McCain Takes Unusual Tack With Transition Team

From WSJ:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has set up an unconventional transition process to take over the White House in the event of an Election Day victory.

And his choice to lead the effort, veteran Republican warhorse and confidant John Lehman Jr., is weighed down by some negative political baggage from weapons-buying scandals dating back to the Cold War era.

Previous presidential transition efforts focused on vetting would-be appointees, assembling hefty policy briefing books and making sure politically reliable operatives were assigned as liaisons to departments and agencies. That's largely the path Democratic candidate Barack Obama has chosen, assigning dozens of advisers to working groups. The participants have strictly delineated responsibilities and must abide by specific conflict-of-interest rules.

But aides say Sen. McCain's transition team, headed by former Navy Secretary Lehman, has a different, less-structured approach. Mr. Lehman and a small group of aides are concentrating on the logistics of swiftly taking control of the U.S. national security apparatus.