On a morning when the New York Times is editorializing that Tom Daschle should step aside, Politico’s Ben Smith and Eamon Javers are reporting yet another potential problem for the HHS nominee:
Tom Daschle backed the patron who paid him a million-dollar salary and supplied him with a free car and driver for a job inside the Obama administration, two Democrats said Monday.
Leo Hindery, whose InterMedia Partners employed the former Senate Majority Leader, had been mentioned as a possible Secretary of Commerce or U.S. Trade Representative.
“Tom was pushing for him,” said one Democratic source.
Obama’s aides rejected Daschle’s suggestion that a top job go to Hindery, for whose private equity fund Daschle had served as a rainmaker and adviser.
UPDATE: Daschle has withdrawn his nomination.