I can’t say that this is surprising.
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) has added his name to the growing list of Democrats who say they will not support Nancy Pelosi in her bid to be minority leader.
“I will not support or vote for Nancy Pelosi for House Democratic Leader or any other leadership position in the 112th Congress,” Ross, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, said in a statement Friday. “I have always been committed to favoring compromise and bipartisanship over ideology and party discipline. I have never answered to any party leader and I never will.”
This all sounds good right now, and I believe Ross when he says that he’ll vote for some other Democrat (Heath Shuler is my guess), but I assume that Ross will change his tune should Pelosi be put forward as the Democrats’ candidate for Speaker. Not that I think Ross would vote for Pelosi in that situation, but I can guarantee you that he would not vote for John Boehner. (Most likely, Ross would just vote “present.”) After all, the last time a Democrat voted for the Republican speaker candidate, Jim Traficant was stripped of his seniority within the party and all of his committee assignments.
In a related note, I think it would be a strong play for the Democrats to name Pelosi as their speaker candidate. Regardless of who the Dems nominate, Boehner is going to win. While Tuesday was not good for Democrats generally, it was especially bad for Blue Dogs. So why in the world should the party capitulate to the loud Republican-ish whines of Messrs. Ross and Shuler?