Who will fill McClellan's shoes?

Speculation is in the air in the wake of Mark McClellan's announcement that he will step down as CMS administrator [1]. McClellan said he will join a think tank focused on improving the U.S.'s healthcare system. Now the question is: Who will replace him? The New York Times reports that CMS Deputy Administrator Leslie Norwalk is an obvious candidate. CQ HealthBeat says that Herb Kuhn, director of the Center for Medicare Management at CMS, is also a potential nominee. The Bush Administration has only five weeks to pick McClellan's successor.

For more perspective on McClellan's resignation:
- read this article [2] from the Daily Health Policy Report