White House senior adviser David Axelrod may be leaving the Obama administration ahead of the tentative schedule he relayed on a Fox News Sunday appearance last week.
After saying that his exit could be expected around "late winter, early spring," CNN reports Monday that a a senior administration official and a senior Democratic strategist have both said that Axelrod may be leaving "as soon as immediately after the State of the Union address," which will likely be scheduled for sometime at the end January.
An earlier Axelrod departure could mean that he and his likely successor, former Obama campaign adviser David Plouffe, could be sharing certain White House duties for some period of time.
"I think there will be some overlap," the senior administration official told CNN.
CNN reports on Plouffe's primary concern upon arriving at the White House:
"David will be very focused on executive strategy," a senior Democratic strategist said of Plouffe's plans to help Obama deal with a divided Congress and prepare for what may be a very difficult re-election campaign based on the slow economic recovery and anger within the country over the President's policies.
Axelrod is expected to begin work on Obama's reelection campaign sometime after yielding his official White House duties.