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• Some Conservatives Fear Obama Advisers Lean Too Far Left 

But some government experts argue that in this particular transition, a wider-than-usual ideological gap separates the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama team and that both sides are likely to view the other as extreme.

"The incoming Bush people were all about stopping regulation. The Obama people will do their best to accelerate regulation that they think protects the environment, workers, airline safety, et cetera," said Paul Light, a New York University professor of government who has served as a consultant on the transition to The Washington Post. "That's not barbarians at the gate. It's a difference of philosophy." . . .

Besides Achtenberg and Lee, other transition advisers' past positions are sending off flares in the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party. None of them responded to requests for comment.

William V. Corr, a vocal tobacco-control activist at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, publicly attacked the Bush administration in 2006 for weakening the government's prosecution of tobacco companies and its chances for regulating tobacco. Now he is making recommendations for strengthening the Food and Drug Administration's regulation of millions of other grocery and drugstore products, though he has recused himself from discussing tobacco.

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