The American Spectator

p> CABINET SPARKLERS br> Gossip inside the White House has James Towey , current director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, slotted as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. Towey, who has been a low-key member of President Bush’s team, has experience in the field, having run Florida’s health and social services department back when Lawton Chiles was governor. /p>

If Towey is in fact nominated to replace Gov. Tommy Thompson, it would be one of the surprise nominations coming out of the Bush White House. The HHS post is thought to be the favored slot for Dr. Mark McClellan, who currently oversees the President’s prescription drug program inside HHS. McClellan has been the odds on favorite for the job for months, having built up a résumé as chairman of the FDA, and his close relationship to the President. He still may get the job, but a Towey nomination now appears to be more logical given some of Bush’s recent surprising picks for Justice, Commerce, and White House counsel.

There may be another surprise coming down the pike. For all of the buzz about former Sen. Phil Gramm being in line to replace John Snow</ B> as Treasury Secretary, there is just as much, if not more, about Chief of Staff Andy Card getting the nod. The reception of a Card nomination to Treasury would be met with a wall of silence from Wall Street, however.

“There is no interest in a Card Treasury nomination,” says an investment banker in New York. “He has no reputation up here, and that isn’t a good thing. We need someone we know and trust in that slot. Snow is that guy, but if he isn’t the President’s cup of tea, then the President can make a change. But it should be someone who knows Treasury and Wall Street.”

p> NICE AND EASY DOES IT br> Make way for another rip-snorting diatribe from former Vermont Gov. Howie Dean