Political Aides

As President Obama names more policy czars to his White House team -- high-level staff members who will help oversee the administration's top initiatives -- some lawmakers and Washington interest groups are raising concerns that he may be subverting the authority of Congress and concentrating too much power in the presidency. The idea of these "super aides," who will work across agency lines to push the president's agenda, is not a new one.

The Senate gave its blessing late Thursday to key members of President Obama's science team, including an Oregon State University ecologist who will be the first woman and first marine scientist to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Investment banker Steven Rattner came to Washington in February to help the Obama administration bail out General Motors Corp. and Chrysler -- and maybe even find a larger role in government for himself. But any larger ambitions are now clouded by a pay-for-play scandal that links the New York state pension fund, a low-budget movie called "Chooch" and Rattner's former private-equity firm. There are no allegations of wrongdoing by Rattner or his former company, Quadrangle Group.

Temple City's mayor, former mayor and an aide were indicted Wednesday on charges of perjury and soliciting and receiving bribes from a developer in exchange for supporting his $75-million mall project. Mayor Judy Wong, former Mayor Cathe Wilson and Wilson's campaign treasurer, Scott Carwile, pleaded not guilty to the charges after the 21-count grand jury indictment was unsealed by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg.

No one ever accused Bill O'Reilly of being a wilting flower. So when the Fox News Channel commentator and interviewer appeared midway through a Barack Obama rally at a Nashua high school Saturday, his presence was evident. Tall, with camera crew in tow, O'Reilly marched forward to get a good look. Journalists have been known to seek the best angle. But it was after Obama's speech that O'Reilly threw some elbows. And not so figuratively, either.

Sen. Barack Obama strode into a hotel ballroom filled with expectation one recent Tuesday and declared that his quest for the Oval Office, which "began as a whisper in Springfield, has swelled to a chorus of millions calling for change." That's the essence of the Illinois senator's message: Obama equals change; Hillary Rodham Clinton equals status quo. All else cascades from there. In this contest -- where the candidates are but a micron apart on most policy matters -- message is everything.

In big ways and small, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have spent their millions in campaign funds differently. Clinton pays top dollar to her aides -- giving her communications director twice as much in one month as Obama paid his communications director in a year. In the past year, Obama spent $1.8 million on buttons and other paraphernalia, whereas Clinton paid dearly for the fuel of many campaigns: pizza and doughnuts.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet E. Miers had committed no crime. As promised, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she had given the Judiciary Committee authority to file a lawsuit against Bolten and Miers in federal court.

In the second week of July 2007, a pall settled over the half-empty headquarters of John McCain in an Arlington, Va., skyscraper. The campaign was nearly broke. The top two officials had resigned. Two-thirds of the staff had been fired or left, and those who remained worried the campaign might never recover. With headlines predicting the end, a small band of loyalists coalesced around McCain.

For the second time in four weeks, a mid-level White House aide has resigned under a cloud, this time for allegedly misusing money provided to a previous employer by the U.S. Agency for International Development. White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel said Friday that Felipe Sixto, who began work at the White House in July as associate director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, had resigned March 20.