"Joe Sestak claims the White House offered him a job if he declined to run against Arlen Specter. The White House denies it. Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, has declared this a bribe and is demanding investigations. Yesterday, he even used the "I"-word.

"Leaving aside the fact that the White House denies this ever happened, there's no way on Earth a vague "job offer" in exchange for leaving a Senate race constitutes a "bribe," let alone a violation of the law. If that's the case, we should probably appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether Sen. Judd Gregg committed extortion when he demanded that the White House force a Democratic governor to appoint a Republican to his seat if they wanted him to be their commerce secretary.

"The White House gave in to his outrageous demands. And then Gregg backed out of the job after accepting it! Perhaps he should also be investigated for "breach of oral contract" or something, as long as we're in a special prosecutor-appointing mood."

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"Sestak said that he did not think it was a crime for Clinton to call him up on behalf of Emanuel to suggest an unpaid position on a presidential advisory board. "If I ever thought anything had been wrong about this, I would have reported it," he said. "I understand Washington, D.C., is often about political deals."

"Political deals offered in a particularly raw way have gotten officeholders in trouble before:

"In 2004, the House ethics committee admonished Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, then the Republican House majority leader, for offering to support the congressional campaign of a fellow lawmaker's son in exchange for a critical vote on a Medicare bill.

"In 2008, the authorities arrested former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accusing the Democrat of trying to sell the appointment to fill the vacated Senate seat of President Obama.

"So what about this case?

"Federal law makes it a crime for anyone "who directly or indirectly promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or any other benefit" to someone else "as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office."

"The legal question comes down to the White House's intent and Sestak's understanding of what the White House wanted from him in return," said William Burck, a white-collar defense attorney at Weil, Gotschal & Manges and the former deputy White House counsel under Bush.

"If the position was offered as a quid pro quo to induce Sestak not to run in the Democratic primary, then it could be viewed essentially as a bribe," he said. "If the job was offered to him without conditions, then it would be harder to prove any law was violated."