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December 03, 2008 10:11 PM UTC

Rep. Salazar On Ag Secretary "Short List"

  • 56 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Sure enough, as the Denver Post confirms:

Colorado congressman John Salazar is on the “short list” to become Secretary of Agriculture under president-elect Barack Obama, sources have told the Denver Post.

Salazar confirmed this morning that he “may” be on the short list.

He issued the following statement today after being contacted by the Post:

“I am humbled that I may be under consideration as a possible nominee for Secretary of Agriculture. Should President-elect Obama honor me with a nomination to Agriculture, I would certainly consider it. However, at this time, I am continuing my work on behalf of my constituents in the 3rd Congressional District and preparing for the many difficult challenges facing the 111th Congress.”

If Salazar is chosen, then confirmed, it would scramble the political map in Colorado, leaving Salazar’s Third Congressional Seat vacant. It also assures Colorado, a swing state that helped propel Obama to victory, will have a seat at the new president’s cabinet.

Salazar, a farmer from Mannassa, was just re-elected to a third term. He has not been interviewed by the transition team, but has spoken to them.

His appointment also fills a couple of Obama’s political needs. First, it ensures a high-level Latino appointment in addition to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was nominated this morning to become Commerce Secretary.

The U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus earlier this week asked Obama to consider Salazar for the post.

A Salazar appointment would also scramble Colorado’s political picture in 2010. Bernie Buescher would be a likely candidate to replace Salazar, but it would also no doubt change future plans for someone like Sen. Josh Penry, who would likely be more inclined to run for congress in 2010 than something like governor.

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56 thoughts on “Rep. Salazar On Ag Secretary “Short List””

  1. Beuscher’s one of very few Democrats who could hold the 3rd against a challenge from Josh Penry. The fact he lost his race for the legislature this time around shouldn’t deter support. That Buescher won twice before in such a Republican district and came so close to winning this time means that when you throw in the rest of the 3rd – cakewalk.

    Add Congress to the “Beuscher for Anything” list!

      1. Dabee47 is correct. A Senate vacancy is filled by gubernatorial appointment but a House vacancy must be filled by special election. It’s the People’s House, so only the people can elect.

        But an open seat in a special election? How fun! Would Penry be a cakewalk to the GOP nomination or might there be others? Would Buescher have any opposition?

        A showdown between those two would be interesting indeed.

        1. As far as I understand it, the Democratic and Republican candidates will be selected by their party’s 3rd CD central committee. The committee is made up of delegates elected at their county assemblies for the 2008 primary – there will not be an open primary election for the nomination.

          Based on that, Pueblo will have a huge say in who the Ds nominate, with around 40% of the total delegates coming from the area.

          Newly elected State Rep. Sal Pace has the inside track on these folks, having just courted them for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Rep. Dorothy Butcher. Pace also has strong connections with County Chairs and the party faithful across the district from his days working as John Salazar’s District Director.

          If this were an open primary, Beuscher or Sen. Jim Isgar would have a much better shot. But with the central committee making the call, and the central committee coming largely from Pueblo, it’s anyone’s game.

            1. Where do you think Sal could serve his constituents better, in the state house or the U.S. Congress? Pueblo has a bevy of back-benchers that could pinch-hit for district 46. The point that I think Jeff was making here though is that Pace is the only democrat in the entire 3rd CD who knows all the delegates who’d be nominating our Dem candidate.

              1. If Pueblo had a bevy of back-benchers, Sal would not have won this year’s election.  He’s only lived in Pueblo for a few years.  I think it would be appalling for him to leave an office for which he campaigned BEFORE he even bothered to step foot in that office.  People are not enamored of reckless climbers, no matter how dumb you think Puebloans are.

                1. Anthony Nunez, John Cordova, Ray Aguilara to name a few. Sal won this election because he has the political acumen to make sure none of these potential challengers were a problem. Kind of along the lines of “speak softly and carry a big stick” sorta thing. Sal’s considerable political resume is a perfect fit for the 3rd CD — water, agriculture, rural health care, constituency work, and voter outreach. Who cares how long he has lived in Pueblo?! He has already been serving this district for years with the diligence and intelligence that we would be lucky to have as our next congressman.

                  1. …he’s not exactly a strong candidate.

                    Aguilera is old, not well-respected, and has no chance of winning election again.  

                    Sal has served his district exactly zero days in elected office as of now.  Even John Salazar deigned to go the State House first.  Surely Sal has the modesty to follow, despite your delusions of grandeur.

                    1. Sal has more experience serving the 3rd CD now than Betsy Markey did on November 4th and she’s heading to D.C. now, does she also lack “modesty”? Should we not have supported her because she didn’t serve in D.C.?

                      Before Sal moved to Pueblo he was working Dem campaigns on the Western slope, and since he has been there he has done tons of work on the aforementioned issues, directly serving the people.

                      He has experience, he has served the people, what is your problem here?

                    2. …he ran for the state house (Markey didn’t), Sal should at least serve in the state house (for, I don’t know, one term, one month, one day?) before abandoning that job.  If he didn’t really want the job, he shouldn’t have run for it (and thereby deny others that job).  It’s pretty simple really.  Of course, Sal has not expressed interest in quitting the job before it’s begun.  I like Sal.  It’s your silliness that bugs me.

                    3. I understand where you’re coming from here now. I still disagree with you. I still think that regardless of his recent election that Sal will do Pueblo, district 46, and the 3rd CD better in Congress than he would in the state house, and that that outweighs him leaving his current elected post. But I’m glad we got that cleared up.

                    4. It was 1,096. John has been very effective as comissioner here but is a lousy speaker and wouldn’t do well in a Congressional race. I spoke with Sal this afternoon and he said that Thiebaut was being pushed to run. I was surprised because DA is not term limited here in Pueblo County and he can have the job as long as he wants. Sal said he thought that Bill would would be willing to run.

                      Leroy Salazar would be my choice. (Sorry Bill, I like you where you are.) However, he has expressed no interest in running and it would put a lot of pressure on Mary Lou who would probably have full responsibility, under those circumstances, for running the farm.

                      So unless Sal was BSing me, my vote will go to Bill Thiebaut.

                    5. …your providing the actual number only bolsters my point.  Cordova is not a strong candidate.  And given that he’s been a commissioner for only about a year, I don’t know how you surmise that he’s been very effective.  Obviously, huge numbers disagreed with you given that he barely won a race that a Dem should win easily.  Indeed, the only reason he was originally appointed to that seat was that his opposition was the loud lush Dorothy Butcher.

              2.    We know Bernie can draw at least a tie in his old state House district (in which 50% of registered voters are Repubs).  Would Pace be able to run that well in the GOP sections of CD 3?  

                1. but I think he would do better than Buescher. He wins Pueblo by a bigger margin (despite Jambayla’s hatred of “ladder-climbers” or whatever, hometown boy still does better). His deep connection with Salazar plus the crap-ton of work he did for Ed Vigil recently bumps up his totals in the Valley. And as I noted before, before moving to Pueblo he worked for Dem candidates on the west slope; he knows the people there, and (at least the political players there) know him. True, Penry probably mitigates that somewhat as the west slope is where he’ll do best. But, as I think someone else as noted, Penry would be cutting into Buescher’s base (or at least the area where he has the best potential to exceed expectations). On the other hand, Sal would be able to dominate Pueblo, the Valley, the Four Corners (excluding Cortez) while losing out on the area that has the fewest possible Dem votes to begin with.

                  Plus I think Sal’s close ties with Salazar and his extensive district-wide work from his time as District Director, make him electable like none other. Think Betsy Markey, but with a longer list of district service, more connections, and political skill.

          2. I think between those three (Isgar, Buescher, and Pace) that it would be pretty even. Pueblo is still the democratic stronghold of the 3rd, and that’s where Sal’s base would be too (probably also with some spill-over into the Valley). Buescher would certainly do better from Moffat down to Cortez, but that is also where Isgar would probably take the most votes from, maybe enough to give it to Sal. At any rate, I think a 3-way dem primary there would be interesting. Too bad we won’t get to see one.

          3. There are only two realistic dem candidates.

            Bernie Buescher and Pueblo DA Bill Thiebaut.

            Gail Schwartz could be a possible, but she would have to give up her State Senate seat in order to run (she can’t raise money from lobbyists, people or entities who hire lobbyists or anyone with business before the state or the legislature while the legislature is in session).

            Buescher is somewhat damaged by his recent loss and if the R is Josh Penry (Penry would also have to give up his seat in order to run), Buescher’s value in getting votes out of Mesa County is diminished.

            The Dem has to carry Pueblo and the San Luis valley big in order to offset the R vote in Mesa, Montezuma, Montrose and Delta.

              2. he cannot raise money during the legislative session, so in order to run and raise money, he would have to leave the legislature.

                This is what I pointed out is the case that any of the Democratic Legislative members would also face.  Schwartz, Curry, McFayden, Sal Pace, Abel Tapia or any other name that is being bandied about.

                Re-read my post regarding the prohibition from raising money from lobbyists, et al.

                This is part of the reason that Joan FitzGerald left the legislature.  The workload as President of the Senate was too much to handle and run for Congress at the same time, but she could have simply left the presidency and maintained her senate seat, except that she could not raise money from numerous sources while sitting as a legislator.

            2. I think that if there are two Western Slopers on the CD-3 ballot, the Republican would easily win by party-line vote.  I think that even with Pueblo in the mix, a Democrat has to do better than just party-line over here to win CD-3.

              Salazar’s numbers were better than party-line over here.  That’s what it takes.

      1. Given recent election results, he might want to step aside so a real Boulder Liberal can run for the seat. Ken’s brand of western nonpartisan folksiness may sell to old fashioned 2004 Bushy Colorado voters, but not to the hip young Obama-supporting 2008 Colorado voters.

        Besides, Ken Salazar won with 51.3% of the vote, while Boulder Liberal Mark Udall won with 53% of the vote. I think we know there’s only one Colorado Democrat who can win the Senate in 2010.

        Jared Polis is still reading this site, right?

    4. Ken is more important where he is and what appointee would have as good a chance in 2010? Also, Ken became instantly influential in the Senate and is a Latino Senator. He will only get more powerful right where he is.  He has plenty of time to join a cabinet a little further down the road or he might want to run for Governor in the future.  

      Don’t like Dem chances to hold CD3 in a special election either. Not that it couldn’t be done but it’s no sure thing and so cheap and easy with John.  We may be better off not making the cut on this one.

        1. ..on Nov. 25 (just last week), Roger said:

          “Harkin will be named Sec’y of Ag and there is a chance that John Salazar will be named to Interior rather than Ag.”

          It’s easy to win a guessing game when you guess every option!

      1. She is a thinker and communicates well. I enjoyed my discussions with her this summer. Putting her in for 4-5 years would allow her to strengthen her national profile in a run up to the 2014 race for Sen. Johnson’s seat.

        Peterson is really her superior. The question is does he enjoy the power he now wields as AG committee chair or would this be a great exit plan from Congress and position him for a Gov’s race in 2 or 6 years?

        1. Sandlin is the only major Democrat in SD who can hold that seat right now. There are some newly-elected Dems from W. SD who might be able to compete in 6 years or so (off year elections or specials are when Dems do best there).

          She would make a very good Ag. Secretary though, I think, and it would strengthen her national profile. Maybe for something bigger than a Senate run…in 2016 or so.

  7. The issue here is that the Dems have such a huge bench.  There are any number of names that would be a good fit: Buescher, Isgar, Curry, McFadyen, Schwartz, Leroy Salazar, etc.  (Sorry, Mr. Bridges, I know you like Sal and all, but he’s just not got the gravitas or experience yet for this kind of jump.)  The GOP doesn’t have anybody that really matches up with that list, not even Penry.

    1. He is a slick politician and wildly popular with Republicans. That said, he’s have to pose as more of a moderate than he really is. But he would be tough for any Democrat. He’s beatable, but he’d give it a real go.

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