Gibbs named press secretary

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named longtime spokesman Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary and reached outside his inner circle for the post of White House communications director.

The director of communications will be Ellen Moran, the current executive director of the Washington group EMILY’s List, an active supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary.

Moran will join a team of longtime close advisers who will work closely with Obama on a daily basis.

Obama’s choice of Moran was a surprise compared to Gibbs, who went to work for Obama’s Senate campaign in 2004 and was communications director while Obama was in the Senate.