NYT: Aha! So maybe Mr. Obama really is considering Mr. Lugar for secretary of state, as many in Washington have been assuming. But wait. Mr. Lugar’s office said the conversation Monday had nothing at all to do with the Cabinet.
“It was not about secretary of state,” Andy Fisher, a Lugar spokesman, said in an e-mail message. “Lugar is not interested (as he explains repeatedly). Nothing about that position was discussed during the call. They discussed ways in which they will continue to work on a number of foreign policy fronts as Lugar continues his Republican foreign policy leadership in the Senate.”
The call to Mr. Lugar was one of three Mr. Obama made after visiting President Bush at the White House, then stopping for a private, 40-minute meeting at a fire station at the airport. Aides would not describe whom he met with. It’s a fair guess that he may have been meeting with a candidate for the Cabinet. But then again, that’s also just a guess.
Obama's adviser Valerie Jarrett says stop guessing. Meanwhile, the media is guessing what Jarrett will do. Some have said she'd replace Obama in the Senate. Emanuel has said she's a close adviser, which means Obama will probably want her in the White House.
CNN: Two Democratic sources close to President-elect Barack Obama tell CNN that top adviser Valerie Jarrett will not be appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate.
"While he (Obama) thinks she would be a good senator, he wants her in the White House," one top Obama advisor told CNN Monday.
Over the weekend, Democratic sources had told CNN as well as Chicago television station WLS-TV that Jarrett was Obama's choice to fill his Senate seat.
