A presidential transition is a massive event that marks the start of a new administration, and with it, new possibilities.. Moving a new occupant into the Oval Office may be the most visible aspect of the transition, but it’s actually the simplest. The full transition involves filling thousands of government positions, preparing an entirely new budget, and more.
Planning the presidential transition.
At one time, candidates didn’t openly start planning a transition until they’d won the election. But as governing grows more complex, it’s become necessary to start much earlier, sometimes even before the nomination is final.
While the candidate is still campaigning, leaders of the transition team are working in the background. Their job includes:
- Collecting potential names for Cabinet members
- Vetting information that’s publicly available about those candidates
- Creating a list of urgent phone calls, memos, and other communications to handle immediately
The winning candidate will need to propose a budget to Congress shortly after the inauguration. A budget that will fund their policies and enable them to fulfill promises made during the campaign. Work on that budget has to begin well before the election.
How large is the team, and how complex is the plan? Mitt Romney’s transition team in 2012 was composed of more than 400 staffers, organized into groups based on the structures of federal agencies. The plan they were creating for a Romney transition would have covered a 200-day period, from the election into the early days of the administration itself.
