Apparently that was a good sign
It turns out that there was no protocol reason for Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to be addressing Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne repeatedly as "Mr. Secretary" at the end of his confirmation hearing today, as the committee considered Kempthorne's nomination to be the next U.S. Secretary of the Interior. So the early use of the title may have been a promising sign for Kempthorne's nomination...
