Thursday's Starting Lineup (Gibbs Admits Job Offer Happened)

[WestVirginiaRebel]

National Journal:

Good Thursday morning. We've seen Jim Joyce call a ballgame before, so we know he's usually a strong umpire. But last night is something that will dog him the rest of his career.

Speaking of baseball, here's today's Starting Lineup, previewing the people who will make a difference in politics today:

JIM MESSINA: Last year, the deputy WH CoS discussed 2 USAID posts and a US Trade and Development Agency job with ex-CO House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D), if only Romanoff would drop his challenge to Sen. Michael Bennet (D), Romanoff said in a statement last night. It is the second time in as many weeks that the WH will have to answer questions about using the offer of admin posts to clear a Senate primary field.

In a statement released early this morning, WH Press Sec. Robert Gibbs said the WH had done nothing wrong. "Andrew Romanoff applied for a position at USAID during the Presidential transition. He filed this application through the Transition on-line process. After the new administration took office, he followed up by phone with White House personnel," Gibbs said. "Jim Messina called and emailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the US Senate. ... Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters."

The GOP has hammered the WH over behind-the-scenes negotiations with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Romanoff. Neither negotiation succeeded in avoiding a nasty primary fight. Rather, they both served to undermine confidence in Gibbs, who has had to repeately profess his ignorance of what's going on in the WH, and in an admin that's stumbled much more often of late. Messina is a key part of the WH political shop, but he hasn't done his boss any favors by trying to get Romanoff out of the race.
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I have to feel kind of sorry for Gibbs. Keeping the president's story straight is a tough job...