U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will have nearly named his entire cabinet by Christmas, a top Obama aide said Friday.

John Podesta, a co-chair of the Obama transition team, told Bloomberg News that "virtually the whole cabinet" would be in place by the end of the year.

Earlier this week, Obama announced his nomination of New York Fed chairman Timothy Geithner to be treasury secretary.

He has also reportedly settled on Senator Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson for commerce secretary, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano for homeland security secretary, former Senator Tom Daschle for health and human services secretary and Eric Holder for attorney general.

Obama also reportedly favors keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current position.

Though Gates currently appears to be the only Republican hopefully to hold a key post under Obama, Podesta said there would be "multiple Republicans" in the Obama administration, which would assume duties on Jan. 20, 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2008)