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Official Says Obama To Nominate Gregg For Cabinet

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Feb 3, 2009 12:50 am US/Mountain

Official Says Obama To Nominate Gregg For Cabinet

 Transition To A New Government

WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― President Barack Obama moved closer to nominating his secretary of commerce on Monday as his top choice, GOP Sen. Judd Gregg, revealed an apparent deal that would keep his seat out of Democratic hands.

"I have made it clear to the Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle and to the governor that I would not leave the Senate if I felt my departure would cause a change in the makeup of the Senate," Gregg said in a statement.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch confirmed the "understanding," stopping just short of promising to appoint a Republican or an independent to serve out the remaining two years of Gregg's term.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on CBS News' Face The Nation on Feb.1 and said he is confident the expected appointment Gregg would "have no impact on the [Senate's] balance of power."

"Senator Gregg has assured me that if this were to happen, it would not change the make up of the Senate," McConnell told CBS News Senior Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. "Whoever is appointed to replace him would caucus with the Republicans."

Pushed by Schieffer as to whether that will definitely be the case, McConnell reiterated that Senator Gregg told him his appointment would "not alter the make up of the Senate in terms of the majority and the minority."

The deal would give Obama his top choice for a team tasked with steering the nation out of recession. Republicans get to keep Gregg's seat for two more years, retaining the crucial 41 Senate seats they need to filibuster majority Democrats.

And Democrats, who control 56 seats and caucus with two independents, stand a better chance of flipping Gregg's seat into their ranks in two years by running a candidate against his rookie replacement or an empty seat than Gregg himself.

The White House tried to stay out of the back and forth. But officials there did nothing to squelch the expectation that Gregg would be nominated to the post.

"Obviously, the president has great respect for Senator Gregg," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. "I'm not going to get into personnel announcements before we are there."

Getting to a deal took days of negotiating after it became known last week that Obama was considering appointing the former Budget Committee chairman from New Hampshire to his Cabinet.

Gregg would become the third Republican in the Cabinet. The deal spares him blame for delivering Democrats complete control of the Senate and a re-election campaign in Democatic-leaning New Hampshire.

Lynch's agreement, meanwhile, shores up his bipartisan credentials at a time when he's confronting a decades-old budget crisis at home.

The Republican expected to be named to Gregg's seat is Bonnie Newman, who served as Gregg's chief of staff during his time in the House. Newman is a veteran of the Reagan White House. Under the deal, she would not run in the 2010 election.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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