Gregg Drops Out as Commerce Pick

More bad Cabinet news for President Obama: Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is withdrawing from consideration to be commerce secretary, the Washington Post reports. Gregg, who represents New Hampshire, cited "irresolvable conflicts" with Obama on issues including the stimulus package. He's the second commerce nominee to withdraw, following Bill Richardson.

"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," Gregg said in a statement. "Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns." (More commerce secretary stories.)