Bono seen on short list for World Bank chief

The administration began the search for Wolfensohn's successor in early January and said it would talk to other countries that belong to the 184-nation World Bank. The administration wants to name a replacement before Wolfensohn's term ends.

The United States is the World Bank's largest member nation. The bank traditionally has had an American president.

"I fully expect that to be the case, yes, and so do the G-7 (Group of Seven) finance ministers and all of the participants in the process," Snow said. "I've had any number of calls from finance ministers from around the world saying they want it to be an American."

The bank's sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, traditionally has been headed by a European.

Other names floated for the World Bank job include: John Taylor, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for international affairs; Peter McPherson, the former head of Michigan State University who served as Bush's point man on rebuilding Iraq's financial system; Randall Tobias, Bush's global AIDS coordinator; and Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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