Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

House Democrats head to the ballot box today to elect their majority leader, with many of them fretting that the contentious race has split their caucus into two warring camps, one allied with Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the other with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), regardless of today’s outcome.

The race has reinforced longstanding divisions between different factions in the caucus, members and observers said, and has diverted their attention from a positive message they hoped to project just days after winning control of the House.

“We’re trying to say it’s a new day, and unfortunately, we’ve started a new day with unnecessary controversy,” said Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), a Hoyer ally. “Members see this as something unnecessary, something counterproductive, something that is sucking up all the oxygen in the room when we really need to work on improving the functioning of the House.”

Elated by their victory last week at the polls, many House Democrats were further encouraged by the harmonious resolution last week of a battle brewing for the post of majority whip, praising Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for brokering the compromise.

But on Sunday, Pelosi took a decidedly different tack by stepping into the majority leader race on Murtha’s behalf, a move that escalated an already vigorous contest. Two hundred thirty-one House Democrats will meet this morning at 9 a.m. to vote for their entire slate of leaders, although the majority leader position is the only contested race. They will first vote on a motion to allow Christine Jennings and Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) to vote. Jennings’s Florida race is still contested. Jefferson still faces a runoff.