Burnt Orange Report

I think picking the cabinet in advance is a lousy idea -- other politician's have less incentive to help you if they know they won't be picked or if you pick their enemies, plus inevitably you'll be stuck defending a few on the baggage they bring. It might make sense to name a couple of key jobs people care about in advance, but most of it shouldn't be announced until after the election (though yeah, it would be best if they were picked before the election given how long the confirmation process takes).

Plus these lists suffer from a problem in that they are typically based on name ID. There are plenty of great people out there that most people have never heard of, both in politics (Rush Holt anyone?) and outside of politics.

Also, I don't think Dean should be in the cabinet. He can do more for the political process outside it.

Still, a few names on this list aren't bad choices at all -- Edwards or Archer could make fine AGs. As far as missing names, I think Bob Graham (presuming he's not Veep) might be a valuable addition (be it at Defense, Homeland Security, Energy ... he could do a number of things).

I know it's not YOUR list but there are a few errors. First, Wesley Clark is not eligible for the position of Sec. of Defense. The National Security Act of 1947 (which formed the modern Dept. of Defense out of the War Department and Navy) contains a clause that prohibits anyone from the uniformed military from serving as Sec. of Defense within 10 years of their retirment. The only time an exception has ever been made was when Truman nominated former General George Marshall as Sec. of Defense in 1947 and that took a special act of Congress to override the law. As the architect of the Allied victory in WWII and the subsequent rebuilding of Europe under the Marshall Plan, he had rather more stature than Clark ever will. And even then there were questions raised in Congress about the need to maintain civilian control over the Dept. of Defense. Perhaps McCain or even Cleland would be good. Ex-senators make good Defense Secretaries because so much of the job is dealing with the hill.

Another potential correction. Max Cleland already served as head of Veterans Affairs under Carter. Rather than give him a repeat go-around, as Kerry's right-hand man, he may be in line for someting more substantial.

Yeah, I think that a "shadow cabinet" is a bad idea too but I still like to fantasize about what it will be like when Bush is gone. I like Vilsack for VP so strike him and Spitzer is going to run for gov of NY in 2006 so I don't see him taking on a job that gives him a lot less time to work on that. Most cabinet positions are anonymous crap jobs- quick, who is the current secretary of veterans affairs? I don't know (I know he has some kind of like Italian name I think) and I care about this stuff a lot more than most people. Outside of State, Defense, Homeland Sec, AG and maybe Treasury or Commerce most people could give a shit.

I like Cleland for SecDef, Edwards for AG, Fareed Zakaria for State (first Muslim Secretary of State!), Jim Johnson (Kerry's VP search director and DC bigwig) for Treasury, Hart for Homeland Sec, Hightower would be a very interesting choice for Sec of Ag but I don't see that happening... on and on.

Oh sure, it can be a fun game. And one does hope that the Kerry team will put some serious thought into it this summer so he can have a team that can hit the ground running. The length of the confirmation process is one of my pet peeves.
I like your idea about Zakaria, and I'd like to see Hart play some role. I think Kerry should consider finding a Republican or someone apolitical (Gen. Zinni?) to serve as Ambassador to Iraq since I think we'd be well served by making politics on that issue more bipartisan (and I'm not a huge fan of bipartisan cabinets). That hasn't always worked out terribly well (Lodge in Vietnam), but it's worth considering in this instance.

Another interesting thing to consider would be who will be on Kerry's short list for the Supreme Court (since one or more openings on that seem very likely).