Republicans use Emanuel reports against Obama

Republicans pounced on a Thursday report that Barack Obama’s campaign has approached House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) about serving as White House chief of staff.

The GOP charged that the incident is indicative of a sharp moving to the left and an abandoning of promises to take politics as usual out of Washington from the Democratic presidential nominee.

{mosads}“Emanuel is among the most vitriolic and partisan people in American politics,” Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant said. “Reports that Obama wants him to be White House chief of staff undercut any claims to unity and bipartisanship, and should alarm every voter.”

The Associated Press story, which sourced Democrats and “officials,” contended that the Illinois senator has already spoken to Emanuel about the possibility of running the West Wing should Obama prevail over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Emanuel denied that he had been approached, and a spokesman repeated that denial to The Hill.

“He has not been contacted to take a job in an administration that does not yet exist,” Emanuel spokesman Nick Papas said on Friday. “Everyone is focused on Election Day, as they should be.”

Reached on Friday morning, Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro also backed away from the AP story.

"There's no news because there's no job to offer,” Shapiro said. “We're focused on one thing and that's the election, not anonymous D.C. parlor games."

But the story was solid enough for Republicans, who lashed out at Obama for going back on his word to abandon “the slash-and-burn politics that have become the custom in Washington."

Since serving in the West Wing as a senior domestic policy adviser to President Clinton and being elected to Congress in 2002, Emanuel has risen rapidly through the ranks of the Democratic Caucus.

After engineering the Democrats’ takeover of the House in 2006, Emanuel was awarded the Caucus chairmanship, hopping over the more senior Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.).

As a result of his penchant for political strategizing and his growing policy bona fides, speculation is mounting in Democratic circles that Emanuel is intent on climbing as high up the House leadership ladder as possible.

“Rahm wants to be the first Jewish Speaker someday,” said a senior House Democratic aide with ties to Emanuel’s home state of Illinois, “which is why he doesn't want the Senate seat [that would become available if Obama wins]. I don't see him leaving the House.”

Other Democratic aides saw an Obama chief of staff job as a distinct possibility, despite Emanuel’s hefty pull with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democratic leadership team — which is awaiting a larger majority and a Democratic administration with which to work hand in hand on major legislative initiatives.

“It is very much in the realm of possibility. If asked, I think it would be very difficult to say no,” the aide said.

And it might not be a sense of patriotic duty that would force Emanuel to answer a President Obama’s call.

“That is the ultimate power play,” said the aide. “The entire world and its leaders [particularly those in Congress] would have to go through him for everything. And who else around Obama knows the House as well as he does?”

Mike Soraghan contributed to this story.