Dorgan Won't Be Energy Secretary

By GottaLaff

Aleksandar Rodic’s Energy Plant

There's plenty of energy surging through the new Obama administration, but Dorgan won't be secretary of any of it:

Sen. Byron Dorgan (N.D.) is no longer under consideration to be secretary of energy in President-elect Barack Obama's administration, according to transition officials. The decision was arrived at based on a belief within the former Illinois senator's inner circle that the plains state Democrat is more valuable to them where he is. [...]

The names still in the mix for energy secretary, according to well informed senior Democrats include: Govs. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas), Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.), Bill Ritter (D-Colo.) and Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (N.M), Google's Dan Reicher, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, former Edison International CEO John Bryson, Federal Express Chairman Fred Smith and Steve Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The decision to take Dorgan off the list is an acknowledgment by the Obama team of political reality. Dorgan is up for re-election in 2010 in a state that John McCain carried 53 percent to 45 percent in November over Obama, and that President Bush won with 63 percent in 2004. [...]

Obama and his team have been careful in their Cabinet picks so far not to hand seats to Republicans.