Wired Oscars: Share Your Picks for the 2013 Academy Award Nominees

The nominees for the 85th Academy Awards were announced this morning, with Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln and Les Miserables leading in nominations for the most prestigious golden statues of bald men awarded annually in the world of film.

The nominees were selected by members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – after a delay due to technical difficulties with the first ever online voting system — and the winners will be announced at the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood on Feb. 24.

But who cares what they think! Regardless of what happens in the “canonical” version of the Oscars, Wired will be assembling its own alternate universe version of how the most prestigious awards in film should go down, and we’d like your input. Tell us your choices for the winner in nine of the most important categories — or write in your own nominees if you think the Academy dropped the ball. (How could they forget best directors Ben Affleck/Quentin Tarantino/Kathryn Bigelow/Joss Whedon! The humanity!)

Share your picks below in our two-page poll and then keep scrolling for the full slate of nominees, from Best Actor to Best Live Action Short Film.

Complete list of 2013 Academy Awards Nominees:

BEST PICTURE
Amour - Nominees to be determined
Argo - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
Django Unchained – Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
Les Misérables – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
Life of Pi – Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
Lincoln – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Silver Linings – Playbook Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

DIRECTOR
Amour – Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – Ang Lee
Lincoln – Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell

LEAD ACTOR
Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Denzel Washington in Flight

LEAD ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts in The Impossible

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin in Argo
Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln
Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams in The Master
Sally Field in Lincoln
Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Brave – Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie – Tim Burton
ParaNorman – Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits – Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph – Rich Moore

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anna Karenina – Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained – Robert Richardson
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall – Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables – Paco Delgado
Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror – Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers – Nominees to be determined
How to Survive a Plague – Nominees to be determined
The Invisible War – Nominees to be determined
Searching for Sugar Man – Nominees to be determined

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Inocente – Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point – Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine – Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart – Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption – Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

FILM EDITING
Argo – William Goldenberg
Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
Lincoln – Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour – Austria
Kon-Tiki – Norway
No – Chile
A Royal Affair – Denmark
War Witch – Canada

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Hitchcock – Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables – Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

ORIGINAL SCORE
Anna Karenina – Dario Marianelli
Argo – Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi – Mychael Danna
Lincoln – John Williams
Skyfall – Thomas Newman

ORIGINAL SONG
“Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice” Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted” Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi” Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from “Skyfall” Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from “Les Misérables” Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Anna Karenina – Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables – Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi – Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln – Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Adam and Dog – Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole – PES
Head over Heels – Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare” – David Silverman
Paperman – John Kahrs

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Asad – Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys – Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew – Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) – Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry – Yan England

SOUND EDITING
Argo – Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty – Paul N.J. Ottosson

SOUND MIXING
Argo - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi - Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall – Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
Marvel’s The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo – Screenplay by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – Screenplay by David Magee
Lincoln – Screenplay by Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook – Screenplay by David O. Russell

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Amour - Written by Michael Haneke
Django Unchained - Written by Quentin Tarantino
Flight - Written by John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom - Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - Written by Mark Boal

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Timberlake hints return to music in video

NEW YORK (AP) — Is Justin Timberlake bringing his music career back?

The superstar has concentrated almost exclusively on his acting career over the last few years. But on Thursday, he posted a video on his website that showed him walking into a studio, putting on headphones and saying: “I’m ready.”

Timberlake hasn’t made an album since 2006′s Grammy-winning “FutureSex/LoveSounds.” In the video, Timberlake is also heard saying that he obsesses over his music and doesn’t want to put music out that he doesn’t love — and that you have to wait for music you love.

Timberlake — who recently married longtime girlfriend Jessica Biel — has been in several movies, including “The Social Network,” ”Bad Teacher,” ”Friends With Benefits” and most recently “Trouble With the Curve.”

___

Online:

http://www.justintimberlake.com

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City Room: How Are You Warding Off the Flu?

Sure, you could go out and get a flu shot like everyone keeps telling you to do. It’s relatively cheap, and available just about everywhere.

But the shot is not 100 percent effective. And it takes two weeks to kick in. And needles are scary. (The spray vaccine, on the other hand — up your nose! — is just gross.) Plus, the flu has its upsides.

On the bright side, having the flu was a great start to my spring break diet.. eating nothing and still managing to puke

— Allison (@Ally_YM) 6 Jan 13

Turns out I don’t have the flu, I just really like NyQuil and hate wearing pants.

— NYC Blonde (@NYC_Blonde) 10 Jan 13

If you’re holding out, or procrastinating, or have decided against getting vaccinated altogether, what alternative means are you using to keep those bad bugs away? Comment in the box below.

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F.D.A. Requires Cuts to Dosages of Ambien and Other Sleep Drugs

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it is requiring manufacturers of popular pills like Ambien and Zolpimist that help millions of Americans sleep at night to cut the recommended dosage in half for women after laboratory studies showed that the medicines can leave patients drowsy in the morning and at risk for car accidents.

The new requirement applies to drugs containing the active ingredient zolpidem, by far the most widely used sleep aid. Using lower doses means less of the drug will remain in the blood in the morning hours, and will reduce the risk that people who use the drug will be impaired while driving.

The agency told manufacturers that the recommended dosage for women, who eliminate zolpidem from their bodies more slowly than men, should be lowered to 5 milligrams from 10 milligrams for immediate-release products like Ambien, Edluar and Zolpimist. Dosages for extended-release products should be lowered to 6.25 milligrams from 12.5, the agency said. For men, the agency informed manufacturers that labels should recommend that health care providers should “consider” prescribing lower doses.

An estimated 10 to 15 percent of women will have a level of zolpidem in their blood that could impair driving eight hours after taking the pill, while only about 3 percent of men do, said Dr. Robert Temple, deputy director for clinical science in the F.D.A.'s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Patients taking the higher doses should continue them for the time being, agency officials said, but should consult with their doctors about altering the dose. Doctors will still be told that they can prescribe the higher dosage if the lower one does not work, Dr. Temple said.

Sleeping pills have boomed in popularity over the years along with the increasingly frantic pace of modern American life. According to I.M.S., a health care and technology company, about 60 million prescriptions for sleeping pills were dispensed in 2011, up by about 20 percent since 2006. About 40 million of those were for products containing zolpidem.

Reports of ill aftereffects from sleeping pills have circulated for years, and some doctors questioned why the F.D.A. took so long to act. Mishaps with sleepy driving – and even strange acts of texting, eating or having sex in the night without any memory of it in the morning – have been known about for years.

“In this case the F.D.A. may be behind the eight ball,” said Daniel Carlat, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University. “This has been a known problem. Few doctors will be surprised hearing about this. They’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve already seen this in our patients.'”

He added that Thursday’s announcement, “will be good for public health because it will get patients to ask their doctors about the appropriate dosage.”

Agency officials acknowledged that they have received reports of impaired driving and other problems associated with the drug for years, but said that it wasn’t so easy to draw a direct connection between the reports and the effect of the drug. Patients often did not know what time they took their pill. Sometimes they had been drinking.

It wasn’t until control trials of the drug Intermezzo, which was approved in 2011 for middle-of-the-night waking, that driving simulation tests were done on patients taking zolpidem. Using those results, the agency began to put together a more complete picture of the risks, said Ellis Unger, an official at the F.D.A.'s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The agency linked the driving simulation information with data from manufacturers on patients’ blood levels and determined that levels above 50 nanograms per milliliter increased the risk of crashing while driving.

“A lot of people are wondering about the elephant in the room,” Dr. Unger said. “Why did this take so long? This is science and our thinking evolves over time.”

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Baseball Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza shut out

No players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year in a polarizing vote that reopened the wounds of the steroid era.

Home run king Barry Bonds, owner of baseball’s most cherished record, was resoundingly rejected. So was pitcher Roger Clemens, who risked prison time by challenging allegations that he used steroids and successfully defended himself against perjury charges.

Craig Biggio came closest to election, getting 68.2% of the vote and falling 39 votes short. With 569 members of the Baseball Writers' Assn. of America returning ballots, 427 votes were required to meet the 75% standard for election.

This is only the eighth time since 1936 that no player has been elected by the baseball writers.

Former Detroit Tigers ace Jack Morris was second in the balloting with 67.7%. Jeff Bagwell got 59.6%, followed by Mike Piazza at 57.8% and Tim Raines at 52.2%.

For the first time since 1960, the Hall of Fame -- located in Cooperstown, N.Y. -- will host a ceremony with no living inductees. The July 28 ceremony will honor the three inductees selected by a committee on baseball’s pre-integration era, but all of those inductees have been dead for at least 74 years.

Bonds, who holds the career and single-season home-run records, is the only seven-time most valuable player. Clemens is the only seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

Yet their links to alleged steroid use turned each player from a first-ballot lock into an also-ran, with voters sharply divided among those who deny induction to any player with ties to performance-enhancing drugs, those who prefer to wait and see what further information might emerge about those players, and those who vote for the most dominant players whatever their era.

Clemens was named on 37.6% of the ballots; Bonds on 36.2%. Sammy Sosa received only 12.5%.

Players remain on the ballot for 15 years, provided they receive at least 5% of the vote.

Dale Murphy, a two-time National League MVP, got 18.6% in his 15^th and final year on the ballot. Morris will be on the ballot for the final time next year.

Mark McGwire, who had gotten no more than 23.7% in six previous appearances on the ballot, got 16.9% this time. McGwire is about to start his first season as hitting coach for the Dodgers.

McGwire and Sosa were credited with reviving the sport in 1998 when the two players staged a fabled battle for the single-season home-run record. McGwire won with 70, and Sosa finished with 66.

In 2001, Bonds hit 73 home runs, a record that stands.

McGwire has since admitted to steroid use. Sosa has not, although the New York Times reported he failed a steroid test in 2003, the year before baseball started identifying and penalizing offenders.

Bonds leads the all-time home-run list at 762, with Sosa eighth at 609 and McGwire 10^th at 583. The trio are the only men to hit more than 62 home runs in a season – Bonds did it once, McGwire twice and Sosa three times.

ALSO:

Suspicious minds could keep Mike Piazza out of the Hall

What if they gave a Hall of Fame ceremony and no one came?

Dodger Stadium remodel to include wider concourses, new scoreboard

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Displair Brings You a Gesture-Enabled, Mist-Powered Display

LAS VEGAS — You won’t be tapping and swiping that boring glass touchscreen much longer if Displair has anything to say.

The Russian company is here at CES showing off an interactive display made, as the name suggests, of air. Water mist shoots out of a stand to create a moving, unique display. Your computer or tablet screen is projected onto the display, and you interact with it just as you would with a touchscreen. Tap buttons, pinch to zoom, and swipe just like you usually do. I did all that and more while playing Fruit Ninja.

A camera behind the display picks up movements, much like the Microsoft Kinect. What makes Displair’s camera especially impressive is that it can recognize movements with an accuracy to 1 centimeter, allowing it to register fine movements like taps.

Displair plans to bring the product to market in the first or second quarter of this year. It isn’t cheap at $15,000, and at that price is targeted primarily at advertisers, hotels and exhibitors, but the company hopes to make one for consumers at some point.

It’s pricey and not very practical for your everyday user, but hey, it can double as your home’s dehumidifier.

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Bette Midler returning to Broadway as Super Agent Sue Mengers

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Bette Midler will return to Broadway for the first time in 30 years to play legendary agent Sue Mengers.

The Divine Miss M will star in John Logan‘s new play “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers.”

For Midler, it is a chance to return to her theatrical roots at a time when her career is experiencing something of a revival. Largely absent from screens for much of the past decade, Midler is starring in the unexpected family comedy hit “Parental Guidance,” which has grossed nearly $ 70 million worldwide since debuting last month.

The chain-smoking, unapologetically brash Mengers was an icon among the New Hollywood set. In a male-dominated time and profession, she became the first female “super agent,” representing the likes of Nick Nolte, Burt Reynolds, Candice Bergen, Ryan O’Neal, Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand. She rose up the Hollywood ranks despite modest beginnings as a refugee from Nazi Germany. In addition to her professional achievements, her dinner parties were legendary and a ticket to a Mengers’ gathering was considered a sign that a new talent had arrived.

Mengers kept her real age secret, although she was widely believed to be around 80 when she died in 2011 after suffering a series of small strokes. Graydon Carter, her friend and the editor of Vanity Fair, first reported Mengers’ death in a blog post. Carter is one of the producers of “I’ll Eat You Last.”

Logan, who wrote the play, won a Tony Award for “Red,” which examined the life of painter Mark Rothko. He recently wrote the screenplay for the last James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” which has grossed north of $ 1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Logan said he only met Mengers one time at a dinner party, but he was drawn to her wit and sense of sadness.

“At one point I asked her what had changed most about Hollywood since she had arrived,” Logan recalled in a statement. “She didn’t hesitate for a second: ‘Honey, we used to have fun…’ Later in the evening she settled back and lit up a joint. There she was: a joint in one hand and a cigarette in the other. At that moment I knew I had to write the play.”

Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello (“Wicked,” “Take Me Out”) will stage the play. The show will open April 24 at a Shubert theatre to be announced.

Midler got her start appearing in the Broadway productions of “Fiddler on the Roof” and the rock musical “Salvation” in the 1960s, before becoming a Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated singer and actress.

In addition to her work in films, such as “The Rose” and “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” Midler’s stage work includes the Tony Award-winning “Clams on the Half Shell,” the Radio City Music Hall concert “Experience the Divine” and “The Showgirl Must Go On,” which headlined at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace.

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Gaps Seen in Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers

Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already received at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled youths, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers.

The study, in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that 55 percent of suicidal teenagers had received some therapy before they thought about suicide, planned it or tried to kill themselves, contradicting the widely held belief that suicide is due in part to a lack of access to treatment.

The findings, based on interviews with a nationwide sample of more than 6,000 teenagers and at least one parent of each, linked suicidal behavior to complex combinations of mood disorders like depression and behavior problems like attention-deficit and eating disorders, as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

The study found that about one in eight teenagers had persistent suicidal thoughts at some point, and that about a third of those who had suicidal thoughts had made an attempt, usually within a year of having the idea.

Previous studies have had similar findings, based on smaller, regional samples. But the new study is the first to suggest, in a large nationwide sample, that access to treatment does not make a big difference.

The study suggests that effective treatment for severely suicidal teenagers must address not just mood disorders, but also behavior problems that can lead to impulsive acts, experts said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,386 people between the ages of 13 and 18 committed suicide in 2010, the latest year for which numbers are available.

“I think one of the take-aways here is that treatment for depression may be necessary but not sufficient to prevent kids from attempting suicide,” said Dr. David Brent, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the study. “We simply do not have empirically validated treatments for recurrent suicidal behavior.”

The report said nothing about whether the therapies given were state of the art or carefully done, said Matt Nock, a professor of psychology at Harvard and the lead author, and it is possible that some of the treatments prevented suicide attempts. “But it’s telling us we’ve got a long way to go to do this right,” Dr. Nock said. His co-authors included Ronald C. Kessler of Harvard and researchers from Boston University and Children’s Hospital Boston.

Margaret McConnell, a consultant in Alexandria, Va., said her daughter Alice, who killed herself in 2006 at the age of 17, was getting treatment at the time. “I think there might have been some carelessness in the way the treatment was done,” Ms. McConnell said, “and I was trusting a 17-year-old to manage her own medication. We found out after we lost her that she wasn’t taking it regularly.”

In the study, researchers surveyed 6,483 adolescents from the ages of 13 to 18 and found that 9 percent of male teenagers and 15 percent of female teenagers experienced some stretch of having persistent suicidal thoughts. Among girls, 5 percent made suicide plans and 6 percent made at least one attempt (some were unplanned).

Among boys, 3 percent made plans and 2 percent carried out attempts, which tended to be more lethal than girls’ attempts.

(Suicidal thinking or behavior was virtually unheard-of before age 10.)

Over all, about one-third of teenagers with persistent suicidal thoughts went on to make an attempt to take their own lives.

Almost all of the suicidal adolescents in the study qualified for some psychiatric diagnosis, whether depression, phobias or generalized anxiety disorder. Those with an added behavior problem — attention-deficit disorder, substance abuse, explosive anger — were more likely to act on thoughts of self-harm, the study found.

Doctors have tested a range of therapies to prevent or reduce recurrent suicidal behaviors, with mixed success. Medications can ease depression, but in some cases they can increase suicidal thinking. Talk therapy can contain some behavior problems, but not all.

One approach, called dialectical behavior therapy, has proved effective in reducing hospitalizations and suicide attempts in, among others, people with borderline personality disorder, who are highly prone to self-harm.

But suicidal teenagers who have a mixture of mood and behavior issues are difficult to reach. In one 2011 study, researchers at George Mason University reduced suicide attempts, hospitalizations, drinking and drug use among suicidal adolescent substance abusers. The study found that a combination of intensive treatments — talk therapy for mood problems, family-based therapy for behavior issues and patient-led reduction in drug use — was more effective than regular therapies.

“But that’s just one study, and it’s small,” said Dr. Brent of the University of Pittsburgh. “We can treat components of the overall problem, but that’s about all.”

Ms. McConnell said that her daughter’s depression had seemed mild and that there was no warning that she would take her life. “I think therapy does help a lot of people, if it’s handled right,” she said.

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Obama Plans to Name Jacob J. Lew as Treasury Secretary, Officials Say

WASHINGTON – President Obama will announce on Thursday that he intends to elevate his chief of staff and former budget director, Jacob J. Lew, to be his next secretary of Treasury, according to people familiar with the decision.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Lew, 57, would be Mr. Obama’s second Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, the last remaining principal on Mr. Obama’s original economic team, at the head of that team.

While Mr. Lew has much less experience than Mr. Geithner in international economics and financial markets, he would come to the job with far more expertise in fiscal policy and in dealing with Congress than Mr. Geithner did when he became secretary at the start of Mr. Obama’s term. That shift in skills reflects the changed demands of the times, as emphasis has shifted from the global recession and financial crisis of the president’s first years to the continuing budget fights with Republicans in Congress to stabilize the growth of federal debt.

The partisan tension over the budget between Mr. Obama and Republicans suggests that Mr. Lew will face a grilling by Senate Republicans in confirmation hearings. But despite weeks of speculation that Mr. Lew would be named Treasury secretary, Republicans have not signaled that they plan to mount the kind of opposition they raised to Mr. Obama’s potential nomination of Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, for secretary of state, and Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense; the president named Mr. Hagel on Monday, and eventually settled on Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, for secretary of state.

Mr. Lew’s departure would create an important vacancy for what would be Mr. Obama’s fifth White House chief of staff, a turnover rate that is in contrast with the stability at Mr. Geithner’s Treasury. The leading candidate is said to be Denis McDonough, currently the deputy national security adviser in the White House.

Mr. Lew had a brief turn in the financial industry before joining the Obama administration four years ago, working at the financial giant Citicorp, first as managing director of Citi Global Wealth Management and then as chief operating officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments.

His first job with Mr. Obama was at the State Department, where Mr. Lew was the deputy secretary responsible for managing day-to-day operations of the department and its international economic policy. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton protested to Mr. Obama when the president in 2010 tapped Mr. Lew to replace Peter R. Orszag as budget director.

It was Mr. Lew’s second stint heading the Office of Management and Budget. He previously served in President Bill Clinton’s second term, helping to negotiate a bipartisan budget deal with Congressional Republicans that led to four years of budget surpluses. In the 1980s, Mr. Lew was a senior aide to House Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill, a Democrat, also advising in budget negotiations with President Ronald Reagan.

He has been deeply involved in the deficit negotiations over the last two years. And, if he were quickly confirmed, as Treasury secretary his first test could come as soon as next month, when analysts expect a fight over raising the debt ceiling, which is the legal limit on the amount that the government can borrow.

Republican leaders have said they would refuse to raise the ceiling unless Mr. Obama agrees to equal spending cuts, particularly in entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. Mr. Obama has said that he will not negotiate over the ceiling, with the country’s full faith and credit at stake.

With battle lines already drawn, the country is expected to run out of room under the ceiling sometime between mid-February and March. At that point, Congress would need to raise the borrowing limit, or the country would start defaulting on obligated payments, like those promised to seniors, doctors, contractors and bondholders.

Mr. Lew’s role as an Obama negotiator in 2011 did not endear him to Republicans, in particular House Speaker John A. Boehner, and he took a lower-profile role in the most recent negotiations at year-end. The White House was eager to avoid controversy given the likelihood of Mr. Lew’s nomination to Treasury. Instead Mr. Geithner and Rob Nabors, the director of legislative affairs, were lead negotiators.

Mr. Lew, a native of New York, is known for his low-key, professorial style and organizational skills. While he was a favorite of Mr. Obama and other staff members as chief of staff, Mr. Lew made it known that he did not want to continue in that post for a second term.

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Testimony about Colorado massacre resumes in James Holmes hearing

More emotional testimony was expected at a hearing on the Aurora movie theater massacre, as prosecutors continued to lay out their case against the defendant, James Holmes.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Vivid testimony about the movie theater massacre that shocked a nation extended into a second day as a preliminary hearing for James E. Holmes resumed Tuesday.

Prosecutors continued to lay out their case against Holmes, 25, accused of killing 12 people and injuring about 70 during a shooting rampage on July 20 in a suburban cinema. At issue in the proceeding, expected to last a week, is whether there is a sufficient case to go to trial.

In the first day of testimony Monday, law enforcement officials described the bloody shooting scene and heartbreaking rescue attempts to bring the gravely wounded to treatment.

PHOTOS: Colorado movie theater shooting

The prosecution has been trying to show that Holmes acted deliberately while the defense in cross-examination has focused on how the former neuroscience graduate student appeared emotionally detached, bolstering their expected insanity presentation.

Throughout, Holmes has sat impassive, while some of the victims' relatives have wept during the more graphic testimony.

On Tuesday, the atmosphere at the Arapahoe County Court House contained less of the frenzy that marked the first day. Yet the proceedings come as the debate over gun control has heated up in the wake of the attack last month in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 children and six adults were killed by a lone gunman who invaded the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman first killed his mother in their home and ended his shooting spree by killing himself.

WHO THEY WERE: Aurora theater shooting

Tuesday’s testimony also comes as the nation commemorates the second anniversary of the Tucson shooting where six died and 13 were injured when gunman Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot where former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet with her constituents. Tucson, which has had events for several days, will mark the exact time of the shooting with the ringing of bells across the city at the moment of the morning attack.

Giffords, who went through a painful recovery and rehabilitation for gun wounds to the head, has become a spokeswoman for greater gun control. She and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, announced they would raise money to support gun control efforts. The pair visited Newtown last week.

On Monday, Aurora police testified about the horrors they found in the theater, including blood-soaked aisles and walls, crumpled bodies, and scores of spent shell casings.

TIMELINE: U.S. mass shootings

The prosecution also showed surveillance video of Holmes entering the theater complex just past midnight. He had purchased his ticket 12 days earlier. The chilling, soundless video shows Holmes redeeming his ticket at a kiosk, giving it to a ticket taker, then lingering near the concession stand for a few minutes before turning toward Theater 9, where the Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises” was playing.

Prosecutors have yet to announce whether they will seek the death penalty.

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Deam reported from Centennial, Colo.; Muskal reported from Los Angeles. 

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