Eli Sanders at Seattle's indie weekly The Stranger has just put a post up suggesting that Gov. Christine Gregoire may be Obama's replacement pick as Sec'y of Commerce.
According to the article,
The Governor of Washington State has disappeared. Her office, while very tight-lipped about her whereabouts, tells me there will be an announcement early tomorrow morning. Obama's transition team plans to announce the new Commerce Secretary nominee (replacing Bill Richardson) "very quickly."
Gregoire's spokesperson's sort-of "cannot confirm or deny" response to Mr. Sanders' questioning suggests that Gregoire may be Obama's selection to replace Richardson.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Gregoire was set to be the keynote speaker Tuesday at a pre-legislative session forum sponsored by The Associated Press, but her office canceled Monday afternoon. Legislative director Marty Brown will stand in for Gregoire at the forum.
Spokesman Pearse Edwards said that Gregoire will be making an announcement Tuesday morning, and that no further information would be released before then. Link
Sort of ironic for poor Dino Rossi.... Would be cool to have a Kossack in the Cabinet, no?
Also, according to Ben Smith:
"We’ve named, we thought, every member of the Cabinet,– we’re now one short," Lu said, referring to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, whose replacement as Commerce Secretary will be named "very quickly," he said. Link
Any thoughts from fellow WA Kossacks?
Update: mcjoan points out in the comments a different possibility:
Erica [Barnett] speculates that [Gregoire] was in DC working on Washington's share of the stimulus package. Also a very likely scenario.