Hoyer A Winner Without Pelosi's Support

He didn't have the endorsement of incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, but he did have the votes, and when the dust settled, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer was elected as the next House Majority Leader.

Pelosi had instead endorsed longtime ally Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, but the vote wasn't even close: Hoyer trounced Murtha by an overwhelming 149 to 86.

Democrats Thursday voting to fill in the blanks for their party's leadership roles when they officially take control of Congress in January selected James Clyburn of South Carolina as Majority Whip, the No. 3 leadership post. Clyburn is the second black in history to rise that high in the party leadership: former Rep. William Gray of Pennsylvania held the same title from 1989-91.

Campaign chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois will be chairman of the Democratic Caucus, the No. 4 party leadership position in the House - a reward for his efforts in leading the party back into the majority in his role as chairman of the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Also Thursday, House Republicans, soon to be in the minority for the first time since 1994, met in private to hear presentations from candidates for their party's leadership posts. Their election is set for Friday, with the spotlight on what has evolved into a race between Majority Leader John Boehner and and Rep. Mike Pence, to fill the House GOP leadership role being vacated by Rep. Dennis Hastert.

Among the Democrats, for Hoyer, the vote that will make him House Majority Leader was a personal triumph.

This wasn't really about politics or policy, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss. It was personal, about power and loyalty. Hoyer was the longtime number two, with strong support and had been widely expected to move up. Pelosi nonetheless endorsed Murtha, a leading voice against the Iraq war who has been more loyal to her over the years.

Asked if she regrets the decision to take sides in the leadership race, Pelosi said Thursday: "I am not a person who has regrets."

"Steny [Hoyer] knows that I have to be who I am," she added. "I am a person who is committed to ending this war."

Hoyer meanwhile is expressing his enthusiasm for the road ahead. "Our caucus is unified today," said Hoyer. "I intend to do everything in my power to make Pelosi the most effective Speaker in the history of the Congress."

"Nancy and I have worked together for four years, closely and effectively, and we have created the most unified caucus in the last half century," said Hoyer. "It was not that somebody was rejected today, it was that a team - that had been successful - was asked to continue to do that job."

Wisconsin Rep. Dave Obey, who will chair the Appropriations Committee, said the divisions exposed by the leadership contest will not be a problem for Pelosi.

"There's such universal respect and affection for Nancy. She's gutsy as hell and she's willing to take a chance... push the envelope," said Obey. "It was bitter between the two candidates, I suppose, but it wasn't bitter among the members of the caucus. People get over this stuff."

Murtha, who had been jockeying for position with Hoyer for months, kept his comments at a minimum Thursday, deadpanning that he will now "go back to my small subcommittee."

It's really not that small.

Murtha will chair the powerful defense subcommittee with responsibility for the war in Iraq and the Pentagon budget. "Nancy asked me to set a policy for the Democratic Party, said Murtha, referring to pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq. "Most of the party signed onto it."

Murtha gained national prominence last year when he called for an end to U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

He and Pelosi have long been close, and when Pelosi issued a statement supporting Murtha on Sunday night, it raised the stakes in the party leadership election.

"I was proud to support (Murtha) for majority leader, because I thought that would be the best way to bring an end to the war in Iraq," said Pelosi, talking to reporters after the vote.

The Murtha endorsement, says CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer, is not viewed as a political plus for Pelosi. "What has stunned even her supporters is why she would want to wade into this battle where she didn't need to take sides," said Schieffer. "It has raised questions about both her leadership and her judgment."

The outcome was foreshadowed Sunday night by a supporter of Hoyer's, Rep.-elect Baron Hill of Indiana, who pointed out then that Pelosi - keeping a longstanding promise by endorsing Murtha - did not, in her written statement, ask other Democrats to vote for him.

Pelosi and Hoyer, 67, have had a difficult relationship at times. The two ran against each other in a leadership race several years ago. Pelosi won, but Hoyer rebounded more than a year later when he was elected the party's whip.

Hoyer's margin of victory Thursday reflected a pre-election strategy in which he showcased support from moderates, veteran lawmakers in line to become committee chairmen and more than half of the incoming freshman class — the majority-makers whose victories on Election Day gave the party control of the House.

"Steny was more where the mainstream of where the party was," said Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, who will become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee."

Of Pelosi's endorsement of Murtha, Frank said, "She's a very smart woman who made an error in judgment."

The intraparty battle had preoccupied Democrats, overshadowing Pelosi's promotion to speaker — a position that is second in line of succession to the presidency.

Many Democrats were dismayed that the family feud had broken out in the first place and objected to heavy pressure placed on longstanding Hoyer supporters.

Murtha pursued the position despite a record of not always being a leadership loyalist. He often supplied votes to GOP leaders who were struggling to pass bills. The none-too-subtle trade-off: Murtha and his allies would do better when home state projects were doled out by the Republicans.

Murtha, 74, was furthermore viewed as a problematic candidate because of his involvement in the 1980 Abscam scandal, a sting operation in which FBI agents offered bribes to several lawmakers, pretending to represent an Arab sheik who wanting to live in the U.S. and was seeking investment opportunities.

Offered $50,000, Murtha was recorded as saying, "I'm not interested... at this point." A grand jury declined to indict Murtha, and the House ethics committee issued no findings against him.

"I told them I wanted investment in my district," Murtha told MSNBC's "Hardball" on Wednesday. "They put $50,000 on the table and I said, 'I'm not interested.'"