http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/us/politics/03gregg.html?hp...
When approached by advisers with the idea of placing Mr. Gregg at the Commerce Department, Mr. Obama said he found him “an intriguing choice,” aides say. Other Democrats who were privy to the discussions were excited at the possibility that Mr. Gregg could be succeeded by a Democrat, a notion Mr. Gregg immediately quashed by telling Mr. Obama he would not serve if a Democrat was to fill his seat.
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Mr. Obama’s secret interview with the senator at transition headquarters last month, aides say, was one of the few serious one-on-one conversations between them. In Mr. Obama’s brief time on Capitol Hill, they barely knew each other, aside from occasional chats in the Senate gym.
The idea of offering the job to Mr. Gregg came, at least in part, from the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. (The two senators are close, aides to both men said.) Mr. Reid mentioned the idea to Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s chief of staff, who passed it on to the president-elect.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Gregg spoke sharply against Mr. Obama’s candidacy. He called the Democratic nominee’s spending proposals “the Obama spend-o-rama.” Then he attacked the principles of the party at a rally in New Hampshire, saying: “We don’t need any more Democrats as president of the United States. We had enough when we had Bill Clinton.”
But Mr. Gregg, who has earned high marks for budget expertise and is well regarded by the business community, fit the profile of what the new president was looking for: a respected Republican in his cabinet — the third Republican there, after Robert M. Gates and Ray LaHood — to help argue on behalf of the administration’s economic stimulus plan and take up politically sensitive discussions about overhauling Medicare and Social Security.
Even when the possibility of putting a Democrat in Mr. Gregg’s Senate seat dimmed, Mr. Obama pressed ahead, telling his advisers that it was more important to build a bipartisan cabinet than increase his Senate majority.
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