Pondering a post-Ashcroft DOJ

This CNN story about President Bush’s second-term plans includes a report on an expected transition at the top of the US Justice Department:

Sources close to Ashcroft told CNN on Thursday that they believe it is most likely the attorney general will submit his resignation in the near future, possibly within the next two weeks.

Private signals from Justice Department sources have indicated for some months that the attorney general has no plans to serve a second term.
Some of the buzz I have seen and heard is that former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson may be the front-runner to replace AG Ashcroft. Thompson, in addition to already having the endorsement of TalkLeft, would be the country’s first African-American attorney general. However, this pre-election law.com article, says other”possible nominees include: White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales; Bush’s campaign chairman Marc Racicot, former governor of Montana; and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.”

This summer I suggested here, only half-jokingly, that former Solicitor General Ted Olson “probably decided to retire somewhere in the middle of reading Justice Scalia’s opinion in Blakely.” I wonder if perhaps AG Ashcroft figured he should jump ship from DOJ before Booker hits the Fanfan.