Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been upfront about his decision to leave his post if President Barack Obama wins reelection in November. And, reporters are not letting the fact that the balloons have yet to be inflated for the party conventions stop them on speculating on who will take over for Geithner.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, one name is that of fundster Larry Fink.

The founder of BlackRock [profile] "wants the job," writes writes Felix Salmon at his Reuters blog.

Meanwhile, Salmon's Reuters colleague Glenn Somerville is less certain.

Somerville cites Wall Street sources who "could not offer an assessment of how seriously he [Fink] wants the job."

Would Obama choose Fink? Salmon argues that "the country has had enough of financiers at Treasury" and worries that "Fink is no man of the people." On the flip side, Somerville sees Fink's asset management resume as "a plus" as it's a Wall Street business "that was untainted by the 2008 bailout of banks that remains unpopular with many voters."

Other rumored candidates include Erskine Bowles and Dan Tarullo if Obama wins, and Glenn Hubbard, John Taylor, Kevin Warsh and Robert Zoellick if presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney wins.

James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute's Enterprise Blog noted that J.P. Morgan boss Jamie Dimon, ex-Goldman Boss Jon Corzine, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Larry Summers have all dropped off the Democrats' list. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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