Potential Explanation for the Gregg Pick…

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Judd Gregg - Commerce Secretary Nominee

Wonk Room notes that while Commerce Secretary nominee Sen. Judd Gregg is a conservative Republican, he respects science and has long been a congressional champion of the oceans. That’s important, because as Secretary of Commerce he will oversee a budget that devotes a full 60 percent of its resources to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is one of the many miscellaneous agencies that, for one reason or another, have ended up in Commerce.

So Obama gets to say he is the first president since Teddy Roosevelt to appoint three members of the opposing party to his cabinet, and Gregg is actually good on his department’s most important concern.

I’m slightly less befuddled than I was yesterday.