National Review Online is reporting that Dennis Hastert is not going to run for House Minority leader in January.
Boehner has been Majority Leader for only a short period of time and he has had to work his way back into leadership after being ousted previously. While I agree with many that he shouldn't be tainted with the losses, he is a member of the leadership that lost and that usually means a change in management.
That is not to say that he couldn't or shouldn't run for Minority Leader, but he will need to prove conservative credentials and need to show that he can lead the party back to majority status.
Mike Pence is a strong conservative and certainly a believer in the conservative principles that will likely win more. But does he have the chops to push both a legislative agenda and an electoral agenda? I am not sure.
To me, the most important race is not for Minority Leader or Minority Whip (which Blunt needs to vacate), but for Chair of the NRCC. Reynolds is out, obviously. Tom Davis was brilliant, but I wonder who would be best in teh position. One name that comes to immediately is Eric Cantor of Virginia. Cantor, is a committed conservative, but with enough fundraising and electoral savvy to put the NRCC back in control. I don't know if he has the charisma to get people to run for office, but he knows how to raise the dough. Reynolds did a decent job and Tom Davis before him was great, but going back to Davis is not a wise move.
I think a minority leadership of Pence and Shadegg coupled with Cantor at the NRCC, you may have the makings of a conservative team that can match ideas with political muscle. Make no mistake about it, the GOP needs to win on both the federal and state level in teh next two elections cycles of the 2010 redistricting is going to bleed the GOP dry if they are not careful.
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