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Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder - Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. More

Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal. He previously served as the politics editor, and is now a contributing editor, for The Atlantic, where he curated the influential Politics channel on TheAtlantic.com and contributed to the magazine. He was also a chief political consultant to CBS News. Earlier, at NJ's Hotline, Ambinder was the founding editor of "Hotline On Call," a pathbreaking political news blog. He also worked as a producer and reporter for the ABC News Political Unit and was one of the founders of ABC's "The Note." Born in New York City, raised in Central Florida, Ambinder is a 2001 graduate of Harvard and lives in Washington, D.C.

Previewing the White House Response to Sestak's Allegations

By Marc Ambinder
May 28 2010, 11:08 AM ET Comment

Briefly, here is the White House version of events in re: the contact between chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Rep. Joe Sestak.

Special guest star: Bill Clinton. Emanuel telephoned Clinton and chief of staff Doug Band and asked the former president to feel out Sestak to see if he was serious about running for Senate or whether he was trying to parlay his interest into an administration position somehow.

Clinton did as instructed and found Sestak to be serious about running for Senate.

This was conveyed to Emanuel.

Problems:

1. Bill Clinton. His name is bound to turn this story from a Friday news dump into something that will be covered extensively.

2. Republicans are not going to accept an account prepared by Robert Bauer, the White House counsel, who is friendly with Clinton, even though there is no reason to assume ill motivations.

3. The question of what specific instructions Clinton was given -- whether he was authorized to offer Sestak a job -- will become the focal point of Republican queries, even as the White House will insist that Clinton wasn't given any authority to offer anything.


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Marc Ambinder
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