Pretty deep, in fact. While researching this piece on how to get an executive branch appointment, Carrie and I came up with A LOT of names for various cabinet positions in an Obama administration. Being the useful reporter I am, I'm dumping my notebook after the jump -- see what you think, keeping in mind the value of speculation (little) and the lack of information upon which we're basing the speculation (large). The names come from talking to people who might know, other news organizations (including CQ's great breakdown -- from whence this game -- but the details are not available online) and the power of intuition. I'll also include the somewhat more sparse McCain list -- sparse because the odds of McCain having a cabinet are lower than Obama's and so there has been less campaigning and speculation, and, I'd argue, because the Bush administration chewed up and spit out a lot of people who might have been credible executive officials, and two-years of down ballot problems on the GOP side have stripped away some of the back-bench. In a similar effort, Mike Allen at Politico has an extensive Cabinet/Senior staff list for Obama. Whatever happens tomorrow, these lists should give us some idea of where government is going.
--Tim Fernholz
