presidency. mr. sullivan: and not really 77 days, that is president-elect. he did not start thinking about the transition on election day, right, chris? started months ahead of time. every one of those days, it is growing opportunity to be prepared. mr. lu: we started planning in may of 2008, maybe actually april, before candidate obama had even grabs the democratic nomination. we understood the importance of planning in a very positive way. planning a transition is one of these really unique experiences where you cannot ask for an extension of time. on the noon of january 20, you have to be ready. that time goes very fast. many decisions you make during transition ultimately affect the success of your presidency. the key to all of this is understanding that the matter how great the planning is, you have to be prepared for the unexpected. in the beginning of 2008, the spring of 2008 we started