The New Republic has an interesting piece on the current horse racing over who the next Treasury Secretary might be.

Word in Washington is the race is likely between several well-respected but very different financial heavy hitters.

"According to people familiar with the situation," the smart money right now is that President-elect Obama is leaning toward Tim Geithner, the 48-year-old boy-man who has headed up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2003. He's smart and known as a cool cucumber. In a No Drama-Obama administration, that may give him the edge.

Still, Geither's mentor and former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, Larry Summers, is clearly still in the race. You remember Summers: he stepped down in 2006 after a turbulent and clumsy tenor as president of Harvard University. One highlight: he said innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers.

Summers has been on a rehabilitation tour since and many observers wonder if that and his widely-regarded grasp of all things economic at a time like this may help him grab the influential spot for a second tour.

Lower down the list is former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; and Robert Rubin, another former Clinton Treasury secretary and director and senior counselor of Citigroup Inc.

We'll have to wait and see.

10:17 - November 6, 2008

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