It looks like we'll have a House majority (at least) going into the 110th Congress, and I am curious to hear what others here think about the possible majority leader slot. From what I've been hearing the past several months, Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) seems to want it, and could pose a credible challenge to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
I think that I, like you, like Murtha a lot since he stood up and started whipping the Democratic caucus into shape on the war. It's embarrassing what they were like beforehand, but thanks to Rep. Murtha, we don't really have to worry about that any longer. This party found its voice on Iraq, and its name was Murtha.
But to be honest I knew almost nothing of him before then, except maybe that he was a kind of conservative Democrat. And I work around DC politics, so I at least knew he was from Pennsylvania, and had been there forever. And now he seems to be angling toward the majority leader in the House. Which if you just asked me at random, I'd say, sure. If you asked me after reading Norm Ornstein in Roll Call this morning, well, here's this diary. It costs $$$ so let me just quote the whole section:
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