White House Dangled Jobs for Colo. Candidate to Quit

Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff has confirmed that President Obama's deputy chief of staff suggested that 3 jobs would be open to him if he dropped out of the state's Senate race. Romanoff received an offer outlining the international development jobs after telling Jim Messina that he had no intention of dropping his challenge to White House-backed incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet, Politico reports.

Both the White House and Romanoff say the candidate was never guaranteed a job, but Republicans charge that the exchange is further evidence of "Chicago-style" backroom dealings by the Obama administration. "Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff aren't isolated incidents, and are indicative of a culture that embraces the politics-as-usual mentality that the American people are sick and tired of," said GOP Rep. Darrell Issa. "Whatever the Obama brand used to stand for has been irrevocably shattered." (More Jim Messina stories.)