WASHINGTON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The Bush administration and the two main presidential candidates are working together to ensure next January's presidential power transfer goes smoothly, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

    The campaigns of Republican presidential contender John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama are compiling lists of potential nominees for dozens of national-security and counter-terrorism positions so would-be policy makers can be vetted and confirmed as quickly as possible, the report said.

    Given the inevitable gaps, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked senior Pentagon officials to be prepared to stay in their jobs for the first few months of 2009.

    The Obama campaign has endorsed the idea. Obama aides say the Illinois senator is considering asking Gates to stay as defense chief if he is elected.

    At the Department of Homeland Security, career officials have been assigned to the number-two posts in critical areas so they can step in when political appointees leave.

    Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is forming a transition office and some of his senior aides have talked privately about staying on temporarily if requested.

    The move, said the newspaper, reflects the challenges posed by the first wartime U.S. political transition in more than 40 years and fears of a possible terrorist strike or major crisis in Iraq or Afghanistan during the next president's first months in office.

    The effort is also designed to avoid the power vacuums that usually accompany a shift in administration.