It seems like Barack Obama is determined to have a Salazar in his Cabinet. From the Denver Post:
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is a leading contender to become President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of the Interior, two sources have confirmed.
Reuters News Service used even stronger language in a report Sunday, saying Salazar had become the top candidate for the job. […]
A source close to Obama’s transition team told The Denver Post late last week that Salazar was under consideration for the Cabinet position.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak, said at the time it appeared that it was all but up to Salazar as to whether he wanted the post.
A second source close to the process also confirmed Sunday that Sala zar was a leading contender. The senator’s spokesmen did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
A vacancy here would be filled by an appointment from Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, but would also add another race to the growing list of 2010 Senate contests. (Oh right, his term was up anyway.) If Ken Salazar indeed gets the gig, who would you like to see take his place in the Senate?
Update: In the diaries, Adam Kretz gives us a lengthy list of possible Salazar successors.
Salazar was already up for re-election in 2010, so it wouldn’t add a race… and it’s not like Salazar was a shoo-in already. Though it would obviously makes thing more complicated.
I was never one to advocate primary-ing him (I’m not sure what that would mean and it was highly unlikely it would get anywhere) but hopefully we’ll get a more progressive Dem to replace him.
Replacing a Blue Dog with a progressive would be a tremendous trade.
Barring that, I’d be comfortable with Ed Perlmutter.
Lots of possible names to replace him, which are in my diary on the side:
http://www.swingstateproject.c…
We can do much better at Interior than Salazar. Just pick Grijalva and be done with it already.
One of them has to be willing to throw his or her hat into the ring.
Please say this isn’t true.
But I actually like Ken at Interior. He’s not as progressive as Grijalva, but water and environmental issues are actually the one area where he’s a pretty solid Democrat. He knows as much about water rights as anyone in the west, and, something very important for me, he is VERY strong on Native American land and water rights.
It also gives us the chance to put someone more progressive in the Senate. I think it could be a win-win.
while Salazar is hardly the most progressive of Dems I’ve never a problem with him, and while not being progressive he hardly qualifies for being progressive. Unlike most liberals I like moderates though. I think Salazar would be a nice compromise over Grivjava and a smarter move politically, as Salazar would be a more popular choice all around. Obama promised a new kind of politics that would be marked by a willingness to compromise. Obviously here he’s offering a midway compromise to industry consortums that fuel much of the wests’ economy, and I think they will except. Aside from that though Salazar is a pretty good dem on environmental issues, knows a lot, and is a steady conservationalist. I know this, he will be ten times as good as anyone Bush has had in the last eight years and probably twice as good as anyone Clinton had the guts to appoint. Don’t even make get into Reagan and Bush Sr.
I’d like to see either Andrew Romanoff, John Hickenlooper, Ed Perlmutter, or Joan Fitzgerald get appointed to this seat.
I have no strong feelings either way. Salazar isn’t my favorite Senator, but he’s not so bad either. If he gets Interior, we may get a slightly better Senator out of it. If he doesn’t, we may get a slightly easier 2010 election. But since we’ll most likely get a center-left Senator & a fairly easy 2010 election either way, I’m OK with whatever Salazar does.
And if he vacates his Senate seat, I’d like to see Joan FitzGerald get the appointment. She isn’t a hardcore progressive, but she’s OK on most issues and pretty solid on environment & civil rights. We probably won’t have to worry too much about her election in 2010.
How many vulnerable senate seats is Obama going to create? It’s one thing in New York . . . . And what’s so great about Salazar for Interior anyway?
…so switching him out for another Democrat might not necessarily hurt our chances. I’d rank him the second most vulnerable incumbent Democrat after Harry Reid (I’m pretending the State of Illinois doesn’t exist atm).
I agree with those who caution that just because Obama won we shouldn’t be deluded into thinking Colorado turned into one big version of Denever. On the other hand we should have no problem finding people who are both highly electable AND vote more reliably Democratic.
An open seat in Colorado would have been considered an easy GOP win in 2000. If Salazar does get chosen, we probably end up with a better senator for it.
A solid Dem can establish him/herself for two years, and we can move this seat somewhat to the left, while Salazar goes to a Department with little downside.
Not as good as appointing Snowe to something, but literally the next best thing.
that his brother John would get picked to be Senator?