If President-elect Barack Obama taps hard-boiled corporate and political heavy hitter William Daley to run his inaugural committee as expected, it will indicate less concern with extravagant galas and more focus on averting a logistical meltdown.

Daley has served as an economic adviser to Obama throughout the campaign and has tight Chicago ties to senior adviser David Axelrod and incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. He led the Department of Commerce under President Clinton, and managed Al Gore’s narrow loss for the White House in 2000.