they do have to be careful that a message doesn't emerge that they are being very presump yous before votes are counted on election day. >> let's put this in historical context and i want to try to understand, kate, what would then senator barack obama been doing this time eight years ago, perhaps, or even pushing it farther back to any of the bushes? what sorts of conversations do you think they would have been having potentially as far as transition is concerned and getting ahead? >> whoever wins in november, they'll have 4,000 presidential appointments and about 1,000 will require senate confirmation. since 2010, as kevin said, there's been this active transition. certainly it's been something that's been discussed well in advance. nancy reagan was very much on top of who was going to be in president reagan's administration well before the