Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), fresh off of bending over for The One, has accepted President Obama’s offer to become Secretary of Commerce. Administration officials tell CNN that the announcement will officially be made Tuesday.

Gregg, a third-term Republican known for being fiscally conservative, said in a written statement Friday that he was among those being considered for the post, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said no final decision has been made.

McConnell told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that “whoever is appointed to replace him would caucus with Senate Republicans,” indicating his belief that a Republican would be named.

“I think it would have no impact on the balance of power in the Senate,” he said.

Why the concern? Because the man appointing Gregg’s successor is John Lynch, a Democrat. Gregg has said that he wouldn’t accept the top post in the Commerce Department unless Lynch promised to nominate a Republican. Some believe that the governor promised that today, but head over to Ace’s to see how he didn’t specifically promise that (at least publicly).

I don’t hold out much hope that Gregg’s replacement will be a conservative Republican, anyway. It really matters very little whether we get a Democrat or a very liberal Republican. Regardless of what the letter is behind the new senator’s name, a liberal will vote liberally.