Still, Romer will be the second major administration figure and economic adviser to leave office recently, following the exit of former budget director Peter Orszag last month.

FORBES: Stagnant Unemployment Rate=Election Trouble for Dems

He served as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2003 to 2005, and as chief economic policy adviser to John McCain in 2008.

FORBES: By Robert A. Book and Doug Holtz-Eakin

That is despite praise across party lines for the excellent Doug Holtz-Eakin, Mr McCain's most prominent economic adviser and a former head of the Congressional Budget Office.

ECONOMIST: The Economist's poll of economists