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SEATTLE — One of the most remarkable things about today’s news is how many important people are gathering at the Sheraton hotel here to listen to it. Last night, a crowd sharing drinks at the hotel bar included Chancellor Joel Klein, Chicago Superintendent Arne Duncan, Green Dot founder Steve Barr, and Obama education adviser Jon Schnur.

The two often-mentioned choices to be Obama’s education secretary, Klein and Duncan, sat next to each other. Schnur was a few bodies away, and across from them was Education Sector codirector Andrew Rotherham, who has been mentioned as a possible appointee to an Obama Education Department.

Below the jump is a run-down of people I’ve spotted in Seattle since I got here last night. I’m putting stars (*) next to people who have been named as possible Obama education appointees, and please help me add to the list.

• Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education
• Joel Klein, New York City schools chancellor*
• Arne Duncan, Chicago schools superintendent*
• Jon Schnur, founder of New Leaders for New Schools and co-chair of Obama education advisory board*
• Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford professor and the other Obama education board co-chair*
• Christopher Edley, the dean of the UC-Berkeley law school and a senior adviser to Obama*
• Randi Weingarten, president of the New York City teachers union and the national American Federation of Teachers, is scheduled to be here
• Michelle Rhee, the Washington, D.C. schools chancellor
• Andrew Rotherham, co-director of Education Sector*
• Steve Barr, the founder of Green Dot charter school network
• Chester Finn, of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
• Susan Traiman, of the Business Roundtable
• Timothy Daly, of The New Teacher Project
• Robert Gordon, Center for American Progress, adviser to the Obama transition team, and formerly the city Department of Education