Handful of Westerners Top Picks on Obama Post-Election Lists

By Robert Struckman , 11-03-08

Former Sen. Max Baucus staffer Jim Messina has been named on a list of top posts and political insiders who would serve close to Barack Obama if he wins Tuesday’s election, according to Washington-based news service Politico.

Messina, who grew up in Boise, has spent most of his professional career in politics in Montana. He serves as one of Obama’s two chiefs of staff. Politico named him as one of four candidates for Obama’s deputy chief of staff.

Notably absent from the list were Govs. Brian Scheitzer and Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, possibly because both would rather govern in their home states than serve in Washington. Schweitzer earned himself a spot in the national political spotlight with a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August, and Freudenthal endorsed Obama early and often, one of the first of the western governors to do so.

Politico reported that while Obama’s top staff has begun to discuss who would run his administration, McCain’s remains focused on the election.

Other candidates from the Mountain West include Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano for U.S. Attorney General, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for Secretary of State, and for Secretary of Energy both Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, a Democrat.

Finally, for a post called health care czar, former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle’s name was floated.

One thing to watch early in Obama’s administration will be the way issues in the Mountain West are approached, and who heads up the efforts to do so. If Obama indeed wins the White House Tuesday, it will likely be thanks to states like Colorado and New Mexico and the general political climate up and down the Rocky Mountains. How that might be reflected in policy and practice, though, remains to be seen.

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