Morning line, Dec. 18, 2008

Obama plans to nominate retiring Republican Illinois congressman Ray LaHood as his Transportation secretary, the Washington Post reports.  LaHood is a centrist, noted for an independent streak and has a reputation as a deficit hawk. We complimented LaHood several years ago for sending a letter to lobbyists asking them to stop raising money on his behalf. [See pages 25-26.] (More after the jump.)

Mary Schapiro, head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, will be nominated today as the new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, MSNBC's FirstRead reports.

Schapiro has held several other posts in the financial regulatory world. From FirstRead: "She has served under both Presidents Clinton and Bush, as chairman of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (appointed in 1994) and in January of this year, was appointed by Bush to the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy ... She has also served on the SEC and headed the National Association Of Securities Dealers."

The Wall Street Journal reports on the paths Schapiro has crossed with accused hedge fund "fraudster" Bernard Madoff.

Obama's nomination of Tom Vilsack has drawn mixed reactions. National Journal has a wide of array of groups, including industry folks and the National Farmers Union, praising Vilsack's selection. But the Organic Consumers Association unloads on Vilsack for his stance on genetically engineered crops. [Via Talking Points Memo]

Politico reports that gays are irate at Obama's selection of evangelical and gay-marriage-ban advocate Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration.

And NASA, the administrator of which has publicly quarreled with the Transition, will nonetheless be featured in the inauguration parade, National Journal's Lost in Transition reports.