Steny Hoyer New Majority Leader

In the end, it wasn't really all that close. From Talking Points Memo:

Hoyer prevails, 149-86 . . .

It's done.

Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will be the new House majority leader, holding off an upset bid by John Murtha (D-PA), who had the backing of Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi.

The final tally was not far off from predictions. Hoyer had long been the favorite. Until Pelosi's active involvement on behalf of Murtha this week, there wasn't much doubt about the outcome. But Pelosi's last-minute aggressive advocacy for Murtha did throw the race into turmoil.

Meanwhile, AmericaBlog throws in their two cents.

These intra-caucus battles are the worst kinds of elections. They get very intense and very personal. But, it's over now. The Democrats have to move on to the real agenda now. There's a lot of work to do. And, the Republicans are sharpening their knives. It's going to get ugly, so we'll need unity.

Remember, we won. This was an election for Majority Leader. Our side is in power. Nancy Pelosi is going to be the Speaker. They've got their leadership team in place. Now, they have to produce.

Meanwhile, Republicans, eager to find anything wrong with the Democrats, have gleefully said that this is a testament to soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's inability to lead.

Besides the fact that many Republicans saying this use the veiled assertion that it is Pelosi's gender that shows she cannot lead, this is ludicrous. Pelosi's backing of Murtha was more of a show of loyalty than anything that would truly change the vote.

The detestable Bob Novack writes about Jack Murtha.

Never before during his 32 low-profile years in the House could anyone have imagined Murtha seeking any leadership role. He has been a backroom distributor of federal pork who disdained public exposure, and he was in the headlines only as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1980 Abscam scandal.

The only reason people believed that Murtha had any real shot is that the media decided to make it out like the race would be close. Steny Hoyer might even be able to take out Nancy Pelosi in a secret-ballot session.

He was the right choice, and the Democrats made the right decision.

Meanwhile, the Republicans resuscitate[d] racist Lott for a leadership position. Way to give up on getting the black vote, Republicans.