I don't know if this will interest anyone, but I've started a blog about Rep. Steny Hoyer, our new House Majority Leader.

Since I'm a constituent of his, I've been paying an increasing amount of attention to his stands on particular issues as I've gotten more politically involved over the past couple of years.  And with the change in control of Congress, Rep. Hoyer is one important fellow.  I thought he rated some individual attention.

So if a blog about Steny Hoyer interests anyone here, by all means come on over.  Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.

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I'd missed this nugget from the Signora:

Pelosi, Hoyer, Murtha and the rest of the new House Democratic leadership team emerged from the caucus Thursday and said they were united...

"Let the healing begin,'' Pelosi said.

As if she'd had nothing to do with the bloodletting!

Some lioness. Some neck!

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Grumbling and grousing by pols in the media against their leadership is all part of politics.

When it's anonymous, you have to take it with a bucketful of salt.

But when it's on the record, and from a senior figure in the party - then you have to start paying attention.

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In no particular order, here are my thoughts on the Majority Leader campaign, now that it is finally over:

• Democrats just elected a Majority Leader in the House. After twelve years in the minority, that should be the headline.
• Yes, this is getting more press than the Republican vote for Senate whip. However, that vote was for the #2 spot in the minority. This was for the #2 spot in the majority. We should get more press.
• Yes, Murtha had ethics problems, but I really worry about Hoyer's love of K-Street.
• Yes, Hoyer has Iraq problems, but remember that Rep. Waxman, the guy who will be leading the investigations on Iraq, endorsed Hoyer. That isn't clear cut either.
• Yes, Pelosi endorsed Murtha, and as such there are worries this could undercut her position. However, I heard from a source on the Hill that I trust very much that the caucus would actually be less unified under Murtha than it would be under Hoyer.
• Yes, Murtha's gutsy stance on Iraq helped us win these elections as much as anything else over the past two years, and there should have been more of a reward for him than this. But he didn't have to shoot all the way for Majority leader. That is a bit of a step upward.
• Even though I knew it was important, I did not like focusing on this. I know these sorts of things have to be done, and the netroots must work to support its champions and to remake the Democratic caucus on all levels, but overall it was too insider baseball for my tastes. Movements do not obsess over things like Vice-Presidential speculation, the best of two questionable choices for minority leader, or the internal Hill politics of whose staff gets along, and whose staff does not. Keeping the caucus in line and on focus was never going to be solved through this election, no matter who won. We have better tools in our box for that than this election.

Let's get back to work.

Metphorically speaking.

John Spratt of SC is a senior guy in the Dem House hierarchy: ranking member on Budget and Assistant to the Leader.

However, he's not being of much assistance right now: reportedly, he has gone public about planning to vote for Hoyer for Maj Leader!

Did Spratt get the rubber hose treatment from the Signora as did freshmen like Gillibrand? Or was she well aware such blandishments would be futile?

It all adds to the puzzle about the status of Pelosi's support for Murtha. How far is she making supporting Murtha a litmus test of the loyalty of House Dems?

Has anyone being counting these public expressions of voting intention? There's not only the whip count aspect, but also the size of the cohort coming out for Hoyer is a measure of the willingness of the House party to defy its leader.

At least there's only a few hours before we get the result...

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