Will bring to the job: Experience as a vice-presidential chief of staff, as well as working for Mr. Biden. Mr. Klain was Vice President Al Gore’s top aide for four years in the Clinton White House, and before that he was chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee when Mr. Biden was its chairman. “Ron Klain has been a trusted adviser of mine for over 20 years,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.
Is linked to Mr. Obama by: Mr. Biden. Mr. Klain has also been a debate coach for Democratic presidential candidates since 1992, including for both Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama this year. Mr. Klain and Mr. Obama also have Harvard Law School in common, though Mr. Klain graduated a few years ahead of the president-elect. And both Mr. Obama and Mr. Klain worked on The Harvard Law Review. Also linked by former Senator Tom Daschle, a close adviser to Mr. Obama for whom Mr. Klain once worked.
In his own words: Describing the obsessive attention to politics from Internet sites and cable news in an interview last June, Mr. Klain invoked a sports metaphor: “Before if you followed the N.F.L., it was enough just to know the player. Now, more fans tend to know who the strength coach is for the Baltimore Ravens.”
Used to work as: Had positions at senior levels in all three branches of the federal government. After law school, he clerked for Justice Byron R. White on the Supreme Court; then, as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he helped oversee the confirmation of two Supreme Court justices, including the controversial review of Clarence Thomas. Mr. Klain also worked as staff director for the Senate Democratic Leadership Committees under Mr. Daschle, who was at the time the Senate Democratic leader and who is now the Obama administration’s nominee for secretary of health and human services. In the White House, besides working as chief of staff to Mr. Gore, Mr. Klain was chief of staff to Attorney General Janet Reno and was the associate White House counsel in charge of judicial nominations.
Carries as baggage: Some of his work since the Clinton administration may seem out of keeping with Mr. Obama’s sweeping promises about limiting the influence of lobbyists working on Mr. Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, Mr. Klain worked as a lobbyist at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers for clients including Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance giant now in government receivership, and ImClone, a drug maker under Congressional investigation for misleading federal regulators. Since 2005, Mr. Klain has been general counsel to Revolution LLC, an investment company founded by the Internet mogul Steve Case that has invested in health care companies. Although Mr. Klain’s lobbying work occurred so long ago that it would not pose a conflict with the detailed versions of Mr. Obama’s campaign pledges, Mr. Klain’s work for Revolution could require him to steer clear of related matters in the White House.
Also known for: His role in the contested Florida vote in the 2000 presidential election, a role re-enacted by Kevin Spacey in the HBO drama “Recount.” “The plural of chad is chad?” Mr. Klain’s character asks plaintively as he tries to understand the post-election fight. In real life, Mr. Klain had left Mr. Gore’s campaign in an internal power struggle and returned in time for the final, dragged-out battle. In the film, Mr. Spacey played Mr. Klain as Mr. Gore’s last champion, an outgunned protagonist who kept the faith even as other Democrats faded away — until Mr. Gore finally bowed to the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore.
Résumé includes: Born Aug. 8, 1961, in Indianapolis ... father was a building contractor, mother was a travel agent ... first in his family to attend college ... landed his first internship on Capitol Hill at 15 ... after graduating from Georgetown in 1983, postponed law school to manage the aborted Senate campaign of Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts ... at Harvard Law, graduated with the best grades in his class ... his sister, Marlo Klain, covers car racing for ESPN ... is married to Monica Medina, senior environmental counsel at the Pew Charitable Trusts, and they have three children, Hannah, Michael and Daniel.