With the Obama Veepstakes poll now concluded and Gov. Bill Richardson as your chosen running mate (which was covered by the Santa Fe Reporter) it's time to take this a step further:
Who would you like to see in an Obama cabinet?
Today you can vote in the runoff on the next Secretary of Agriculture:
Here are the winners of previous rounds:
Vice President: Bill Richardson
Secretary of State: Joe Biden wins with 77% (162 of 210 votes) in the runoff against Chuck Hagel.
Secretaty of the Treasury: Michael Bloomberg wins with 55% (95 of 172 votes) in the runoff against Chris Dodd.
Secretary of Defense: Jim Webb wins with 50% (114 of 224 votes) in the runoff against Chuck Hagel.
Attorney General: John Edwards wins with 52% (158 of 301 votes) in the first round.
Secretary of the Interior: Robert Kennedy, Jr. wins with 51% (63 of 123 votes) in the first round.
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Here's the list of current cabinet positions and cabinet level administration offices that will be polled in the coming weeks:
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
White House Chief of Staff
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Director of the National Drug Control Policy
United States Trade Representative
Who will be included: a maximum of 15 candidates (max number of positions in Dkos polls), I'll try to make each round as diverse as possible, always keeping in mind competence and knowledge required for the respective position. Therefore, I'll include men and women, minorities, sitting and former elected officials, appointed officials, academics, people from the non-profit and private sectors, Obama as well as Clinton supporters, and, yes, also Republicans and Independents.
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The results of yesterday's Sec. of Agriculture poll:
Total votes cast: 126
- Jim Hightower 33% (42 votes)
- Tom Vilsack 15% (20 votes)
- Tom Harkin 10% (13 votes)
- Jon Tester 9% (12 votes)
- David Boren 5% (7 votes)
- Patty Judge 4% (6 votes)
- Ron Sparks 4% (6 votes)
- Ellen Haas 3% (4 votes)
- Collin Peterson 3% (4 votes)
- Stephanie Herseth Sandlin 2% (3 votes)
- Gus Douglass 1% (2 votes)
- Dan Glickman 1% (2 votes)
- John Salazar 1% (2 votes)
- Ed Schafer 1% (2 votes)
- Blanche Lincoln 0% (1 vote)
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Today's candidates in the runoff for Secretary of Agriculture are (in alphabetical order, links lead to bio):
Jim Hightower (TX) - fmr. Texas Agriculture Commissioner
fmr. Gov. Tom Vilsack(IA) - fmr. Gov. of Iowa
Note:A candidate needs 50% or more to win, otherwise a run-off between the top two will be held the following day. Also: each candidate can only win one poll. Whoever wins today's poll will not be a candidate for any other position!
I would also like to ask you to nominate candidates for all cabinet positions not yet polled, for several of them I'm still well short of 15 candidates.
Enjoy voting!