Post-Dispatch gossip queen Deb Peterson reports today that U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill is said to be pushing St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch for the position of local U.S. Attorney, a presidential appointment.

McCaskill, as Peterson points out, knows McCulloch from her days as the top prosecutor across the state in Jackson County. And, of course, she has the ear of president-elect Barack Obama after emerging as one of his top surrogates in the campaign.

As Jo Mannies relayed last month, McCulloch’s alliance with McCaskill also stems him from breaking ranks with incumbent Bob Holden to support her in the 2004 Democratic primary for governor.

Another name Peterson mentions is Gabriel Gore, 39, a partner at Bryan Cave who served as an assistant to John Danforth in the Waco investigation. Gore, a former assistant U.S. Attorney, is also president of the city’s library board, and part of the effort to bring a KIPP (”Knowledge is Power Program”) charter school to St. Louis.