Who Are Contenders for Biden’s Cabinet?

 Minutes ago, we learned that Biden has tapped consultant Ron Klain as his chief of staff. Klain may know but the NY Times doesn't know who's going to be in Biden's cabinet anymore that Politico or anyone else does. But this morning The Times listed 50 strong contenders whose names are being bandied about in BidenWorld. Most, as anyone who has followed Biden's career would guess, are terrible. Others are OK and The Times even named a few who are great... but with no realistic chance of being named. The team of Times contributors, or someone at The Times introducing them by noting that in selecting them "Biden must appease progressives within his own party"-- note the word "appease"-- "while gaining support from Republicans who may still control the Senate." There's no doubt that Biden is "likely to include Republicans in his cabinet as he attempts to engineer a working relationship between the parties." They insinuate that the names comes from lists of potential appointees being vetted by Ted Kaufman and his transition team.

State Department

• William Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former ambassador to Russia and Jordan, former deputy secretary of state and special assistant to Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright.• Senator Chris Coons (D-DE)• Susan Rice, Bush's national security adviser

Treasury

• Raphael Bostic, first African-American and the first openly gay man to lead a regional Federal Reserve bank (Atlanta) • Lael Brainard, a member of the FED Board of Governors • Sarah Bloom Raskin, former deputy Treasury secretary and a former member of the Fed’s Board of Governors • Senator Elizabeth Warren • Janet Yellen, Fed Chair from 2104 to 2018

Defense

• Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)• Michèle Flournoy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense• Jeh Johnson, former secretary of homeland security

Attorney General

• Xavier Becerra, California Attorney General• Senator Doug Jones (D-AL)• Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general and acting attorney general, fired by Trumpanzee• Tom Perez, DNC chair, former Secretary of Labor

Interior

• Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT)• Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM)• Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM)• Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

Agriculture

• Heidi Heitkamp, very conservative former Senator from North Dakota • Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Labor

• Seth Harris, former deputy labor secretary and acting secretary• Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI)• Bernie• Julie Su, secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency

Health and Human Services

• Mandy Cohen, secretary of North Carolina’s • Health and Human Services Department• David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration• Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)• Vivek Murthy, former surgeon general, top Biden coronavirus advisor

Housing and Urban Development

• Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)• Alvin Brown, former Jacksonville mayor• Maurice Jones, a top deputy at the department under Obama• Keisha Lance Bottoms, mayor of Atlanta• Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition

Transportation

• Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles (under investigation/not gonna happen)

Energy

• Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA)• Ernest Moniz, nuclear physicist, former Obama Energy Secretary

Education

• Lily Garcia, former teacher and former president of the National Education Association• Randy Weingarten, former teacher and current president of the American Federation of Teachers

Veterans Affairs

• Mayo Pete• Robert McDonald, former veterans affairs secretary under Obama

Homeland Security

• Rep Val Demings (D-FL)• Alejandro Mayorkas, ran Citizenship and Immigration Services at the department

Director, National Intelligence

• Susan Gordon, deputy director of national intelligence in the Trump Regime• Lisa Monaco, top Obama homeland security advisor, former assistant attorney general for national security and former chief of staff to FBI director Robert Mueller.

CIA

• Tom Donilon, former Obama National Security Advisor• Avril Haynes, former deputy C.I.A. director • Mike Morell, former CIA. deputy director and acting director.

National Security Advisor

• Antony Blinken, Biden's top foreign affairs advisor and former deputy secretary of state under Obama

Not included on The Times list: EPA, Small Business Administration, Commerce, Office of Management and Budget and Trade Representative, all slots where Biden is reported to be seriously considering Republicans.