A year ago, Peters was exploring a candidacy for governor of Arizona. Last November, she dropped her gubernatorial bid to challenge Democratic incumbent Janet Napolitano after a fellow Republican, already in the race, raised questions about Peters' eligibility.

The Arizona Constitution requires that candidates to have been Arizona "citizens" five years before the election, but Peters lived in Virginia and registered to vote in that state while serving during Bush's first term.

Peters said that she believed she still was eligible to run for governor and always intended to return to Arizona after her federal service, but that she stepped aside because the issue would have been too much of a distraction.

Mineta was the only Democrat in Bush's Cabinet. There had been speculation for years that he was on the verge of quitting, sometimes because of his health and sometimes because or rumors about a cabinet shake-up. Instead, Mineta became the longest-serving transportation secretary since the department was formed in 1967.

After the Sept. 11 hijackings, Mineta oversaw the hasty creation of the much-maligned Transportation Security Administration, which took over responsibility for aviation security from the airlines.