GOP Set to Elevate Leadership Team

Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, and Rep. John Larson, D-Conn. arrive at the Library of Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006 to attend the orientation meeting for new Democratic elected members of Congress. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP)

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans appear set to elevate two of their top leaders in internal party elections, despite unrest within the rank and file and spirited campaigns from conservative challengers.

Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., both appear to be carrying comfortable leads into Friday's closed-door elections. They are the second- and third-ranking Republicans behind Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., but they are poised to step up since Hastert has opted to leave GOP leadership ranks now that the party has lost control of the House.

Democrats, for their part, are focusing on healing the wounds from a rancorous battle for their No. 2 leadership post, a struggle in which Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., defeated a rival backed by Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The battle between Hoyer and John Murtha, D-Pa., appeared to overshadow Pelosi's unanimous selection by Democrats to become the first female speaker when Democrats take control of the House in January. Pelosi had aggressively backed top ally Murtha over Hoyer, with whom she has long had a testy relationship.

But each of the combatants said they would bury the hatchet and promised a unified Democratic leadership once the party assumes the majority for the first time in a dozen years.

Hoyer received a congratulatory call late Thursday from President Bush, who was traveling in Asia, Bush press secretary Tony Snow told reporters on Air Force One.

Among Republicans, Boehner appeared to be fending off an aggressive challenge from Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, a leader of the party's growing conservative wing. Boehner was elected to Congress in 1990 and was a protege of former Speaker Newt Gingrich when the Georgia Republican was storming the gates of the Democratic-held House.

Boehner was part of Gingrich's leadership team during the first four years of GOP House control but was purged along with Gingrich in the wake of the party's disappointing performance in the 1998 elections.

"We need to start by rebuilding the Republican brand," Boehner said. "Republicans need to get back to our core principles and rededicate ourselves to the reform mindset that put us in the majority 12 years ago."

Pence says Republicans need to adopt a new, more aggressive attitude now that the party is entering the minority. He says the lure of power caused Republicans to drift away from principles such as curbing federal spending.

"We did not just lose our majority ... we lost our way," Pence said in a Thursday speech to his colleagues. "We are in the wilderness because we walked away from the limited-government principles that minted the Republican Congress."

The elevation of Boehner to the top post would come less than a year after he re-entered leadership ranks. Boehner defeated Blunt to succeed Tom DeLay, R-Texas, as majority leader.

Blunt has been whip for four years. His loss to Boehner in the February race for majority leader was seen as a signal of dissatisfaction among the rank and file with their leadership team. The GOP defeat on Election Day has intensified that unrest, but Blunt nevertheless seems poised to defeat Arizonan John Shadegg in Friday's race to retain the whip post.

There are a host of other races Friday for lesser leadership posts. Most prominently, Adam Putnam of Florida appears poised to assume the No. 3 position of conference chair.

Hoyer, 67, a 25-year veteran of Congress, defeated Murtha by a vote of 149-86.

"Let the healing begin," Pelosi said after Hoyer's victory.

Earlier, after fellow Democrats selected her to become speaker in January, Pelosi told her colleagues: "We made history and now we will make progress for the American people."

She pledged that, after 12 years in the minority, "we will not be dazzled by money and special interests."