Pete Sessions not to be House Majority Whip?
Playbook today:
House Republican Leader John Boehner appears to have defused a possibly ugly fight for the #3 leadership slot if the GOP takes control. He would be Speaker, and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia would be majority leader. But the whip spot looked like a fight between NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, one of the "Young Guns" and a key recruiter/hand-holder of the incoming freshmen. Perhaps wrongly, it would have been covered as a proxy Boehner-Cantor fight, since Sessions has longer ties to Boehner and McCarthy has longer ties to Cantor. But Boehner gave McCarthy the "America Speaking Out" agenda project that turned into "A Pledge to America," and was pleased.
Look for Sessions to stay at the NRCC. Rep. David Dreier (Calif.) is in line to return as Rules Chair, so don't put too much stock in the rumor of Sessions to Rules chair (either now or in the future). Sessions would have competition to be Rules chair in the future from Rep. Doc Hastings (Wash.), potentially. It's in no one's interests to have a bruising fight for whip. So there won't be one.
That means no Texan in House leadership. A bit disappointing.
Posted by Evan @ 10/29/10 04:12 PM
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