Politics / Barack Obama GOP Picks for Obama's 'Team of Rivals' Who are the best bipartisan choices for Obama? By Gabriel Winant, Newser Staff Posted Nov 18, 2008 8:26 AM CST Copied New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, shakes hands with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., after he introduced him in the Great Hall of New York's Cooper Union, Thursday, March 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Barack Obama talks a good game about bipartisanship. But now that he’s staffing up, it’s time to see if he walks the walk. The Wall Street Journal runs through some potential GOP appointees: Jim Leach. This former Iowa congressman was chosen to help represent the president-elect at the G-20. He’s a veteran of the foreign service, and sounded early warnings about the unregulated financial system. Chuck Hagel. The outgoing Nebraska senator pointedly didn’t endorse former ally John McCain. A Vietnam vet, he’s moved far from his party on foreign policy and national security. Richard Lugar. The senior Indiana Republican has served with Obama on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is known to like him and be eager to cooperate. Mike Bloomberg. Well, not a Republican anymore, but as a widely admired and competent manager, Mayor Mike embodies many of the post-partisan values Obama likes to talk about. (More Barack Obama stories.) Report an error