One of the great parlor games of the West is to guess who the next president will choose as the Interior Secretary.

The man or woman who will succeed Idaho’s Dirk Kempthorne will be the nation's top wildlife manager, federal landlord of more than 507 million acres of national parks, rangeland and wildlife refuges.

He would manage more than 600 dams that bring water to 31 million Westerners and irrigate 60 percent of all the vegetables grown in the United States. He would be in charge of the fate of 1,265 threatened or endangered species.

He would be responsible for 68 percent of the nation's oil and gas reserves and millions of acres of federal mining lands. The next president’s choice for Interior also will sit on the Cabinet, discussing the major issues that face the nation and the world.

First look at McCain. Would he keep Kempthorne on? Any independent observer would have to say Kempthorne has helped boost the reputation of the Bush Administration after the Interior’s lowest moments since the Teapot Dome controversy.

The convictions of Deputy Secretary Steve Griles for has dealings with corrupt lobbying Jack Abramoff, the recent scandal uncovered in the Minerals Management Service and the blatant meddling in scientific decisions on listing endangered species undercut the integrity of the agency that has so much control over the West. All of these happened on the watch of Gale Norton.

Kempthorne has helped restore and grow funding for national parks, listed the polar bear as endangered, acknowledged the role of climate change, taken responsibility to clean up MMS and improved employees’ morale. Kempthorne has at least made the case that keeping him on through the transition would allow McCain to focus on the economy and other challenges.

Others mentioned include Colorado Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, a states rights advocate who is stepping down from the Senate, Rep. Steve Pearce, a New Mexico Republican likely to lose to Democratic Rep. Tom Udall in their race for the Senate.

Neither one of these picks will make environmentalists happy but Allard has supported some environmental projects in Colorado. If McCain wanted environmental support he might step out of the West and pick Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who has a great environmental record in the Senate. His wife, Honey’s father used to be the mayor of Couer d’Alene.

One woman I would include is current deputy Interior secretary Lynn Scarlett. she was unscathed by the mismanagement under Norton and shares McCain's environmental, libertarian philosophy.

For Obama I’m hearing California Democratic Rep. George Miller as a candidate. The former House Resources Committee chairman is an expert on Interior and has strong support among environmental groups. He buys into the new collaborative approach to public lands management. I watched him work on a committee at with Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Cameron Wheeler at a collaborative workshop held in 2001 in Red Lodge, Mont. And they came away with common ground on a proposal on how to streamline federal land management decision making. He also has supported GOP Mike Simpson's Boulder-White Clouds wilderness protection bill.

John Leshy, the former solicitor under Bruce Babbitt and Bill Clinton, and an Interior veteran going back to Cecil Andrus’ days there is another name that comes up. Leshy, a professor of law at the Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco also served as chief counsel under Miller in on the Resources Committee. He also has environmental support.

Montana Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer would be the obvious choice since he has become one of the West’s leading voices on Interior and energy issues. But Schweitzer has said he wants to stay in Montana. We’ll see.

Others thrown out there are Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who is going to be up for several Cabinet posts including State, Rep Jay Inslee of Washington and Colorado Rep. Mark Udall, if he loses to Republican Bob Schaffer for Allard’s Senate seat.

If he wants to go outside of government, Obama might choose Sally Jewell, CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc., and leader in the Initiative for Global Development, which is a group of business leaders seeking to end world poverty.