U.S. President Barack Obama formally nominated former Washington Governor Gary Locke for commerce secretary on Wednesday. Locke was Obama’s third choice for the job.
His first nomination was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Richardson withdrew his name amidst fearing a federal investigation would delay the process. Obama’s second choice was Republican Senator Judd Gregg (New Hampshire). Nine days after the President announced his nomination, Gregg also withdrew, citing policy differences. He went on to vote against the stimulus bill.
Locke hopes to concentrate on technology and expanding markets for U.S. goods, creating jobs and increasing entrepreneurship.
“The Department of Commerce can and will …read more

Image details: Obama Holds Final Primary Night Event In St. Paul served by picapp.com
Last night, Barack Obama officially won enough delegates to claim the title of the Democratic presumptive nominee. Hillary Clinton has, of course, argued that she won the popular vote. As of yet, she hasn’t stepped out of the race, and we’re not necessarily sure when she intends to.
So what happens now?
We get a break, of sorts, in the Democratic campaigning process. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some discussion behind closed doors, attempts to swing a few delegates one way or the other. But the campaigning …read more

Well, bother! Right after I write about how necessary it is for John McCain to stay on his toes despite winning the nomination, I get a whole stack of reports on Mike Huckabee leaving the race. Maybe McCain can afford to step down his campaigning — entirely shutting down remains a poor strategy because he needs to get a head start on November.
It looks likely, though, that the McCain campaign will reduce their spending for the next couple of months.

As of this morning, John McCain has nailed down the Republican nomination. He’s got the delegates to just walk in and make his speech when the convention rolls around. You could argue that McCain might as well just shut down until the convention — why spend money contesting primaries when he’s already won?
In other election years, McCain might have been comfortable doing just that: not necessarily shutting down, but turning his attention to the long view. He could have focused on getting voters for November in those states yet to hold their primaries. I don’t think he can afford to …read more