Tag: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Way back in late 2006 former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack ran for the democratic nomination for president — for a whole three months until he gave it up in Feb. 2007. While on the routine nationwide criss-cross tour to make the case for his candidacy Vilsack, long known as a pragmatic centrist, launched into a rather fiery Q&A following a speech at the University of Colorado Law School. Those remarks could serve as an interesting predictor of Vilsack's approach to food, farming and energy as Pres.-elect Barack Obama's newly nominated U.S. Agriculture Secretary.

President-elect Barack Obama will name his secretary of interior at a press conference in Chicago at 10:45 a.m. CST Wednesday, his transition team announced. It has been widely reported that Democratic U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado will be the nominee. At the same press conference, Obama is expected to name former Democratic Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture, NBC first reported Tuesday afternoon.

Rep. John Salazar, a Mannassa potato farmer who last month won election to a third term representing Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, confirmed Wednesday morning he "may" be under consideration to head the Department of Agriculture in an Obama administration, The Denver Post reports. His name is among those pushed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) in a letter sent Tuesday to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team in a bid to secure spots in an administration Hispanic leaders feel owes its existence, at least in part, to overwhelming support from Hispanic voters.