'Tax Issues' Delay Daschle Nomination

Says Dems need to 'do better' at selling health care reform

(NEWSER) - Why is Tom Daschle taking money to advise an insurer that’s against the creation of a public health care option—a measure he supports? Pish-posh, the former Senate majority leader tells Deborah Solomon in the New York Times. Who would doubters on the left “advise these insurance companies talk to? They can talk to Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin or they can talk to me,” he tells the New York Times Magazine in its weekly Q&A. More»

(AP) - Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is President Barack Obama's choice for secretary of health and human services, a White House source said today. Sebelius, 60, was an early Obama supporter who picked his presidential campaign over that of Hillary Rodham Clinton and worked tirelessly for Obama's bid. Obama will formally announce her nomination on Monday, the source told the AP. More»

Kansas gov says she's had no meetings on joining the Obama Cabinet

(AP) - Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, mentioned as a top candidate for health secretary, said today she has not talked with President Barack Obama about joining his Cabinet. "There really isn't anything to tell. I haven't had any meetings about the position," Sebelius, 60, said in an interview with the AP during the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. More»

Sebelius rises among names to replace Daschle: official

(AP) - Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was very near the top of President Barack Obama's list of candidates to head the Health and Human Services Department, a senior administration official said today. No decision has been made, but the former Kansas insurance commissioner was rising as a candidate to replace Tom Daschle, who withdrew his name amid an admission he had not paid taxes. More»

Major issues in the wake of Daschle's withdrawal

(NEWSER) - Tom Daschle gave up his nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary, raising a host of questions, Matthew Cooper writes at Talking Points Memo. Did an issue besides tax problems arise? Was the decision really Daschle’s, or the administration’s? Some other big issues:

1. How many Obama nominees will be felled by tax issues? If Geithner’s $34,000 is OK but Daschle’s $140,000 isn’t, where is that line?
2. Beyond heading the HHS, Daschle was billed by Obama as the pointman for the overhaul of the health care system. Who will lead the charge now?