Rep. Harman heads to think tank

Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, will announce tomorrow that she is leaving Congress to head the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars think tank. Her departure leaves Democrats scrambling to find a suitable replacement (The City Maven tweeted that LA Councilman Janice Hahn has already announced she'll run and Marcy Winograd, president of the Progressive Democrats of Los Angelse, has been mentioned as well).

Harman, who sits on the influential House Intelligence Subcommittee, is a staunch defender of Israel and a reliable hawk. Her departure opens the door to Democrats who'd like to see a more liberal person in the seat. It's unlikely Republicans will be able to take the South Bay district,  which runs from Venice to Redondo, then curls around the Palos Verdes peninsula to take in part of the Port of Los Angeles.

Harman's husband is Sidney Harman, who recently bought Newsweek magazine, which he quickly mated with Tina Brown's The Daily Beast, and which will probably be a prime competitor against the newly formed AOL-Huffington Post and Yahoo News. Thus begins the battle of the Howards (Howard Fineman, formerly of Newseek, now at Huffington Post, versus Howard Kurtz, formerly of the Washington Post, which sold Newsweek to Harman, who is now a Daily Beast writer).