Nice Move Naming Gregg But The End Game Will Be More Subtle Than Some Think

TW: Obama's apparently intention to appoint Republican Senator Judd Gregg from NH to the Commerce Secretary post has received much attention but for the wrong reason. I strongly doubt the Democratic Governor of NH will appoint a Dem to the seat giving the Dems cloture control in the Senate, that would be a bit blunt. I assume Gregg is asking Obama to commit to a Republican replacement as a condition for taking the Commerce slot (if not am sure he will claim so anyway).

Obama and the Dems can be more subtle by taking out Gregg a strong if vulnerable incumbent they can set up a more vulnerable replacement ripe for picking in '10 or even as Nate Silver suggests appoint a Rockefeller Republican (my party personal identification but that is for a different post) who might exhibit those RINO (Republican in name only) characteristics that drive folks like Rush Limbaugh crazy. A Rockefeller type Republican could vote with the Dems frequently while still giving the Dems the wiggle room of NOT having a cloture type majority. If the Dems achieve cloture majority then the Republicans can focus on obstruction like their House colleagues.

From 538.com:
"...If Gregg's replacement must be a Republican, there is one name that would allow Lynch to come as close as possible to splitting the difference between the parties. That name is that of former State Representative Liz Hager, who has admitted to her interest in the position. Hager is a Republican and says she would caucus with the Senate Republicans. Beyond that, however, there is a lot for Democrats to like. Hager, after being primaried out by more conservative opponents for her State House seat, endorsed Barack Obama, citing his pro-choice position. She is also a proud moderate.

...As the Republican party has gravitated toward conservatives, however, and as the Rockefeller Republicans have simultaneously been co-opted by New Democrats, they have become a dying breed, their vestige only apparent in a few remaining legislators like Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine. Hager, who has become an active critic of the Republican establishment, would probably legislate to Collins's and Snowe's left, and quite possibly to the left of several Senate Democrats

...Hager's appointment would furthermore deprive the Republicans the opportunity to claim that the Democrats had a filibuster-proof monopoly on power. And yet, at a time when their party is struggling to formulate anything resembling a majority coalition, they would seem to have little choice but to accept her, as her appointment would be the result of a Democratic President and Democratic Governor each having taken the unorthodox step of reaching across party lines to select a Republican. The Republicans could, of course, complain with ample justification that Hager was a RINO, but in so doing they would appear immoderate and intolerant at a time when the pretense of moderation and postpartisanship is the name of the game..."
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/01/for-democrats-best-choice-may-be.html