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Two names left in race US Ag Minister
According to reports, Obama is considering Collin
Peterson and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin for being the new Minster of Agriculture.
Both members have agriculture experience, but they also come from GOP-leaning
districts.
Peterson's rural western Minnesota district has trended red in recent years
and it went for President Bush in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. It took
Peterson four attempts before he was finally elected in 1990. With a large
wheat-farming industry in his district, he moved quickly up the ladder of the
House Agriculture Committee and became its chairman in the Democratic
takeover.
Herseth Sandlin takes care of all of South Dakota as its
at-large representative. And she is a spot of blue in this red state. The last
time South Dakota voted for a Democratic presidential candidate was in
1964.
Herseth Sandlin came to Congress in a 2004 special election when
she was 30, making her one of the youngest members of the House, and she is seen
as having strong agriculture credentials. And not only is she from a rural
state, she's a member of the Agriculture Committee and also served as executive
director of the South Dakota Farmers Union Foundation in 2003.
Neither
Peterson's nor Herseth Sandlin's office responded to repeated requests for
comment.
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