Senators Express Surprise, Sadness Over Daschle’s Pull Out

Susan Davis and Patrick Yoest report on politics. Senators on Capitol Hill reacted with a mix of surprise and sadness—and some with satisfaction—at former Senate leader Tom Daschle ’s decision to withdrawal his name from consideration as President Barack Obama ’s health and human services secretary. “He indicated there was too much attention given to this nomination. He felt there was a lot of diversion from the facts,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters this afternoon regarding his conversation this morning with Daschle. “He’s like a brother to me. He made his decision personally to withdraw and I accept his decision.” Republican senators suggested that Daschle made the right move. “Based on what I saw, that probably is the right call,” said Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign , who sits on the Finance Committee which was deliberating over Daschle’s nomination. “This was causing problems for the new president. There were some very serious problems with this ... (link)