Quick Hits

• The Hotline has a good piece on the rapid political change of John Murtha, the new darling of anti-war Democrats and the favored HML candidate of Nancy Pelosi. "Since calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in January, Murtha has effectively transformed himself from a backroom dealer who rarely sought the limelight to one of the most public, antiwar faces of the Democratic party. He’s muted his opposition to abortion rights and support of gun control while speaking more bluntly about getting out of Iraq."
  
  
  
• No surprises as Senate Dems picked their leaders today. Harry Reid is majority leader and Chuck Schumer is still the campaign committee chair. The big fight will come Thursday, when the Dems pick leaders in the House. With Nancy Pelosi supporting Murtha and the rest of the House Dems backing the moderate Steny Hoyer, this will be their first big test after the election. Can they prevent this disagreement from turning into a contentious blowup? Stay tuned.

• The Christian Science Monitor has a guest opinion piece from Speaker-to-be Pelosi. It's good, with lots of talk about actually getting things done in Congress, something that voters are expecting from Dems after voting them in last week. But will that talk translate into any real results? And what about Iraq? PB readers will find more later this week when Nancy Pelosi does a guest blog for Political Buzz. We give her five questions and she will give us her take on the top issues facing House Democrats. Should be fun!

• Conservatives are bashing the choice of Mel Martinez as RNC chair over Mike Steele. It's rather ponderous as to why they're angry about this. Steele is a greenhorn Senate race loser. And Martinez is a helluva fundraiser, learning that difficult craft from none other than Karl Rove and Pres. Bush. And Martinez is right of right on most every issue. Well, except for immigration. Ohhhhhhh.... And could this be some backlash against hispanics after they deserted the GOP last week?