Look everybody, it’s your new failed Commerce Secretary nominee, Gary Locke. At least that’s what the reporters are saying! He is what the AP terms a “Chinese-American,” which could mean anything. He was the first “Chinese-American” governor of Washington, the state, from 1997 to 2005. So why will he have to withdraw? Eh, who knows, the AP is going insane about some campaign contribution controversy from back in the day. Meh. All we know is that when you google-image his name, you get not only the accompanying picture but a mirror image of it too in the first handful of results. Is Gary Locke a witch? [AP]

A Democratic Hill staffer with a clear “liberal bias” writes to TPM, offering a taste of what we can expect from the Internet in a post-Gregg world: “It’s hard not to think that Gregg’s withdrawal, with the grumbling about the census and the stimulus, was not timed to cause the most damage possible to the Obama administration. Releasing the statement just as Obama took the stage in Peoria was clearly designed to undermine the President’s event. The fact he scheduled a presser only seems to confirm it… MORE »

GREGG WITHDRAWS: What the hell? Token cabinet Republican #3, Commerce Secretary-designate Judd Gregg, has suddenly withdrawn, according to your favorite Matt Drudge. His reason? That he doesn’t agree with Obama on basic economics. Another win for the vetting team! [Drudge]

Did you hear about how Barack Obama might appoint a Republican senator to Commerce Secretary? Such brilliance and political genius! It has never occurred to another human on the planet, ever, that some political advantage might be gained by eliminating an opposition-party Senate seat from a state controlled by a sympathetic governor. MORE »