STILL SHUFFLING:

Treasury Secretary Is Likely to Leave Soon (RICHARD W. STEVENSON, 12/06/04, NY Times)

President Bush has decided to replace John W. Snow as treasury secretary and has been looking closely at a number of possible replacements, including the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., Republicans with ties to the White House say.

With the White House having said on Friday that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would stay on for Mr. Bush's second term, Mr. Snow is the only secretary at a major cabinet department whose fate has not been publicly addressed. Administration officials and advisers had been signaling for weeks that Mr. Snow was likely to depart eventually but left open the possibility that he might stay on well into next year.

But in recent days, administration officials have been hinting that Mr. Snow will go sooner rather than later. And an adviser to the White House, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said on Sunday that a firm decision had been made to replace Mr. Snow as soon as Mr. Bush could settle on a successor.

Mr. Card's replacement would be the most important appointment of the second term.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 6, 2004 12:36 PM