Obama selects new White House counsel

? By selecting Bob Bauer as his new White House counsel, President Obama on Friday tapped a tough political warrior with deep partisan ties to serve as his official legal adviser on some of the country’s most highly charged and difficult issues.

The decision to replace Gregory Craig with Bauer was a jolt to some who said his background — as a streetwise election law attorney representing Democratic candidates for decades — is hardly preparation for the complex domestic and international legal questions that will cross his desk.