One of US President Donald Trump's picks to become the next US ambassador to Australia, veteran senator Orrin Hatch, prefers to stay in Utah to enjoy "early bird specials at all-you-can-eat buffets and long walks through Costco".
Another pick, Senator Bob Corker, dismissed Mr Trump's offer to take the Canberra gig, once considered a plum US diplomatic posting, as not "the right step".
Mr Trump did get a yes from the feisty head of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris but soon after accepting the job, Admiral Harris was asked to be the US ambassador to South Korea.
It has been 18 months since the US has had an ambassador in Australia.
Some see the long absence as a snub to Australia and another example of the incompetence of Mr Trump in filling key positions around the globe and in the State Department.
Jeff Bleich, former US president Barack Obama's ambassador to Australia from 2009 to 2013 and current candidate for lieutenant governor of California, has been a Trump critic but he supports the administration's search for high-calibre candidates like Admiral Harris and Senator Corker.
Mr Bleich also had a suggestion.
He believes Jim Caruso, who has been charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Canberra in the absence of an ambassador, should be promoted to the role.
"I think it is a good sign that the administration has been selective, and that it is looking for serious policy thinkers to serve as ambassador to Australia," Mr Bleich told AAP on Tuesday.
"We're fortunate that we've had this time and space to find the right person, largely because the charge d'affaires Jim Caruso is doing such a superb job.
"In fact, he would make an outstanding ambassador himself.
"Although I wish Admiral Harris had been able to serve, I think that it's a tribute to the importance of the US-Australia relationship that people like Admiral Harris and the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Senator Corker) are being considered for the role.
"I hope that whoever they ultimately select is a person of that calibre."
The 84-year-old Senator Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in US history, is due to retire from congress early next year.
Senator Hatch's office said discussions about the Australian post did not get to a serious level.
"Senator Hatch has not had any conversations about an ambassadorship, but looks forward to a well-deserved retirement filled with early bird specials at all-you-can-eat buffets and long walks through Costco," spokesman Matt Whitlock told the Salt Lake Tribune.
Mr Trump's approach to Senator Corker was a curious one, with the the two waging a public battle of name-calling the past year.
The president, on Twitter, has poked fun at Senator Corker's height by nicknaming him "Liddle" and saying he "couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee".
Senator Corker also engaged in name-calling, describing the president as "utterly untruthful" and the Trump White House an "adult day care centre".
"I had a number of conversations with both President Trump and (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo," Corker told the Tennessean newspaper.
"At the end of the day though ... it just felt like it wasn't the right step."
Australian Associated Press
