Published: November 14, 2006 08:28 am      

Murtha in showdown with Maryland congressman for House majority post

WASHINGTON — Democrats regaining the House after 12 years confront an uncomfortable choice for majority leader now that speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has rejected her current top lieutenant in favor of longtime confidant John Murtha.

Murtha, the Johnstown Democrat whose call for U.S. troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq helped rally Democrats for the election, had appeared to be the underdog to Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who is the House Democrats’ whip.

But Murtha’s candidacy got a boost Sunday with an endorsement from Pelosi, who applauded his “courageous leadership that changed the national debate and helped make Iraq the central issue of this historic election.”

Both Murtha’s camp and Hoyer said Monday they have enough commitments from returning and newly elected Democrats to win the post. However, the leadership election Thursday is by secret ballot, and it’s common for candidates to go into it confident of victory only to come away with a loss.

Murtha ally Jim Moran, D-Va., claimed a 128-94 whip count in Murtha’s favor.

Hoyer, saying Pelosi had given him advance notice she was going to endorse Murtha, claimed support from 21 of 41 in-coming Democratic freshmen.

“He’s got a strong contingent among the freshmen, which is I think reflective of his strength across the board,” Rep.-elect John Sarbanes, D-Md., said of Hoyer. He said he didn’t “get a sense” that Pelosi was actively campaigning for Murtha.

Hoyer said Pelosi had given him notice that she was going to endorse his opponent but added that she had not been campaigning for him.

“I expect Jack Murtha to continue to be a leader on the very, very important issue of Iraq in the future, but I am going to be the majority leader,” Hoyer said on CNN.

Hoyer is the natural favorite because he won the minority whip’s post almost four years ago. But he also is a longtime rival of Pelosi, to whom he lost a bitter 2001 leadership battle for the same job. Hoyer moved up when Pelosi succeeded Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri as the No. 1 Democrat in the House.

He and Pelosi never have really patched up their relationship, but her declaration of support for Murtha nonetheless came as a surprise. Pelosi was known to have preferred not to have the party go through a divisive leadership race just days after reclaiming the House.

Pelosi’s allies say Hoyer hasn’t always been adequately supportive of her leadership.

“The speaker (Pelosi) wants him,” Moran said of Murtha.

“He’s someone she can rely on, who wouldn’t undercut her authority.”

Murtha, 74, has been in Congress since 1974, and he has carved a niche as a defense hawk from his perch as the senior Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee responsible for the Pentagon’s budget.