Candidates Diverge on Picking the Next Paulson

The post of Treasury secretary may be the most important appointment the next president has to make and John McCain and Barack Obama seem to be using different criteria, Bloomberg reports. McCain has mentioned big names like billionaire investor Warren Buffett and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, while insiders say Obama's shortlist will be topped by market-reassuring names like New York Fed chief Tim Geithman.

Observers are mystified by some of the names McCain has mentioned—Buffett has endorsed Obama, while Whitman has little experience of financial markets. Obama's likely choices meet more approval from finance experts: Geithman is “basically responsible for saving the US from a complete financial meltdown,'' said one observer. Many from both parties think keeping Henry Paulson on would be the best choice, but he plans to leave in January.
(More Treasury Department stories.)