Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign nominated on a major party ticket. On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, making him the President-elect and the first African American elected President. He was the third sitting U.S. Senator, after Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy, to be elected president. Upon the vote of the Electoral College on December 15, 2008, and the subsequent certification thereof by a Joint Session of the United States Congress on January 8, 2009, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and Joe Biden Vice President of the United States, with 365 of
Robert S. Rivkin Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. He stayed in that position until 2009. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Rivkin was sworn in as the 21st General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 18, 2009, following unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate. A longtime Obama supporter and contributor, Rivkin first met Obama in 1991. While with DOT, Rivkin was counsel to Secretary Ray LaHood and served as DOT's Chief Legal Officer, with authority to resolve all legal questions concerning the Department's policies and programs and its over 55,000 employees and $78 billion budget. In 2009,