Handicapping the next secretary of Education

The folks at the Thomas Fordham Institute are handicapping President-elect Barack Obama's pick for secretary of Education. If they're right, it looks like Obama might be looking for a big-city schools chief, someone like Arne Duncan of Chicago or Joel Klein of New York.

Notice who's missing from that list?

That's right -- of the nation's Big Three school superintendents, only David L. Brewer of Los Angeles is NOT considered to be in the running for the Cabinet post.

In some ways, Brewer might seem the perfect pick. After all, he has a home in Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington. As a retired Navy vice admiral, he knows the federal bureaucracy. And, well, unlike Duncan or Klein, he might soon be available.

Not surprisingly, Duncan -- who's not only from Obama's hometown but regularly plays basketball with the incoming gym-rat in chief -- leads the list. Most interesting addition: Caroline Kennedy. Most of the rest are governors, including Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia. For the entire list, with odds, check out Fordham's Flypaper Blog here.

--Mitchell Landsberg

Photo: Arne Duncan. Credit: Milbert O. Brown / Chicago Tribune

Comments

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Did you just want to mention LA just to mention LA. Of Course David Brewer would not be in the running. He has only been a superintendent for 2 years. It takes time to get learn a job inside and out. And you can best believe people will be saying the same thing about Obama..."he's not working fast enough." Oh the microwave has really fried some people's brains.