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Associated Press:
Hoyer tapped for party's No. 2 House spot — WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats on Thursday chose Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer to be House majority leader over Rep. John Murtha, brushing aside the choice of House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi. — Hoyer was elected on a vote of 149-86 not long …
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Hoyer Beats Pelosi's Pick in Race for No. 2 House Post — House Democrats chose Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland as their majority leader today after a bruising fight that cast a cloud over the party's post-election celebration. — The election of Mr. Hoyer over Representative John P. Murtha …
CNN:
CNN Political Ticker AM — For the latest, breaking political news, check for updates throughout the day on the CNN Political Ticker. All politics, all the time. — Compiled by Stephen Bach — Making news today... - House Dems meet to elect leaders by secret ballot this morning …
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Associated Press
Los Angeles Times:
Democratic leadership hopefuls marked by ethical questions — The two candidates for House majority leader know how to leverage their connections. — WASHINGTON — Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to push through ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying …
Washington Post:
Pelosi Splits Democrats With Push For Murtha — Speaker-to-Be Accused Of Strong-Arm Tactics — A showdown over the House majority leader's post today has Democrats bitterly divided only a week after their party took control of Congress and has prompted numerous complaints …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Hoyer humiliates Pelosi, defeats Murtha, 149-86 — Just in at Fox. Soak it in. Updates coming. — Update: Unless there was some eleventh-hour shift to Hoyer — which is unlikely, considering that 90 Democrats had already publicly committed to him yesterday — then Murtha lied to Matthews's face on Hardball yesterday.
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Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:
Murtha Loses... But It's Still a Victory for Pelosi — The votes are in and Steny Hoyer is the new House majority leaders, winning out over Jack Murtha 149-86. — For all the reasons I've made abundantly clear, I would've loved to see Murtha as Majority Leader.
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Online NewsHour
Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:
Pelosi faces no-win outcome over Murtha — WASHINGTON - Democrats moved toward picking a top lieutenant to speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi and hoped to put to rest a politically costly family feud that intensified just days after they reclaimed the House from GOP control.
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Firedoglake, Outside The Beltway, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard and culturekitchen
jules crittenden:
Murtha vs. Hoyer: Sit Back and Enjoy ... Today offers the kind of spectacle that is a small consolation prize for a party out of power: the victors pummeling each other over the spoils. The election having been lost, today's majority leadership race is a win-win.
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Simon Tisdall / Guardian:
US plans last big push in Iraq — Strategy document calls for extra 20,000 troops, aid for Iraqi army and regional summit — President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning …
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Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
Sectarian Strife in Iraq Imperils Entire Region, Analysts Warn — BAGHDAD — While American commanders have suggested that civil war is possible in Iraq, many leaders, experts and ordinary people in Baghdad and around the Middle East say it is already underway, and that the real worry ahead …
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The American Street, The Glittering Eye, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Heretik, A Tiny Revolution and Political Animal
PR Newswire:
Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info — A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide. — Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen …
Scott Helman / Boston Globe:
Romney hires ex-Bush ad man — Producer noted for tough tactics — Governor Mitt Romney, who continues to sign up big-name political consultants for a probable presidential run, has hired bare-knuckles GOP ad man Alex Castellanos, a veteran of presidential campaigns known for his tough ads against Democratic candidates.
Jill Tucker / San Francisco Chronicle:
School board votes to dump JROTC program — After 90 years in San Francisco high schools, the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps must go, the San Francisco school board decided Tuesday night. — The board voted 4-2 to eliminate the popular program, phasing it out over two years.
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David Sirota / Sirotablog:
James Carville for DNC Chair — It's true. James Carville is right. Howard Dean's 50-state strategy had nothing to do with Democrats winning in places like Kansas and New Hampshire, where groups like the DCCC all but abandoned its own candidates. And he's right, it had nothing …
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Flush of Victory Past, Democrats Revert to Finger-Pointing — One would think that after their biggest electoral triumph in about a decade, Democrats would finally break their usual postelection syndrome — a November loss followed by recriminations, finger-pointing and infighting. — Well, think again.
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The Huffington Post, Right Wing News, NO QUARTER, Sister Toldjah, Midtopia and The Neal Boortz Show
Elizabeth Williamson / Washington Post:
Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry — The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security." — Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food …