“She’s a very bright woman and she has much to offer, I presume, and knowledge about manufacturing and the auto industry,” Menchik said.

Granholm has been named as a possibility for energy secretary. Menchik said she also could be considered for trade representative, considering Michigan’s close relationship with Canada.

Although Obama’s only appointment to date is U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., as chief of staff, he is expected to make several more appointments in the coming weeks.

Granholm’s staff has asserted that she is focusing on her duties as governor, but experts said Granholm’s activity in the Obama campaign could indicate a desire to be included in his team of advisers.

“She’s pleased to be invited to participate in the members of the economic advisory team,” spokeswoman Megan Brown said.

“The challenges Michigan has experienced under the Bush administration’s policies are now affecting the rest of the country, and so the governor has a very powerful perspective to bring to the table.”

Granholm’s name also has come up in discussions of possible Supreme Court appointments under Obama if one of the nine justices were to retire.

Political science professor Paul Abramson said it’s easy to see why a Washington appointment could appeal to the governor, who has campaigned extensively in the state and nation for federal assistance for Michigan’s struggling auto industry.

Granholm appeared Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to plead for a federal bailout of the Big Three automakers.

“Most people recognize that, depending on what position she had, Granholm could do more for the state serving at the national level,” Abramson said.

Some students wondered if Granholm’s apparent push for a Cabinet position is an indication that she is running away from the state’s problems. But criminal justice junior Altagracia Moquette said she wouldn’t mind seeing the governor leave Michigan for Washington.

“She can probably do a lot more being a cabinet member,” Moquette said. “The work she’s done here, she could probably do the same type of work over there with the economy of the nation.”

Although some might wonder why the governor of a state with a failing economy would be considered for a position as an economic adviser, Menchik said Granholm knows more than anyone what it’s like to face such struggles and she could offer perspective for Obama.

“(Obama) ran on a platform of rebuilding the middle class, and manufacturing jobs are very important in that regard,” he said.

Other names that have circulated as possible Cabinet members are campaign advisers David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs as a senior adviser and press secretary, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as secretary of state. Some have guessed that Obama also might retain Defense Secretary Robert Gates when he takes office.

Abramson said he expects Gates to be the only holdover from the current administration. He approved of Obama’s selection of Emanuel as chief of staff, calling it a “good choice.”

“Some people argue he’s too partisan, but as a federal legislator, you need someone for chief of staff that you can really work with and because he’s choosing another politician from Illinois, this is someone he knows,” Abramson said.

Once Obama finishes making cabinet appointments, he and his advisers will have to make good on his promise for a middle class tax cut, as well as funding programs to implement clean energy and new infrastructure and rehabilitating the manufacturing sector, all of which are prominent issues in Michigan.

In the meantime, Abramson said speculation about who Obama could appoint should be taken with a grain of salt. In reality, only Obama himself knows who he will choose, and even he may still be undecided.

“Not everyone that he wants will necessarily agree to serve, and I think he has to carefully vet the people he appoints,” Abramson said.