EVEN HIS SUPPORTERS CAN'T HAVE TAKEN THAT ONE SERIOUSLY:

Daschle lobby ties bump against Obama vow (CHRIS FRATES, 11/30/08, Politico)

Barack Obama’s expected pick of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to be secretary of health and human services bumps up against the president-elect’s pledge to rid the White House of special interests.

The former Democratic senator from South Dakota is a special policy adviser for the lobbying law firm Alston & Bird. And in his three years there, the firm has earned more than $16 million representing some of the health care industry’s most powerful interests before the department he’s in line to lead.