White House press secretary Robert Gibbs hinted Thursday that the guessing game over the nomination of a director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may soon come to an end.
At a White House briefing, Gibbs said an announcement could come "in the not too distant future" but claimed the president had not yet settled on a candidate.
"He has options to look through, and is going through those options, and I anticipate will make an announcement," Gibbs said.
The comment once again stirred speculation that the White House will choose Harvard University professor Elizabeth Warren to lead the new agency.
Warren met with President Obama on Tuesday about the possibility of leading the bureau, and met with White House adviser David Axelrod last month. Also, Harvard told students last month that Warren would not teach her scheduled class, adding more fuel to the fire.
In addition to her Harvard post, Warren is the chairman of the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Congressional Oversight Panel.
Michael Barr, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for financial institutions, is another contender for the job, but he has also been floated as a pick for comptroller of the currency.
The Dodd-Frank law, enacted in July, created the CFPB, which Warren is credited with proposing several years ago.
