Finding a White House chief of staff turns into a scramble

WASHINGTON (AP) — Filling the spot of White House chief of staff has turned into a scramble with no clear front-runner.

President Donald Trump is getting opinions on a list of candidates, among them his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, as well as North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows.

Some people who are cropping up in the free-for-all discussion of possible successors to outgoing chief of staff John Kelly appear to be pulling themselves out of consideration.

White House chief of staff is widely acknowledged to be a demanding job in the best of circumstances. Trump’s mercurial personality and his resistance to being managed make the position a unique challenge.

Kelly’s replacement was believed to be Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, but Ayers pulled out of consideration over the weekend.