President Obama will name Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) the next secretary of health and human services tomorrow.
Sebelius’ nomination is being met with some resistance by the Catholic right while elements of the Catholic left are pushing back hard. The two groups are using Sebelius as a battlefield over abortion rights and it is not expected to hurt Sebelius in the confirmation process. Already, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), who is a social conservative, has announced his full support of Governor Sebelius’ nomination.
In naming Sebelius, President Obama deals a major blow to Democrats’ chances of picking up the Senate seat being vacated by Brownback, who is running for governor in 2010. The DSCC and the NRSC quietly believed that if Sebelius ran for the seat, she would easily win. Now the DSCC is scrambling to find a new candidate to run for the seat in 2010.
