After Daschle, Who?

As I noted yesterday and as The Washington Post noted this morning, there really wasn’t a Plan B if Daschle dropped out and so the administration is considering any number of candidates. I’d heard that a couple of obvious names, Howard Dean and John Kitzaber, both former governors and physicians, were not in play. I’d heard a familiar name: Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas Governor and early Obama supporter. More out there names that I heard included Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Vic Snyder who is an attorney and a physician. This morning there’s talk about Phil Bredesen, the popular governor of Tennessee and former Nashville mayor. Breseden is a big figure and that’s clearly what Obama wants at HHS to help push through his health care reform package. So it seems as plausible to me as any name but this is the silly season when lots of names will be floated and unless you’re in the room with Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, Melody Barnes or some other top person, I think it’s really just speculation.