In naming a new White House counsel, President Obama is replacing one Democratic Party insider with another Democratic Party insider.

President Obama yesterday named former DNC finance chairman Philip D. Murphy to be U.S. ambassador to Germany, the latest in a growing list of political nominations to diplomatic positions.

The baby born to Obama team members Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein is but one illustration of the family ties binding the Obama administration.

Word is that Herb Allison, a longtime Wall Street executive with ties to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, will be tapped to head the government’s $700-billion financial rescue program.

If Barack Obama and his family decide to summer in Oak Bluffs, as the Boston Globe reports they are considering, they would enjoy not just pristine beaches, but a social scene that includes some of the nation’s most successful black artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs.

From the outset of his political career, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was bullish about business.

At a time of continuing economic crisis, how many of Obama’s appointees have ties to labor groups, and how influential are they?

A Harley-riding economist has taken what may be the toughest job on President Obama’s auto task force – helping to rebuild the communities likely to be devastated by the industry’s downsizing.

Further signaling its shift away from the Bush administration, the Obama administration has nominated Harold Hongju Koh, the dean of the Yale University School of law, to be the top legal adviser at the State Department.

To save on travel expenses, the Harvard Law School Class of 1991 might as well have its reunion this year at the White House.

He is a law school friend of Obama’s and a successful, high-tech entrepreneur who looks to expand broadband service to rural and underserved areas, and to promote an open Internet and diverse media ownership.

Despite intense, behind-the-scenes lobbying by some Jewish groups, the Obama administration yesterday tapped veteran diplomat Chas W. Freeman Jr. to head the National Intelligence Council in what may be its most controversial appointment yet.

Ashton B. Carter is the Harvard physicist who first cast cold water on President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” plan to build a missile shield to protect the U.S. from nuclear attack.

Banker bashing rules the day. So it was a surprise Tuesday when President Barack Obama praised Leonard L. Abess Jr., CEO of City National Bank of Florida.

Just when you thought R. Hunter Biden’s retirement as a lobbyist had removed the possibility his business dealings might embarrass his father, comes a report that he and his uncle had business ties with Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.

Consider Earl Devaney a one-man corruption buster.

Tom Daschle was also dogged by his connections to EduCap, a nonprofit group specializing in student loans.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle’s tax troubles have put a spotlight on Leo J. Hindery Jr., a man who can list both cable company executive and professional race-car driver on his resume.

Gene B. Sperling, a man familiar with the real and the fictional West Wing, may be signing on with the Obama administration.

President-elect Barack Obama has invited V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, to deliver the prayer at the opening inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial Sunday.