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Vilsack on List for White House Chief of Staff?

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Governer Tom Vilsack is a dark horse candidate for White House Chief of Staff, according to Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman.

Acting Chief of Staff Pete Rouse, former Clinton Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle are also on the short list, Fineman reported Wednesday, citing a "very highly placed administration source."

"The president has been talking to all of them and it is fluid," Fineman quotes the anonymous source as saying.

The report says Vilsack has recently been suggested because "he is widely seen as a team player and a good manager."

"His work at the Ag Department has won plaudits -- as has, perhaps more important, his successful lobbying for a child nutrition bill that was a pet project of First Lady Michelle Obama," explains Fineman, who adds that Vilsack would be a key connection to Iowa.

"The former governor has an additional benefit: he knows Iowa, having been governor there. If Obama is ever going to face a primary challenge -- as unlikely as that is -- Iowa is where it would start in 2012."

Most beltway insiders do not expect Vilsack will get the job--most pundits are predicting it will be Daley--but if he did it could raise agriculture issues even higher in an already food-focused administration.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on January 06, 2011 (boomark / email).