Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger

    House of Delegates Democrats finished up two days of closed caucus meetings this afternoon at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel after selecting the same leaders they had at the end of the 2007 General Assembly session.

    Del. Ward Armstrong of Henry County was re-elected as minority leader, a post he took late in the session in a coup against former leader Frank Hall of Richmond.

    Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria was re-elected as caucus chairman. Democrats chose Del. Lionell Spruill of Chesapeake to repeat as vice chair, Del. Rosalyn Dance of Petersburg as parliamentarian and Del. Mark Sickles of Fairfax County as secretary.

    “It’s not the time to change horses when you are doing it right,“ said Jesse Ferguson, a top aide to Moran. He called the reelections “an affirmation of picking up more seats than any year since 1975” with one more quite possible if former Del. Albert Pollard takes a Northern Neck seat many people expect to open up Tuesday.
   
    Del. Robert Wittman, R-Montross, is seen as the favorite to win the special election Tuesday to succeed the late 1st District Rep. Jo Ann Davis in the heavily Republican Tidewater 1st, and Pollard has all but said he would run for his old House of Delegates seat if Wittman vacates it.

    With Pollard, Dems would climb to 45 out of 100 in the House, five more than the number they held prior to last month’s elections.