As the Associated Press reported today, Coloradan Dana Perino is set to take over as the new press secretary at the White House:

President Bush announced today that press secretary Tony Snow, who has waged a battle with cancer while manning the White House lectern, will resign and be replaced by his deputy, former Coloradan Dana Perino, on Sept. 14.”It’s been a joy to watch him spar with you,” Bush said of Snow in the White House press briefing room.Perino grew up in the Denver area and graduated from Ponderosa High School and the University of Southern Colorado.Snow, who had said recently that he would leave before the end of Bush’s presidency, said cancer was not the reason he was stepping down. Instead, the father of three said he needs to make more than his White House salary of $168,000. He can earn far more on the speechmaking circuit.”I ran out of money,” said Snow, who was paid much more as a conservative pundit and syndicated talk-show host on Fox News Radio “We took out a loan when I came to the White House and that loan’s now gone. So I’m going to have to pay the bills.”

That’s an odd sentiment that it’s hard to pay your bills on a $168,000 salary, but hopefully Perino can manage. She should probably get paid more, frankly, for taking on such a difficult job. Being the mouthpiece for one of the most disliked President’s in history heading into his final year in office would be a tough gig.