NH-Sen: Obama considering Gregg for Commerce?

This is change I can believe in, since that "change" would very possibly mean 60 Democratic United States Senators.

The Obama administration has been floating the idea of naming Republican Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) to be Commerce Secretary, several Senate sources said Thursday.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Gregg’s nomination was far from a done deal, but remains a serious possibility. Reached by phone, Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said he had no comment on whether he has been in talks with the White House about the post.

Nate Silver noted today that despite his conservative history, Sen. Gregg has voted with Obama on six of seven notable pieces of legislation through Tuesday:

These include confirmation votes for Tim Geithner and Hillary Clinton, the bailout extension, both a cloture vote and an up-and-down vote the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and both a cloture vote and an up-and-down vote on the Omnibus Public Land Management Act.

Perhaps we now know one of the reasons Gregg has seemingly slid to the left since the Obama inauguration.

If Gregg was appointed Commerce Secretary, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch would be empowered to appoint his successor, with no party restrictions. This would likely mean that the newest New Hampshire Senator would be a Democrat...and the 60th Democrat in the Senate, pending the seating of Al Franken.

Before you get your hopes up too high, consider that there's no indication yet of whom Lynch might appoint - there isn't even a vacancy yet, and Lynch could very well appoint a centrist Democrat to the position even if Gregg did take the job.

So we're by no means guaranteed a progressive champion in the seat if Gregg is offered, and takes, the Commerce job.

Still, the mere possibility that 60 seats could be around the corner is surely enough to warm the hearts of Democrats across the country.