Pelosi: Betting on Murtha

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2006 — -- The midterm elections have come and gone -- and now a new election is taking center stage.

Now that the Democratic Party has taken control of both the House and Senate, the leadership positions within the party are up for grabs in the new Congress.

In the Senate, Democrats resolved who would assume the leadership positions easily this morning.

Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada was elected majority leader, and Richard Durbin of Illinois as majority whip. Neither position was contested.

The House elections are a different tale. The fight for House majority leader has become a battle between Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Rep. Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania.

At the center of the debate is the future speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi of California.

Pelosi is in a tough position, as she has loyalties to both men.

As minority whip, Hoyer has been by her side as the No. 2 Democrat in the House for the last five years. But Pelosi has allied herself in the past with Murtha, especially during his stand on a swift withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

In a letter released to House members Sunday night, Pelosi formally threw her support behind Murtha as the next majority leader.

However, in the opening statement of the letter, Pelosi made it clear that she was responding to Murtha's request for support.

The letter was seen as a lukewarm announcement of support for Murtha and has made some question just how much Pelosi is putting herself, and her first action as the future speaker of the House, on the line.

This question was posed to two Democratic House members: Virginia's Jim Moran, who supports Murtha, and Tom Lantos of California, who supports Hoyer.

The two appeared for an interview on ABC News Now's "Politics Live" anchored by Sam Donaldson and Liz Marlantes.

Moran said that Pelosi's support for Murtha appeared to be genuine, and that she had been trying to drum up support for him.

"I don't know about twisting arms, but she is calling members and she is letting them know in no uncertain terms what she expects them to do," Moran said.