Schadenfreude: Dem Civil War Moves Beyond Nancy Pelosi

From The Hill:

Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) angered other high-ranking Democrats on Friday by releasing a leadership election schedule that seemingly seals his own re-election as the first order of business.

Larson, currently the fourth-ranking House Democrat, circulated an official announcement of next Wednesday’s leadership elections in which the post of caucus chairman would be decided first and the party’s only contested election, for minority whip, would be decided last.

Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and James Clyburn (D-S.C.) are vying for whip, and Larson’s plan would preclude either Hoyer or Clyburn from challenging the Connecticut Democrat for caucus chairman if they lost the whip’s race – a scenario that many Democrats, but certainly not Larson, had hoped for.

Larson announced the schedule without consulting other members of the leadership team, aides said, including Hoyer and Clyburn. The move set off a series of recriminations among Democratic leadership offices, and at least one office complained directly to Larson.

“It’s an incumbent-protection move by Larson,” a leadership aide said. “There should have been negotiations.”

Under Larson’s plan, lawmakers will first vote for the caucus chairman, then minority leader, caucus vice chairman and finally minority whip. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has yet to be challenged for minority leader, and neither has Larson nor Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), who is running to keep his job as vice chairman.

Larson’s office said the order of elections was set based on precedent, with the contested election coming at the end. The caucus chairman would be elected first, an aide said, so he could then preside over the remaining contests. “This is based on how it has been done in the past,” the Larson aide said. “We wanted to make it as equal as possible” for the other candidates.

Other leadership offices, however, mocked that explanation. “There is no precedent,” a senior Democratic leadership aide said. “The real way it’s done is everyone talks and decides together the order. It’s negotiated each time, so the idea of precedent is simply not true.”

The Democratic leaders declined to comment on the record, not wanting to escalate tensions in an already fraught leadership battle.

Read the whole thing here. All that talk in the media about a “GOP Civil War” is simply to obscure the fact that the House Democrats are about to tear themselves apart. Enjoy your weekend!