New press secretary soon as Gibbs leaves to focus on 2012

Glenn Thrush and Carol E. Lee:

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that he is leaving his job as President Barack Obama’s chief spokesman in the next few weeks to serve as a private-sector consultant for Obama’s re-election campaign and Democratic media surrogate.

The 39 year-old Alabama native – the consummate Obama insider – confirmed what had been reported in POLITICO and other news outlets – that he’s decided to leave the White House rather than stay on in a new capacity, as many had expected.

The New York Times reports that Gibbs will work out of the same office now used by David Plouffe, who will be starting work at the White House on Monday.

Three names have been mentioned as possible replacements for Gibbs within the White House: Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, Biden Communications Director Jay Carney, and Josh Earnest, also a deputy to Gibbs. According to Politico, Burton and Carney are the leading candidates.

According to the Washington Post, Gibbs says his last day will be in early February. He expects his replacement to be named before then, however. In other personnel news, Gibbs also said that President Obama might speak with Bill Daley about becoming his chief of staff as early as Friday.