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''The only apparent reason for President Bush to drop Commissioner David Mason at this stage ... is to prevent him from casting an adverse vote against Senator McCain on important enforcement questions pending at the commission,'' Wertheimer said.

White House chief of Staff Joshua Bolten notified Reid of the new slate in a letter late Tuesday. The offer came after Reid last week suggested restarting the nominating process in order to have a functioning FEC.

''We would accept a vote on the entire package or up or down votes on each nomination,'' said White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore.

White House officials didn't draw attention to their offer, releasing the new lineup of nominees early Tuesday evening as the political world awaited the results of the Democratic presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

The White House views that as a potential breakthrough -- Republicans had insisted that all FEC nominees be voted on as a package.

Reid has long proposed holding separate, simple majority votes on each nominee because of Democratic opposition to von Spakovsky.

Still, in the letter to Reid, Bolten said, ''The package does not include a withdrawal of Hans von Spakovsky, whom we believe would be confirmed by the Senate if allowed a vote.'' Bolten said von Spakovsky's performance as a commissioner bodes well for his candidacy.

Bolten said the White House hopes to have a fully functioning FEC by Memorial Day.

Von Spakovsky, and Democrats Steven Walther and Robert Lenhard had been serving short terms after Bush appointed them during a congressional recess. But those appointments expired at the end of 2007. Lenhard withdrew from the nomination process during the recent impasse. Walther, like von Spakovsky, is now awaiting confirmation.

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Associated Press Writer Ben Feller contributed to this report.

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