Great news for my friend Karl who has replaced Claude Allen. Karl is a brilliant guy and the White House made a good choice here. Though this is perhaps bad news for my old and dear friend Tevi Troy, who was up for the job and who also would have been an outstanding pick. Tevi was Claude Allen’s #2 at the White House and I have no idea whether he will stick around or not. But there’s a nice conspiracy theory in the offing here. Karl Zinsmeister was Ben Wattenberg’s researcher at the American Enterprise Institue many years ago. He was replaced by Tevi. In turn, I replaced Tevi. So far, I’ve received no job offers from the White House (nor do I expect any are in the offing). But clearly, working for Ben is — statistically speaking — a better springboard to the highest levels of power in America than, say, attending Harvard.