JEW NAMED BUSH'S DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF

Kaplan named deputy White House staff czar
President Bush named Joel Kaplan deputy chief of staff of the White House, taking over day-to-day policy planning from Karl Rove, another deputy chief of staff. Kaplan, who is Jewish and regularly attends Jewish White House functions, has been deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget since 2003. Bush named him to the job on Wednesday.

Kaplan was chosen by Josh Bolten, the new chief of staff who is also Jewish. Rove, President Bush’s closest adviser for years, will retain control of wider political policy. There is a third deputy chief-of-staff, Joe Hagin.

Bolten is leading a staff shake-up as Bush struggles to recover from rock-bottom polls. Kaplan, a Boston area native, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former U.S. Marine. He clerked with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.