Word: murtha
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...race to be the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives. The Speaker customarily doesn't even vote on the House floor, so it would have been very easy for her to stay out of the fight, at least publicly. The candidate she just endorsed, Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, is a decided underdog in the race against Maryland's Steny Hoyer, who has served as the House Minority Whip since 2003, so Pelosi might suffer a defeat only a week after ascending to her current lofty position...
...With Democrats doing their best to project the notion that they've found and embraced the center of American politics, what kind of message would it send if the party picked Murtha, a blunt confrontational figure who last year called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, over Hoyer, a leader of the moderate wing of Democrats in the House? And surely Pelosi, known to have frosty relations with Hoyer, whom she defeated in a bitter House leadership race in 2001, doesn't want to give the impression she'll dump any member of the Democratic leadership that she doesn...
...need Pelosi send a letter to her colleagues endorsing Murtha in this week's Democratic leadership elections? In one word, loyalty. The San Francisco congresswoman, first elected back in 1987, wasn't expected to become Speaker of the House, and one of the key factors in her rise in Washington has been Murtha, who has been a mentor and ally. Murtha was actually Pelosi's campaign manager in her 2001 race against Hoyer, helping convince more senior lawmakers that Pelosi was ready to be one of the party's top leaders...
...John Murtha was running for dog-catcher or President of the United States, Nancy Pelosi would support him," one Pelosi ally told TIME. And Pelosi credits Murtha's call for troop withdrawal as a bold move that helped Democrats win last week's elections. Still, it's not entirely clear how strongly Pelosi will back Murtha; her letter doesn't actually ask others to join his camp, but simply points out that it is in response to Murtha's request for an endorsement...
...While nearly everyone in Washington expected Pelosi to back Murtha privately, the public endorsement took many observers by surprise. Just last week, Pelosi worked hard to avert a leadership race between South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn and Chicago congressman Rahm Emanuel, who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Both had talked about their ambitions to be the House Majority Whip, the No. 3 job in the leadership. Democrats on Capitol Hill worried about the fallout from black voters if Emanuel, widely credited for the party's win in the elections, defeated Clyburn, the only African American in the House leadership...