By The Prowler on 11.14.06 @ 12:09AM
She loves him, she loves him not: Nancy at work and play. Also: Gates meets approval.
DEAR JOHN
Potential incoming Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi has thus far declined to make phone calls on behalf
of Rep. John Murtha's run for Democrat leader, a
decision that has some Murtha supporters angry. "She's already
publicly supported him, but when it comes to actually twisting some
arms for some votes, she's sitting on her hands," says a House Ways
and Means Committee staffer, whose boss is supporting Murtha for
his anti-Iraqi war position.
That position is the only reason Pelosi released the surprise
letter on Sunday supporting Murtha, and it was after she has spoken
with Democrat advisers who assured her that it appeared current
whip Rep. Steny Hoyer had locked in a majority of
the caucus for his own candidacy.
Hoyer's people informed the advisers that Hoyer had commitments
from 20 or 21 of the 41 incoming Democrat members, as well as the
majority of the caucus, seemingly locking up the leader job. "They
[Hoyer's people] seemed to think it was strong enough majority for
it not to shift too much because of the letter either way," says a
Democrat leadership aide. "Hoyer's people were taking this in
stride, that this was something Pelosi had to do to help herself
with the MoveOn and Cindy Sheehan types, not because she really
wants Murtha in that chair."
GATES OPEN
According to Capitol Hill sources, Democrat leadership in the
Senate indicated to the President that they had no objections to
the nomination of Robert Gates to replace
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Look for a vote by the full Senate to take place perhaps as
early as the second week of December. Hearings on Gates are slated
to begin the first week of December.
"I wouldn't say it's a done deal, but it's pretty close," says a
Democrat leadership staffer. "There seems to be consensus to move
the nomination through the process and get it done."
topics:
Iraq
