Steny Hoyer

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel are special guests at a fund-raiser at the Yale Club this afternoon for six Democratic congressional challengers, including two from New York: Dan Maffei and Eric Massa.  read more »

Rep. Joe Crowley just got a seat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, and is contemplating getting a waiver to keep his seat on the Internationals Relations Committee.

Quick, inside-baseball read: Crowley's good relationship with Steny Hoyer is helping him more than his lousy relationship with Nancy Pelosi is hurting him.

-- Azi Paybarah

UPDATE: Crowley just called to contest my characterization of his relationship with the incoming house speaker. "If it wasn't for Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi, I wouldn't be on this committee: no if, ands or butts about it," he said.

As for the recent Democratic leadership race that essentially pitted his team against Pelosi's, Crowley said, "That's behind us."

Office space in the Rayburn Building is given to congress members based on a mix of seniority and a lottery system.

A DC reader notes that first member of the 1998 class of Congress members to get a nice new office in the Rayburn building is Joseph Crowley. Lucky, huh?

Not sure if this increased his odds, but Crowley was on the winning side of the Steny Hoyer-Jack Murtha leadership race, had Charlie Rangel vouch for his fund-raising prowess, and also happens to be Democratic County Chairman in Queens.

-- Azi Paybarah

When soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her support for John Murtha’s bid for House M  read more »

While the post-election shoving and shuffling on Capitol Hill sounds dull, parochial and petty to th  read more »

When soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her support for John Murtha’s bid for Hou  read more »

While the post-election shoving and shuffling on Capitol Hill sounds dull, parochial and petty to th  read more »

It is really no surprise that John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi's favored candidate for House Majority leader, John Murtha, was thumped in this morning's vote by Maryland's Steny Hoyer.

What was surprising was how much political capital Pelosi, the incoming Speaker, had invested on Murtha's behalf in the last two days, considering the almost obvious futility of his effort from the outset.

The question now is whether there will be repercussions for Pelosi.

Had she simply announced her preference for Murtha and stood on the sidelines, Hoyer's win would mean nothing. But by turning up the heat on her fellow Democrats only to lose lopsidedly, Pelosi may have empowered Hoyer, her longtime foe. Should some similar impasse occur in the future - whether over a leadership position or an actual policy item - Hoyer may have considerably more standing in convincing members that it's okay to stick with him against the Speaker.

Pelosi has spent the last three years very effectively marginalizing Hoyer's clout. But before Pelosi entered the fray this week, it did not appear that Hoyer would be a particularly strong Majority Leader. That's probably no longer the case.

-- Steve Kornacki

A D.C. source emails to say, "Rahm wins caucus chair by acclamation."

Right now, Nancy Pelosi is giving a nominating speech on behalf of Jack Murtha, who is running against Steny Hoyer for House Majority Leader.

Results should start coming out in about an hour.

Predictions on who wins, and more importantly, who benefits/loses from the NY delegation?

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's one last take from Steve Kornacki on the upcoming, high-stakes House leadership vote:

Earlier this week, I wrote that Nancy Pelosi would suffer no real damage from today's vote for House Majority Leader.

That was then.

The House 230-some odd Democrats will convene in the Cannon Building this morning to choose between Steny Hoyer, the current second-ranking House Democrat and Pelosi's longtime foe, and John Murtha, who has the incoming Speaker's support.

Just a few days ago, this seemed like a simple little exercise. Hoyer would score a lay-up of a victory while Pelosi, recognizing the futility of the situation, would provide a nominal endorsement to her friend Murtha without lending any real muscle to his cause. In other words, she'd refrain from making Hoyer's - and the Democratic caucus's - life too difficult.  read more »

Like I said, that was then.

Even on a victorious team, there are still winners and losers.  read more »

It's 11:30 on the East Coast and we know that Nancy Pelosi will be the next Speaker of the House. That's about all we know. We don't yet know how many of her fellow Democrats will constitute the next House majority, nor do we have any clue whom they will select as their new Majority Leader-- Maryand's Steny Hoyer and Pennsylvania's John Murtha will now square off.

We also have no idea which party will control the Senate-- and with the Virginia race now on its way to a recount, it may be several days. The signs, though, point to a reduced Republican majority, with Democrats falling short in Tennessee and Virginia. However, if the Virginia outcome is reversed -- either in the very late returns (13 precincts from Democrat-rich Richmond have apparently not been counted yet) -- and if Democratis then run the table in Missouri and Montana, they'll have their magic six seats.

So for anyone still reading this, the best advise is to head to your living room, flip on MSNBC, keep your finger on the mute button when Chris Matthews comes on the screen, and have some fun watching the rest of the numbers trickle in.

-- Steve Kornacki