Andrew Romanoff Breaks Silence on White House Job Talks
On Friday's Washington Unplugged, Bob Schieffer, moderator of CBS' "Face the Nation," spoke with Andrew Romanoff, the latest Senate candidate to acknowledge that he was contacted by the White House for discussions about various administration positions should he drop out of his primary race.
Romanoff's revelation followed a similar story about Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak, who defeated Sen. Arlen Specter in a Democratic primary race last month.
Sestak: "I Stood Up to My Party"
Romanoff said he "received a call from (White House Deputy Chief of Staff) Jim Messina. He informed me that the White House would support my opponent, Sen. (Michael) Bennet. I told Mr. Messina that I had decided to run for the Senate nonetheless. He told me three positions might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race and e-mailed me descriptions of the positions. I told him that I would not change course. That's the last time I had any communication on this matter with Mr. Messina or anyone else in the White House."
Schieffer asked Romanoff if he was surprised or even offended by the White House's move to possibly push him out of Colorado's Democratic Senate primary, which is scheduled for Aug. 10.
"A number of folks have done their best to keep me from running for the Senate and similar efforts to prevent primaries that took place in Pennsylvania," said Romanoff. "Those efforts did not have any effect on me."
Romanoff added, "The White House's efforts made no impact on my decision to run."
Friday's Washington Unplugged also featured CBS News' Scott Conroy on "Palin Heads" and CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate with this week's "Flash Points."
"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.
