Surly crosscheck.
Fender & rack mounts. Bombproof. You can fit huge tires in there, and even put knobbies on it and ride singletrack. long haul trucker is a nice bike, but it doesn't sound like you're going to be doing a lot of touring, and the crosscheck has a shorter wheelbase which makes it a bit more nimble and, as I said, u can take it crosscountry, which isn't something u would want to do on a LHT. And u can still do light touring on the Xcheck.
And, it's pretty inexpensive.
The only downside is it doesn't have disc brake mounts, but oh well.
Salsa makes a good cross bike, too, but I haven't ridden it and I'm not sure if it has fender & rack braze-ons.
Regardless of what you pick, I would definitely select a bike with:
a) 700c wheels
b) steel frame
c) rack & fender mounts
d) frame clearance for wider tires (I commute on 32s) and FULL fenders. Those clip-on fenders are GAY and if u buy some I'll kick u in the nuts.