I Guess Those Campaign Trips are Paying Off.

Janet has made the ABA Journal's list of the lawyers who will run America in an Obama Administration. 

It's the guessing game that has Washington, D.C., buzzing: Which lawyers will be appointed to senior government positions by the next president?

Should Barack Obama win the race for the White House, the following attorneys are favorites to join his administration, according to dozens of interviews with people who know the candidate well. We've matched each to the job for which they are most often mentioned.

In the event of a Obama victory, consider it the morning line on the capital's new establishment.

SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Janet Napolitano

Currently: Governor of Arizona
Law School: Virginia (1983)

Napolitano got her first career boost when President Clinton made her U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. It came after Napolitano helped represent Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings. Napolitano went on to become Arizona attorney general. As governor of McCain’s home state, Napolitano endorsed Obama a few weeks before the Arizona primary and was rewarded with a featured speech at the Democratic convention.

Though it’s known she would love to become U.S. attorney general, many feel she would bring a different vibe to the Department of Homeland Security. As governor of a border state, she’s pushed for immigration reforms that would include a path to citizenship for those already here illegally; but she was also the first governor to deploy National Guard troops along the Mexico border, an idea later adopted by the Bush administration.

Comments

[Jim Torgeson]

Well, at least our new Governor would fix the budget. There's a silver lining to every dark cloud.

[ron]

To her credit she did cancel her trip to Chile to handle the 'crisis' in AZ when she found out that there was NO disaster plan written up for the state or Maricopa County.

I still don't think that 'Secretary of Homeland Security' is a plum job. I can't imagine why anyone would give up a governership for that postion.

[Nick S.]

If Brewer becomes SOS, I wager the Republic will suddenly discover we have a budget crisis. The Republican governor will then get the blame.

[Nick S.]

I meant if Brewer becomes Governor. She's already the SOS.

[ron]

No argument there, Nick

[Lance]

Napolitano lacks the credentials to be inner cabinet (i.e. AG, SecState, SecDef, SecTreas) and more to the point, Obama does not owe her enough (she only got on board after the Clintons made it clear she was going to be near the back of the line and she couldn't deliver her home state for Obama in the primary or the general).

She is dying to get to DC and even if she weren't, she has doubled the budget deficit she inherited, despite one of the greatest expansions in history (2002-2006), so she needs to get out of town.

After things calm down in a few years (read: her idiotic policies cause massive suffering), she will either stay in DC and try to become part of the Establishment or take a shot at the Senate, depending on the political tides and the strength of Arizona Republican candidates at that time.

Ron and Nick are right on the money; the day Jan Brewer takes office, the Republic, the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen will discover that we have a budget deficit and start screaming about how Jan Brewer does not understand the pain her cuts are inflicting on the little people. Kind of like how the media discovers the country has homeless people every time a Republican is elected President.

[North Valley Republican]

Strange. But, in reading why she would be selected to head-up Homeland Security, they mentioned her being the first to suggest putting the National Guard on the border.

I don't think so.

It seems to me it was Senator Jack Harper who came up with that idea. Maybe Obama should consider him for the post - although he is not a lawyer - which most would think is an advantage for him.