Normally, a topic like this would be in the federal domain, but, since two of the high-profile names being mentioned hail from the state and local domain, I'll take a shot at it.

During his campaign, President-elect Obama promised to "appoint the nation's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century." The CTO would carry out the administration's agenda to "create a transparent and connected democracy." (Read the full plan to get the details.)

This would, in essence, be a the first federal enterprise-wide IT leader. Two of the state and local names that have been bandied about include Aneesh Chopra, Virginia's secretary of technology, and Vivek Kundra, the District of Columbia's CTO. Both are members of the Obama transition team's Technology, Innovation & Government Reform working group. Chopra has a strong background in health care, and his boss, Gov. Tim Kaine, who was one of Obama's first major campaign supporters will be assuming the chair of the Democratic National Committee. The only other state or local name I've heard mentioned is Colorado's CIO, Michael Locatis. This was based on some speculation that Obama sees Colorado as a hotbed for "green tech" innovation. Locatis does have a role similar to that of the prospective Obama CTO with Gov. Ritter's innovation council.

Having a state or local IT leader assume the CTO role under the Obama administration would (hopefully) result in a major boost of federal attention to federal/state/local IT interconnectedness. The states and localities are major programmatic partners in the areas of health care, homeland security, justice/public safety, and social services. Federal systems must be designed and maintained with those linkages at the forefront of architectural considerations, rather than as an afterthought (as has been the case historically).

Of course, given the fact that the CTO would have to wrangle the disparate federal agencies, it's hard to discount working group member Dan Chenok, who was the right hand man to Jim Flyzik--the closest the federal government ever had to an enterprise IT leader back in the Clinton administration. He was also enjoys a strong reputation among state and local IT leaders for his outreach efforts during that time. The Bush administration toyed with the idea of an enterprise IT leader in Mark Foreman but, for whatever reason, never pulled the trigger.

Here's some additional INPUT coverage on two of Obama's campaign advisors, both of whom are members of the transition working group.

Will Kaine's coattails carry Chopra into the CTO slot? Is Kundra's flashier "Web 2.0" style more to Obama's liking? Is Obama set on appointing an American of Indian extraction (with the related political ties) to the position or does he need a seasoned federal insider like Chenok or his predecessor at OMB, Bruce McConnell? How about the rest of the field? Feel free to post your insights in the comments below.