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Could You Pass Obama's Background Check?

President-Elect Tries To Weed Out Controversial Candidates

Posted: 11:04 am EST November 13, 2008Updated: 6:24 pm EST November 13, 2008

Applicants for President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet get ready to chronicle your life story.

Those interested in joining Obama's administration have to pass an extensive background test.

Document: Background Check PDF | Survey: Would You Pass?

The Obama transition team is sending a seven-page, 63-item questionnaire to every candidate for Cabinet and other high-ranking positions in the incoming administration.

It includes requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well.

Obama wants applicants to “list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the Internet,” and asks people to include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook.com pages.

Hoping to weed out anyone with ties to companies at the center of the $700 billion bailout, question 18 of the Obama application asks whether “you, your spouse or any member of your immediate family” have been affiliated with Fannie, Freddie, American International Group, Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government bailout.

“President-elect Obama made a commitment to change the way Washington does business, and the vetting process exemplifies that,” Stephanie Cutter, chief spokeswoman for the Obama transition office, told the New York Times.

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