away.

FOXNews.com’s Joshua Rhett Miller contributed to this report.

NEW YORK - At a forum with New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney Monday night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed excitement when describing her conversation with Hillary Clinton earlier in the day. “Senator Clinton called me at 10 to say it will be formal,” said Pelosi of the widely reported Secretary of State appointment.

Pelosi and Maloney appeared together at Hunter College in a forum on women’s politics and progress. The conversation, moderated by Lynn Sherr, focused mainly on the 2008 presidential election.

Was there sexism for Senator Clinton and Governor Palin?

“For Hillary Clinton, the country came face to face with misogyny,” Maloney said. “She inspired despite the hurdles for her that weren’t there for her opponents…John McCain had a 23-year problem with women votes; Palin did nothing to help women’s rights. The American people can see the difference between someone there as a woman and someone with a record.”

Congresswoman Maloney did credit Gov. Palin for her commitment to her family, and the public acceptance of a woman with small children in politics. But she added, “at the same time, she was not for women’s rights, women saw right through her and voted against her.”

When asked if Clinton will face sexism as Secretary of Sate, Speaker Pelosi looked almost surprised.  “None at all,” she told the mostly female crowd of supportive New Yorkers. “I’ve traveled as speaker, I know the respect people have for her [Senator Clinton]. She will be there in her own right; people will know she is close to the President, Barack Obama. She is a source of strength, a force in her own right.”

Maloney added that Clinton leaving the Senate is “an incredible loss”, describing Clinton as an effective and creative leader who made great accomplishments for New York in 8 years. “It’s never dull with Hillary!”

Speaker Pelosi also praised President-elect Obama’s other female appointments today, calling Janet Napolitano and Susan Rice “both exciting” adding, “I’m sure there will be more to come”.

Pelosi promised, “In the first weeks [of the new administration], we will pass the bill for insuring 10 million children in America right off the bat.” She told the enthusiastic New Yorkers that the Pay Equality Act would follow in the first few weeks as well as stem cell research legislation.

Pelosi called these efforts the priorities in congress. “They are all women’s issues and women bring a special perspective to the table.”

PHILADELPHIA - You may have heard his national security picks described as a “team of rivals” - a group of people whose varying outlooks make strange bedfellows. In addition to picking onetime rival Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, he also tapped Gen. Jim Jones (ret), a McCain confidante, as National Security Advisor, and Bush Secretary of Defense, Bill Gates to stay on the job.

The term “team of rivals” is generally referred to describe Abraham Lincoln’s inner circle after the 16th president hired his rivals. It’s also a model touted by President-elect Obama himself - back when he was long shot Candidate Obama.

When asked at a town hall well before the Iowa caucuses to describe his future cabinet picks, the Illinois Senator replied, “A great model - some of you may have read the book “Team of Rivals” about Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin - he took in people who had run against him and put them into his cabinet because they were the most competent people and he was confident enough to say, ‘I want disagreement, I want dissent, I want a constructive debate. I will make judgments, I will ultimately make the decisions, but I want to hear all the points of view.’”

At his small December town hall in Iowa, Mr. Obama went on to describe his three principles for picking cabinet members.

Number one: competence. No more guys, heads of the Arabian Horse Association in charge of our Federal Emergency Management Agency. My FEMA director will have actually done emergency management. It’s a novel concept. That’s how we’re going to do it. So we’re going to have competent people, people who are at the top of their fields. Number two: integrity. People who get in it for the right reason…The third thing, and maybe the most important is independence. I want people who are smarter than me in their field and I want them to tell me ‘no.’ I want them to tell me when they disagree. I don’t need yes-men sitting around me. I don’t need a bubble around me.

Fulfilling at least one campaign promise, Mr. Obama today had a strikingly similar explanation for his picks.

I assembled this team because I’m a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions. I think that’s how the best decisions are made. One of the dangers in a White House, based on my reading of history, is that you get wrapped up in groupthink and everybody agrees with everything and there’s no discussion and there are no dissenting views. So I’m going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House. But understand, I will be setting policy as president. I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out, and I expect them to implement that vision once decisions are made. So, as Harry Truman said, the buck will stop with me.

Both Candidate Obama and President-elect Obama have embraced utilizing those who may not always agree with him as advisors. At his third press conference since winning the election, Mr. Obama, as he said during the primary and general election campaigns, promised to reach out to Republicans to help fix the country’s woes.

“In order for us to be effective, given the scope and the scale of the challenges that we face, Republicans and Democrats are going to have to work together,” he explained to reporters. “What we’re going to do is to work as closely as we can with the Republican Party. My chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has already met with both caucuses. We want their input. We want their ideas.”

Mr. Obama also named some friendly picks today, including Eric Holder, the man who helped lead the Democrat’s hunt for a running mate, as Attorney General, NM Gov and early Obama supporter, Janet Napolitano as head of Homeland Security, and Susan Rice, a longtime Obama foreign policy advisor, as ambassador to the UN.

PHILADELPHIA - In an effort to “run the most open and transparent transition in history,” the Obama-Biden transition team will be releasing the names of its donors on a monthly basis. In an email to reporters, the team announced that as of November 15th, nearly $1,171,000 has been raised from 1,776 donors.

Want to check to see if your neighbor is on the list? Check it out here.

The transition team says it only accepts contributions up to $5,000 from personal funds, refusing donations from corporations, unions, federal registered lobbyists, foreign agents, and PACs.

The information release comes on the heels of a new study out by the Campaign Finance Institute, which shows that Mr. Obama’s base of small donors during the campaign was actually essentially the same percentage as President George Bush’s small donor base in 2004.

CHICAGO - Slow to name White House staffers, the Obama transition team made official what had previously been confirmed by “Democratic sources.”

David Axelrod will serve as Senior Advisor to the President while Greg Craig is being tapped for White House Counsel. The team also announced Lisa Brown will be Mr. Obama’s staff secretary and Chris Lu will be Cabinet Secretary.

“I am pleased to announce these new additions to our team, and I’ll be relying on their broad and diverse experience in the months ahead as we work to strengthen our economy, reform Washington, and meet the great challenges of our time,” said President-elect Barack Obama in a statement.

Axelrod, a fixture on the campaign trail, was a senior advisor and confidante to Mr. Obama during his bouts with Senators Clinton and McCain. Greg Craig, also a campaign vet, was a foreign policy advisor to the then candidate for president, and played the role of Mr. McCain during debate preparations.

 Read their full bios after the jump.

David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President

David Axelrod served as President-elect Obama’s Chief Strategist during the presidential campaign, and led Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. A native of New York City, Axelrod graduated from the University of Chicago and spent eight years as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he covered national, state and local politics and became the youngest political writer and columnist in the paper’s history. Leaving journalism in 1984, Axelrod managed Paul Simon’s upset victory over incumbent U.S. Senator Charles Percy of Illinois. In 1985, he founded Axelrod & Associates, a political consulting firm known today as AKP&D Message and Media. Axelrod has worked for leading Democrats across the country, including Senators Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and Herb Kohl, as well as Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, and Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, along with mayors of big cities across the country. He is married to Susan Axelrod, president and founder of Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE). They have three grown children.

Lisa Brown, Staff Secretary

Lisa Brown is the Executive Director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. Lisa was Counsel to Vice President Gore from September 1999 through January 2001, and Deputy Counsel from April 1997 through August 1999. In addition to advising the Vice President on legal issues, Lisa served on the Executive Board of the President’s Committee for Employment of People with Disabilities and worked closely with the Vice President’s Domestic Policy Office on a variety of legislative initiatives. Lisa was an Attorney Advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice from June 1996 until April 1997. Prior to her government service, Lisa was a Partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm Shea & Gardner. Ms. Brown graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in Political Economy in 1982. She received her law degree with Honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 1986.

Greg Craig, White House Counsel

Gregory B. Craig served under President Bill Clinton as Assistant to the President and Special Counsel. Prior to his appointment to that post he served for two years as Director of Policy Planning under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Craig also worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as Senior Advisor on Defense, Foreign Policy and National Security from 1984-1988. In addition to his service in government, Craig brings to the White House a wealth of experience in civil and criminal litigation.

Chris Lu, Cabinet Secretary

Christopher P. Lu has worked for President-elect Obama in a number of roles over the past four years. He was Legislative Director and Acting Chief of Staff in Obama’s Senate office, as well as a policy advisor during the presidential campaign. Chris is now the Executive Director of the Obama-Biden Transition Project, where he manages the day-to-day operations of the transition. From 1997 to 2005, he was Deputy Chief Counsel to Rep. Henry A. Waxman on the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee (now the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee). A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Chris was a litigation attorney at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C. (1992-1997), after a clerkship with the Honorable Robert E. Cowen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1991-1992). 

CHICAGO - Joe Biden’s 66th birthday came a day early at the Obama transition offices in Chicago. After the President-elect and Vice President-elect wrapped up their weekly lunch, Barack Obama surprised Mr. Biden by leading nearby staff in a rendition of “Happy Birthday” while presenting him with a dozen cupcakes, candles blazing.

“Your 12 years old!” Mr. Obama joked. “Maybe in dog years,” Mr. Biden shot back.

According to an Obama aide, the soon-to-be-president gave his #2 a birthday assortment sure to please any non-Chicagoan: a Chicago White Sox hat, a Chicago Bears hat, and a bucket of Garrett’s popcorn.

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