AP: Daschle accepts HHS job, Holder as AG

WASHINGTON -- Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has informally accepted an offer from President-elect Barack Obama to become secretary of Health and Human Services and Washington attorney Eric Holder has agreed to become Attorney General, the Associated Press reports.

The AP, quoting an unidentified source close to the selection process, described the offer to Daschle as "informallly" made and acccepted, pending completion of the vetting process.

Neither appointment has been officially announced. But Democratic officals, speaking anonymously, said the HHS job is Daschle's barring an unforeseen problem as Obama's team reviews the background of the South Dakota Democrat.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Daschle is a close adviser to Obama. On Wednesday, in a public statement, the Obama transition offices named Daschle a Policy Working Group Leader on health for the transition.

Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican National committee, says Daschle has worked for a major lobbying firm and that his appointment will be "another disappointment" for voters hoping to see "new faces and fewer lobbyist-connections in government."

As for the Attorney General position, Holder, 57, the Bronx-born son of a Barbados immigrant, would become the first African-American to hold the top Justice Department office.

The AP, quoting a source close to the selection process, reported that Obama has "informally" offered Holder the post and that he has accepted.

Holder has not commented on the report, also carried by Newsweek and National Public Radio.

The AP source spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made and because the process of vetting the nomination is still going on.

Holder, has broad legal experience in both the public and private sector. He has held a judgeship, successfully prosecuted a powerful Democratic lawmaker for mail fraud, served as No. 2 at the Justice Department in the Clinton administration and represented a wide-range of corporate clients at a Washington law firm.

In other transition developments:

•Former President Bill Clinton has offered several concessions to help Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his wife, become secretary of State, the AP reports, quoting people familiar with Obama's transition vetting process.

The former president has agreed to release the names of several major donors to his charitable foundation and will takes steps to avoid conflicts of interest by giving up day-to-day responsibility for the foundation and submitting any future paid speeches to ethics review.

The AP said the sources knowledgeable about the discussions agreed to speak only anonymously because of the private nature of Obama's Cabinet-selection process.

The Obama campaign has not commented on reports that Sen. Clinton is being considered for the top diplomatic post, although she met recently in Chicago with the president-elect.

Clinton declined to discuss any part of the selection process Tuesday.

Joe Lockhart, former Clinton administration White House spokesman, said Wednesday that the stories swirling about whether the New York senator is interested in being secretary of State are simply a reflection of the fact that she's genuinely struggling with a decision.

"I think Sen. Clinton is looking at a real dilemma about where she can have the most impact at a time when our country's in crisis: a leadership role in the Senate or on the world stage," he said. "I think it actually speaks very well for both of them that they're in this conversation," he said of Clinton and president-elect Barack Obama, who met last Thursday in Chicago. "They've put aside 18 months of a very tough campaign."

•Congressional Budget Office chief Peter Orszag is Obama's apparent choice to become his budget director, the AP reports, quoting Capitol Hill Democrats. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the Obama team's desire to keep such deliberations quiet. The report has also been reported by MSNBC.

Orszag served as an economist in the Clinton White House.

•The Obama transition office on Wednesday released a list of Policy Working Group Leaders on the transition team. These include: Daniel K. Tarullo, on economic issues; Linda Darling-Hammond, education; former EPA administrator Carol Browner, energy and environment; former Sen. Tom Daschle, health care; T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, immigration; James Steinberg, Susan Rice, national security; Sonal Shah, Julius Genachowski, Blair Levin, technology, innovation and government reform.

The Holder nomination could be announced formally as early as this week, the AP reports.

Holder, who headed the Obama team that picked Sen. Joe Biden as Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in an interview late last year that the Justice Department needs a morale makeover.

"Internally, there is a morale problem the likes of which I have never seen before," Holder said at the time. "Externally, there is a crisis of confidence that the nation has with regard to the department."

A drawback to the Holder nomination could be his role in 2001, as Clinton's deputy attorney general, in the pardoning of Marc Rich, a wealthy commodities dealer who had fled abroad to avoid tax charges. Rich's ex-wife, Denise, was a prominent Democratic party donor.

When the proposed presidential pardon hit Holder's desk, he wrote that he was "neutral, leaning toward favorable," a move for which he publicly apologized later. He said he would have advised against the pardon had he paid more attention to the case, which emerged in the last days of the Clinton administration.

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on Holder's nomination, said the pardon "would be a factor to consider."

"I wouldn't want to articulate it among the top items but it's worthwhile to look at," he told reporters Tuesday, adding that it is "too soon for me to say" whether Holder would be a satisfactory attorney general.

With Democrats in control of the Senate, however, Holder's confirmation would be virtually assured.

Holder "would make an outstanding nominee, and should have the support of senators from both sides of the aisle if President-elect Obama were to choose him for this critical position," said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Contributing: Mimi Hall, in Washington, D.C.; Douglas Stanglin, in McLean, Va.; The Associated Press