Obama victory sparks speculation about Kansas gov

TOPEKA, Kan. - Barack Obama's victory in the presidential race has intensified speculation that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will join his Cabinet, and she didn't rule it out Wednesday.

"I'm always flattered to have my name in circulation," she said during a news conference. "I want to be helpful any way I can."

Even before Tuesday's election, fellow Democrats had been speculating that Sebelius would be offered a high-profile job in an Obama administration. The Kansas governor has been mentioned as a possible secretary of Education, Commerce, Energy or Health and Human Services.

"I'm sure she's going to be on the list somewhere in the transition office," said Larry Gates, chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party.

If Sebelius accepted an administration post, her resignation as Kansas' chief executive automatically would elevate Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson to the governor's office. She would be only the fourth governor to leave before her term expired, the last one being in January 1957.

Sebelius endorsed Obama in January, in the middle of Obama's hotly contested race for the Democratic presidential nomination with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Since then, Sebelius has been a surrogate for Obama, campaigning for him regularly outside of Kansas.

"I think that she's worked extraordinarily hard for Obama and probably did him some good," said Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political scientist who once served on Sebelius' staff. "Clearly, they have a good personal relationship."

She was one of four finalists for the No. 2 position on Obama's ticket. She made similarly noncommittal statements about her plans before Obama chose Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for vice president.

Even some Kansas Republicans expect Obama to offer Sebelius a Cabinet job. Christian Morgan, the state GOP's executive, director, said it would be a reward for being "AWOL" from her job as governor to campaign for Obama.

"It's a very legitimate question, given the amount of time she spent outside Kansas," Morgan said. "If she does not say definitively today that she is not doing this, we are going to ask this question every day."

Sebelius told reporters again Wednesday that she has had no conversations with Obama's team about joining the new administration.

"My focus is on Kansas and the challenges that we have and the opportunities that we have," she said. "I think being governor is one of the best jobs in America."

Sebelius won her first term as governor in 2002, and there's been buzz about her in party circles ever since.

She served a year as chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association - a group Bill Clinton once led - and gave the party's response in January to President Bush's last State of the Union address. She was profiled in the February issue of Vogue and even photographed for it in an Oscar de la Renta dress.

Many Democrats thought her well-timed endorsement of Obama, six days before Kansas' presidential caucuses in early February, helped boost him to a huge victory.

"I think he has a very high regard for Kathleen, and there's a high level of trust there," said Dan Watkins, a Lawrence attorney and senior Obama campaign adviser in Kansas. "It would not surprise me at all if he would ask her to help him, improving our health care system or dealing with our environment."

Peter Fenn, a Democratic media consultant in Washington, noted that Sebelius has a strong reputation as a bipartisan problem-solver with the party as a Democrat who has won two terms in GOP-leaning Kansas. Fenn said Obama likely will be looking for people who set a bipartisan tone to fill high-level jobs.

"I think the question there is what will work for her, if she desires one, if she feels she can be of better service as a governor or as a Cabinet secretary," he said. "She would need to decide whether she can accomplish more where she is."

Loomis said a key issue will be whether Sebelius has the opportunity as a Cabinet member to leave a mark on important federal policy.

"I do think it matters whether she can make a difference," he said. "I can't imagine her taking a position to just take a position."

But Fenn has doubts about whether Sebelius would take a Cabinet job.

"One of the things that's happened in the last several administrations is that the Cabinet is a whole lot less powerful than it was," Fenn said.

Watkins acknowledged that if Obama asked Sebelius to serve in his Cabinet, "It would be very difficult to say no."

But he noted that the state faces challenges, including a budget shortfall that's projected to grow to nearly $1 billion by June 2010. And, he and Gates agreed, she enjoys being governor.

"I don't think she's actively seeking anything," he said.