2 New Yorkers to get high-level cabinet appointments today

December 1, 7:48 AMNY Government ExaminerMichael A. Harris

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While all of the spotlight in Chicago Monday will be on Senator Hillary Clinton (D - NY), as President-elect Barack Obama is set to announce that he will appoint his former rival Secretary of State, Clinton won't be the only New Yorker being appointed to a cabinet post this morning and while she may be the most prominent, her appointment is not the most historic being made today, even among New Yorkers.

If confirmed, Clinton will become the third female Secretary of State following in the shoes of Madeline K. Albright and Condoleeza Rice.

Two firsts will be announced today, including one native New Yorker. 

Obama will announce this morning that Eric Holder will be nominated to serve as Attorney General, if confirmed, he'd become the nation's first black Attorney General.  Holder was born in the Bronx and grew up in Queens.  He later went on to attend New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School and Columbia University, where he earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees. 

After law school, Holder worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and for the United States Attorney in New York, before being appointed as Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, United States Attorney and Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He is currently a senior legal advisor to Obama, a position he also held in Obama's presidential campaign, where he also served as a member of Obama's vice presidential committee.

Holder and Clinton's nominations will make three individuals from New York to be named by Obama to a high-level cabinet post. Last week Obama announced the nomination of Tim Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank as his pick for Secretary of the Treasury.

Obama will also make history today with the announcement that he's nominating Governor Janet Napolitano (D - Arizona) as Secretary of Homeland Security, making her the first woman ever to fill that post.