6 politico thursday, october 21, 2010

The Cabinet in the News The following values are based on the number of times a Cabinet secretary’s name appeared in The Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and POLITICO over the past year; the number of mentions they received on any of the major-network evening news shows during the same period; and any appearances on the ’s blog and Flickr feed. POLITICO conducted its analysis using LexisNexis and weighted TV mentions Visibility doesn’t always more heavily than those in print or online. signify accomplishment State By Za c h a r y Ab r a h a m s o n a n d Be n Sm i t h The metrics reveal four tiers: a top rank occupied by fig- 1,063.3 ures like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury early two years after President , with Secretary , whose relevance is hard to Timothy Geithner much fanfare, rolled out a superstar Cabinet, many question; a second with figures who have made the news TREASURY Nof its members have receded almost entirely from through actual relevance (Education Secretary Arne Dun- public view. Remember the intense speculation over jobs can), outside disaster (Interior Secretary ) or 463 like secretary of labor and secretary of energy? Where is self-inflicted wounds ( Secretary ); a these days? third tier of leaders who have dropped below the waterline; JUSTICE And remember retired Gen. ’s time as a sym- and a fourth, subterranean tier occupied by Shinseki alone. bol of military skepticism over the Iraq war when he served Obscurity isn’t always a bad thing — or a reflection of the 328.4 as Army chief of staff ? He’s now secretary of veterans af- task at hand. Shinseki’s recent predecessor, Jim Nicholson, fairs. resigned amid criticism of the treatment of returning Iraq In some cases, obscurity may mean a Cabinet member war veterans, which had put him very much in the news. DEFENSE is operating effectively behind the scenes. In others, it may And Shinseki has had his hands full pursuing what a spokes- mean that he or she has been marginalized by a strong White man described as his department’s “mission from President 277 House staff. But all 15 Cabinet secretaries have a symbolic Obama to transform itself into a 21st-century organization to importance aside from their administrative responsibilities. better serve veterans, their families and survivors.” Ken Salazar POLITICO sought to measure the public profile of Cabinet “If you’re below the radar, you might be able to get some- INTERIOR members by combining their appearances in national print thing done,” said George Edwards, a scholar of the presidency and broadcast media with the White House’s promotion of its at Texas A&M University. 259 secretaries in its own publications. Secretaries’ profiles also represent the administration’s Like most metrics, this one is imperfect — most agencies choices. told POLITICO they do significant work with regional and But, said James Pfiffner, professor of public policy at George HOMELAND SECURITY trade media that’s not picked up by the top-line figures. And Mason University, a Cabinet member’s profile also “speaks visibility does not always track with influence; indeed, those about the high-visibility priorities of the administration.” 244.5 closest to the president sometimes speak the softest. Duncan’s friendship with Obama and the fact that educa- Finally, it’s impossible to predict the visibility of a Cabi- tion reform has been a key White House initiative, for ex- net member’s future work based on the scores on this page. ample, have made him a prominent news figure. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES For example, , secretary of Housing and Ur- But for professional politicians, distance from power and 218.1 ban Development, briefed reporters at the White House on cameras is like death, and by that measure, much of the Wednesday. Much of the resulting publicity is not reflected Cabinet barely has a pulse. Neither Shinseki’s nor Donovan’s in these figures, last updated Wednesday afternoon. name appears even once on evening news transcripts com- education But the examination of media and White House attention piled by LexisNexis over the past year. Clinton’s pops up reveals certain trends. Although Obama made an unprec- more than 150 times. 216.8 edented effort to craft a diverse Cabinet, the diversity skews A search for “” on the White House’s Flickr photo toward the bottom. Four of the five lowest-profile secretar- stream returns just eight images tagged with the president’s Ray LaHood ies are members of ethnic minorities, for instance, as op- secretary of commerce, and two of those are group shots of the TRANSPORTATION posed to two of the top five. full Cabinet. In contrast, searching the name of , More obviously, the numbers offer a guide to White House a senior West Wing adviser, returns 42 photographs. 174.2 priorities. Education — typically obscure — outranks even en- POLITICO checked in with the five most obscure Cabinet ergy and agriculture. Labor, a major post in the days of Frank- secretaries, ranked in order of obscurity at the bottom of Tom Vilsack lin D. Roosevelt, has not been revived. the page. AGRICULTURE 100.9

Steven Chu Gary Locke Hilda Solis Shaun Donovan Eric Shinseki energy commerce labor housing & urban DEVELOPMENT Veterans affairs 95.6 63.3 60.9 57 19.5

AP PHOTOS Despite his Nobel Prize, Chu would Locke rounds out the list of Cabi- Solis made the dailies about 100 Donovan made the dailies more Shinseki takes the dubious honor have languished in obscurity but for net secretaries who have dropped times over the past year and pops than 100 times over the past year of being the president’s least-visible this summer’s Deepwater Horizon into this just-above-Shinseki tier of up more than once — twice — on the but never the network news shows, Cabinet secretary, despite running the spill, which put a spotlight on both him visibility. He landed a single mention evening news transcripts. Her office according to the same Nexis scan fourth-largest agency by budget, earn- and Salazar. Chu made NBC’s “Nightly on the evening news in the past 12 said that’s an incomplete picture (“shaun donovan” draws no results ing a mere 25 mentions in five major News” twice in the past 12 months months — an 11-word sound bite on of the secretary’s work, pointing to across all three). He’s the only Cabi- daily newspapers over the past year. — once last December, in reference ABC in the wake of the Deepwater hits on financial network CNBC’s net secretary to share that distinction That means Shinseki — who’s been to the Copenhagen climate talks, and Horizon disaster. That’s half the “Squawkbox” program and appear- with Shinseki. A HUD rep released absent from major-network evening again in August, as part of BP spill airtime he landed on the program in ances on CNN. a statement saying Donovan’s low news shows for the past year — blips coverage. his last year as governor of the state And Solis, the first national profile reflects the agency’s onto the national radar about once An Energy Department spokesper- of Washington, a post he held until woman to serve as a Cabinet “place-based mission.” every two weeks. It’s been months son brushed off the light coverage (“It January 2005. secretary, plays an outsize role in “Funds go directly to local com- since the secretary’s name last probably shouldn’t surprise anyone A Commerce representative Spanish-language media. (“Just take munities where [HUD]’s 82 field appeared in the print edition of The that Dr. Chu doesn’t sit around reading pointed to Locke’s work overseeing a peek at La Opinion, Univision or offices work to support the agency’s New York Times. Indeed, Shinseki’s Google News alerts about himself”) the census, which came in more than Telemundo,” e-mails Jaime Zapata, affordable-housing initiatives,” the biggest headline-grabbing moment to and said the president’s top energy $1.5 billion under budget, and to a re- a top spokesman for the agency.) statement reads. “A broader news date was his appointment. counselor was focused on “the prog- duction in backlogged patent claims search would demonstrate Secretary In response, Shinseki’s office sent ress we are making through historic as markers of achievement. Donovan’s extensive press cover- POLITICO a 3,700-word document de- clean energy investments and launch- “One look at Secretary Locke’s age in cities and states across the tailing the agency’s accomplishments ing groundbreaking research programs calendar shows he’s been an active country, as he works to promote the in Obama’s first 18 months. On the list: that are laying the foundation for a and highly visible voice in cities and Obama administration’s efforts to cre- establishing a presumptive service con- clean energy future.” towns across America, promoting the ate jobs and stabilize communities.” nection for Vietnam veterans exposed administration’s initiatives to help U.S. to Agent Orange, implementing the companies become more innovative at Post-9/11 GI Bill, helping reduce the home and more competitive abroad,” number of homeless veterans and re- the agency said in a statement. ducing wait times for claims decisions.