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Obama weighs Clinton, Richardson as US top diplomat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-15 11:33

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson speaks to Latino voters during an early-vote rally in Denver's Rude Park on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008. Obama interviewed Richardson late Friday afternoon for the position of secretary of state. [Agencies]

Lincoln appointed three of his rivals for the Republican nomination to his Cabinet. Obama turned to one rival for vice president, picking Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden even though Biden had questioned whether Obama had the experience to be president.

In his first two weeks as president-elect, Obama has struck a bipartisan tone. He paired a Republican and a Democrat to meet with foreign leaders this weekend on his behalf in Washington, for example.

It's far from clear how interested Clinton would be in being his secretary of state. She'd face a Senate confirmation hearing that would certainly probe her husband's financial dealings, something the Clintons refused to disclose in the presidential campaign.

But remaining in the Senate may not be Clinton's first choice, either, since she is a junior senator without prospects for a leadership position or committee chairmanship anytime soon.

Democratic officials, speaking only anonymously about private negotiations, say Clinton asked Sen. Edward Kennedy to establish a subcommittee that she would lead that would allow her to shepherd health care reform through the Senate.

But Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, wants to lead the effort as a capstone to his career, and there also are other members with more seniority than Clinton whom he wouldn't want to bypass.

Being secretary of state could give Clinton a platform for another run at the presidency in eight years. Obama could also get assurances from her that she wouldn't challenge him in four years.

And, unlike the vice presidency that Obama never seriously considered her for, as secretary of state she would serve at his pleasure.

Clinton didn't give any clues to her thinking when she addressed the public transit industry conference Friday in Albany.

Richardson is the governor of New Mexico and has an extensive foreign policy resume. He was President Bill Clinton's ambassador to the United Nations and has conducted freelance diplomacy for the US in such hot spots as Sudan and North Korea.

Richardson also served in Clinton's Cabinet as energy secretary and angered his former boss when he endorsed Obama after ending his own primary campaign this year.

Another Democrat emerged as a possible contender for an administration post Friday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle was contacted by Obama's transition team, according to a gubernatorial spokesman who did not disclose details. Doyle, a two-term governor and former state attorney general, was an early backer of Obama.

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