Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff?

Barack Obama may not yet have won the race for the White House but according to many pundits that hasn't stopped him picking his Chief of Staff. The word is that Rahm Emanuel (pictured), a controversial left-of-centre congressman, is already lined up to become "the second most powerful politician in America".

Rahm served in Bill Clinton's administration in the 90s. Nick-named 'Rahmbo' he allegedly celebrated his boss's victory by chanting the names of "Clinton's betrayers" while he repeatedly stabbed a dinner table with a steak knife. Years later, just before Tony Blair met publicly with Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, Emanuel warned the British PM: "This is important. Don't fuck it up."

So colourful is Emanuel that he translates easily into fiction: the creators of The West Wing based the sharp-tongued and cocky character of Josh Lyman on the Jewish congressman who, like Obama, comes from Chicago, Illinois. Josh, as fans of the long-running TV drama will know, ended up as President Bartlet's Chief of Staff, the job Emanuel is now apparently destined for in real life.

The 48-year-old has a strong fundraising pedigree and served as Director of Finance on Clinton's campaign for the primaries in 1991 before earning his own fortune when he left Washington's corridors of power to become a successful investment banker.

For a man who toyed with a ballet-dancing career in his youth, Emanuel is now feared in Washington as much as he is respected. A colleague from the Clinton administration said of him: "He's got this big old pair of brass balls, and you can just hear 'em clanking when he walks down the halls of Congress."