President-elect Barack Obama is expected to announce today his selection of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) as Secretary of the Department of Labor. At the same press conference he is scheduled to officially announce Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) as his pick for Secretary of the Department of Transportation.

This is the earliest an incoming president has assembled his entire cabinet since Richard Nixon announced his cabinet picks on December 11, 1968. The complete list of cabinet and cabinet-rank nominees is as follows:

• Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner
• Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
• Attorney General Eric Holder
• Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
• Secretary of Commerce Bill Richardson
• Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
• Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
• Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle
• Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan
• Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar
• Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
• Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki
• White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
• White House Budget Director Peter Orszag
• US Trade Representative Ron Kirk
• Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice
• Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson

A few interesting facts about the group as a whole…

• Seven attended Ivy League schools; eight went to state schools
• They range in age from 40 to 66. Budget director nominee Orszag is the youngest; VA Secretary nominee Shinseki is the oldest.
• They are the most ethnically diverse cabinet ever assembled. 
• With the president, they could put a full basketball team on the court. Education nominee Duncan, UN Ambassador nominee Rice, AG nominee Holder, and Trade Representative nominee Kirk are all basketball players.
  

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