In the News

You can't beat somebody with nobody.

Politicians know that, or they should.

That is why maverick U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton of Salem lost so badly in his bold but futile effort to thwart Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat minority leader, from becoming the next speaker of the U.S House.

He had nobody to support, and you can't replace somebody with nobody. Things don't work that way.

Even Ohio Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, who toyed with the idea of challenging Pelosi, threw in the towel.

When a guy (gal) goes to Congress he/she has a choice.

He/she can either dazzle the crowd as a show horse, or quietly plod along as a work horse.

The show horse may win the morning sprint, but the work horse wins the day.

Either way, if you are a Democrat from Massachusetts, you can live, vote and play in Washington for a lifetime. In Massachusetts, Republicans need not apply.

But if you want to help your district and your state, it pays to know the track you are running in.

Iraq War veteran Moulton, 40, is the flashy show horse. Washington veteran U.S. Rep. Richard (Richie) Neal, 69, of Springfield is the drab work horse. Moulton is the outsider banging at the gates; Neal is the insider guarding the gates.

While Moulton may be applauded by some for leading an insurgency of 16 House Democrats to stop Pelosi from becoming speaker, it is a good thing for Massachusetts that he failed.

A Pelosi defeat might have also meant a defeat for Neal, and that would have hurt the state because right now "Richie" Neal is about to become the most important political figure in Massachusetts since the late House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill.

Neal is a former mayor of Springfield who has served in the House for 30 years. During all those years Neal worked himself up from the lowly duties of a young, reliable and loyal House Democrat to a spot on the House Ways and Means Committee.

He supports Pelosi and has supported her for years, which is why he is currently the ranking Democrat on the powerful committee. The election of Pelosi as speaker in the Democrat takeover of the House means that Neal will become the committee chairman.

Neal is not the only Massachusetts representative who will benefit from Pelosi's speakership. Rep. Jim McGovern of Worcester, another Pelosi supporter, is slated to head the important House Rules Committee, which determines which bills come to the House floor for consideration and a vote.

Also, Rep. Katherine Clark of Melrose, who recruited Democrats to run for the House for the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee, is expected to move up to leadership position under Pelosi.

There is a stark difference between Neal's slow, steady and almost unnoticed rise in the Democrat hierarchy in the House to Moulton's impatient, attention grabbing assault on Pelosi after serving in the House for only four years.

Moulton may have been a hero in the U.S. capture of Baghdad as a Marine in 2003, but he did not do so well in his assault on the U.S. House.

Still Moulton won the headlines. Everybody knows his name while Neal, the dean of the state's delegation to the U.S. House, remains unknown. Maybe he likes it that way.

"Richie who?" many ask when Neal's name comes up, particularly among those who think the Massachusetts border ends at Route 495.

David Narkewicz, the showboating mayor of Northampton, which borders Neal's 1st Congressional District, got more media coverage for legally buying marijuana on the first day of sales than Neal has gotten all year.

But that will soon change once Neal becomes the chairman of what is arguably the most important committee in Congress. It is the place where all money bills originate. It could mean billions of dollars for the state.

An example of its importance can be found in the tenure of the late Cambridge Democrat "Tip" O'Neill, who was speaker from 1979 to 1987.

While he was not Ways and Means chairman, O'Neill ran the House, and was able to direct billions of dollars into the Big Dig, as well as billions more for the costly expansion of the MBTA, particularly the Red Line through Cambridge out to Route 2. 

While Massachusetts has had speakers in Congress before, it has not had a chairman of the House Ways and Means committee in over 100 years.

Now it has Richard Neal of Springfield. You will get to know his name.