[vby Larry Goldfarb ]

The term of Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, is concluding in 15 months.  If Mitt Romney wins the presidency, he has already pledged he will replace Mr. Bernanke, whose term as chairman ends in January 2014.  However, Mr. Bernanke has told close friends that even if Mr. Obama wins, he probably will not stand for re-election.

To replace the current chairman, the candidates on both sides of the aisle are few and far between.  At the top of the Democratic list is Lawrence Summers, Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.  He's a serious economist who knows his numbers and has a worldview that is similar to the President's.  He would be expected to continue the loose money policy of Mr. Bernanke. But one of the knocks against Mr. Summers is that he has a reputation for not playing well with others. He has had his own run-ins with the president. 

There are a couple of other names in the Democratic economist world, but virtually all of them would be long shots: Janet L. Yellen, the vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.  She would be the first woman to run the Federal Reserve and could provide some continuity.  Alan Krueger, an economist who was briefly an assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy under President Obama, is less of a classic choice, but is considered highly by the president.

If you want to be really daring, let's add one more name to the list, perhaps the perfect candidate from the president's perspective: Mr. Geithner. He would have had a year to recover from his current position and may have tired of the speaking circuit. Given his former role as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the financial crisis, he would bring steadiness to the job with Mr. Bernanke's departure, and a level of comfort for the president.

Now, if Mr. Romney wins the presidency, the chessboard for possible appointments to the Federal Reserve chairman becomes a little more crowded.

Glenn Hubbard, who headed the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush and is a top adviser to Mr. Romney, is often mentioned as a top candidate for the Federal Reserve job. Another candidate for Federal Reserve chairman is N. Gregory Mankiw, who also headed the Council of Economic Advisers, and John B. Taylor, a Stanford economist, though he is considered more of a long shot.

For more information, please read [NY Times, 10/22/12].