Is the Obama cabinet more Congress-heavy than most? It seems there have been an awful lot of selections made from among sitting Members, most of whom were otherwise slated to return in the 111th Congress. Among the returning Members who'll now be departing for the executive branch are the Secretaries-designate of: State, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY); Interior, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), and; Labor, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA-32).

The Secretary-designate at Transportation is soon-to-be-ex-Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL-18), who's retiring from Congress at the end of the 110th, but is currently a Member.

Former Senator Tom Daschle (D-ND) has been tapped for Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary-designate of Commerce is former Rep. Bill Richardson (D-NM).

The Vice President-elect, of course, is Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), and although he doesn't occupy a cabinet post, everyone knows that the incoming White House Chief of Staff is Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL-05).

So if the count is of sitting Members who were otherwise expected to continue in service, and we limit it to cabinet-level posts (and exclude the Vice President), that's just three. Not so many, I guess.

But if the count is of cabinet appointees who've served in Congress, we're at six, which seems a little high, though it's probably what you would expect from a President-elect who was himself a sitting Member of Congress.

How does it stack up against other administrations from the past?

George W. Bush's current cabinet includes just one former Member, ex-Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID). But others serving in his cabinet over the years include former Secretary of Defense and ex-Rep. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL), Attorney General and former Sen. John Aschroft (R-MO), former Secretary of Transportation and Rep. Norm Mineta (D-CA), former Energy Secretary and Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI), and former Homeland Security Secretary and Rep. Tom Ridge (R-PA).

Of course, that measure gives Bush the benefit of eight full years to draw from the ranks of current or former Members of Congress, with just Obama's initial picks to compare them to. If we just look at Bush's initial selections, we'd count former Members Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Mineta and Abraham. The Department of Homeland Security not yet having been created, Ridge was not among Bush's initial choices. But none of the four named were Members of the incoming Congress. Rumsfeld had been out of Congress since 1969, and Mineta since 1995. Abraham and Ashcroft had just lost reelection bids.

So, returning Members -- Obama: 3; Bush: 0. Total Members current and former in the first cabinet -- Obama: 6; Bush: 4. Total current and former Members for the entire term in office to date -- Obama: 6; Bush: 5.

President Clinton's initial cabinet included Treasury Secretary and Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX), Defense Secretary and Rep. Les Aspin (D-WI), and Agriculture Secretary and Rep. Mike Espy (D-MS). Over the years, his cabinet also included Sen. Bill Cohen (R-ME) at Defense, Rep. Dan Glickman (D-KS) at Agriculture, Rep. Norm Mineta (D-CA) at Commerce, and Rep. Bill Richardson (D-NM) at Energy. None of those four, however, were expected to continue service as Members of Congress when they were tapped for the cabinet, though Richardson was when he was initially selected as Clinton's UN Ambassador in 1997. Cohen and Glickman had both just lost reelection bids.

So, returning Members -- Obama: 3; Bush: 0; Clinton: 3. Total Members current and former in the first cabinet -- Obama: 6; Bush: 4; Clinton: 3. Total current and former Members for the entire term in office to date -- Obama: 6; Bush: 5; Clinton: 7.

George H. W. Bush's initial cabinet included former (appointed interim) Sen. Nicholas Brady (R-NJ) -- at Treasury, Dick Cheney (R-WY) at Defense (though he'd previously tried to appoint former Sen. John Tower (R-TX)), retiring Rep. Manuel Lujan (R-NM) at Interior, retiring Rep. (and unsuccessful presidential candidate) Jack Kemp (R-NY) at HUD, and as soon as the Department of Veterans' Affairs was elevated to cabinet-level status (in March of 1989), former Rep. Ed Derwinski (R-IL). Along the way, the Bush cabinet also included Rep. Ed Madigan (R-IL) at Agriculture, and Rep. Lynn Martin (R-IL) at Labor. (Hmm, three former Republican Congresspeople from Illinois.) Also serving in the Bush cabinet were two future Senators: Liddy Dole (R-NC) at Labor -- who will soon, thankfully, be a former-Senator -- and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) at Education.

Reagan's initial cabinet had only one former Member in it: Sen. Richard Schweiker (R-PA) at HHS. He was later replaced with Reagan's second former Member, Rep. Margaret Heckler (R-MA). And in his second term, Reagan added former Sen. Bill Brock (R-TN) as Secretary of Labor. Future Sen. Liddy Dole, of course, was Reagan's second Secretary of Transportation.

By the way, I also noticed that Reagan's second term cabinet had a Secretary of Agriculture named Richard Lying and a Secretary of Commerce named C. William Verity, Jr. That's some pair. And how would you like to be listed in the phone book as Lying, Dick?

Jimmy Carter initially selected Rep. Robert Bergland (D-MN) as his Secretary of Agriculture, and Rep. (and future Sen. as well as ethics nightmare) Brock Adams (D-WA) as his Secretary of Transportation. Later, Sen. Ed Muskie (D-ME) was appointed his Secretary of State.

So...

Returning Members -- Obama: 3; Bush II: 0; Clinton: 3; Bush I: 1; Reagan: 0; Carter 2. Total Members current and former in the first cabinet -- Obama: 6; Bush II: 4; Clinton: 3; Bush I: 5 (we'll credit him for Derwinski); Reagan: 1; Carter: 2. Total current and former Members for the entire term in office to date -- Obama: 6; Bush II: 5; Clinton: 7; Bush I: 7; Reagan: 3; Carter: 3.

Who knows how much further into this I'm willing to go? I'll let you know. But in the meantime, yes, I think it's fair to say that Obama's cabinet is rather heavy on the Congressional appointments. To be fair, I should probably go back a few more presidents, to capture a few more who were themselves once Members of Congress, and maybe back to at least the last sitting Member to be elected president -- JFK.

UPDATE: Looks like I could have saved myself the trouble. CQ -- though in subscription strength only -- reports that Obama has tapped more lawmakers for positions in his administration than any other president in the past 50 years.