Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said President George W. Bush should consider nominating his successor's Treasury secretary to facilitate a ``seamless transition'' during the financial crisis.

Dodd said the president-elect should identify a successor to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson soon after the Nov. 4 election. Dodd, whose committee would consider the nominee, said Bush, a Republican, should send the nomination to the Senate in time for a ``lame-duck'' session to be held in mid-November. The new Congress will take office in early January.

``I think it's going to be very important there be a seamless transition,'' Dodd told reporters after a Banking Committee hearing yesterday. ``I would even go so far as to suggest that the next president ought to ask this president to submit the name of the secretary of the Treasury to the Senate to be confirmed in a lame-duck session.''

The Senate is reviewing how to reform U.S. financial regulations in the wake of the collapse of the credit markets. Dodd held a hearing yesterday to examine the Treasury's implementation of the $700 billion financial-rescue program enacted this month. Paulson has orchestrated the response to the collapse, and proposed and is leading the rescue plan.

Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said it could take until February or March ``before you get your people up and running'' in a typical presidential transition. Bush leaves on Jan. 20.

``I believe the next president must appoint that economic team as quickly as you would suggest your national-security team,'' Dodd said. ``Historically, presidents have announced their national-security team very quickly.''

`Never Been Done'

Having an incumbent president nominate his successor's Treasury secretary ``has never been done,'' said Jonathan D. Varat, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. ``And, of course, Paulson would have to step down, you can't have two of them at the same time.''

Dodd said he's raised the issue with the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, and Republican John McCain, an Arizona senator. ``No one's jumped all over it,'' Dodd said of the response. Obama's campaign had no comment.

The Bush administration is ``committed to a seamless transition,'' especially on economic policy and national security, said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. ``It would be more appropriate to direct any questions about specific positions in a future administration to the eventual president- elect.''

Names circulating as potential Obama Treasury candidates include Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman; Lawrence Summers, a Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration; Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. senior partner.

McCain, in recent comments, suggested his choices could include former EBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman and Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers. McCain has also mentioned billionaire investor Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and an Obama supporter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 24, 2008 00:01 EDT