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Bill Richardson Reportedly Stonewalled Obama Vetters
Politics Daily — ... Politico is reporting, now, that Obama's vetting team had pressed the governor and his office about the investigation, but got nowhere: ...

How the Dems Can Get Back on Track
Pajamas Media — ... with his Senate seat, while Rahm Emanuel, the Obama team’s savviest operator, had six or seven (he can’t quite recall) conversations with Blago and his chief of staff dickering over lists of candidates (not to mention Emanuel’s own House seat). The Illinois Democrats nixed a special election bill and failed to strip Governor Blagojevich of his appointment power. Now Sen. Harry Reid wants to bar the only African-American senator from that august body. The Obama team says it was stonewalled by Bill Richardson in the vetting process and did not, apparently, think much of ...

Obama Team Defends Richardson Vetting
The Page by Mark Halperin - TIME.com — ... to head the Commerce Department, now that Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name. Cites an ongoing investigation into an alleged "pay-to-play" scheme in New Mexico. Obama spokesman Gibbs: "The totality of our cabinet picks, it's impressive, and I think our vetters have done a good job." ...

Obama vetting of Richardson a blooper
The Swamp — ... Politico.com reports that the situation has some Democrats wondering just what went wrong inside the vaunted Obama vetting operation. ...

The Richardson vetting
Political Animal — ... them about the federal investigation that is looking into whether the governor steered a state contract towards a major financial contributor. Once the investigation became more widely known through national media reports last month, sources tell ABC News, the Obama Transition Team realized the FBI would not be able to give Richardson a clean political bill of health before the new administration is ready to send his nomination up to the Senate for confirmation. The Politico had a similar report : Barack Obama's transition team pressed Bill Richardson about a federal probe ...

Fingerpointing and A Second Problem for Richardson
TalkLeft — ... Via Politico, Obama aides are now saying Richardson was pressed for information about the federal grand jury investigation into a possible "pay for play" situation and was not forthcoming. Others are putting the blame on Obama's transition team, saying the vetting of Richardson was inadequate. ...

Top Of The Morning
The Atlantic Politics Channel — ... Bill Richardson withdraws; controversy swirls over pay to play.  You'd never know it, but the Obama team did not expect Richardson to take the Commerce job in the first place; they saw it as a demotion. But Richardson surprised them by saying yes. ...

Hugh Hewitt: The Most Important Story By Far
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog — ... . The president-elect surprised us with his national security selections, and perhaps he will with his economic program as well. When he meets with GOP Leaders McConnell and Boehner today, they should push the tax cuts and a strong spending surge for nuclear power. A package they could support would be good for the country. The departure of Bill Richardson makes you wonder how long it will be to a Patrick Fitzgerald in the Enchantment State calls a press conference. But as interesting and important as all these stories are, the pale in comparison to the battle in Gaza to ...

Hugh Hewitt: The Most Important Story By Far
Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog — ... . The president-elect surprised us with his national security selections, and perhaps he will with his economic program as well. When he meets with GOP Leaders McConnell and Boehner today, they should push the tax cuts and a strong spending surge for nuclear power. A package they could support would be good for the country. The departure of Bill Richardson makes you wonder how long it will be to a Patrick Fitzgerald in the Enchantment State calls a press conference. But as interesting and important as all these stories are, the pale in comparison to the battle in Gaza to ...

The Duh Factor
Daily Pundit — Team pressed Richardson, got nothing - Jonathan Martin - Politico.com Barack Obama’s transition team pressed Bill Richardson about a federal probe into “pay-to-play” allegations against his office – the same investigation Richardson cited Sunday in withdrawing his name as commerce secretary. But a Democratic source said Obama’s questioners came away empty handed. “Those guys were pressed for information and they gave nothing,” the source said. So, on getting nothing, they just let it drop and went ahead and appointed him? ...

Don’t Blame the Obama People for Bill Richardson. They “Pressed” and Everything!
The Sundries Shack — obama-epicfail According to the Obama administration, it wasn’t their fault at all that they had no idea how much Bill Richardson is facing. They asked him and his people and were completely stymied ! They even “pressed” them “for information” but were foiled by the implacable bulwark of the Bill Richardson Irregulars. How closely could he have held his secrets considering that most of the details of the investigation he’s facing have been in the newspapers for at least a month. Surely what’s there should have been enough to give the Messiah-Elect pause. Unless, of course, ...

The Blagojevich Blight: Controversy Threatens To Taint Surrounding Democrats
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... In the case of Richardson, there are conflicting accounts as to how forthright he was with Obama aides while he was being vetted. Politico reported that Richardson failed to provide crucial information, quoting a Democratic source saying that Richardson and his supporters "were pressed for information and they gave nothing." Another source told the Huffington Post, however, that Richardson had been straightforward and open early on, but that the Blagojevich scandal raised the stakes, making allegations that Richardson had participated in a pay-to-play arrangement of his own all ...

The Blagojevich Blight: Controversy Threatens To Taint Surrounding Democrats
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... In the case of Richardson, there are conflicting accounts as to how forthright he was with Obama aides while he was being vetted. Politico reported that Richardson failed to provide crucial information, quoting a Democratic source saying that Richardson and his supporters "were pressed for information and they gave nothing." Another source told the Huffington Post, however, that Richardson had been straightforward and open early on, but that the Blagojevich scandal raised the stakes, making allegations that Richardson had participated in a pay-to-play arrangement of his own all ...