would he? A lot of people here have been speculating on what will happen to Sen Gregg's seat if he so happens to accept a cabinet position in Obama's administration. Of note one the most recurring angst I've read is that Gov Lynch can't be trusted to replace Sen Gregg with a democrat. I can't say I know much about Gov. Lynch's politics, but I would like to state the obvious as to what such a move (replacing Sen Gregg with another repug) may imply.
I'm sure there is some precedent for this (going against your political grain, when not mandated by state statue). I've never seen it, but I'm sure some of you can post ample examples, my political life is kinda short, so I don't know of any.
However with the stakes this high, would a Gov. Lynch be willing to deny a Pres Obama (notice I didn't say deny senate democrats), the luxury of a little more ease by which to get some of his major items passed (not to mention dems in the senate been able to organize a little easier). Yeah I know it likely would take more than 60 dems to effectively be filibuster proof but still 60 is a lot better than 59 any day, no mater how your slice it. Yes and I've heard the spiel about the need the for having the appearance of bipartisanship. Whether you have 59 or 60 dem senators it doesn't change the the appearance of anything.
Yes Gov. Lynch has appointed repugs at the state level I've heard, but how will such a move at this time be viewed on the national level? Yeah repugs would love him for it, but would that make him toast within the dem establishment. I see it kinda like Sen. Judas aka Lie-berman resigning to spite dems so Conn repug Gov can appoint 'another' repug.
No matter what excuse Gov. Lynch would give to explain him appointing another repug, even if its a caretaker repug, it's hard for me to see how a lot of dems won't be angry with him for doing so. I think if Gov. Lynch has no aspirations for national office outside of NH then he'll likely feel free to appoint whoever he wants (and if that's a repug, he won't break a sweat doing so), but if he cares about his standing in the Dem Party he would appoint a dem, even if it's a conservative dem.