Locke, former governor of Washington state, would be Obama's third selection for the post following the withdrawals of the two previous candidates, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Republican Senator Judd Gregg.

A Democrat, Locke served two terms as the governor between 1997 and 2005, and carved out contacts with Chinese leaders as he pushed for trade links for his western state.

Those contacts would be highly useful if he is confirmed as commerce secretary given the vital, and often contentious trading relationship between China and the United States.

The door opened for Locke following the withdrawal two weeks ago of Gregg, who said he had "irresolvable conflicts" with Obama's 787 billion dollar economic stimulus plan and on other issues.

Gregg said he belatedly realized "that I wouldn't be comfortable doing this, and that it wouldn't be fair to him to be part of a team and not be able to be 100 percent on the team."

His withdrawal was an embarrassment for the White House which had already seen several nominees for top administration jobs hit by controversies, and Gregg's move was also a blow for Obama's attempts to reach out to Republicans.

Obama had named Gregg to the post on February 3 to replace Richardson, who withdrew his name over an investigation into alleged corporate kickbacks for contracts in his state.

After Richardson's withdrawal on January 4, several Obama picks for top administration jobs ran into problems.

Tom Daschle, the health secretary nominee, and Nancy Killefer, named as the government budget watchdog, both dropped out on February 3 in a storm over personal tax issues.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner only narrowly won Senate approval after his own problems with past unpaid taxes.

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