Under the scenario being tested, Tim Kaine, the current DNC chairman and former governor of Virginia, would be named to a top administration post, perhaps in the Cabinet, the officials said.

Donors’ response has been positive, according to people who have been consulted…

The logic for a Chairman Gibbs, according to one official: It would “put the Obama imprimatur on the DNC, once and for all,” and install a “great partisan fighter” as the face of the national party for the reelection campaign. “It’s a brilliant idea if he ends up deciding he wants to do it,” said one official who has been consulted.