The guys running in this year's US elections should announce a draft cabinet as part of their campaign strategy. They need not announce their entire cabinet but rather, just key positions especially with regard to foreign policy and the economy. Take Obama, for example. We know he's the candidate for prez and Joe Biden is his running mate. But what a strategy it would be if Obama announced that he if he won, he intended (but not finalized) the ff guys to fill the ff positions :Chuck Hagel (Secretrary of Defence) / Wesley Clarke (dep. Secretrary of Defence) John Kerry (Secretrary of State) / John Edwards (Attorney-General) / Al Gore (Environmental Secretrary) Colin Powell (Secretrary of Homeland Security). As a South African I cannot vote in the US elections but I think this would be an awesome strategy. Mccain should consider doing the same. Voters want to know the kind of government they're voting in, beyond just the presidential ticket.
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I like this idea. Of course, it might be a double edged sword. Voters might be unhappy with some of his selections. Disliked selections might turn away more voters than liked selections attract. Then again, if he makes the right selections it might attract a lot of voters. Also, it would show great initiative on the part of the candidate, and it would be reassuring to know that he is prepared to go to work if and when he takes office.
I just read a biography of Eisenhower and it turns out that in the '52 election, they didn't even name a vice presidential running mate until after the convention.
Generally, when you look at the lack of success Bush has had with his cabinet(s), I think if I were the candidate, I wouldn't rush the vetting process.
I suspect they already have a pretty good idea of who they would pick, but if they announced before the campaign, they run the risk of appearing more liberal to the conservatives or more conservative to the liberals.