When Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) died Monday at the age of 77, he left open his chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee, the most influential position in the House for Defense appropriations. Seniority would indicate that Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) would take over Murtha's old position, and Dicks told a Seattle radio station that he's called fellow committee members to line up votes in his favor when the new subcommittee chairman is decided, Hotline OnCall's Reid Wilson reports, noting that Dicks and Murtha joined the subcommittee on the same day in 1979.