Pass the Blunt

Is there anything as quircky in American politics as the House leadership race? Is there anything so deeply rooted in insider whispers and beltway intrigue? Here at the PoliBlog, we can’t even contain our excitement.

The vote is Thursday and the candidates are these. As you can see, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, and Policy Committee Chairman are the positions available. As you no doubt remember, this vote is the result of Rep. Tom Delay (R-Texas) and the charges pending against him in his home state of Texas.

Rep. Roy Blunt (MO) seems to have a commanding lead, with 95 public endorsements. The Hill puts Rep. John Boehner (OH) at 49 and Rep. John Shadegg (AZ) at 14. These numbers only reflect public commitments. Each candidate claims several more private endorsements.

So Blunt has it locked up, right? Well, Hotline isn’t so sure. Shadegg is getting lots of love from the conservative blogsphere as the “true reformer” of the bunch. And while Blunt claims to have the 117 votes needed to win Majority Leader outright, only 95 are public. If he fails to win in the first round of voting, his support could crumble and swing to Shadegg. Or not. We shall see.

Final note, Rep. Eric Cantor (VA) got his B.A. at G-Dub in ‘85.

Woot.