Norm Mineta: Maryland Rhode Runner
Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, a Democrat who served in the cabinets of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, stepped down July 7, 2006. Mineta's Washington career spanned three decades. He is the longest serving Transportation Secretary and, at 74, the oldest member of Bush's cabinet.

Laura Blumenfeld is an enterprise writer on the national staff of The Washington Post, where she covers politics and terrorism, among other subjects. Her 2002 book, "Revenge: A Story of Hope," (Simon & Schuster), was a New York Times best seller.

Blumenfeld, a Harvard College graduate, holds a master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. She has been a Post staff writer since 1992. She has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The Los Angles Times. She has reported extensively from the Middle East and speaks Hebrew and Arabic.

Blumenfeld lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and three children.