Smart Money Is on Geithner to Replace Bernanke

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- One of the more amusing parlor gamesplayed after a U.S. presidential election is figuring out whowill get what important position in the next administration.

Will Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts -- the best, mostlogical choice -- replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state,or will President Barack Obama find someone else now that UnitedNations Ambassador Susan Rice has taken herself out ofcontention? Will Obama finally banish the Wall Street croniesfrom the Securities and Exchange Commission and nominate someoneas chairman who has a track record of rooting out bad behavioron Wall Street? Will Jack Lew, Obama’s chief of staff, slideover to Treasury to replace Timothy Geithner, or will Obama makethe bolder, wiser move and select Erskine Bowles, one of thearchitects of a smart budget-deficit-reduction plan?