Gregg to get Commerce, Dems get 60 Senate seats?

[MacBeth]

Both Roll Call and the Huffington Post are reporting that President Obama is thinking of nominating Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) to be secretary of Commerce. There'd be a special significance to this move, if indeed the president does make it: New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, who'd appoint Gregg's replacement, is a Democrat. He could appoint a fellow Democrat to replace Gregg, which would -- assuming Al Franken is declared the victor of his race when the legal battle over that seat is finished -- give the party 60 seats in the Senate, a theoretically filibuster-proof majority.

Obama had previously announced New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as his pick for the post, but Richardson withdrew due to an ongoing investigation into one of his donors whose company has done business with the state.



www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html?source=newsletter

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There's an assumption here that Lynch would appoint a Democrat as a matter of course. That might be a dangerous course. He would personally wear the opprobrium, not Obama, if people cut up rough about such a politically-motivated appointment.

We had a similar thing happen in Australia during the Whitlam government. Whitlam wanted to get control of the Senate. He tried to get a minor party Senator called Vince Gair to resign his seat early to create an additional vacancy at the upcoming elections, increasing Whitlam's chances of getting an extra seat. It blew up in his face. The conservative Premier of Gair's State issued the writs early, preventing Gair from resigning. Whitlam failed to win control of the Senate and ultimately lost Government when a hostile Senate blocked Supply.

Lynch could well face a similar backlash, and there is no doubt that the Republicans would vent outrage on him, Obama and Reid across every bully pulpit they could get onto. It would be far safer for Lynch to appoint a moderate Republican who is likely to vote with the Democrats on key issues, and avoid the s***-storm. Probably more ethical too, given that the voters chose a Republican in the first place.

[Pax]

I don't know, I think Lynch would get away with it -- I think it's pretty much assumed that in any such circumstance the governor will pick a replacement from his own party. The Republicans would grumble about that, of course.

What the Republicans will have a cow about, I think, is they'll figure that Obama did it on purpose to get his 60 votes in the Senate. And while I wouldn't consider that a foregone conclusion -- I wouldn't put it past him, either. Obama's a good guy but I think he's not above political maneuvering when cajoling isn't doing it.

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Just as the Dems had a cow over Burris, but eventually had to acknowledge reality. Even if it is all Obama's little plot, it can only happen if a Republican takes the bait. Maybe they should have a cow about the lack of loyalty from their own, since they have been bragging about that lately.