Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says he has the votes to be the next House Majority Leader

Hoyer will be running against John Murtha (D-PA), the man best known for being the top Democratic defense hawk who is now opposed to the Iraq war. Hoyer says he has the votes to become the next House Majority Leader (that's the #2 leadership post, right after Speaker (Pelosi)).

This race is a bit of a conundrum. Hoyer has not exactly been the most supportive guy, in terms of helping Nancy Pelosi in her leadership position. But Murtha also has his issues.

First off, putting Murtha's now-good position on the war aside for a moment, he's quite conservative on lots of issues that Dems hold dear. And then on other issues, like race or children's issues, he appears pretty good. He's a very mixed bag. Having said that, Harry Reid is also anti-choice, but he hasn't exactly imposed his view on the Democrats in the Senate.

To wit:

LIBERAL-MINDED GROUPS
0% - NARAL (pro-choice group)
0% - Planned Parenthood
34% - Humane Society
44% - ACLU
45% - US PIRG
56% - League of Conservation Voters
33% to 17% to 63% over 3 years - Human Rights Campaign (gay civil rights)
74% - NAACP
78% - Children's Defense Fund
96% - Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
100% - National Education Association (they're a good education group)

CONSERVATIVE-MINDED GROUPS
28% - Focus on the Family, Family Research Council (religious right)
50% - John Birch Society (insanely conservative)
50% - Eagle Forum (Phyllis Schlafly)
53% - Christian Coalition (religious right)
70% - National Right to Life (anti-choice)
92% - National Rifle Association

And perhaps the even greater issue, Murth has ethics problems - he got an honorable mention on CREW's "most corrupt members of Congress" list. That is not good, at all. Especially after we just won an election on the corruption issue. At the very least, Murtha needs to clean up his house if he is going to become Majority Leader.