By Dylan Matthews
My friend and fellow New Hampshire-ite Garrett Nelson raises an interesting point about the Gregg gambit. Regardless of whether Obama eventually appoints him, or whether he eventually accepts, Gregg's reputation among the Republican base has been badly damaged by his statement that he's considering the post. Combine that with his support for Romney in the primaries - which hurt him within the strongly pro-McCain NH GOP - and you've got the makings of a primary challenge here. The most likely challenger would probably be Jennifer Horn (aka "New Hampshire's Sarah Palin"), but any number of obscure state senators could make a decent run at him. Though he'd win the primary, Gregg could be sufficiently bloodied up to give Rep. Paul Hodes - currently behind by only seven points - a good shot in the general.
So it may be that, even if there was little in it for Gregg in this deal originally, he's gone too far to back down. If the choice is between losing a costly election in two years, or gracefully transitioning to retirement through the cabinet, I suspect Gregg will choose the latter.
