Another day, another presser from the President-elect. Tomorrow, Barack Obama will announce his pick for the Department of the Interior, and, as has been widely reported, the gentlemen who'll get the nomination is Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado.
Some Democrats are having trouble figuring out why Salazar would abandon his Senate seat for the cabinet right now, the theory being that he is giving up on a promising political career. On the other hand, if you want to get something done in government, you'd better do it during the next for years when everything seems on the table.
Question: the early guidance from folks close to the Obama transition was that Rep. Raul Grijalva was a lock for the job. Suddenly, about two weeks ago, he was out of the running. Why? Grijalva's committment to Interior issues is unquestioned; he gave up an appointment to the taxwriting Ways and Means committee to keep a subcommittee chairmanship with oversight over national parks and public land.
The perpetual motion machine known as Chris "The Fix" Cillizza has a good rundown on who Gov. Bill Ritter might appoint, and which Republicans might vie for the seat in 2010.
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