Pickin’ Time - Johnny Cash (1958)

President-elect Obama is receiving high marks for his transition thus far, whether it’s the speed or the caliber of cabinet nominees. But many of us want to know who is on the short list for energy secretary and when he is going to make that selection known.

It actually is a much longer list of luminaries from both public and private sectors; from CEOs to Nobel Prize scientists:

• Duke Energy executive Jim Rogers
  
• Former Energy Department official Dan Reicher
  
• Former top Clinton White House environmental aide Kathleen McGinty
  
• FedEx Chairman and Republican backer Fred Smith
  
• New Jersey utility chief executive Ralph Izzo
  
• Representative Jay Inslee (D-Wash.)
  
• Recently retired California energy utility executive John Bryson
  
• Steve Chu, Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  
• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA)
  
• Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D-CO)
  
• Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI)
  
• Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner
  
• Google's Dan Reicher
  
• Former Edison International CEO John Bryson

Let's just say the vetting team has its hands full at the moment. Who is your money on and why?