The New Congress

The 111th Congress is scheduled to convene on January 3, 2009. But the first meetings will actually take place before that date.

The Democratic Conference (called "Caucus" in the House) and the Republican Conference of each house of Congress will meet to choose their leadership. Those meetings are expected to take place shortly after the members return to the capital, week after next.

The leadership ranks are expected to remain largely unchanged.

On the Democratic side, the only apparent vacancy is for the chairmanship of the House Democratic Caucus, now that the current chair, Rahm Emanuel, is headed back to the White House. Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, the current vice chair of the Caucus, has announced his candidacy. Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is reportedly considering a run against Larson.

As I implied in this post, the main reason to watch elections for the lesser leadership jobs is to see which members are being groomed for succession to higher positions.

The Democrats at the higher leadership levels, including Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn in the House, and Harry Reid and Dick Durbin in the Senate, will presumably all continue for another term.

The Republican Senate leadership should remain stable. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell won a close reelection battle in Kentucky which, if it had gone the other way, would have set off a scramble for the top spots on the minority side. Senator John Kyl of Arizona is the minority whip, and seems to be facing no challenge.

But there are some vacancies among the House Republican leadership. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri has resigned the office of minority whip. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia appears to be the front-runner to succeed Blunt.

Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida is leaving the number-three position in the Republican leadership, that of House Republican Conference chairman. Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana looks to be set to take over that job.

House Minority John Boehner of Ohio has apparently dodged a bullet in his effort to hold on to his leadership position. A right-wing faction among House Republicans tried to persuade Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to challenge Boehner. But Ryan has rebuffed those efforts. Much of the disenchantment toward Boehner stems from his support of the financial bailout bill. Some House Republicans, being of course part of the oppose-it-because-it's socialism faction, not the oppose-it-because-it's-a-giveaway-to-the-rich faction, found Boehner too accommodating toward the Bush Administration in the handling of that legislation.