Florida's Miller the Next House VA Chair?

The jockeying for chairmanship of key congressional committees when Republicans take over the House next year has already started. Apparently, the top spot on the House Veterans' Affairs panel has caught the eye of Rep. Jeff Miller, who represents a district in the Florida panhandle.

Miller might get his way, as the current top Republican on the committee, Steve Buyer, Ind., decided not to run for re-election, and the other two big dogs -- Jerry Moran of Kansas and John Boozman of Arkansas -- ran for and won Senate seats in their respective states.

All the other Republicans on the committee who ran for re-election retained their seats. But only five out of the 18 Democrats on the panel won clear cut victories, leaving a lot of room for new members.

Democrats with decisive wins were Reps. Bob Filner of California, Michael Michaud of Maine, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Timothy Walz of Minnesota and Corrine Brown of Florida. To spare the losers further grief, I'm not running their names. You can find them here, along with some really bad photos on the committee website.

According to his Wikipedia bio, Miller has a journalism degree, which hopefully means he will look kindly on an interview request.