Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for...

A further indication from an apparently nonpartisan source that strife between (very broadly) the mods and the lefties in the Dem House party after its expected win may have already gathered a deal of momentum.

From one of the few bits of the Congressional Quarterly site that is outside the pay wall, Jeff Stein (National Security Editor, no less) takes on the dispute over whether Harman or Hastings should get the HIC chair.

There's more...

There's been fair amount of imaginative talk (as here, for instance) based on the Chuck Todd morning line on the Dem leadership-to-be.

Let's leave aside the clearly delusional notion that, under his Scenario II, a narrow Dem House win, the netroots will step forth to champion a Rahmbo bid for the Speakership. (That he put forward the notion might be thought to invalidate everything else he says. But, like I said...)

Shorn of the netroots nonsense, Todd's offering is this:

Will, say, 220 House Democrats stay united and elect Pelosi speaker, or will enough conservative House Democrats break and elect a compromise Democrat as speaker? Even the threat of Democrats peeling off and working in collaboration with the Republicans to do so might be enough to encourage a serious challenge to Pelosi inside the Democratic caucus.

There's more...

Complementing my list of Blue Dog and NDC members, I thought I'd cross-check them with the list of CBC-ers.

Those CBC-ers who are also BD-NDC are:

Sanford Bishop (GA)        BD
Artur Davis (AL)        NDC
Harold Ford (TN)        Both
Kendrick Meek (FL)        NDC
Gregory Meeks (NY)        NDC
Juanita Millender-McDonald (CA)    NDC
David Scott (GA)        Both

I can't see this cross-membership as doing much to avoid the likely struggle over leadership jobs between the CBC and the mods, though.

There's more...

This is just a hypothesis for the moment, mind you. But if science proceeds by testing hypotheses against evidence...

It struck me, thinking about recent essays like that of Tomasky on Dems ceasing to be a party of specific interests and turning to the common good, that the CBC might be feeling a little nervous.

They, after all, represent the paradigm special interest in the Dem party, and might feel that their unique place in the party would be threatened by the new approach.

There's more...

That's right--the first House member to break the ethics "truce"will be Tom DeLay: Soon-to-retire Rep. Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) said today he would file an ethics complaint against Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D.-Ga.) for striking a Capitol Police officer should no other House member do so first.

DeLay's comments came during a wide-ranging interview at his Capitol Hill office with reporters, including HUMAN EVENTS Editor Terry Jeffrey.

"If nobody in this House files an ethics charge, I am," DeLay said in response to a question about McKinney. "Her behavior is outrageous. And it's not the only time." Democrats have really dropped the ball on this one, and not just Democrats in the House leadership. Any House member can file an ethics complaint, but they choose not to. Now, of all people, corrupt and cowardly Tom DeLay is somehow going to seize headlines and file an ethics complaint.

Democrats do not just need to win the House. As my friend BooMan was telling me last night, they need new blood that will challenge ossified interests and power structures that will remake our own party as well. The class of 1974 was like that. As BooMan writes: The Class of 1974 was unique. It did not change the leadership of Congress, but rather, it increased the Democratic majorities and infused the Democratic Party with liberals with a zeal for reform. They threw out some of their own Committee Chairmen, enacted campaign finance reform, did thorough investigations of our intelligence agencies, reopened the investigation of the JFK assassination (and deemed it a conspiracy), and passed the FISA act (the law being flouted by Bush today).

At times it seems like the Bush/Cheney administration has made it their mission to undo all the reforms of the Class of 1974. But, for all the people that are frustrated with or have given up on the Democrats in Washington, the lesson of 1974 is that big electoral gains in 2006 will bring change. Not just a change in the leadership of the Congress, but change in the very nature and makeup and agenda of the Democreatic Party. And that is what we need. There are a fairly decent number of Representatives who need ethics complaints filed against them. The vast majority of them are Republicans, but a handful of them are Democrats. We need reformed Democrats who are willing to file ethics challenges against all members who deserve it, regardless of party, regardless of media spin, regardless of retribution that would take place within the caucus. And we are not the only ones who need it--the country needs it too. We need candidates that could make 2006 like 1974.