By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Dec. 1, 2008 – Later today, when President-Elect Barack Obama nominates Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of State, he will add the biggest name in the former Clinton administration to a laundry list of others now on his team.

There was always speculation Obama would need to find a high-profile respectable post for his former rival in exchange for her endorsement and campaigning for him in key states following the Democratic Convention, so today’s announcement is almost anticlimactic.

But when looking at the names of those tapped, or about to be tapped, for top posts you can’t help but notice a developing theme: the “Clinton Connection.”

With roughly 28 folks getting the nod (officially and unofficially) from the Obama camp, most have links to the Clinton administration – or deep ties inside the Chicago political machine.

While their isn’t anything different or new about a president bringing folks from home or from a previous administration, for Obama it seems to counter  his message of  bringing “change” to Washington, because a lot of these picks are already here. 

It’s early in his presidential picks, but he may want to cast a wider net.  The blogosphere is getting discouraged that he appears to be picking from the same batch of folks inside the beltway. 

Obama was elected with the support of a slew of political neophytes, so these decisions might need to be explained to those folks who worked so tirelessly on his campaign.  

That’s seems to be the consensus re.    It’s a great idea for the Obama Web site to have a posting for folks to apply for jobs in the administration, it appears transparent, but when every other appointment has a Clinton or Chicago tie – a novice to the process could become spectacle.

Some appointments are two-fers.  For example Obama’s chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel is an Illinois congressman and a former senior adviser to President Clinton.

Here’s just a few of the others on the list:

Mona Messina – Deputy chief of staff in the Clinton administration

Ellen Moran – White House director of communications on Clinton’s Inaugural team

Greg Craig – White House counsel, who defended Clinton against impeachment

Timothy Geithner – Secretary of the Treasury, who served at the Treasury Department under Clinton

Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.) – (U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration

David Axelrod – Senior adviser to the President Clinton with ties to Hillary Clinton through his wife’s work on behalf of the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy

Eric Holder – U.S. attorney general, who was deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration

Gov. Janet Napolitano – Secretary of Homeland Security, who was an appointee of Clinton’s as U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona

Peter R. Orszag – Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who was economic adviser during the Clinton administration

Rob Nabors – Deputy director of Office of Management and Budget, who was senior adviser in the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration.

The Hillary Clinton appointment will make the  junior New York senator the lead anchor of the newly formed national security team.  She’ll be joined by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who will stay in place at the Pentagon for two years, along with the added appointment of Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant, as national security adviser.

The appointment process isn’t an easy one, so we’ll have to see if a wider net is cast in the coming weeks.