Harman vs. Hastings: The Blue Dog Democrats are mounting a campaign to save Harman's post at the Intelligence Committee

From TIME:

There's only one thing dumber in politics than picking a fight when you don't have to; it's picking one when you can't win.

Pelosi may now have to reconsider how she plans to deal with another rival, fellow California Congresswoman Jane Harman. Pelosi has already made it clear that she does not want to give Harman the top job on the Intelligence Committee when the party formally takes over in January. Harman, whose qualifications no one doubts, says she was promised it by earlier Democratic leaders; Pelosi says her term is up. But by shutting out Harman, Pelosi would be setting another trap for herself. The next in line after Harman is Florida's Alcee Hastings, who in 1989 was impeached and removed from his federal judgeship by Congress over allegations that he had conspired to take a $150,000 bribe (charges of which he was acquitted in court). If Pelosi passes him over, she is certain to infuriate the Congressional Black Caucus, with whom her relations are already strained.

[T]he Blue Dog Coalition, a group of the most conservative House Democrats, [is] mounting a rear-guard campaign to save Harman's post at the Intelligence Committee.