Forget "Dream Ticket" -- Meet the "Dream Team"

So, Democrats: Still smarting that you didn't get an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket to run this fall? I didn't think so.
Hillary Clinton supporters: Are you still worried about the kind of people Barack Obama is surrounding himself with in and around the White House?
Not only are Dems on the cusp of getting Hillary into the administration with a possible appointment as Secretary of State, but they're get a host of Democratic heavyweights at key posts in the Obama administration.

• Attorney General Eric Holder: That's right, the guy who was working behind the scenes when Janet Reno was running the show during the Clinton administration (and I should note, the Monica/Ken Starr/Zippergate era of the second term).


• Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle: A former US senator for the better part of two decades (and Senate Majority Leader for most of 2001 through 2003). He lost his Senate seat in 2004 by only 4,500 votes after the South Dakota Republicans threw everything they had at unseating him.


• Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: While not official as of this writing, this Western governor of a border state is expected to take the reins from Michael Chertoff and the Bushies. She's been named one of the five best governors in the United States by Time magazine, and is constantly rumored to be a contender to send John McCain back to one of his seven 10 who-knows-how-many homes when his Senate seat comes up for election.


• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: This is the biggie, if it happens -- and all signs point to 'yes' at this point. I still wonder if she could swallow the fact she'd be serving at the pleasure of the man who kept her from winning the White House, but there could easily be something more complex going on than most would think. Is this the price Obama pays for Hillary not wrestling the nomination away from Obama with every trick in the book? Is the Obama administration just a third term for the Clintons? It wouldn't surprise me given the number of Clintonistas getting jobs from Obama.

So who else gets a shot at being a Washington insider? Based upon what we've seen thus far, here are a few of my guesses:

• Secretary of Defense: I have to think there are two big names for this post who would sail through confirmation hearing: (1) Retired Gen. and former presidential candidate Wesley Clark, and (2) US Senator Chuck Hagel, who likely could land somewhere else on the Cabinet as a big-name Republican in a Democratic-controlled Washington. Also in the mix is retired Gen. Anthony Zinni should Clark or Hagel not want/be offered the job.


• Secretary of Energy: I'm sure there are plenty of people here in Colorado who will be quick to suggest Gov. Bill Ritter because he can't finish a sentence without using the phrase "new energy economy." These people should shut their mouths and start practicing their best "Ahhnold" accents, because it's not crazy to think outgoing Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could lend his star power to an already star-studded Obama Cabinet. Don't expect New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be able to swallow his pride enough to do the same job he had in the Clinton administration after being snubbed for Vice President (and Secretary of State, most likely).


• Secretary of Veterans Affairs: A man who is eminently qualified (he's done the job before) and not currently working in Washington is former US Senator Max Cleland. A darkhouse candidate would be US Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, a Truman Democrat who has been representing Missouri's 4th District quite capably for the past 31 years. But I doubt there's any reason for him to leave his chairmanship of the House Committee on Armed Services.


• Secretary of the Treasury: William Ayers.... JUST KIDDING! I don't buy the talk of Warren Buffett for this post for one minute, as eye-catching as those headlines would be. I think the safest pick Obama could make would be former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. Don't rule out former Harvard President Larry Summers, who's already on the inside as part of Obama's transition team dealing with economics.

So who gets left out? Probably Colin Powell, who looks like he's going to be edged out for another possible go as Secretary of State thanks to Hillary and Richardson. Add John Edwards to this list, for obvious reasons. Unless some super-special post covering climate change is created, expect Al Gore to continue with his current day job(s).

Who's left who needs/deserves a job but no logical choices come to mind?

• US Sen. Claire McCaskill was a vocal supporter of Obama, and a newly elected Democrat governor in Missouri could replace her with another solid Dem (like Robin Carnahan, daughter of Jean and the late Mel Carnahan) should McCaskill get a federal job. I've heard some people say she's in line to replace Howard Dean as party chair for the Democrats, but I don't buy it. But anything's possible; I'll say Secretary of Transportation given her Senate Commerce subcommittee experience.
  
  
• Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has somehow managed to win over enough moderate Republicans to be in office as long as she has, but she worked as hard as anyone to get Barack Obama elected (even though John McCain won her state with a double-digit margin). Maybe she ends up heading the Secretary of Education?


• "Sweet" Caroline Kennedy helped deliver Joe Biden to the vice presidency; does she, then, get a nice government post delivered to her? Is her next job the stepping stone to eventually replacing her uncle in the US Senate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts?