* Punke worked for former President Clinton in 1990s
* Also has ties to Senate Finance Chairman Baucus
* Kentucky senator blocking other trade nominee
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Former U.S. trade official Michael Punke appears to be President Barack Obama's choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization, industry officials said on Wednesday.
"We hear it from pretty credible sources," said one industry official, who asked not to be identified. "It sounds like it's him. We're just waiting for the White House to make the official announcement."
A White House spokesman said he had no comment. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Tuesday he expected Obama to announce his choice for the position soon.
Punke would take over from long-time U.S. trade diplomat Peter Allgeier, who has stepped down as ambassador to the WTO after several years in Geneva, where day-to-day negotiations in the long-running Doha round of world trade talks take place.
Punke was a senior policy adviser in the U.S. Trade Representative's office in the mid-1990s after a two-year stint in the White House under former President Bill Clinton.
He began his government career in 1991 as international trade counsel to Senator Max Baucus, who is currently chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Most recently, Punke has pursued a career as a novelist and history writer in addition to working as an adjunct professor at the University of Montana, according to his website at www.michaelpunke.com.
"Good guy, good instincts. He has been out of the field for a while but should have a short learning curve," a second U.S. industry official said.
USTR is already home to two former Baucus aides -- Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis and spokeswoman Carol Guthrie.
Meanwhile, Senator Jim Bunning has been blocking Senate approval of Miriam Sapiro for another deputy trade representative slot, sources said.
Obama picked Sapiro in April and the Finance Committee held a hearing on her nomination in early June.
Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, has put a hold on her nomination to pressure the Obama administration to act on a Canadian proposal that would ban American cigarettes blended with burley or flue-cured tobacco.
The Canadian bill is aimed primarily at fruit-flavored cigarettes and small cigars that anti-smoking groups say are being marketed like candy to lure children into smoking.
But U.S. tobacco growers say the measure has been expanded well beyond that original goal. (Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Todd Eastham)