One out before the confirmation battle:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to be commerce secretary, withdrew from consideration yesterday, citing an ongoing federal "pay-to-play" investigation involving one of his political donors as a significant obstacle to his confirmation.

Richardson, 61, who competed unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, becomes the first political casualty in Obama's Cabinet, and his withdrawal marked the first visible crack in what had been one of the smoothest presidential transitions in modern history.

Yep – another political ally into pay-to-play. What is it about these dirty Dem governors? And given the ties between Obama, his Chicago crew, and Gov. Blagojevich in Illinois, how can anyone call this transition “smooth”. Hell, it already appears that there is serious need for a special prosecutor to investigate the Obama administration two weeks before the man even takes office.

And then there might be another dirty Dem in the prospective Cabinet – the nominee for Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton.

A developer in New York state donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.

Hillary Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.

She also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation, and the highway bill with the set-aside became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation.

Mighty suspicious timing, don’t you think. Here’s hoping the Senate takes the time to look at this before confirming her – assuming that she isn’t as dirty as she appears here. Remember the old standard of the Democrats – the appearance of impropriety is itself an impropriety.

And, of course, there is Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, whose involvement with the Marc Rich pardon and the unsolicited pardon of a gang of Puerto Rican terrorists is already predicted to be the source of fireworks during his confirmation hearings.

All of which leads me to ask – is it possible that the incoming Obama administration did as poor a job vetting cabinet nominees as the press did vetting their candidate during the campaign.