[CA Conservative]

s this a good thing? As much as I disliked him leaving the Senate...I felt reassured having Republican eyes on the inside regarding the census.

One of the reasons for withdrawing was that Obama had pulled the Census from the responsibility of the Commerce Department - so Gregg would have had no ability to keep an eye on anything.

[americanophile]

I'm not sure that's true. From the reports it seemed as though the census would remain in Commerce, but that it would also be reported to the Chief of Staff. Gregg could have still kept on eye on things. If that's the case, he could have proved very useful, blowing the whistle and/or resigning later over the politicization of the process would have been far more damaging to Obama.