The Washington Post has reported that President-elect Barack Obama has picked Thomas J. Vilsack, a former two-term Iowa governor and Hamilton alumnus, to be his Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack, 58, was the first Democrat to enter the presidential race won by Obama, but he dropped out of the contest in February 2007.

Obama, a backer of tighter farm subsidy rules and new-generation biofuels, is likely to announce the nomination on Wednesday, along with, the nomination of Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as his Interior secretary.

Vilsack, who is a native of Pittsburgh, came to Hamilton in 1968. Steve Wulf, executive editor of ESPN, The Magazine, who has known Vilsack from Hamilton days, said of him: "It's always impressed me that he's a governor, but he hasn't changed all that much. Even then, he struck me as a trustworthy guy, who was smart and focused and well-grounded."

An attorney with Hage & Hage LLC in Utica, JK Hage who attended Albany Law School with Vilsack, said that in his years as governor, Vilsack translated campaign commitments into action, thereby addressing educational, health care and environmental issues, while adhering to fiscal responsibility. Hage added: "Vilsack has proven in Iowa that his focus is on social justice and fiscal conservatism."

As governor, Vilsack's major issues were funding education and bringing more high-tech agribusiness to Iowa. Critics opined that Vilsack was largely a supporter of agricultural biotechnology, and overlooked organic or sustainable farming.