Obama’s Veep Vetter Steps Down

Jim Johnson, head of Barack Obama’s vice president search committee, has stepped down from his position with the campaign.

“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept,” Obama said in a statement.

“We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process.”

The Obama campaign has been taking fire over Johnson after news broke that the former Fannie Mae CEO had received preferential loans from Countrywide mortgages, a company widely blamed for practices that helped create the sub prime loan disaster.

On Tuesday, Obama was forced into an uncomfortable defense of Johnson, saying he would have needed to hire someone to “vet the vetters.”

UPDATE: RNC spokesman Alex Conant is blasting Obama for keeping Eric Holder on his veep search committee.

“If Barack Obama is concerned his campaign