'Significant' new swine flu outbreak looms: Obama AFP/Getty Images – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano talks about H1N1 Flu prevention in Bethesda, Maryland. Top …

Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, national campaign finance chairwoman for the Obama campaign, has taken herself out of the running to be secretary of commerce, a Democratic official said.

“She fears problems with her confirmation based on past business dealings,” the official said.

Pritzker was featured in a flurry of news reports as a likely secretary of commerce. But senior officials repeatedly — and correctly — told Politico that was not true.

Pritzker is a billionaire heiress to the Hyatt hotel fortune.

Officials said she was not vetted.


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