GOP House candidate Ed Martin finally concedes to Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) in the mostly suburban St. Louis MO-03.

Over the weekend, the dynamic of the House Democratic leadership race started to shift. What had looked at the end of last week like a power play by Nancy Pelosi to squeeze out current Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is looking more complicated today.

Some key Pelosi supporters are actually backing Hoyer in his battle with Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) to be minority whip. Does that mean Clyburn will slide down into the third leadership position, displacing Rep. John Larson (D-CT)? Maybe not. As a Democratic congressman told me this morning: “If that deal was gonna be done, wouldn’t it have been pre-baked?” Things are still very much in flux, but when the music stops Clyburn may be the one without a chair.

Remember Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the guy who at the height of the spill apologized to BP on behalf of America for the “tragedy” of the $20 billion clean up fund put together by the White House? Meet your next chairman of the Energy Committee.

Fox is running a blaring story about a letter from House Dems, possibly sponsored by a number who were defeated last Tuesday, asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to run for Minority Leader in the next Congress. I don’t have any doubt that there are a lot of Dems who’d prefer that Pelosi stand down, even though I suspect she’ll be elected to the role almost unanimously. And I suspect that that’s sentiment runs particularly strong among lost who just lost their seats, both because they tend to be more conservative and also because they just lost their jobs.

I got suspicious though when I didn’t hear any details about how many Reps had signed it or even any particular members who’d signed it. So I looked at the actual article. And there’s a reason. Apparently no one has signed it. If you dig really deep you find out that it’s only being ‘circulated’ — apparently no one has signed it yet.

Now, like I said, I don’t think for a minute that there aren’t members who don’t want Pelosi as their leader, a handful have actually said so. But when you read the text of the letter obtained by Fox is sounds more like an elaborate exercise in ‘concern-trolling’. It seems premature to see it as a major development before anyone comes forward to sign it.

I suspect some will. But until they do …

Read the ‘letter’ after the jump. Read More

In case you missed it this weekend, Rep. Cantor (R-VA), incoming Majority Leader, gives Dems advice on who they should pick for their next House leader.

Republican candidate Tom Foley will announce this afternoon whether he’ll challenge the official results in the Connecticut governor’s race, which show him losing to Democrat Dan Malloy.

We take a refreshing break from the post-election machinations to marvel at Michelle Obama and Indian schoolkids gettin’ down. Watch.

Rand Paul: We need to cut spending on everything from defense to entitlements — but let me get back to you on the details.

For a week shy of 10 years, and especially since we opened our Washington Bureau in 2009, we’ve tried to stick to a basic mantra about our coverage of Washington, DC: in it but not of it. It’s the motto of TPMDC. We want to be completely immersed in the facts and details and hints and allegations of the capital because covering politics is our core competency. But we never want to be part of it, identified with it, swept up in the histrionics, conventional wisdom and fads of it. That is not an easy balance to keep. And I won’t say we’ve always managed it perfectly. But that’s our goal.

David flagged this piece in the Politico this morning, which is I think a distillation of what we desire not to be.

I remember in early 2009 numerous conversations to the effect that obviously President Obama would be reelected in 2012. It was barely even worth contesting it. Same on the congressional side. Obviously, two years is a long time. I similarly remember listening to a radio program in 1991 in which a high profile commentator seriously proposed that the Democrats nominate George Bush for president but a Democrat for vice president. It was so obvious that President Bush would be reelected in 1992 that the only real opportunity for the Democrats would be to get someone else in as vice president beside Dan Quayle. The suggestion was half made in jest but only half.

Above all else, DC is a company town. Insular, incestuous, small. The Democrats took a pounding on election day. It’s in the nature of the place to suddenly be unable to see anything except through that prism. No one has any idea where we’re going to be in two years. Not just whether it’s good for which of the two parties but what the complexion of the reality is going to be. That’s the only true compass to follow in the coming months.

Politico: “In his effort to change Washington, Obama has failed to engage Washington and its institutions and customs, leaving him estranged from the capital’s permanent power structure …”