Washington Gov.  Chris Gregoire, a White House favorite, makes the Top 50 `politicos to watch‘ list’ just released by the beltway insiders’ chatty Politico.  As you’ll recall, Gregoire has been mentioned for a variety of cabinet posts, and the Obama Administration made no secret that she’s on their short list to succeed Elena Kagan as Solicitor General.

Will she be offered the post, sometimes described as the 10th Supreme Court justice? Would she take it, given her previous reticence?  We’ll see. (If she resigned as governor by Oct. 3, there would be an all-comers race in November to fill out the remaining two years of her term.)

The Politico writeup already describes her as a “new administration face” to watch.  Here’s their writeup:

“It’s not surprising that Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is on President Barack Obama’s shortlist to replace Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as solicitor general.

Gregoire, a superdelegate who backed Obama in the 2008 presidential race, has long been rumored as a candidate for various White House posts. Yet after the election, amid speculation that she could be nominated as commerce secretary or a Supreme Court justice, she told reporters she intended to run for reelection that year: “I made it clear early on I would not accept an appointment.”

She may feel differently now.

Gregoire, who got her law degree from Gonzaga University, has a strong legal background. She began her career in the state attorney general’s office, and she served for 12 years as Washington’s first female attorney general — taking on drug companies and joining lawsuits against Big Tobacco — before running for governor in 2004.”