steven chu's sherpa

Here's another story from Politico.com on Barack Obama's pick for Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu: Obama energy pick guided by 'sherpa'. Yes, I was a little confounded by the headline too. But it kind of makes sense. (It has nothing to do with the Himalayas.)

Though Chu, as an expert on renewable energy, is an excellent pick for the post, he is also arguably the biggest political rookie to join the new Obama Cabinet. So it's time to call in the sherpas -- D.C. handlers who shepherd newcomers like Chu through the strange new world of the Senate.

Chu's sherpa is Dan Utech, "a fresh-faced" Capitol Hill insider who is energy adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and leading a team of experts who are preparing Chu with a series of mock hearings. He'll have the new Secretary of Energy ready for action in no time.