First questions for the new secretary-designate: “President Obama’s new candidate to run the Commerce Department voted in favor of abolishing the agency as a member of the Budget Committee and on the Senate floor in 1995,” CQ’s Jonathan Allen reports. “Sen. Judd Gregg , R-N.H., whose nomination was expected to be announced Tuesday, also worked in the Senate to trim the department’s budget as head of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee.”
“Yesterday, Gregg and Gov. John Lynch commented publicly for the first time on the dramatic turn of events, making it clear that Democrat Lynch, with the blessing of the Obama administration and U.S. Senate Democratic and GOP leaders, is on board to name a Republican rather than a member of his own party when Gregg moves to the cabinet post,” John DiStaso writes in the New Hampshire Union-Leader.
“Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the state Republican Party, said he found the politics of the move bewildering, pointing out that the president and Gregg have very different political philosophies; that Obama could find plenty of other qualified people for the commerce job; and that Gregg could retire in two years if he is tired of his job. And, Cullen said, appointing a Republican could result in Lynch facing a primary challenge from a liberal Democrat in 2010,” Lisa Wangsness reports in The Boston Globe.
---
[from today's NYT]
Even when the possibility of putting a Democrat in Mr. Gregg’s Senate seat dimmed, Mr. Obama pressed ahead, telling his advisers that it was more important to build a bipartisan cabinet than increase his Senate majority.