The Dirk Watch

Decorating the Interior

By Shea Andersen, 3-15-06

Enough newspaper speculation. So yesterday. Time to move on to other nail-biters.

Specifically, which Westerner will President Bush pick to replace Gale Norton?

As we expect is going on across the West, every state with a potential candidate will have its wags who are just certain it's going to be their boy.

Thus do we here in Idaho, with our thumbs behind our braces, suspect that Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is digging his Washington suit out again.

The Kempthorne Watch began last week, shortly after Norton announced her resignation. You can jump on the train here at KTVB Channel 7.

Follow along to the Denver Post, where the chattering class are now calling Kempthorne the "front-runner" in a list that also includes Colorado's former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. The Harley-riding, party-switching Campbell certainly would be a flamboyant, interesting choice.

In Utah, they're doing they're darndest to speculate about former Congressman Jim Hansen. Salt Lake Tribune Washington correspondent Robert Gehrke gets things rolling with a gem of a lede:
"Jim Hansen made a career in Congress driving environmentalists bonkers. Maybe he hasn't had his fill yet."

Gehrke, however, admits a mere paragraph or two later that Kempthorne is considered the front-runner.

The Casper Star-Tribune names Wyoming's U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas as another likely. Maybe it's because at 73, he's the same age as Hansen. Maybe not. They, too, bow to the Denver Post's speculation about Kempthorne.

Of course, any and all candidates would have to step over Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett, who is currently set to be acting secretary when Norton takes her leave at the end of March. She would have to be seen as a front-runner as well, since she only recently got confirmed, according to the Denver Post.

Here in Idaho's State Capitol, the wall-leaners say it's Kempthorne for sure. They note that every media outlet has run, at least once, the photos of Kempthorne with Norton in her last trip to Idaho, to help the state take over wolf management. They note Kempthorne's trips to Washington recently where he overnighted at the White House. And everyone wonders at his next step. Is it back towards Washington?

The Idaho Statesman, however, ran a brief item from The Associated Press yesterday, wherein former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, himself Secretary of the Interior under President Carter, saying he wouldn't back Kempthorne unless he promised to oppose the sale of public lands. We doubt that Bush is looking for the blessing of Andrus as he makes his pick, but it is the sort of questioning Kempthorne would face if he were named.

You might expect us to update this as we go. And you would be right to do so.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.