The list of names being mentioned in conjunction with Tommy Thompson's exit from the HHS Secretary post has grown a bit. Here's the compilation:

• Mark McClellan, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was immediately at the top of the list, but now some speculate that his first priority will be completing work on Medicare prescription drug coverage.
• Claude A. Allen, Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services, who has been nominated for an appeals court seat but been blocked because of his opposition to abortion rights. (So HHS is obviously a great place for him.)
• Senator John Breaux of Louisiana.
• Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director.
• Julie Gerberding, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (and architect of controversial plan to bury NIOSH deeper in the bowels of government).
• Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, has somehow made it onto the list. Conventional wisdom: not really a candidate.
• Mike Leavitt, EPA Administrator, is often listed in the "also mentioned for the position" sentence.
• Elias Zirhouni, National Institutes of Health Director.