An exercise in mind reading
Granholm, as you no doubt already know, is a leading candidate for a job in President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet. Either way it's probably good news for Michigan. If she stays, she'll likely join Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell as among his strongest state allies. If she leaves, she'll have the opportunity to steer millions of federal dollars to the state.
Of course, let's not forget that her departure would be a giant gift-wrapped prezzie with a big red bow under Lt. Gov. John Cherry's Christmas tree. Now that former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer isn't running, Cherry is the easy frontrunner for the Dem gubernatorial nomination in 2010. And what better way to start the campaign than a trial run in the job?
The problem is that no one really knows right now what Team Obama is thinking beyond that they like Granholm. She has had exclusive meetings with him already, and Obama gave her a friendly kiss when they met Tuesday at the National Governors Association meeting.
The biggest speculation is that she's up for Labor secretary, a job the Wall Street Journal today reported she is being vetted for. And, in a sign of how little anyone knows about this for sure, the Washington Post reported in back to back days that she's on the short list for Labor and that she isn't, but is a top candidate for the head gig at the Department of Energy.
To coin a phrase from Donald Rumsfeld, now that you know what we don't know, let's talk about what we do.
Obama's picks for his most important jobs have come, without exception, from very short lists that were leaked to the media ahead of time (see Biden, Joe and Clinton, Hillary). The advantage there is that you can see what the reaction is to each finalist before naming a winner. Hence, the fact that Granholm's name has come up so frequently suggests that she's a finalist for one or both of those jobs.
A source inside the Romney building (whom I'm not naming for obvious reasons) tells me that some staff are prepping like there will be a transition. Granholm has apparently been dropping by some executive branch staff meetings she hasn't attended for years in what this source said seemed like a farewell tour.
All that seems to say that she's as good as gone, right? Well, as College Gameday's Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend. Reason being: These sorts of reports were all over the Virginia media right before Obama named his VP pick. And Kaine, the source of the speculation, is still in Richmond.
At least Gov. Granholm will HAVE a job come January.... how many other Michiganders can say the same?
Posted by: amac | December 03, 2008 at 08:07 AM