Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

The Fed Race Heats Up

Divisions are surfacing among leading advisers to President Barack Obama on who the next chairman of the Federal Reserve should be.

August 12, 2013 at 2:00 PM UTC

By Albert R. Hunt

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

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Divisions are surfacing among leading advisers to President Barack Obama on who the next chairman of the Federal Reserve should be, though Larry Summers remains the front-runner according to persons familiar with the White House deliberations.

Top White House aide and Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett is quietly weighing in to support Fed vice chairman Janet Yellen. Jarrett is a strong advocate for women and Yellen would be the first female Fed chairman. Jarrett is outnumbered by the Summers camp which includes several top Obama economic advisers: director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget Sylvia Burwell and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.