Roll Call: Daschle to head HHS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has asked former U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle to be the next health secretary, Roll Call reported Wednesday.

The report is the latest in a constant stream of speculation on how Obama will build his Cabinet.

Roll Call quoted unidentified sources as saying Daschle has accepted the offer.

CNN reported Daschle wanted the health post and also to be the White House health "czar" -- the incoming administration's point person on healthcare issues -- guaranteeing Daschle will be writing the healthcare reform bill Obama submits to Congress.

Daschle was ousted from his South Dakota Senate seat in 2004 and is currently a special policy adviser for the law firm Alston & Bird, a visiting professor at Georgetown and distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.