US Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)

In an interesting analysis piece last week on the recently announced departure of Senator Judd Gregg’s right hand man, PolitickerNH.com’s James Pindell wrote:

The resignation of Judd Gregg’s long time aide Joel Maiola as chief of staff will increase chatter that Gregg could soon resign himself.

Speculation over whether or not Gregg would leave his Senate seat for a federal judgeship is far from new. The conversation was the probably the loudest after both he and his friend President George W. Bush were re-elected in 2004. The Gregg rumors slowed down once Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, took office in 2005 allowing him to appoint a fellow Democrat like Jeanne Shaheen to replace him.

But now the scenario is different. The latest has it that Gregg could be appointed this December, after the elections. Gregg is now serving in his third term and in the minority party. Bush is on his way out the door…

During a blogger’s conference call late this afternoon with Senator Gregg, I referred to Pindell’s piece and asked him if he was indeed planning to resign. His answer was rather blunt and unambiguous:

No!

I noted that was a pretty specific, yet plain answer. "I guess that’s it, then," I replied. "No, you won’t be leaving early." "Yes– that’s right," said the Senator. At this point another participant asked for him to reiterate one more time. Gregg assured us he wasn’t departing prematurely. He then went on to say he is looking forward to a run in 2010. This is good news, because, as I’ll explain in another post, when it comes to discussing the Federal budget and how it will affect us tax-wise, as I learned today during the call, Senator Gregg is THE man. His is a voice of fiscal reason that would be sorely missed…