Name that VEEP!

Archive You're reading an older Hightower Lowdown article. Jim's still writing — twice a week on Substack.

In our July issue we asked Lowdowners to come up with names for an Obama administration. Here’s what you told us:

  • Vice-President: Bill Richardson, comfortably ahead of
    John Edwards (pre-confession) and Hillary
    Interesting: Joe Biden got just one vote
  • Attorney General: John Edwards (pre-confession) again,
    with five times the votes of runner-up Hillary
    Interesting: Henry Waxman and Ronnie Earle (District Attorney
    for Travis County, Texas) tied for third
  • Secretary of State: Bill Richardson, well ahead of Joe Biden
    Interesting: Bill Clinton third; Naomi Klein, Ann Wright (retired colonel who opposed Iraq attack), and Noam Chomsky all got a vote
  • Secretary of Defense: Colin Powell, just ahead of Wesley Clark
    Interesting suggestion: Cindy Sheehan
  • National Security Advisor: Richard Clark, well ahead of Wesley Clark
    Interesting suggestion: Scott Ritter
  • CIA chief: Valerie Plame just beat out Richard Clark
  • Secretary of Labor: John Edwards (pre-confession), one vote ahead of Robert Reich
  • Surgeon General: Howard Dean
  • Secretary of Interior: Al Gore
  • Secretary of Agriculture: Runaway win for Jim Hightower!
  • UN Ambassador: Bill Clinton
  • FCC: Bill Moyers, followed by Lawrence Lessig and Jon Stewart
  • FDA: Ralph Nader
  • Secretary of Health: Hillary Clinton, easily
  • Secretary of the Treasury: Paul Krugman (New York Times columnist), beating fellow economist Joseph Stiglitz
  • Supreme Court: Hillary Clinton again, ahead of Mario Cuomo and 24 other nominees

Next issue: Who you see in a McCain administration.

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