Listening to some of Bob Kerrey's contributions during the commission's hearings to date I wonder why he's on the Commission and what he was expected to contribute. For the sake of the nation he should be encouraged to continue his position with the New School and occasionally do guest appearances on SNL and NPR's Prairie Home Companion. Forget the CIA; hopefully he will never get the chance for consideration by JFK.

However, other than Kerrey, Safire's proposals are better than Clinton's were.

Nixon's is an interesting standard. However, i'm trying to remember the last president who served in someone else's cabinet.

George W. Bush - no
Bill Clinton - no
George H. W. Bush - Vice-president, but it isn't really the same as a cabinet-level position
Ronald Reagan - no
Jimmy Carter - no
Gerald Ford - Vice-president
Richard Nixon - Vice-president
Lyndon Johnson - Vice-president
John Kennedy - no
Dwight Eisenhower - no

I'm getting bored of this, so let's just say that what Nixon said might be true, but is unproven.

It's a moot point. Kerrey hasn't a snowballs chance in heck to be elected this Fall.

I think its for the same reasons the Clinton cabinet had only one potential president:

1) The Pointy-haired Boss who cannot stomach any subordinate who could possibly be smarter, more competent, or more popular than he is.

2) The Pointy-haired Boss whose Court exists only to make him look great.

3) The Pointy-haired Boss who will only tolerate yes-men around him.

Back in 2000, I heard it said of Dubya Bush that even back in his Yale days, he was the type who wasn't too bright himself, but knew how to surround himself with brighter advisors and wasn't threatened by them.

Not that it matters, but GHWB had two cabinet level positions -- DCI and UN Ambassador.

Oh. My. God. Gov Will-tax, that carpet-bagging trial lawyer, to head Homeland Security? You don't need any more evidence that Kerry thinks homeland security is joke that his name winding up on somebody's short list.

At least he won't be able to screw us over anymore.

I don't think that DCI and UN Ambassador were cabinet-level positions when GHWB held them. The cabinet has been expanded in recent years. But it only serves to make him an exception to the rule.

Brandon:

You realize, of course, that the rule is for presidents, not guidance for voters? Clinton's cabinet revealed his insecurity, as Bush's reveals his self-confidence.

Nixon's Cabinet had the following Tall Timber:

Kissinger (disqualified from POTUS by birth in GER.)
Connally
Shultz
Romney
Weinberger

Ford had:
mostly the same guys--as holdover appointees

Carter had:
Cy Vance and Ed Muskie--but not at the same time

Reagan had:
Shultz
Baker
Weinberger
Liddy Dole

and, at a pinch Al Haig

Bush I had:
Baker
Cheney
Kemp
and Liddy Dole

Clinton briefly had Bentsen

QED, W's Cabinet is probably the strongest in 35 years

Orrin,

Christie Whitman as potential president? Man, I'll have what you're smoking! (To be fair, I liked her a lot more before she was appointed to the EPA and revealed her inner "watermelon"--green on the outside, red on the inside).

Ed

A woman and a governor of a major state is automatically a contender (unless like MI's she's Canadian).

OJ, I realize the rule is for presidents. However, my point is that the evidence suggests that no modern presidents have applied it. None of them have appointed people to their cabinets who have become presidents. To designate some cabinet members a "potential president" while others not is presumption not supported by historical evidence.

Christie Whitman was no Margaret Thatcher. (Neither, for that matter, was Ann Richards, another sometime governess of a major state.) Condi Rice may be, but we have no way of knowing at this point.

Brandon:

Nixon Reagan Bush and Bush applied it. They had cabinet members, sometimes several, who were as qualified or more so to run the entire government. GWB has the most since George Washington. However being qualified does not win you the presidency when you run on your own.