– Handing plum European posts to key campaign boosters, President Barack Obama on Friday nominated his former finance director to be U.S. ambassador to Denmark and tapped two major fundraisers for postings in Spain and Germany.
Fundraising guru Rufus Gifford, who raised upward of $700 million as the head of Obama’s 2012 finance operation and held a similar job previously at the Democratic National Committee, is Obama’s pick for Denmark, the White House said. Obama selected James Costos, a vice president of HBO, as his envoy to Spain.