This morning on Morning Joe, Chuck Todd reported that the replacement for Tom Daschle could be Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. I am amazed by Sebelius' political acumen simply by the fact that she is a Democratic Governor of a bright red state. Also, she was the state insurance commissioner that took on the largest insurer in the state of Kansas, so she's not likely to be bullied by the insurance industry as others might be.
A name that is interesting in all of this is former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, who is an M.D. and has made health care reform a personal issue with his Archimedes Movement. It is also believed that he may campaign for the position.
A thought I had was in addition to being HHS Secretary, Daschle was also going to be the White House Health Care czar. I wonder if both Sebelius and Kitzhaber would fill each fill one of those positions. No word on whether the two know each other. Ironically, Sebelius was sworn into office on the same day Kitzhaber's term ended in Oregon.
Either way, both of these potential nominees give me a better vibe than Daschle, especially with both of them being former governors and Washington outsiders (Tom Daschle was neither) at a time when Obama seems to be getting burned by Washington insiders.
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