Iraq colors House Democrats’ leadership fight

Baker commission questions Bush, Cheney
The prospect of a new, unified Democratic message on Iraq comes as a 12-member bipartisan commission studying Iraq began questioning Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and their top national security aides Monday.

White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters that in the meetings at the White House, members led by James Baker, secretary of state in the administration of Bush’s father, wouldn’t tip their hand about what recommendations they would make.

With members of the commission scheduled to meet Tuesday with Democratic foreign policy experts, supporters of Murtha said the time was right to up the pressure on Bush by hammering home the Democrats’ commitment to getting out of Iraq.

THE HOUSE LEADERSHIP Roles of the House leaders — Speaker: Sets the legislative agenda for the House. Elected by the full House in a vote controlled by the majority party. Second in the line of succession to the presidency behind the vice president. Controls appointments to congressional committees; decides when and whether legislation will be voted on by the House. — Majority leader: The speaker’s deputy and leader of the party. Acts in the speaker’s behalf to set the timetable for legislation on the floor, taking into account the political impact. Spokesman for the party during floor debate. Negotiates with the minority. — Majority whip: Liaison between the party rank-and-file and leadership on legislation and floor votes. With a team of assistants, the whip seeks to maintain party unity and discipline. Sounds out members on how they intend to vote; urges members to vote with the party on important bills. Informs members of the House’s legislative calendar. — Minority leader: Spokesperson for the minority party during House debate; controls committee assignments of minority lawmakers. — Minority whip: Maintains party discipline and counts votes. Informs minority lawmakers of strategy on House debate and votes. Source: Reuters

“Jack [Murtha] was the first one in the center of the debate,” Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., said on MSNBC-TV’s “Hardball.”

“He came out and said we have to move. ... He brought the county together in this election and got them to vote out the Republicans,” McDermott added. “Without Jack, we would not be in power today.”

But Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., who backs Hoyer, said Murtha’s camp was making too much of the differences between the two on Iraq.

“I think Steny Hoyer, like our leader, Nancy Pelosi, and virtually all Democrats, [is] very supportive of a phased redeployment,” she said, also on “Hardball.” “I’m for staying with the team that got us in power, and that’s with Steny Hoyer.”

Bush, who made a point of meeting publicly last week with Pelosi and Hoyer at the White House, did not answer directly when asked Monday whether he would ever accept a formal timetable for withdrawing from Iraq.

Questioned at a joint appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush, who has sent increasingly cooperative signals to Hill Democrats since last week’s election, would say only that any plans had to take account of “conditions on the ground.”

“I’m looking forward to working with the Democrats to achieve common objectives,” he said.

NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell contributed to this report from Washington.

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