NYT's Michael Shear and Jeff Zeleny report:
President Obama will give his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a send-off Friday as Mr. Emanuel officially announces his departure from the West Wing to run for mayor of Chicago, officials familiar with the decision said.
The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, at his daily briefing on Thursday afternoon said that the president will give two personnel announcements on Friday morning from the East Room of the White House. Mr. Gibbs, admitting that he was being purposely “oblique,” would not confirm whether the announcements would concern Mr. Emanuel.
The two officials, who declined to be named in advance of the official announcement, confirmed that Mr. Obama plans to name Pete Rouse, a senior adviser, to replace Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Rouse has been at the president’s side since Mr. Obama arrived in Washington nearly six years ago as a senator, serving as his chief of staff.
Mr. Rouse will not be an interim appointment, but rather will formally take over Mr. Emanuel’s title. While Mr. Rouse has expressed reservations about holding the chief of staff job for an extended period, he has agreed to do the job – for now.
In addition to serving as Obama's chief of staff in the Senate, Rouse was chief of staff for former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. He's worked in the West Wing since Obama's inauguration as a special adviser to the President and was co-chair of the transition team.
On a sort of a funny side note, @SarahPalinUSA (a Twitter-based cyborg rumored to be plotting a Presidential bid) tweeted some anger in Rouse's direction earlier this week:
Alaska media slept on the job for how many years re: Obama senior advisor Pete Rouse's claim to be AK resident and "local" voter? For shame.
Of course, as is the case with many things Twittered (and otherwise uttered) by the former half-term Governor (and complete nitwit), Alaska media actually has done a solid job reporting on Rouse, who moved to Alaska in 1978 -- 17 years before Joe "Kansas Farm Subsidy" Miller.
Indeed, thanks to the Anchorage Daily News, perhaps the most amusing trivia tidbit of all about Rouse is that his office is located between Rahm's and Axelrod's, which as the ADN points out is where Josh Lyman sat in television's version of the West Wing. Of course, on the TV show Lyman had to elect Matt Santos before becoming Chief of Staff, so Rouse is ahead of schedule in that department.