EMAIL DETAILS

INSIDER NAMES DOMINATE OPENING LINE FOR COMMERCE SECRETARY. President Obama is naming Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to succeed his ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, who's leaving April 30. Officials say a top candidate to replace Locke is Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative. Under that scenario, look for Mike Froman, the deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, to replace Kirk as USTR. A twist: The Commerce Department is expected to be the hardest-hit department in the first wave of the government reorganization President Obama announced in his State of the Union address.

--Also mentioned: 1) Jeff Zients, the first federal Chief Performance Officer, and the OMB deputy director for management, who's running the government reorganization. Zients is former CEO and chairman of The Advisory Board Company and former chairman of the Corporate Executive Board. 2) Tom Nides, deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, and former chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley. 3) Neil Wolin, deputy Treasury Secretary. Deputies are logical because they've been confirmed and some have good administrative skills.

--Outsider possibilities: defeated House or Senate Dems with high profiles in the business community.

--Kirk, 56, a lawyer and Austin native, was the first African-American mayor of Dallas, was Texas Secretary of State under Gov. Ann Richards, and a legislative aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
P Consider the environment before printing this email.