Sen. Reid named next majority leader
Created: 11/14/2006 1:33:34 PM
Updated: 11/14/2006 1:34:05 PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sens. Charles Schumer and Harry Reid wave to supporters over a sign, A New Direction for America. These Democrats set to lead the party are relatively unknown.

Senate Democrats, who are still in the minority during this brief lame-duck session, elected Harry Reid of Nevada as majority leader to begin making plans to take control of the legislative body in January.

Reid, as expected, was unopposed for the position, which sets the legislative agenda for the Senate.

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is retiring from the Senate after two terms. If he had remained in office, he would have gone into the minority in January when the new Senate session convenes. Sen. Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, is expected to be elected the new minority leader for the Republicans.

Sen. Richard Durbin, of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, was selected as Democratic whip, a powerful position that corrals votes among Democratic members. Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, who was chairman of the party's senatorial campaign committee in the last election, was picked for the No. 3 spot.

Filling out the roster are two women: Sen. Patty Murray of Washington will serve as conference secretary, while Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., will head the party steering committee.

Reid said a top priority is getting a new secretary of defense confirmed.

Reid told The Associated Press that he supports replacing Donald Rumsfeld with former CIA Director Robert Gates by year's end, as President Bush has urged.

"I hope we can move it forward quickly," Reid said. "The sooner we can move it forward the sooner we can get rid of Rumsfeld."

Reid said he pledged to change the tone of the Senate during the 110th Congress and to "treat the minority (Republicans) as they did not treat us."

"We realize that the only way to accomplish anything is on a bipartisan basis," he said.

House Democrats will select their leaders on Thursday. Nancy Pelosi, of California, will become House Speaker, but the No.2 job is still up in the air.

That position pits the current No. 2 Democrat in the House, Rep. Steny Hoyer, of Maryland, against Rep. John Murtha, of Pennsylvania, a longtime Pelosi confidante.

Murtha, a blunt Vietnam veteran who served as Pelosi's campaign manager in her bid for leadership posts, is close to senior military figures in the Pentagon. It was his call for U.S. troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq that helped rally Democrats for the election.

Pelosi expressed support for Murtha's candidacy in an open letter Monday, although Hoyer claims he has enough votes to prevail.

Hoyer said Tuesday he still expected to win and that, despite Pelosi's anticipated endorsement of her friend Murtha, "Nancy Pelosi and I will work very closely together in the future. Why, because both of us care about the objectives of our party."

He and Pelosi have been longtime rivals in their climb up the leadership ladder in the House.

Murtha has come under fire for his dealings with two defense lobbyists, including one who is his brother. Murtha was also named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal Abscam bribery scandal in the 1980s. His conduct, while raising questions, was cleared by the House ethics committee.

In an editorial today, The Washington Post backed Hoyer, noting that Murtha was among only four Democrats whose votes helped kill a strong Democratic package of lobbying reforms this spring. It also said his link to the Abscam affair "raised questions about his integrity."

It was not clear whether Pelosi's expression of support, coming so soon before the election for leadership post, was an attempt to influence the Democrats in their secret balloting, or was simply a public gesture on behalf of a longtime friend.

Hoyer, at a news conference today, said he still expected to win and that, despite Pelosi's anticipated endorsement of her friend Murtha, "Nancy Pelosi and I will work very closely together in the future. Why, because both of us care about the objectives of our party."

The backroom maneuvering coincided with the opening of the lame-duck Congress, which includes the so-called "living dead" - incumbents who were defeated in the midterm elections and will not be back for the new session in January.

Legislation to normalize trade relations with Hanoi failed to win House passage late Monday, forcing Republicans to try again under different rules before President Bush visits Vietnam later in the week.

In other action, the House passed and sent to Bush a bill that could fine and imprison animal rights advocates who threaten scientists conducting animal research.

The Capitol, meanwhile, buzzed with the energy of House members-to-be and senators-in-waiting attending freshman orientation.

More than 50 incoming House freshmen spent the day in meetings focused not on big legislative items or the Iraq war but rather on office logistics and ethics - a key issue after a season of scandal that had, at least in part, led to the election of the new members.

In the Senate, a 10-person freshman class of eight Democrats, one Republican and Democratic-leaning independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont also began orientation.

Democratic Sen.-elect Jon Tester of Montana looked a little overwhelmed on his first day.

"It hasn't soaked in yet," he said. "Maybe it will never soak in."

The Capitol police weren't quite ready for Tester, a farmer with a throwback flat top haircut and fingers missing on his left hand from an old accident with a meat grinder. They asked him to empty his pockets for inspection.

"Just like at the airport, you put it all through?" Tester asked.

The officer nodded, then recognized the newcomer and waved him through.

Contributing: Douglas Stanglin in McLean, VA., The Associated Press

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