Damage limitation began immediately. Within minutes of the announcement that Ms Linda Chavez was withdrawing her name as the next US Labour Secretary, Republican spin doctors were arguing that she had scuppered her own nomination.
She had done so by failing to come clean to the transition team about the illegal immigrant she had provided a home for. The implication was clear, though scarcely credible. Had she been candid, the nomination would still have been hers and President-elect Bush would have stood behind her, as he intends to do with the rest of his nominees.
His nomination for Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, who faces a barrage of criticism from a "Stop Ashcroft" alliance of 200 organisations, will scarcely take comfort. His Senate confirmation hearings are expected to begin on January 16th.
But Mr Ashcroft is opposed largely for ideological reasons rather than for any previous indiscretions, and some senior senators have been quick to draw the distinction. They argue that the president has a mandate and should have discretion to give political shape to his cabinet.
Yesterday, joined in Washington by the Vice-President-elect, Mr Dick Cheney, and members of his national security team, Mr Bush met the Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Henry Shelton, and other top military brass.
Mr Bush, who prioritised defence during the election campaign, has called for $20 billion more to be spent on research (to accelerate the adoption of new weapons), raising military pay and deploying a national missile defence system as soon as possible.
The President-elect also had discussions on other vacancies, notably the UN ambassadorship and the head of the CIA, and on the budget.
Late on Tuesday night he said he regretted Ms Chavez's withdrawal, implying strongly that she had jumped and not been pushed. Ms Chavez told CNN it was not quite like that. "I felt they were concerned this was a distraction, it wasn't that anybody told me that," she said. "But I've also been around this town long enough to know that if no one is calling you and saying `Hang in there', that that is not a great signal either."
She told a news conference the decision to bow out just a week after being named was entirely her own. But Republican officials involved in the process told journalists she reluctantly stepped aside under pressure from Mr Bush's political team. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, made it clear the political team's willingness to fight for the nomination had waned amid questions about Ms Chavez's credibility.
It is clear that Ms Chavez knew from the start that her guest, Ms Marta Mercado, was an illegal and failed to mention it to the Bush vetting team. A conversation which she had with a neighbour before she was questioned by the CIA appears to confirm that she had not simply forgotten her guest but knew it might become a problem.
Mr Bush may take some comfort, however, from the lovefest that was taking place at the Senate hearings yesterday on another of his nominations, Dr Ron Paige, for Education.
Dr Paige, a school superintendent, was described by Democrats and Republicans alike as an outstanding choice whose successful record in a deprived area with 209,000 children was said to qualify him eminently.
One Texas Democrat, Ms Sheila Jackson Lee, said Dr Paige exemplified the spirit of bipartisanship that the new administration had promised.