Obama To Pick GOP Sen. Gregg for Commerce Seat

February 3rd, 2009 By: Michael Merritt | Tags:
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The news, and it’s not really news, is that President Barack Obama today will announce the choice of New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg for Commerce Secretary.  Gregg, a Republican, is a member of the Appropriations Commitee; Health, Education, Pensions, and Labor Committee; and ranking member of the Budget Committee.  He nomination and presumable confirmation would leave a Senate already tipping on a thin fulcrum more fully leaned toward complete Democratic domination.

But not for long if what is reported turns out to be true.

The deal seems to be that in return for his nomination, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, will have to appoint a Republican to replace Gregg.  Gregg is up for re-election in 2010, meaning that the new Senator would have to fight to retain the seat.

This could be trouble because New England is already becoming a Republican unfriendly place.  Judd is one of three Republicans, along with Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, left in the region.  The last House Republican of the region, Chris Shays, was voted out this past November.  Judd won with a comfortable 66% in 2004, but he also had the advantage of incumbency (though that didn’t help Shays).  I guess the question is whether a newbie Senator would survive in this environment.  Something tells me Lynch isn’t likely to give any helping favors to the opposition.  So he probably won’t appoint any particularly strong Republicans (unless an appointee picked by Gregg is part of the deal).

Though this may tie in well with Obama’s message of bi-partisanship, not every Republican is embracing a Gregg appointment.  Apparently he’s been something of a champion of the stimulus/TARP packages.  That could explain why Obama is eager to nominate him.  Or maybe it’s his socially moderate positions (which also didn’t save Shays, by the way).  Or both.

Expect furor from the left as well.  Gregg’s nomination and confirmation will make him the third Republican in the Cabinet, behind Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

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  1. Interested
    February 4th, 2009 at 04:18
    Reply | Quote | #1

    Sounds typical of Gregg. He was a crappy Gov of New Hampshire that cared more about his progression in Politics than the State. He probably see’s the writing on the wall in terms of his re-election possibilities and thinks 4 or 8 years is longer than 2.

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