Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is reportedly on the short list of names being considered for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by the incoming Obama administration. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican who calls himself a working family farmer, says Vilsack, a Democrat and a lawyer, would be fantastic in the top job at U.S.D.A.
Grassley says, "He comes from a state that is the number-one agricultural state in the nation. He was the governor of that state for eight years and I think he’d be a high-class Secretary of Agriculture, understanding the problems of farming. What he didn’t understand, he’d be a quick learner of." Grassley says Vilsack would be a "good spokesman" for Iowa and for family farmers.