WASHINGTON — As the White House grappled with fresh revelations about tax problems among its political appointees, President Obama on Tuesday nominated Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, to help “shore up our financial system and revitalize our economy” by serving as commerce secretary.

President Obama on Tuesday nominated Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, for commerce secreta

“With the stakes this high, we cannot afford to get trapped in the same old partisan gridlock,” Mr. Obama said as he named the third Republican nominee to his cabinet. He added, “Judd is a master of reaching across the aisle to get things done.”

The president made the announcement exactly two months after he nominated his first choice for commerce secretary, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. He withdrew his name from consideration because of a federal investigation into state contracts, the first of several controversies surrounding the president’s top nominees.

As Mr. Obama stood in the Grand Foyer of the White House with Mr. Gregg, the president’s nominee for chief White House performance officer withdrew her name from consideration, citing concerns over unpaid unemployment taxes in the District of Columbia. The nominee, Nancy Killefer, said her confirmation would create a “distraction” and delay the urgent agenda facing the administration.

Mr. Obama declined to take questions from reporters about Ms. Killefer or Tom Daschle, the president’s choice for Health and Human Services Secretary, who is fighting through tax concerns of his own. A senior administration official said on Tuesday that the president remains committed to seeing that Mr. Daschle is confirmed.

The president is seeking to advance his economic recovery plan through the Senate, dispatching his top advisers to Capitol Hill to answer questions and make changes to the legislation. Mr. Obama is taking the unusual step of inviting the top anchors from the five broadcast and cable television networks to the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon to speak about the urgency of his proposal.

“By now, our economic crisis is well known, and our economy’s shrinking, unemployment rolls are growing, businesses and families can’t get credit, and small businesses can’t secure the loans they need to create jobs and get their products to market,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday. “Now’s the time for Washington to act with the same sense of urgency that Americans all across the country feel every single day.”

In naming Mr. Gregg to the post of Commerce Secretary, which requires Senate confirmation, the president is seeking to win more bipartisan support for the plan. Mr. Obama said that Mr. Gregg would be a key member of his economic team.

“Judd is famous or infamous, depending on your perspective, on Capitol Hill, for his strict fiscal discipline,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s not that he enjoys saying no, although if it’s directed at your bill, you might feel that way. It’s that he shares my deep-seated commitment to guaranteeing that our children inherit a future they can afford.”

The president added: “Clearly Judd and I don’t agree on every issue, most notably who should have won the election. But we do agree on the urgent need to get American businesses and families back on their feet.”

Mr. Gregg, who is in the middle of his third Senate term, said he agreed to answer the president’s call to serve because of the enormity of the nation’s economic crisis.

“This is not a time for partisanship,” Mr. Gregg said. “This is not a time when we should stand in our ideological corners and shout at each other. This is a time to govern and govern well.”

Part of the agreement of nominating Mr. Gregg pertained to who would fill his Senate seat. The Democratic governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, agreed to appoint a Republican to succeed Mr. Gregg. Advisers to Mr. Lynch said Tuesday that he would name Bonnie Newman, a Republican fixture in New Hampshire who has served in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

“I also want to thank the governor of New Hampshire for his courtesy and courage in being willing to make this possible through the agreement that we have relative to my successor in the Senate,” Mr. Gregg said.

www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/us/politics/04gregg.html