Obama suffered yet another set-back in filling his cabinet today. And this time it wasn't because of some pesky back taxes. His pick for Commerce Secretary, New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, broke off the engagement, citing irreconcilable differences on matters like the census and the stimulus. For those of you who didn't see it coming, first Obama upset the GOP by announcing he'd shift the responsibility of overseeing the census from Commerce to the White House. Then Gregg, who once voted to dissolve the very department he was tapped to head, voted against the gazillion dollar stimulus package that passed in the Senate this week.

No one should be surprised that Obama and Gregg don't see eye to eye ideologically -- Gregg, a fiscal conservative, is a longtime fixture in New Hampshire Republican politics. Case in point: "Most of the issues I tend to push are things I think are at the essence of Republican governence." Gregg has strong ties to both Bush 41 and 43 (he campaigned for both and was the architect of "No Child Left Behind") and has developed a reputation as an uber partisan pain for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) went as so far as nicknaming the former New Hampshire governor "the designated 'see-if-we-can-mess-up-the-legislation' guy this year." So yeah, maybe the old adage "opposites attract," isn't so true after all. (Readers who find themselves gazing into the eyes of their beloved and thinking "Wow, we really are different" might want to take that lesson to heart this weekend).

Side note: Dems salivated at the idea of snagging Gregg's Senate spot as soon as his name was mentioned as a possible Commerce pick. They even agreed on appointing Bonnie Newman, a moderate Republican who swore she wouldn't run in the upcoming midterms, to the seat for a shot at winning in the increasingly blue state. The New Hampshire Union Leader is reporting that the three-term senator won't seek re-election in 2010, setting off a game of political musical chairs between New Hampshire pols like current Democratic Reps. Paul Hodes, Carol Shea Porter, former Republican Rep. Charlie Bass, Democrat Katrina Swett (the daughter of the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and the recently unseated former Republican Sen. John Sununu.

In case the excitement of early brewing election fights wasn't stimulating enough... let's talk stimulus bill. Now that lawmakers hammered out a final package -- price tag: $789 billion -- attention has been turned to whether it will work. Sure, the bill hasn't even headed back to the floors for votes yet, but, being the impatient Americans we are, we want results.. PRONTO!

Obama continued on his campaign-style tour to sell the stimulus plan to the country, stopping today at a Caterpillar plant (that's tractors, not pre-metamorphosis butterflies to you city folk) in Peroria, Illinois. O presented a Field of Dreams-style "If you build it, they will come" argument to these everyday Americans: when the cash starts rolling to build more roads, more people will buy Caterpillar-brand trucks and the company will hire back some of the 22,000 workers who are expecting pink slips in the near future. The catch? Caterpillar execs say the stimulus isn't enough to transform their struggling company into a pile of gold overnight. The 22,000 cuts will stay, and more are likely on their way.

With or without the stimulus, the consensus seems to be that we aren't exactly going to be rolling in the Benjamins (or "Grover Clevelands," to employ a term I learned today from a radio commercial) anytime soon. Depressed? We've got a plan B for cheering up the country if O's pep talks don't work: presidential puppies and rainbows (or puppies, at least). While we're waiting for the inaugural White House-breaking of the First Puppy, CQ has put together an oh-too-cute slideshow of past presidential pets. Now if that's not putting this newfangled "new media" to good use, what is?