I haven't given this the attention it deserves, but Henry Waxman's decision to challenge John Dingell for chairman of the Energy and Commerce committee is a HUGE deal. Energy and Commerce is, along with Ways and Means, the key House Committee, with jurisdiction over both energy and health care legislation. This particular fight is not particularly important from a health reform perspective- both Dingell and Waxman are solid allies and skilled legislators. But from an energy reform perspective, it's crucial. Dingell is a Detroit Democrat, and an opponent of substantive action on global warming because he fears its impact on the auto industry and his state. Dingell's obstructionism is so broadly understood that Pelosi tried to create a new committee, led by Ed Markey, with authority on climate change issues, but she wasn't able to give it any teeth, and it ended up being little more than an advisory body. Jurisdiction stayed with the Energy and Commerce Committee, and John Dingell. Waxman's challenge is a tremendously aggressive play by one of the House's savviest and most respected Democrats. And it is all about global warming legislation. The question is whether Waxman has the votes. Indeed, you can understand the challenge as one of two plays. In first, Waxman, a veteran vote-counter, has the support to win the fight and is mounting a simple and straightforward effort to replace Dingell. In the second, Waxman doesn't have the support, but is forcing a near-death experience on Dingell, and will force him to either commit to global warming legislation in order to save his chairmanship, or clarify that if he obstructs action on climate change, he can and will be replaced. And it could even be that Waxman hoped for the first play but ends up running the second. Either way, it's an early test of how serious the House Democratic Caucus is about global warming legislation. We'll find out Thursday, when this goes to a vote before the House Democratic Caucus (which is the expected stage for resolution -- this won't be left to the Steering Committee). One of the quiet subthemes here is that Waxman's longtime chief of staff, Phil Schirilo, was just named as Obama's director of legislative affairs. That doesn't mean Obama is personally endorsing Waxman's effort, but if Schirilo decides to make some calls on behalf of his former boss, it could certainly be taken that way. And then there's Pelosi, who already tried to bypass Dingell once by forming the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, but how can use Waxman's vehicle for a far more aggressive play...
