Gregg Out As Commerce Secretary, Thompson In?

Maybe third time's a charm?

With Judd Gregg being the second Commerce secretary nominee to bite the dust, President Obama no doubt is telling his inner circle that whoever they find next had better stay put and have no skeletons - particularly of the tax-related sort - in their closet.

Which brings me back to Symantec CEO John Thompson - the man many in industry and those who keep an eye on Commerce thought would get the job in the first place. Actually, up until almost the day Gregg was first announced, my sources (I covered techie stuff in D.C. back in the day) - as well as other news outlets - all said they thought Thompson was the leading candidate.

Symantec says it has no idea whether Thompson has been in renewed talks with Obama's people about the job.

"We have absolutely no information whatsoever," a spokesman told me in an e-mail a few minutes ago. "John has always kept [his] political involvements personal in nature and separate from his duties at Symantec, so, we don't have any information."

We'll see what happens. Stay tuned...