This post is largely speculative, and it is meant to invite intelligent (or, of course, sarcastic) comments. Caveat: I'm a native of Illinois and more informed on its politics, and am largely ignorant Arizona's mechanisms, policies and personnel, aside from knowing, obviously, that the sky's the limit for Janet Napolitano.
As a side point, perhaps, what are the implications of Obama's Cabinet picks, as much of the shortlist (by the chattering class, at least)comes out of the Senate? Could that be perhaps an argument for conscripting, in a spirit of "bipartisanship," two or three GOP senators into the cabinet? (NOTE: I tried to come up with a few possibilities--getting rid of a yahoo like Tom Coburn, for instance, as Secretary of the Interior or something like that, but found deal-breaker after deal-breaker. Anyone who believes that CAFE standards will be bad for the environment, and that life begins when a man and a woman first meet eyes, can do more harm than good).
But my main point: Rahm Emmanuel has played so nice. He is poised to get flooded with DNC money, and for good reason.
There are other possibilities, of course, but the Tribune will go out of its way to pillory anyone who has spent even an hour in Springfield while Rezko happened to be there. Don't get me wrong, the Trib's a great paper, and they call 'em like they seem 'em: the whole Blagoyevich scene is utterly ludicrous, but more on that in a subsequent post.
My home-district Congressman, Melissa Bean, could be a dark horse because she is squeaky clean. She's a blue-dogger for better or for worse, and represents the conservative exurbs and prosperous, Volvo-liberal areas around Barrington. She became a hero for throwing the fear of God into the abysmal, incumbency-at-its-worst Republican Phil Crane, who barely survived a challenge in 2002. (At the time, he--who had served since the late 1960s--was both the most absent Congressman and had spent his previous term, by his own admission, almost constantly intoxicated.) She won in 2004 by being a small-business free-trader with moderate foreign affairs cred. Low profile, but little to quibble with in a general.
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, not much is wrong with him. He's a competent public servant.
We have to hope and pray that Rod Blagoyevich, the silly grandstanding governor who represents the most ludicrous brand of populism, doesn't make a play at it.
Hastert's recent replacement (and Kos hero) Bill Foster needs to establish longterm incumbency.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. obviously has absolutely no downstate appeal.
But it's Emmanuel's year. He's played nice this whole time, was a great spokesman and architect in '06, and because of that, I imagine he could flood the tri-state airwaves with the money the DNC owes him for his doting, sensible service.
Now--here's a thought--Obama says he wants a "new kind of politics," and of course the election will be poisonous. (I wouldn't be surprised at this point if Harold Ickes and Mark Penn went to work for Charlie Black.) How about making a very, very, very public offer to McCain to come in as VA secretary?
Pipe dream, I know, but...
Speculate away.