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Should Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama's pick for homeland security chief, be confirmed as expected by the Senate, Napolitano will need to step down from her current position as governor of Arizona.

The state has no lieutenant governor, and its laws dictate that the governor, who is a Democrat, be replaced by Secretary of State Jan Brewer – a Republican.

The Associated Press reports that Brewer, who would be governor through 2010, "had a reputation as a fiscal hard-liner and conservative on social issues while a legislator in the 1980s and 1990s, so her taking over the governorship would mean a new approach from Napolitano's direction."

Since governors are not members of a legislative body along the lines of the House or Senate, a shift from blue to red in the Arizona governor's office doesn't hold great national significance. There would be far more fanfare if a Senate seat was to switch hands due to an Obama cabinet selection, though such a scenario is extremely unlikely.

There are three senators who have left or will likely give up their seats: Illinois Sen. and President-elect Obama, Delaware Sen. and Vice-president elect Joe Biden, and New York Sen. and secretary of state nominee Hillary Clinton.

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Barack Obama has been piling up the endorsements lately: John Kerry, Nevada unions, and now, according to the Associated Press, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and two-time presidential candidate and former Colorado Democratic Senator Gary Hart.*

The formal announcement concerning Napolitano is expected to come this afternoon. Napolitano is in her second-term and is well known in Arizona, and could help Obama in nearby Nevada, where caucuses will be held Jan. 19. The AP reports the pair will appear together in Las Vegas this evening.

Hart, who ran for president in 1984 and 1988, called Obama "the embodiment of what is best about our nation." He said in a release that ``Senator Obama's personal history uniquely qualifies him to restore America's standing in the world.''

Democratic Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, meanwhile, is now weighing an endorsement – one that could factor heavily with both African-Americans and South Carolinians. The New York Times reports that Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, had planned to remain neutral in the race but is now considering changing his mind over Hillary Clinton's comments on civil rights.

On Monday, Clinton said “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... It took a president to get it done.” She was trying to make a case for what she sees as the importance of her experience and competence compared to rival Barack Obama's uplifting rhetoric. Her advisors later said the comments did not capture her meaning.

“We have to be very, very careful about how we speak about that era in American politics,” Clyburn, a longtime civil rights activist, told the Times. “It is one thing to run a campaign and be respectful of everyone’s motives and actions, and it is something else to denigrate those. That bothered me a great deal.”

South Carolina Democrats go to the polls on Jan. 26th, and African-American voters are expected to be a major factor. “His influence would be extraordinary if he should endorse somebody,” South Carolina Democratic activist Don Fowler told the Times.

*This post has been updated with news of Hart's endorsement.