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November 16, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
CapitolLink: Murtha's Minions Go Unheard
Several House Democrats took to blogosphere this week to voice their support for Pennsylvanian John Murtha as the next majority leader, but their colleagues didn't heed the message. This morning, the Democratic Caucus voted 149-86 to elect Marylander Steny Hoyer as majority leader instead.
The Democrats who publicly endorsed Murtha at The Huffington Post were: Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren and Hilda Solis of California; Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; John Larson of Connecticut; James Moran of Virginia; and David Wu of Oregon.
Murtha also made an appearance at The Huffington Post earlier in the week after House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., endorsed him over Hoyer.
Getting Murtha elected had been a mission for site founder Arianna Huffington, who over the weekend penned an entry titled "Jack Murtha For Majority Leader ... And 'Person Of The Year." "On November 7, the American people made it clear they want a change in policy in Iraq," Huffington wrote. "One way for Democrats to make it clear to the American public they're heeding this call is to elect Murtha majority leader."
Huffington then urged her readers to pressure their congressmen to vote for Murtha. They didn't. So does that count as another loss for the Democratic netroots?
UPDATE: Oh, wait, Huffington said the vote was a victory for Pelosi -- a moral victory "for taking a stand" with Murtha and against the Iraq war, which is "what real leaders do" -- so I guess it's a victory for the netroots, too.
UPDATE: After his defeat, Murtha returned to The Huffington Post, where he is a regular contributor, for another rant against the Iraq war: "I ran for majority leader to put the issue of Iraq front and center and to push as hard as I could to change our war strategy. Like you, many of my colleagues understood that this race was about delivering on our promise we made to the American people a little over a week ago. ... Iraq is the key. Democrats won the election because we spoke up, and the real test of our leadership lies ahead."
Posted by Danny | 07:50 PM
