Daily Political Wire 11-6-2010

George Wenschhof

Reid/Pelosi to stay in Democratic Leadership positions - no changes expected after Democrats were trounced in the mid term elections. Rumors have it Nancy Pelosi (Calf.) considered backing Chris Van Hollen (Md.) for the House minority Leader position, but found there was not support for him over Steny Hoyer (Md.).

This would have opened the door for Hoyer to be House Minority Leader; an outcome Pelosi would not be happy with. She and Hoyer fought a bitter battle for House Speaker; won by Pelosi. You can read more here.

This leaves James Clyburn (N.C.) left to battle with Hoyer over the Minority Whip position in the House. You can read more here.

In the Senate, the expected battle for the Majority Leader position does not appear to be materializing. After talk of Richard Durbin (Ill.) and Charles Schumer challenging for the position, look to see Reid retain his position.

An interesting aside to the current make up of Congress. Voters are looking for compromise and moderation, yet the make up in the House is now more liberal and conservative extremes. The 60 plus seats lost by democrats were held by mostly moderate "blue dog" Democrats who were replaced by mostly far right conservatives. Liberal Democrats still comprise the majority of the House, another reason Pelosi will prevail in her bid for House Minority Leader.

What to expect? The next two years will likely be filled with more partisan gridlock as the 2012 presidential election will get underway seriously within the next 3-4 months.

In addition to the presidential election, the entire 435 member House will be up for reelection and 33 Senate seats will hold elections - 23 of them are currently held by Democrats and two will be the Independents who presently caucus with Democrats. CNN.com has more here.

Stay Tuned...

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Who are the new members in Congress? - TheHill.com has a quick run down of all the newly elected members here.

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Below is a short preview of the upcoming Guests on Sunday's "Talking Heads" by Politico.com



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