FEC Nominees Back On Track With Final Nomination

The White House has come through with its final nominee for the Federal Election Commission, a move that may finally break the stalemate that has made the election agency unable to do any major work this year.

President Bush on Thursday nominated Matthew Petersen, a Republican staffer on the Senate Rules Committee. Petersen's nomination comes in place of Hans Von Spakovsky, a controversial GOP pick who Democrats blocked for months.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said Petersen's nomination "provides a path toward seating a fully functioning, bipartisan commission." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office has not released a comment on the nomination.

Petersen's nomination now sits along side two other Democrats, Cynthia Bauerly and Steve Walther, and Republican nominees Caroline Hunter and Don McGahn. Democrat Ellen Weintraub is the only active FEC member right now. If all five nominees are approved by the Senate, the FEC would be up and running, with three Democrats and three Republicans.

A fully functioning FEC would allow the agency to rule on everything from John McCain's public financing to more routine advisory opinions on fund raising.