Tony Snow Announcement On Wednesday?

“Tomorrow, Republicans close to the White House expect Pres. Bush to formally name Tony Snow as his new press secretary,” Hotline On Call says. “Quietly, researchers at the White House have examined hundreds of Snow’s radio show transcripts and newspaper columns. They expect the White House press corps, in news articles and at early briefings, to publicly vet Snow, confronting him with his past statements. After the initial frission … opinions differ.”

> Also: Earlier today, Marc Ambinder wrote: “Snow is said by Republicans familiar with the negotiations to have asked for guaranteed access to the president’s ear and to an unusually large degree of latitude to reconfigure the WH press operation. That pleases the new chief of staff, who wants to relegitimize the press podium in the Brady briefing room. But Snow, not content to be a herald, also wants near-complete control over what he says from the podium, be it bromides, platitudes or substance. That would encroach on the broad portfolio of responsibilities that Dan Bartlett claims for himself…”