Nancy Pelosi loses her first battle. Miserably.

And after all the fuss and discussion, the Democrats chose Hoyer for House Majority Leader anyway… and not by a narrow margin either (my emphasis, from the NYTimes):

The election of Mr. Hoyer over Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, by a vote of 149 to 86, was an embarrassing setback for Representative Nancy J. Pelosi of California, who will be Speaker of the House in the new Congress and who had backed Mr. Murtha.

Pictures like the one above kill me, btw; they look so happy, don’t they? This sideshow was an unexpected glimpse into the Democratic dirty laundry basket (great view here), but it’s clearly time to hug and make up now.
Although some folks are spinning striving mightily to paint this scene in a flattering light, I don’t see how this can be interpreted as anything but a rebuff for the newly-annointed Speaker. A humiliation, even. She planted her not-yet-hoisted banner on the very first knoll she came across, and was slaughtered. And for what? Was it as Robert Novak wrote in WaPo?

Pelosi’s mistake confirms long-standing, privately held Democratic apprehension about her abilities. Such concerns do not reflect the Republican indictment of her as a reflexive San Francisco liberal. Some of her most trenchant congressional critics are on the left wing of the party. These colleagues worry that her decision making may be distorted by personal considerations.

Hmph. Clearly they weren’t very worried, since she was unanimously elected Speaker this morning.
You know what’s truly sad about all this? Hoyer really isn’t much of an improvement over Murtha, ethically.
Ah well… show’s over for now. Time to move on to whatever fun and games those ever-entertaining politicians have planned for us next. Think it’ll be Alcee?
Update: What he drew said… and I recommend swallowing anything you have in your mouth before hitting the link, or it will be all over the monitor.