White House musical chairs - the beat goes on Posted at 12:09 PM ET, 12/12/2012 (Evan Vucci - AP) There's chatter - maybe wishful thinking by some folks - about former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle leaving his law/lobbying firm, DLA Piper, and going to the White House as either chief of staff or a senior adviser. Doesn't look likely. Someone in a reasonably good position to know tells In the Loop there's been no contact between the White House and Daschle on this matter. Well, not yet, anyway. Deputy chief of staff Pete Rouse - who used to be Daschle's chief of staff in the Senate and became Obama's chief of staff after Daschle lost in 2004, has let it be known that he is interested in leaving - though he has said that before. Speaking of the chief of staff, with incumbent Jack Lew said to be departing, perhaps to Treasury, deputy secretary of state Tom Nides and former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain are obvious possibilities to replace him. But there's increasing talk that deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough is a strong contender to move into the lovely corner office down the hall from the Oval, which comes with a working fireplace, the beautiful Don Regan memorial outdoor patio and a bottle of painkillers. We wrote recently that National Security Adviser Tom Donilon may want to stay on for a couple of years. Actually, six months to a year might be closer to it. Upstairs from the chief of staff's office, word is that White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler may be staying on her job. Ruemmler, the third White House counsel in the Obama administration, has been in the job 18 months.