When former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced he would seek the New Mexico governorship, he took one of the riskier paths in American politics.
Many Cabinet members like Richardson and six in the current Cabinet were in elective office before their appointments. But relatively few have proved able to go the other direction.
And most who subsequently won elective office already had held it. That may be a good omen for Richardson, a New Mexico congressman before becoming ambassador to the United Nations and later energy secretary.
Most of those who ascend to the Cabinet see it as a climax to their public careers, as Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen did when President Bill Clinton named him treasury secretary.
Many get used to the perks, the deference and the limousines and go on to lucrative careers as lawyers, lobbyists or corporate executives.
Democrats are more apt to extend governmental service, but it still is unusual that four former Clinton Cabinet members are seeking governors' posts this year.
Only two previously were in elective office: Richardson and Janet Reno, the one-time Miami state's attorney who was attorney general and is running for governor of Florida.
Andrew Cuomo, a former housing secretary, is trying to win the New York governorship once held by his father, Mario Cuomo.
Robert Reich, the former labor secretary, is in a crowded race for governor of Massachusetts.
A former Republican Cabinet member also hopes to start an elective career. Elizabeth Dole, the former labor and transportation secretary, is seeking a U.S. Senate seat from her native North Carolina (where her foe might be former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles).
If she wins, she would be the first former Cabinet member to begin an elective career in the Senate since one-time Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy was elected to the Senate from New York in 1964.
Two Cabinet members won the presidency in the 20th century despite never being in elective office: William Howard Taft was secretary of war when Theodore Roosevelt tapped him as his successor in 1908, and Herbert Hoover was commerce secretary when he won in 1928.
In 1940, Roosevelt's cousin Franklin picked Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace to be his third-term running mate, though Wallace never had held elective office. Four years later, Roosevelt replaced him.
In 1948, Wallace became one of several former Cabinet members to fail in White House bids. More recent presidential also-rans have included former Cabinet members Alexander Haig, John Connally, Lamar Alexander, Jack Kemp and Dole.
The most politically successful Cabinet members were previously in electoral office and returned to it. They include Democrats Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, Carter Glass of Virginia, James Byrnes of South Carolina, Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut, Neil Goldschmidt of Oregon, Cecil Andrus of Idaho and Brock Adams of Washington and Republican Walter Hickel of Alaska.
Then, there is Dick Cheney, elected vice president in 2000 after earlier stints as a Wyoming congressman and later as defense secretary.
Other Cabinet members have been less successful, most recently when Richard Thornburgh, the onetime Pennsylvania governor and attorney general, lost a Senate bid in 1991.
Richardson seems to have a good chance to win the New Mexico governorship, and Dole is a clear favorite in North Carolina.
But it hardly would be a surprise if, as now looks likely, a majority of former Cabinet officers running in 2002 are unsuccessful.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.