Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius who was an early Obama supporter is apparently President Obama’s top pick now for Secretary of health and human services. If Sebelius is nominated she brings “eight years of experience as her state’s insurance commissioner as well as six years as a governor running a state Medicaid program.”

The NY Times reports, with “President Obama about to begin a drive to expand health coverage, an issue on which the two parties have deep ideological divisions, her strongest asset in the view of the White House may be her record of navigating partisan politics as a Democrat in one of the country’s most Republican states.”

If Sebelius does become Secretary of HHS, she would be the 4th woman in Obama’s 15-member cabinet. Healthcare is a top issue for the Democratic party. Losing Daschle for the post was seen as a blow by many. See The Wonk Room for Sebelius’ record on healthcare.

[Originally published at TaylorMarsh.com]

As Stuart has noted in the post below, Tom Daschle has withdrawn from consideration as the nominee for  for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Daschle’s full statement on his withdrawal is here.

I’m a little torn about all of this, it seems we’re having a spell of nominations with issues, to say the least. I think Daschle would have been great for this post however and I agree with Senator Kerry’s assessment:

“I wish Tom Daschle had not decided to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services.  While Tom’s decision is a reminder of his loyalty to President Obama and his determination not to be a distraction, this was no ordinary appointment and today is not a good day for the cause of health care reform.  Tom brought a unique level of legislative skill and experience to this position in addition to his passion to achieve affordable health care for every American.  Tom made it very clear he’d made a mistake and he took responsibility for it.  I believe that when the smoke clears and the frenzy has ended, no one will believe that this unwitting mistake should have erased thirty years of selfless public service and remarkable legislative skill and expertise on health care.  I know Tom Daschle well.  I know his integrity and I respect his heart for this cause, and I know Tom will find other ways to contribute to this central mission.”

The NY Times had an editorial this morning that apparently gave Daschle some pause to consider his nomination and make the decision to step down.

UPDATE: There’s more reaction from members of the Senate here.

From the Talking Points Memo (TPM):
Tom Daschle, former Majority leader of the House, has withdrawn his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary. That’s according to a joint White House statement from President Barack Obama and his former nominee.

Obama said Tuesday he accepted the withdrawal “with sadness and regret.” Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.

He said he’s withdrawing because he’s not a leader who has the full faith of Congress and will be a distraction.

Matt Cooper of TPM has more informed commentary.

From MSNBC: Apparently the withdrawal caused by the NYT editorial this morning. Andrea Mitchell reporting on MSNBC that when she talked to Daschle this morning at 7:15 he was highly emotional.

MSNBC News (10:39 am PST): From Senator John Kerry has made a comment was that this is a ‘sad day for health care reform‘.

(crossposted from Polcampaign but new information breaking in this article.)

Hillary Clinton took on the Bush Administration’s plan to define birth control as abortion and undermine women’s rights, today in a press conference and the blogosphere. Here’s a clip from the press conference:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a blog post cross posted on the HuffPo and RhRealityCheck, Clinton said:

The Bush administration is up to its old tricks again, quietly putting ideology before science and women’s health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is poised to put in place new barriers to accessing common forms of contraception like birth control pills, emergency contraception and IUDs by labeling them “abortion.” These proposed regulations set to be released next week will allow healthcare providers to refuse to provide contraception to women who need it. We can’t let them get away with this underhanded move to undermine women’s health and that’s why I am sounding the alarm.

The new rules set forth by the Bush administration would “pose a serious threat to providers and uninsured and low-income” women seeking care and “could prevent providers of federally-funded family planning services, like Medicaid and Title X, from guaranteeing their patients access to the full range of comprehensive family planning services.”

And, these new arcane rules from BushCo may even “invalidate state laws that currently ensure access to contraception for many Americans.”

In fact, they describe New York and California’s laws requiring prescription drug insurance plans to provide coverage for contraceptives as part of “the problem.” These rules would even interfere with New York State law that ensures survivors of sexual assault and rape receive emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms.

We’ve seen this kind of ideologically driven move from the Bush administration before. Senator Patty Murray and I went toe to toe with the Bush administration to demand a decision on Plan B by the FDA. We won that fight and we need to win this one too.

When I learned about these proposed rules, I immediately joined with Senator Murray to call on the Bush administration to stop these dangerous plans. I am joining with New York family planning and healthcare advocates to spread the word. Now is the time to raise our voices. I will continue to press HHS and I hope you will join me. I have posted information on how to get involved here.

Head over to HillPac and sign the petition there and email your friends to get involved too. The battle to protect women’s rights never ends… Don’t let the Bush administration get away with turning back the clock on women’s rights.

Turnabout is fair play… In referring to abstinence only programs, James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth said, “Never in recent history has so much government money been put into so many programs with so little oversight and so little proven impact.”

Two organizations that promote sex education are taking an unorthodox approach in their fight against federal funding of abstinence-only education programs.

Relying on a little-used law that allows “affected persons” to seek the correction of information disseminated by federal agencies, the groups said Tuesday that the abstinence education programs contain erroneous and ineffective information. They asked the Health and Human Services Department to correct it.

About three-quarters of the challenges made under the two-year-old Information Quality Act have come from industry groups concerned about regulations.

The two sex-ed organizations, Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, support educating youth about contraceptives as a means of avoiding pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

“Turnabout is fair play,” said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth. “We’ll use this and any other tool at our disposal to ensure that youth receive honest and accurate sex education.”