Moving On

I now expect Nancy Pelosi to give in and allow Jane Harman to be the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. She's been shown that she's not all-powerful to do whatever she wants with the caucus, and in a period where Murtha was bypassed for Majority Leader over perceived questions of ethics, it would be suicide to allow the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee to go to Alcee Hastings, a formerly impeached judge.

Harman is a perfect example of the power of primaries. She faced a battle from Marcy Winograd and immediately learned the right lesson, getting back in touch with her constituents, speaking out on Iraq and building bridges to the progressive community she represents. She's a little close to AIPAC, but who isn't in the current Democratic caucus?

This will fade away as long as the first hundred hours are successful and real legislation, especially lobbying and ethics reform and a push on change in Iraq, gets passed.