Eric Holder as AG?--"Ain't Gonna Happen."

Update: AP now reports that Barack Obama has appointed Holder to a three-person team leading the search for Obama's vice president.

Eric Holder Jr. graces the cover of The American Lawyer this month, with the bold headline, “Is he the next AG?”

The Covington & Burling partner and former deputy attorney general is a national co-chairman of Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign. His impressive credentials certainly make him qualified for attorney general. And now that Obama has essentially clinched the Democratic nomination, it appears Holder's chances of getting the job have increased.

But if Obama wins the presidency, would Holder really accept the top spot at Justice? In the Am Law article, much is made of Holder’s wife’s objections to him rejoining the public sector. And in a past interview with Legal Times, Holder said his wife “was almost a single parent” while he was in government in the 1990s.

Yesterday, though, Holder was even more frank when asked by Legal Times if he would, indeed, accept the AG spot:

“That ain’t gonna happen,” he said.