Like rats jumping ship

Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent who had been the leading candidate for the post of U.S. surgeon general, withdrew his name.

Annette Nazareth, a former senior staffer and commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission, whom Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wanted as his chief deputy withdrew from consideration Thursday, dealing a setback to the agency as it struggles to address the worst financial crisis in decades.

Geithner’s choice for undersecretary of international affairs, Caroline Atkinson, also withdrew from consideration

Add those rats to our existing list:
Bill Richardson: Commerce Secretary
Tom Daschell: Health & Human Services
Nancy Killefer: Chief Performance Officer -