The speculation about a Bush administration

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President-elect Bush has said he's all but settled on his White House staff, but the guessing game about who will be in his Cabinet is picking up steam. <br><br>He's already signaled

Thursday, December 14th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President-elect Bush has said he's all but settled on his White House staff, but the guessing game about who will be in his Cabinet is picking up steam.

He's already signaled that he likes retired Gen. Colin Powell, who remains a beloved political figure, for a Cabinet slot, most likely the high-profile post of secretary of state.

Most everything else about the Cabinet remains a mystery, though many names are being bandied about. Here are some of them:

AGRICULTURE: Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas; Ann Veneman, California agriculture director; Susan Combs, Texas agriculture commissioner; Charles Kruse, Missouri Farm Bureau president.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: Montana Gov. Marc Racicot; Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating; defeated Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo.; Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore; former Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo.

COMMERCE: Bush campaign chairman Don Evans; Tony Garza, member of the Texas Railroad Commission; California venture capitalist Floyd Kvamme; Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash.

DEFENSE: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; former Sens. Dan Coats, R-Ind., and Sam Nunn, D-Ga.; Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Armitage, who served under Vice President-elect Dick Cheney when he was defense secretary.

EDUCATION: Sandy Kress, Bush's education adviser and former Dallas Democratic Party chairman; Drew University president and former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean; Houston school superintendent Roderick Paige; Arizona education superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan; William Gray, president of the United Negro College Fund.

ENERGY: Sen. John Breaux, D-La.; former Sen. Bennett Johnson, D-La.; Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat who supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska; defeated Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.; Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Texas.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson; New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman; Gail R. Wilensky, former administrator of the federal Health Care Financing Administration; William Roper, dean of the University of North Carolina.

HOUSING: Stephen Goldsmith, former Indianapolis mayor; Garza; Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas.

INTERIOR: Racicot; Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo.; Gorton.

LABOR: Rep. Jim Talent, R-Mo., defeated in race for Missouri governor; Dunn; former Reagan administration civil rights commissioner Linda Chavez; Connecticut Gov. John Rowland; Whitman.

TRANSPORTATION: Elaine L. Chao, former deputy transportation secretary in first Bush administration; Dunn; defeated Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich.; Texas House Speaker Pete Laney; Thompson; Kansas Gov. Bill Graves.

TREASURY: Walter Shipley, retired chairman of Chase Manhattan; John Hennessy, former CEO of Credit Suisse First Boston; Donald Marron, chairman of PaineWebber; William McDonough, Federal Reserve Bank president; Kenneth Lay, chief executive officer of Enron Corp., an energy company. Long shots: Lawrence Lindsey, former Federal Reserve member; Rep. Bill Archer, retiring chairman of House Ways and Means Committee; Gerald Parsky, a California financier and fund-raiser. Longer shot but possible: incumbent Secretary Lawrence Summers.

U.N. REPRESENTATIVE: Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.

VETERANS AFFAIRS: Former deputy VA secretary Anthony Prinicipi; Florida VA Director Robin Higgins.